October 1995
INTRODUCTION
Our research into the surname 'Pakes', began in July 1995 when good intentions and hazy ambitions began to form reality. For several years I had talked about tracing my ancestry back, primarily along the male line, with the intention of trying to trace the origins of the name 'Pakes'. I have received many comments that the name is unusual, or uncommon. Admittedly I have only come across three cases in my own lifetime when the name has cropped up. The first occasion was some 40 years ago while at school, where there was a Mark Pakes in my class at Tennyson Road CP school in Luton. My recollection also accounts for an elder brother, Paul. Secondly having joined the Diplomatic Service I have occasionally received letters for D Pakes, husband of S (Sybil?) Pakes, a Security Officer in the Service. Finally and very recently I have read about a Reverend Pakes who resides near Teddington in London.
I had to start my research from a very low knowledge base. Unfortunately I failed to cash in on the wealth of family knowledge known only to my Grandmother, Marjorie, and my Great Aunt, Nellie. Consequently when both of them died in the last 10 years, they took some very valuable genealogical information with them. There remains Michael, my uncle and my father's younger brother, and his cousin Eileen, both will need to be spoken to and hopefully faint memories can be turned into substantiated facts. My father, although still living is , I am afraid, a victim of several strokes, and really is no longer reliable with his information.