Nearly Forgotten: Mary Ann SMITH

 The prompt 'Nearly Forgotten had me scratching my head, Until I looked at the middle pages of my takeout book. That’s what I call the now somewhat dogeared blue book where basic information is written down. Actually, it’s called Ancestral File: A Record book of family research.
Across the centerfold is a family tree, on the left my father’s family and on the right my mother’s. Each couple on the tree have their own page in the form of a family group worksheet. The pages up to my great great grandparents have at the very least their names, mostly more than that.

Ever since I started granny hunting all those years ago, I’ve focused on the main players, those carrying one of the four names of my grandparents, George Arthur Harvey and Florence May Porter, my paternals and Herbert Henry Hall and Georgina Pirrett, my maternals. On the tree I can see at a glance where the gaps. I am still learning about those whose names and dates and some I have only limited knowledge of so it’s one of those that I want to write about.  My maternal great grandparents Thomas Hall and Mary Ann Smith.

Though a bit daunted by the common name of smith it’s ladies first so let’s see what I can discover. Mary Anne Smith was born on January 12, 1845, at 2 High Street Bromley, Middlesex, England, to Elizabeth House, age 23, and John Smith, age 31. John and Elizabeth went on to have eight children in all, Mary Ann   their second child was their first daughter.

Today the street would be unrecognisable to my ancestors lined with shops on one side and a busy station on the other.

I was interested to discover the origin of the name Bromley by Bow, ancient parish in the borough of Tower Hamlets. It was once an area of bramble filled meadows and named as such Brembel lega, then Brembelega - Bramble meadow land. The rural village with its pond and village green in now an area populated by modern tower blocks. During our years in London I worked, just a stone’s throw from away at Canary Wharf.

At this stage I cannot find either of her parents on an 1841 census, my first sight of them is the 1851 census for Bromley St Leonard.  There is the six-year-old Mary Ann, her parents and four siblings, as well as her mother’s unmarried sister Elizabeth House, age 11. John Smith’s occupation, the same as his next-door neighbour’s, though difficult to read is probably ‘wine porter’. Occupations of other neighbours include shopkeeper, butcher, and labourer. By 1851 the population of the UK had reached 21 million, with 6.3 million people living in cities.

The family would have known about and likely seen the huge glass and iron structure in Hyde Park built to house the Great Exhibition that opened in May 1851, that became known as the ‘Crystal Palace’. After the exhibition closed in October 1851 structure was dismantled and re-erected at Penge Place Estate, Sydenham as a 'Winter Park and Garden under Glass', and the area became known as Crystal Palace. At more than 560 metres long and 124 metres wide it must have been an impressive sight.  Part of its gardens included a prehistoric swamp populated by model dinosaurs, and that only about 30 years after the first real dinosaur bones were discovered. Crystal Palace was completely destroyed by a huge blaze in 1936

During our years in London we lived at Crystal Place and often walked through the park and I could just imagine Mary Ann and her family wandering through the grounds, marveling at the dinosaurs just as we used to do.

On the 1861 census much of the family is still at 2 High Street Bromley, but not the now 16-year-old Mary Ann, neither is her older brother George. 

Apart from her marriage c 1866 her where she was during the years between the 1861 and 1881 census will probably remain a mystery, there is no sign of her on the 1871. The most likely explanation for her absence from is 1871 census is that she was in domestic service somewhere.  

There she on the 1881 with husband Thomas Hall and the four children. The youngest of the children Herbert Henry was my grandfather.

At that time marriages for ordinary working folks like Thomas and Mary Ann would have likely been on a Sunday at their local church as there would have been very little leisure time for families like Mary Ann’s.   

Between August and November 1888, within a mile of each other and, only a few miles away from Thomas and Mary ‘s home an infamous murderer roamed the streets.  Newspapers, full of speculation, fuelled public fear printing terrifying headlines and salacious images.  It was the most sensational crime of its time. Newspapers printed letter from people claiming to be the murderer, some it was said were created by unscrupulous journalists. In one letter, the writer referred to himself as Jack the Ripper. Speculation of the murder’s identity included   famous people like author Lewis Carrol. There was even rumour that the killer was one of Queen Victoria’s grandsons.  Jack the Ripper terrorized London,  killing at least five women and mutilating their bodies in an unusual manner, suggesting the killer had a substantial knowledge of human anatomy. The killer was never apprehended, and Jack the Ripper remains one of England’s, and the world’s, most infamous criminals.

Jack the Ripper terrorized London, killing at least five women and mutilating their bodies,  suggesting that the killer had a substantial knowledge of human anatomy. The killer was never apprehended. Jack the Ripper remains one of England’s, and the world’s, most infamous criminals.

 I cannot imagine how Mary Ann would have felt, going about her normal life during this time, especially if she needed to be outdoors after sunset. With no one being arrested for the awful crimes many months would have passed before women again felt safe enough to venture out in the evening.

By the 1891 census   the family had moved to 29 Cypress Place, Manor Way, New Beckton.

Cyprus’s name dates from 1878, when Britain leased the Mediterranean island from Turkey. Also known as New Beckton, this tiny settlement with its shops and services was a ‘self-supporting community’, entirely owned by the Port of London Authority, providing homes for workers at Beckton gasworks and the Royal Docks. Unlike the earlier workers’ housing in ‘old’ Beckton, construction standards here were not high and the absence of mains drainage contributed to the poor health of the residents.

https://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/beckton/

Though I cannot find any occupation for her on any census she would certainly would have worked. Employed in some sort of domestic service to a wealthier family or she could have found work as a barmaid or waitress. Besides going out to work Mary Ann would have all the household chores to do. Husband Thomas occupation was like many of his neighbours a general labourer. Horses were still in use to move goods, as evidenced by the occupation, stable boy, of the next-door neighbour’s son.

Sending children age five to ten years to school became compulsory in 1880, but it wasn’t until 1891 that schooling for all children aged  five to thirteen years became free. With three children described as ‘scholars’ on the 1891 census it must have been a relief to no longer have to find the money to send them to school.

The filth of London’s streets in the 1890’s would have been awful. Thousands of tons of horse dung and gallons of urine wound up on the city streets as the more than 300,000 horses went about the business of keeping London moving.  Not to mention the thousands of sheep and cattle driven through the streets every week to livestock markets. Early motorised vehicles were called horseless carriages and in 1896 the speed limit for them was increased from 4 miles per hour to 14 miles per hour.

In 1901 Mary Ann was still at 29 Cyprus Way, now described as a widow. With her were son Herbert, Joseph, Thomas, Alfred and Frederick, but none of the daughters. We can’t know if as a 62 year old she was still working  somewhere, but her sons would ha most certainly been contributing to the household finances. So far, I have been unable to locate Thomas’ date of death, but must have been after the April 1881 census but before the March 1901 census. The sleuthing to find out more will have to wait until I write his story.

Mary Ann and her small family were still living at Cyprus Way according to the 1911 census, this time at number 31. This census entry is that last, I can locate of her in public records. 

The RGO has three potential Mary Ann Halls with deaths ranging between 1912 and 1915. The most likely being the one in 1915 registered in Poplar. 

Popular: Joshua HARVEY

Where are you Joshua Harvey?

According to the dictionary of Cambridge one of the definitions of popular is: ‘involving or relating to ordinary people or to all the people who live in a country or area’

So with that in mind a popular occupation of many of my ancestors was labourer, be it agricultural labourer, dock, labourer, or  general. labourer,

I'm a Harvey by birth and the roots as far back as I have been able to trace are from Suffolk.

Let’s skip back a few generations to Joshua Harvey, my paternal great great grandfather. As yet I have not been able to locate his date of birth.  In the first public record he appears in, the 1841 Wilby, Suffolk Census, he was given as 11, giving him a birth year of c 1830. All the public documents I have found for him give his birthplace as Wilby, Suffolk, c1840.  

I’ve been doing family research for years, unfortunately I haven’t been very methodical or diligent and so have probably been going around in the proverbial ever decreasing circles with my great great grandfather Joshua Harvey in the middle. I do know a little about him but importantly I cannot find any verifiable birth details which will give me the link I need to take the next step back

The very first certificate I located for him was a marriage in May 1860 to 20-year-old Mary Ann Eldridge who was living at 8 Mary Terrace, Meeting House lane, Peckham. Father Henry Eldridge, Coachman. The marriage took place at Hanover Chapel, High Street, Peckham in the district of Camberwell, Surry. Joshua was 29 and a widow, more about that another time, Occupation bricklayer. He gave his address as Clevedon Street, Wyndham Road, Camberwell, Surry Witnesses by   Samuel Watts and Sarah Upsgrove who both signed with an X. Joshua signed with an X and Mary Ann her name. They were married according to the rites and ceremonies of the Independents by Robert Wye Betts before William Davies, Registrar.

The next certificate I acquired was Joshua’s death certificate dated 26 Sept 1880, age 50. He died home at 19 Stebondale Street, Isle of Dogs, London. Occupation labourer. The heavy manual nature of his occupation probably contributed to what is noted as his cause of death, ‘Disease of the Hip, 14 years’. Also, diarrhoea, Debility 14 days.  Certified by a doctor with FRCP after his name, marking him out as a consultant

Given that one of the causes of his death was disease of the hip This workhouse record might just be him.

 Poplar High Street Workhouse, Admission 10 March 1870, discharge 28 April 1870

https://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=60391&h=11162709&tid=27953339&pid=5100440451&hid=1040845074683&usePUB=true&_phsrc=sEP1387&_phstart=default&usePUBJs=true&currentPageIsStart=

The informant was Amelia Shuttle, of 46 Church Street, Poplar, which lies on the other side of the river Thames from Stebondale Street on the IOD.

Though I cannot make out her occupation on the certificate, on a later census her occupation was ‘monthly nurse’, which us curios in itself as by definition a monthly nurse’ was one who cared for a woman after the birth of a child.

I then searched the 1881 census. There was Mary Ann Harvey, head of the household, b Camberwell, Surry, then the children.

George William age 19, b 1862, unmarried. 

Henry Alfred age 11 b 1870

Ephriam C Harvey, age 9 b1872 

Susannah Harvey age7 b1874 

Agnes M Harvey age 5 b1876,

Samuel Harvey age 3 b1878. 

All the children apart from George William were born in Poplar, his birthplace was Rotherhithe, Surry. Also at the same address was border, James Bishop, age 80, widow, occupation iron moulder

The last 5 children arrived at fairly regular two-yearly intervals which makes me wonder why there was a gap of about 9 years. Between the first and second children. Something that will remain a mystery.

I hadn’t really taken much notice of Joshua’ and later his son’s occupations on the census records. Bricklayer then labourer and general labourer. That was until I read an article in Family Tree Magazine (April 09 p16 -20). Called ‘The Builder’s Labourer.’ It states that “according to the 1911 census builder labourer was the fourth most frequently cited trade with 817,942 people recorded”. The article, by Neil Storey, begins with ‘It is not surprising so many of our ancestors in the early 20th century gave their occupation as labourer. It said what they did. They would supply labour and toil to those who would employ them…Some were casual labourers possibly working as little as a few days here and there. Others were retained staff." It goes on to say that “Many not able to find regular work joined their local territorial or regular army. Labourer was a frequent occupation on many attestation papers."

Builders by far employed the most labourers and at a time before official training they leaned their craft by watching and doing”

On the 1881 census I found  Joshua’s younger brother Ephriam, aged 41 married and living in Northview, Heaton, Northumberland. Occupation ‘Master Builder’ employing 5 men. Ephriam may well have begun his working life in the building trade as early as age 11 by being taken on by a local tradesman. As  ‘the boy’ his first task would have been to prove himself.. Making the tea, running errands. Sometimes being sent for a long wight or to fetch striped paint or even bubbles for the spirit level. Showing that he could be trusted and had a sense of humour. By watching and practicing tasks under the watchful eyes of the tradesman until he could demonstrate his proficiency.

It is just possible that the tradesman who took on Joshua and Ephriam was their father James, describe as a bricklayer on Joshua’s marriage certificate.

Luck: George PIRRET

A brief Good Luck Story.

My grandmother's maiden name was Pirrett. This name has various spelling that have over the years have caused me no end of trouble in my ancestral quest.

I began to search for my maternal great grandfather George Pirrett when I was just a novice at genealogy. Family story had it that he was buried at Auckland’s Waikumete Cemetery. It was back in 1987 so I sent off a letter to the Auckland City Council asking if he was buried there. Some weeks later the reply came advising me that “Regrettably I must inform you that a search of our records does not reveal any burial for Mr G Pirrett.”

About three years later on a family visit to Auckland I decided to visit Waikumete and have another try at finding his grave. I made my inquiry at the sextant’s office and was astounded by his reply of “Oh yes I know exactly where he’s buried, someone was looking for him just last week”. Turns out that a distant cousin was also on the hunt for him and had visited the cemetery just before me!

George’s surname was recorded in the cemetery records as Pirritt!

I have visited his grave several time.

More about George can be found on this blog in the story called Talking About George, But Which one?

Strong Women: Georgina PIRRETT

#52 Ancestors. Strong Women

I think they must have all been strong, those women who were my ancestors. Just to have survived childbirth and diseases common of their time marks them out as strong. I’ve been focusing more on my male ancestors, it’s time to begin to change that.

Starting with my maternal grandmother Georgina Pirrett who we called ‘Nan’

She was born 25th September 1883, of catholic parents who married in 1880. Her Scottish born father was George, a name that predominates through this line of my family tree. Her mother was Annie, formerly Dwyer, born in London of Irish descent. I can just imagine the Scottish and Irish accents vying for attention at extended family gathering. George’s occupation varied from blacksmith to fireman to ship’s fireman.
Interestingly, and as yet unexplained, on the birth certificate Georgina’s mother, Annie’s address was 75 Randall Road Plaistow.


The address given for her place of birth was, like her older brother David Deans Perrett, 6 Brunel Street, Canning Town, Poplar, Essex, England.

Interestingly, and as yet unexplained, on the same birth certificate Georgina’s mother, Annie’s address was 75 Randall Road Plaistow, something I’ll write about another time.

The infamous serial killer known as Jack the Ripper was active on the 1880s, Nan’s parents would have read about the brutal murders in their local papers.

In the year Nan was born the first electric trams started running in London and the book Treasure Island was published. In August in the same year the after effects of the huge volcanic eruption that destroyed the pacific island of Krakatoa began to be felt across Europe as the noxious gases that had had been thrown into the atmosphere started filtering the sunlight reducing the amount of sunshine reaching the ground . These atmospheric effects created spectacular sunsets all over Europe and the United States, and average global temperatures were as much as 1.2 degrees cooler for the next five years.

Nan was eight when the 1891 census was taken, their address 23 Ford Street West Ham. Like her siblings she was described as a scholar. She may well have gone to St Margarets and All Saints Catholic School at 79 Barking Rd, Canning Town, the same one that my aunt and uncle began their schooling. 

Before I write about the few precious recordings of various family members chatting, I should explain who the people mentioned are. My mother was the youngest of the three children born to Nan and Granddad. I knew them as Uncle Herb (Herbert Henry junior), and Auntie Ron (Veronica Ellen).


On one of these Auntie Ron reminisced.

“She (Nan) never kept the catholic faith up, she took Herb away from St Margarets, she was expecting me at the time…there was some sort of argument about Herb and the priest said “get down those stairs or I will put you down” to which Nan is said to have replied “I’d like to see you touch me”…after that she took herb away from that school. Young Herb would have been about seven years old. “After that he went to Beckton Road School, that’s where your mum went later but I still got sent to a catholic school” 

I wasn’t surprised to learn that Nan turned away from her catholic faith when I heard stories like that and this one, also told by Auntie Ron:

“After grandmother was buried the priest came along to Mum and he said ‘You had your mother buried in a dust heap’ ‘I had my mother buried in consecrated ground, she didn’t want to be buried at St Patrick's (the catholic cemetery)…Nan said to the priest ‘If your mother asked you to grant her a request would you do it’ ‘Yes I suppose I would’ was his reply. Then he went next door to see the old lady there, Mrs Riley she was called. Mum said she never knew what she said to him because he came to the front door a bit later and shouted out ‘Mrs Hall, I’ve just come to recall those words I said to you. Good morning’

The priest used to come around every Sunday after lunch, he’d just walk straight in, no knocking. After that that he never came back”

I’m pleased that my Mum didn’t go to the catholic school because Auntie Ron spoke of the way that children were treated there.

In 1871 a bye-law made school attendance mandatory for children aged 5-13, though it was largely unenforceable until attendance was made compulsory in 1880 and was not free until 1891. Lessons would be mostly about the three R’s, perhaps with weekly lessons about geography and history.

In 1897 Nan was 14 and would most likely have already left school and had perhaps started work in a local factory. This was the year that the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies was formed from numerous local women’s suffrage societies. Its leader, Millicent Fawcett, became one of the most prominent middle-class women campaigning peacefully for the vote. Did she, I wonder, attend meetings with her mother, influenced by the rallying cries of votes for women. Most women in my grandmother’s situation worked long hours as breadwinner in some sort of paid work in a factory or doing domestic work as well as the day to day business of keeping house.





With a husband at sea on prolonged voyages her mother would have had to deal with the challenges of life on her own. Would she have embraced the ideals of the Women’s Suffrage Movement; I like to think so. Years later when Nan married a merchant seaman, she would have found herself in much the same situation. Granddad’s story is told in another place.

Georgina married Herbert Henry Hall at St Margarets Catholic Church, Barking, on 26 Dec 1904 Witnesses were Maggie Dwyer, the bride’s sister, and Joseph Alexander. HH wasn’t catholic, and they married by certificate, meaning that he agreed to have the children brought up catholic, on 26 Dec 1904.More about that later too. 

As a merchant seaman Granddad was away from home for extended periods of time. The first true evidence of that is from the 1911 Census. Nan with her five-year-old son is living with her now widowed mother, and unmarried sister Isabella and a lodger. The address 67 Denmark Street, Plaistow. The extended gaps, 1906, 1913, and 1921, between the births of my uncle, aunt and mother also appear to confirm this.

There is more to be written about my grandmother and that will come later.