Several careers began dying out in the 20th century. Blacksmiths, for one. Another industry which became all but extinct in the 20th century was coachmaking: but for most of Charles Stokes' life, before the invention of the internal combustion engine and assembly line manufacturing, coachmaking was in its heyday - a trade for craftspeople. Born in Wrexham some time in 1824, Charles Stokes moved with his parents Edward and Mary (née Phoenix) Stokes to Liverpool in 1841, where he lived in Toxteth for a time. Records show that Charles' father and grandfather were bricklayers, but Charles and a brother called Nathan had other career goals, Charles first becoming a coachman's apprentice and, later, a coachmaker along with Nathan, living in Lime Trees Street, Liverpool, in 1861. Before Henry Ford's invention of the assembly line in 1913, coaches were an important form of transport, and coachmaking was a skilled craft. Charles' work took him to Brighton, where on 4 August 1866, he married Eleanor Jane Mason of Hanley, Staffs, daughter of a carpenter, Benjamin Mason Esq., of Seaford, Sussex. Of the two children born to Charles and Eleanor, only his son, Charles Nathan (born 1872) survived. Their daughter, Mary Eleanor, only lived about a year, dying in 1868. After marrying Eleanor, Charles moved to Wrexham, to Hope Villa, 35, Kings Mills Road, where he and Eleanor eventually died in 1919, six days apart - Charles on February 14, and Eleanor six days later. Charles and Eleanor are both buried in Wrexham Cemetery, along with Charles Nathan Stokes (1872-1935), Charles' son, who'd made a good living from being a house agent, leaving behind £20190 10s 6d in his will. It is likely that Charles would have heard about Henry Ford's assembly line in his later years, meaning that he would have been alive to hear the news of the demise of coachmaking as he knew it. Research by Annette Edwards.