Bill Sellers

BILL SELLERS

Original Name: William Sellars

Birth: 1900

Death: Oct., 1962

Actor, Father of Peter Sellers. William Sellars (sic) was born in Bradford in Yorkshire, of Protestant parents. Little is known about his background, although he is said to have served in the Navy. He went into showbusiness as a pianist and, at some point, his name appears to have been misspelled on the bill matter as "Sellers" and this, somehow, stuck. In 1921, Sellers was the resident pianist at the King's Theatre in Portsmouth, where he met a singer named Peg Ray, although her real name was Agnes Marks. Two years later, they married at the Registry Office in Bloomsbury and made their home in Aylmer Road in East Finchley. Their first child, Peter, died when they were on tour in Dublin; their second child, Richard Henry, was born on September 8th. 1925 at 20 Southsea Terrace, Portsmouth, Hampshire. The second child was always known as Peter, and his ashes are scattered next to his parents. (Their plaque is on the right-hand side of Bay 8; Peter, and Ray Ellington, are commemorated on the left-hand side of the same bay.) Bill Sellers is said to have died of prostrate trouble, after suffering three heart attacks, at the Middlesex Hospital. However, the hospital do not appear to have any records of him. (bio by: Iain MacFarlaine)

Burial:

Golders Green Crematorium

Golders Green

Greater London, England

The above Bio comes from an online website. However I found some conflicts regarding William/Bill's birth records. If ound the following 2 records:-

GRO birth: Registered 1899 Qtr.1, Bradford (9b 81) William SELLER.

GRO birth: Registered 1900 Qtr.2, Barnsley (9c 242) William SELLARS.

His marriage record to Agnes shows his surname as SELLER. If this is correct and Bradford is his actual place of birth, then his date of birth would be during the first quarter of 1899.

However, if the biographer is correct about his original name being SELLARS, with a year of birth 1900, then his place of birth would be BARNSLEY!

GRO marriage: Registered 1923 Q2, St Giles (1b 980) William Seller to Agnes D Marks.