Alf of all trades

George Alfred Melton was born on 1st September 1854 in Castleacre, Norfolk. Although christened George, the census records suggest he was probably known as Alfred or Alf. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Norwich. His younger brother, Frederick, was born in Heigham, Norwich on 10th December 1855.

Birth certificate

Alf’s father, Fred, was a journeyman gardener and it seems likely that the family moved regularly. Indeed, according to the 1861 census the family had moved to the village of Ditchingham located close to the Norfolk Broads and the Suffolk border. Both Alf and his younger brother Fred were attending the local school at this time.

The transient nature of his father’s employment is bound to have had an impact on Alf. At some point in the 1860s he would have been forced to say goodbye to his school friends once his father had decided to take the family away from Norfolk. This must have been difficult for him. By 1871, Alf was living at 5 Moselle Street, Tottenham with his parents and younger brother. According to the census both Alf and Fred were working as ‘errand boys’.

At the age of nineteen, Alf married Sarah Ann Collison at the parish church of St James the Great in Bethnal Green on 23^rd March 1874. Sarah, aged just seventeen, was the daughter of a blacksmith and had grown up in the East End. St James the Great or the “Red Church” as it was known, was regarded at the time as a place where you could get married quickly with no questions asked. The vicar would apparently sell marriage licenses on the premises for a penny before conducting the service and the permission of the parents of the young couple probably wasn't sought.

At the time of the wedding, Alf was working as a cook and was living in Bethnal Green. The events that led up to this important milestone in Alf’s life are not clear. However, the railways must have played a part as Tottenham and Bethnal Green were, and still are, on the same line.

In the years that followed their wedding, it is apparent that Alf and Sarah lived at a number of addresses in the East End. Their first child Sarah Frances, was born in Mile End Old Town on 27^th December 1874. Sarah was baptised at St Thomas’s, Stepney on 2^nd July 1876 and at the time the family were living at 8 William Street in Mile End Old Town. Later that year, on 19^th December, Alf and Sarah’s first son, George Frederick Melton was born and their second son, John Robert Melton was born around eighteen months later on 16^th June 1879. At the time of John's birth, Alf was still working as a cook in a restaurant but they had moved to 11 Ann Street, Ratcliff. The street ran alongside the main London to Southend railway line and was situated between Commercial Road and Cable Street. Today this street is called Barnardo Street, named after the famous Dr Thomas Barnardo who opened his first home for boys nearby.

8-14 Ann Street, Ratcliff

The census taken on the night of 3^rd April 1881 showed that Alf and his family were still living at 11 Ann Street, Ratcliff. Alf was employed as a ‘workhouse porter’. By the late nineteenth century Great Britain had evolved into the world’s premier superpower thanks to the industrial revolution. Great Britain’s standing abroad concealed the shameful truth that thousands of people in the cities were living in poverty and squalor. The East End of London contained many of these unfortunate people: the marginalised, the poverty-stricken, the drink-sodden, the orphans, the immigrants, the criminal types, the unemployed and the revolutionaries. Alf’s time as a workhouse porter would have exposed him to the plight of many of these poor people and the experience is bound to have had a profound effect on him.

By the following year, Alf and Sarah had moved to 25J Juniper Street. Their new home was in a four-storey block of “model dwellings” that had been built in 1880 for the “respectable working class”. A staircase leading from the dark street lead to eight flats and although by today’s standards these places appear grim, they provided accommodation that was considered to be better than that found in the majority of houses in the district. Many of the poorer families living in the East End could not afford the rent which was around 5s a week and paid in advance but Alf’s wages had clearly enabled him to climb one rung up the ladder.

Juniper Street, Shadwell

Alf and Sarah had a new baby girl, Esther Emily Melton, early in 1882. Baby Esther was baptised at St Paul’s church, Shadwell on 26^th November but by then it is likely that the baby was already ill. Tragically, Esther died just over a week later on 4^th December. The cause of death is cited as “dentition, cerebral irritation” which suggests that teething problems were responsible for her untimely death.

With the death of baby Esther still fresh in their minds, Alf and Sarah decided it was time to get their two boys baptised. They were both baptised at St Paul’s church, Shadwell on 19^th January 1883. By this time, Alf was working as a “packer” possibly in a warehouse by the nearby docks.

Alf and Sarah had another daughter named Lily on 18^th September 1883 and she was baptised at St Paul’s, Shadwell on 5^th October. Their fourth daughter, Edith Emily was born on 22^nd February 1886. Throughout this period, Alf and his growing family remained at 25J                                                          Juniper Street.  

On the night of 30^th August 1888, a huge fire took hold in Shadwell Dry Dock. Many local people went down to the scene of the fire and as they lived nearby it is reasonable to speculate that Alf and Sarah were amongst them. As the firemen were damping down the following morning, news emerged of an “unfortunate” who had been murdered in Bucks Row, Whitechapel. The discovery of the body of Mary Ann Nicholls was the beginning of a series of murders which gripped the public imagination and baffled the police. Alf and Sarah would have undoubtedly read the newspapers and heard rumours on the streets but they were probably too busy bringing up their young family and providing a roof over their heads to concern themselves too much. Their daughter Edith was baptised at St Paul’s, Shadwell on 9^th November 1888 coincidentally this was the same day that Mary Kelly’s horribly mutilated body was discovered in Spitalfields.

During the so called “autumn of terror” Sarah had been pregnant again and in the early months of 1889 she gave birth to another baby girl who they named Emily Harriet. Just prior to Emily’s birth, in the previous November, the family moved to Cable Street where Alf established himself as a coffee tavern keeper.  The local trade directory for 1890 shows that Alf’s coffee rooms were situated at 263 Cable Street. The term coffee tavern described two types of premises. One type became popular in the mid/late Victorian period and were promoted by the temperance movement as an alternative to public houses. However, in the East End of London a coffee tavern could be likened to a modern “greasy spoon caff”. These were places were ordinary workers could sit and enjoy simple food.  

Article from the Lloyds Weekly
London Newspaper 31st Aug. 1890

At around 4pm on Wednesday 27^th August 1890, Alf witnessed a horrific accident on Cable Street. A four-wheeled van pulled by a pair of horses and loaded with 3 tons of cargo pulled out to overtake traffic. At that moment, a small girl, unseen by the driver, was lying in the road. She tried to get up but was run over. The driver immediately pulled up, but the girl was severely injured and taken to the children’s hospital, which was situated nearby in Glamis Road. She had to have both legs amputated and later died. George was called as a witness at the inquest which took place on the following Saturday at the Shadwell Vestry Hall. The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death and it was Alf’s evidence that helped to deflect blame away from the poor driver.

The 1891 census confirms that Alf was a ‘coffee tavern keeper’ at 265 Cable Street. He was living there with his wife and their six children. However, the Post Office street directory of 1894 shows that Alf’s coffee rooms had moved the short distance to 267 Cable Street which was located at the junction with Watney Street and was situated right next door to Shadwell station on the East London Railway. Alf and Sarah’s large family increased later that year with the birth of Alice Maud on                                                          13^th July 1894. Alice was baptised at St George in the East church on                                                      5^th August.

On 11^th September 1896 Alf and Sarah’s third son, Albert Thomas, was born and by the time he was baptised on 11^th October, Alf had given up the coffee rooms and had begun working as an “engineer”. Their new address was 31 Tillman Street which was a three-storey terraced house situated on the eastern side of the street just south of the board school. Charles Booth, the famous social researcher, visited the street between 1^st and 3^rd February 1898. Here is an extract from his notebook: South down Tillman Street, late Ann Street. 3 storey houses at south-east end put up by Chapman Estate get a respectable class, purple rather than light blue on the map. On the south west side, poor 2 storey houses- light blue. The purple on the map seems to have moved across the road into the newer houses.

Excerpt from Charles Booth Poverty Map 1898

Booth’s survey descriptions for the area show a wide gulf in the living conditions from street to street, from pinks along Cannon Street Road representing more respectable classes to the darker colours of Cornwall Street representing the most wretched homes. The whole area would have been shrouded in smog induced by coal smoke from homes, railways and industry. The streets would have been littered with filth including manure from the ubiquitous horse-drawn transport.

Lady Winterton in Tillman Street c1929
31 Tillman Street is in the 3-storey block
in the background

On 8^th April 1897, Alf and Sarah’s eldest son got married to Ann Morris, a local girl who was the same age as their son. The following year on 30^th November 1898, Alf and Sarah’s youngest child, Ada Elizabeth was born. A few days later on 4^th December, their eldest daughter, Sarah Frances, got married to a man named Albert Lawrence.   Finally, on Christmas Day 1898 Ada Elizabeth was baptised at St George in the East church. It had been a busy end to 1898.

The 1901 census shows that Alf and his family were living at 31 Tillman Street. Alf was working as a laundry engineer; his daughter Lily was working in a cigarette factory and daughter Edith Emily was a book folder. Living at the address with them were John and Rebecca Robinson and Rebecca’s mother, Helena Aspinall. It seems likely that Alf rented out the rooms at the top of the house to earn a bit of extra cash. In 1905 the electoral register shows that the two bedrooms on the top floor were being let (unfurnished) to a man by the name of James Standing and the records for subsequent years show that his daughter Lily and son in law, Charles Hannington, were living there. Incidentally Lily and Charles were married on 9^th                                                           April 1905 and it seems likely they moved in straight after the                                                                  wedding.

Family tree

The 1911 census shows Alf still living at 31 Tillman Street with his wife and their children Emily, Albert and Ada. Alf was now working as a ‘stationary engine driver/fitter’ which suggests his job involved attending to a large stationary steam driven engine. Though this is apparently different from his job in 1901, it is possible that a large steam engine may have been used at a large laundry. According to the census, his daughter, Edith had followed her elder sister and was working as a ‘cigarette packer’. Albert was an ‘office lad’ and Ada was at school.

By 1914, Alf had changed jobs again and was employed as a watchman, probably in one of the many riverside wharves. When he failed to return home from work on Tuesday 23rd June, his family must have been concerned. Their worries only grew as the days passed and he remained missing. Their worst fears were confirmed when, on Saturday 27th June, a body was pulled from the Thames at South Wharf, Rotherhithe. An inquest held at the Coroners Court on Monday 29th June held that death was due to accidental drowning. 

Extract from the Southwark and Bermondsey Recorder 3rd July, 1914

His sudden death must have come as an awful shock to his wife and children. It was a tragic ending to a man who evidently worked extremely hard to provide for his family. His work-ethic, which was no doubt instilled in him by his own father, enabled him to earn a living as a cook when he was a young man, scrape a living as a workhouse porter witnessing the harsh poverty of the East End, running his own coffee rooms, then when his business failed, learning to be an engineer before becoming a watchman in his final years. He wasn’t Jack of all trades, he was Alf of all trades and a remarkable man.

Annotated Goad Insurance Map

The Kanawaty Lebanese and Brazilian connection

This post explores another of my wife’s exotic roots. Antonia’s maternal grandmother, Asma Kanawaty was born in Beirut on 12^th March 1903. She was one of 8 children born to Antoun Kanawaty and Anissa Habib Zreik. Asma’s eldest sister was named Lily and there were 3 other sisters: Marie, who was born on 1^st January 1898; Afifa, and Zobeida, who was born in 1909. Asma also had 3 brothers: Fouad, the eldest, who was born on 6^th November 1906, Amin and Rafful. The family were part of a large Christian population that lived (and still lives) in Lebanon. Sadly, both Amin and Afifa did not survive childhood. Amin, died at a young age due to some illness, and Afifa from a nasty accident that left her with severe burns.

Family tree showing the children of Antoun Kanawaty and Anissa Zreik

Both Asma and Marie grew up and became teachers. They obtained work in Baghdad and worked at the Menahem Daniel Jewish primary school. Later in life, Marie went on to become the school principal.

Photo of Asma Curmi (nee Kanawaty) probably taken in the 1930s

In around 1928, Asma married Emile Curmi, a former British officer who had worked in the political department of the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force. The couple’s first child, Giovanna, was born on 27^th December 1930. Less than 2 years later on 16^th October 1932, she was joined by another sister named Eileen. Gio’s and Eileen’s births was registered at the British Consulate on 21^st February 1936. At that time, the family were living at 69 Abu Nawass Street in the Battaween district of Baghdad. The family expanded further in the years that followed with the arrivals of Mafalda (February 16^th 1939), Joseph Donald (January 16^th 1943) and Richard Alexander (24^th September 1945). The family moved to a larger house on nearby Alamein Street in the Battaween district of Baghdad and they had servants to help with the cooking and cleaning.

Photo of Asma Curmi (nee Kanawaty) and Donald Curmi. Don's age suggests the photo was taken in the late 1940s

To escape the searing summer heat in Baghdad, the family would occasionally travel across the desert to visit family back in Lebanon. Marie’s passport, issued in 1931, contains visas indicating many trips back and forth between Baghdad and Beirut.  The document contains a note from the passport office dated 28^th July 1938 stating that there is “no objection to Giovanna and Elen (sic) to enter Iraq accompanied by the holder of this passport”

Photo of Asma Curmi (nee Kanawaty) with her sister Marie

The revolution of 14^th July 1958 came as a huge shock to the family and it was no longer safe to remain in Baghdad. Emile sent Asma, Eileen, Mafalda, Donald and Alex to England in the autumn of that year where they were reunited with Giovanna, who had left suddenly a few years before in 1955. They settled in Barnet in North London and lived at 34 Hadley Road. Asma’s sister and husband remained in Baghdad until 1962. By the time they arrived in England, Emile was gravely ill with cancer and died on 30^th January 1963. Following his death, the family remained in Barnet. Marie passed away 5 years later in 1968.

Fouad Kanawaty emigrated from Lebanon on the Neptunia and arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 16^th August 1939. He later obtained a job at Fabrica Colchoes Sao Paolo, a mattress factory in Sao Paolo. He married but the couple had no children. Fouad passed away on 16^th August 1978 aged 71.

Fouad Kanawaty Brazillian immigration card

Rafful followed his older brother to Brazil in the 1950s. He married a woman by the name of Alice and they had three children together: Eduardo, Antonio and Jorge. Eduardo became an endocrinologist and married a woman named Elizabeth. They had a daughter together but we don’t know her name. Antonio married a woman named Nazaré and they had 3 daughters; Monika, Simone and Larissa. Jorge married Ligia and they had 3 children; Roberta, Joao and Rafael. Rafful’s descendants all live in or around the city of Campinas which is situated 70km north west of Sao Paulo.

Rafful Kanawaty Brazillian immigration card

Lily married Rizkallah Haddad and they had a son called Eduardo, who also became a doctor. They apparently travelled to London when Asma and her family were still living in Barnet. He came over with his terminally ill wife and daughter Marisa.  

Photo of Zobeida Rouhana (nee Kanawaty) with daughter Rosette and husband Farid in the background taken in Beirut

Zobeida was a gifted painter but was regarded as a black sheep. She married a disapproved of Palestinian named Farid Rouhana and had a daughter named Rosette in around 1940. The family emigrated to Brazil, arriving in Rio on 3^rd July 1951. Farid apparently walked out on the marriage sometime afterwards.

Zobeida Rouhana (nee Kanawaty) Brazillian immigration card.

Brazil was a popular destination for Lebanese people of all creeds looking for a better life. It is claimed that there are now over 7 million people with Lebanese ancestors living in the country. Many of whom, like the Kanawaty’s, have become highly successful people. The origins of the family are less clear. One uncorroborated source states that the Kanawaty family was a branch of one of the original 6 Canaanite families who lived in Bethlehem. If this is true, they are very old indeed

Ada Deacon

Ada Louisa Deacon was born on 3^rd June 1880 at 46 Clarence Gardens, Regents Park, London. She was the second daughter of John Rouse Deacon and Annie Deacon. Her father was a window blind maker and they all lived at the house with Ada’s older sister Lillian, Ada’s Grandmother Ann, Ada’s aunts Lillian and Annie and various different tenants who would stay at the house for short periods. Ada was christened at Christ Church on Albany Street, a short distance from the house, on 12^th September 1880.

The family increased in size in the 1880s with the births of Ada’s siblings John (circa 1883), William (6^th September 1884) and Daisy Caroline (21^st March 1889). By the time the 1891 census was taken the family had left Clarence Gardens and were residing at 106 Pancras Square. The likely reason for this move was that Ada’s grandmother wanted to take in more tenants and there was no room for the growing family and its noisy children.

In the decade that followed, the family increased further in size with the births of Marguerite on 1^st October 1891 and Eveline on 1^st July 1894. Ada and her family did not remain at 106 Pancras Square and indeed by the 1901 they’ve moved to 32 Ashdown Street, just off Queens Crescent in Kentish Town. Both Ada and her older sister Lillian were working as packers in a soap factory.

Family tree

Ada’s grandmother passed away in 1902 and following her death the family moved back to 46 Clarence Gardens. Ada had another younger sister, Winnifred,  on 15^th March 1904. By this time, Ada had met a young licensed victualler by the name of Herbert Hewitt. Back in 1901, Bert had been working in a pub called Dreghorn Castle on Queens Crescent, just around the corner from where Ada lived and it seems likely that they met across the bar in that pub.  The young couple married at Christ Church, Albany Street on 17^th April 1904. At the time of the wedding, Herbert was living next door at 48 Clarence Gardens.

Once married, Ada and Bert moved into the Gossett Arms at 111 Gossett Street in Bethnal Green where Bert had recently been granted a license. The following year, on 17^th July 1905, Ada gave birth to a son. They named him Herbert John Hewitt.

Ada and Bert left the Gossett Arms and less than five years later they had a daughter together. Lillian Alice Hewitt was born on 5^th March 1910. At the time of her birth, the family were living above a grocers and beer retailers at 21 Mare Street, Hackney. Her husband Bert is believed to have been working in the shop downstairs.

By the spring of the following year, Ada and Bert had moved again. By now they were living at 5 Sutherland Road, Bow. Bert was working as a barman at a pub on Highgate Hill called Whittington Stone and probably spent a lot of time away from home.

The long pub working hours and the commuting distance probably persuaded Bert and Ada to move closer to the pub. Another factor was that Ada was pregnant again. They moved into 4 Wedmore Gardens, Upper Holloway and Frederick Hewitt was born there on 13^th March 1912.

In August 1914 Britain found herself at war with Germany. Pub opening hours were drastically reduced in a bid to curb drunkenness among the soldiers on leave. This probably meant that Bert was at home a lot more often. Consequently, in the spring of the following year, Ada gave birth to their third son William Hewitt. 

On 10^th March 1917 Ada and Bert moved into The Plough public house on Ilford Lane, Ilford, Essex. By this time Ada was pregnant again and in the autumn she gave birth to their second daughter who they named Winnifred. Towards the end of the following year and with the First World War approaching its conclusion, Ada became pregnant once again. Daisy Eveline Hewitt was born on 25^th May 1919.

Ada and Bert now had 6 children. As Bert had regained his status as a licensed victualler it entitled him to send his youngest daughters to the licensed victualler’s boarding school in Slough. Win would have been sent away first in around 1922 and two years later she was followed by Daisy. The older children were not entitled to attend the school as they had been born before he had regained his licence.

Unfortunately, within months of Daisy being sent away to school, Bert’s health forced him to give up running the pub. He had been suffering from a stomach ulcer. Ada and Bert gave up the license on 8^th November 1924 and moved into a nearby property at 11 Harts Parade on Ilford Lane. Bert’s health deteriorated and poor Bert was rushed to hospital. Sadly Bert died on 20^th March 1925 due to a blood clot that had arisen through complications with his stomach ulcer. Ada was now a widow. 

To make matters worse for Ada she also had to cope with father’s poor health.  He was suffering from heart disease and was gradually deteriorating. He died on 5^th August, less than 5 months after losing her husband. For Ada the year 1925 was a year to forget.

Ada gradually rebuilt her life. She moved into 23 Twyford Road, Ilford with her children Lily, Fred and Bill. Her son Bert had joined the merchant navy and was mostly away at sea. Win and Daisy were still away at boarding school and only returned home outside term time.

Ada’s children grew up. Win and Daisy would have left school at the age of 14 in 1931 and 1933 respectively and on leaving school they returned home to Ilford. Daisy went on to work as a shop assistant at Barkers in Kensington High Street before landing a job at the local telecommunications firm Plessey. On 7^th January 1934 Lily married a butcher named Horace Lewsey. In the summer of 1934 Bert married a welsh lady named Gladys Lewis. In 1935 Ada’s first grandchildren arrived. On 27^th March Bert and Gladys had a son whom they named John Hewitt. A couple of months later, on 8^th July 1935, Valerie Ann Lewsey, daughter of Lily and Horace was born. Bert and Gladys had their second child, Margaret Hewitt, in spring 1938.

Extract from 1939 National Register

At the end of the 1930s, international tensions were once again increasing with the rise of Nazi Germany. With war looking like an increasingly likely prospect, a national register was taken in 1939. Although similar to a census, its main purpose was to provide data to enable the implementation of things like conscription and rationing. The extract from the register above shows how the household looked in 1939. Ada spent her time doing all the cooking and cleaning. Meanwhile her eldest son, Bert, is listed as a steward on The Britannic which was a transatlantic liner run by the White Star line. Fred is a wireless maker (at the Plessey factory in Vicarage Lane, Ilford), and Bill is a grocer’s shop assistant (like Granville in “Open All Hours” but hopefully without that vicious till). Win and Daisy’s names have been redacted.

Britain declared war on Germany on 3^rd September 1939 following Hitler’s invasion of Poland. All young men of a certain age were required to register for national service. Ada’s sons Fred and Bill were affected by this new law and were soon conscripted into military service. Fred joined the RAF and Bill joined the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. With many young men facing the prospect of travelling overseas to fight the enemy, there were a lot of weddings in the early years of the war. Win married Thomas Anderson on 21^st September 1940. Bill married Ada Downey a month later on 20^th October 1940. Ada’s youngest daughter Daisy married her sweetheart, Alan Melton, on 26^th April 1941. Within days of getting married the men were required to leave their loved ones behind to fight the enemy.

Back row (left to right): Lillian Lewsey (nee Hewitt), Daisy Melton (nee Hewitt) and Ada Hewitt (nee Downey)
Front row: Valerie Lewsey and Ada Hewitt (nee Deacon)

As the 1940s passed, Ada had more grandchildren. Win and Tom’s son, Craig Anderson, was born on 20^th September 1943.  Following the end of the war in 1945 Lily and Horace’s second child, a boy named Howard Lewsey, was born. In the following year there were two more births: Keith Alan Melton (son of Daisy and Alan) on 14^th June and Barbara Hewitt (daughter of Bill and Ada) on 25^th July. Ada’s youngest grandchild Barry Melton (son of Daisy and Alan) was born on 8^th July 1947. They were a close family anyway and with many of Ada’s grandchildren being of a similar age they often met up either for family gatherings or summer holidays to places like the Isle of Wight. Ada often came with them and it must have given her a great sense of satisfaction in those post-war years to see her children with families of their own.

It was only Ada’s son Fred who remained a bachelor. On leaving the RAF at the end of the war Fred decided to follow in the footsteps of his father and became a licensed victualler. On gaining his qualifications he became the landlord of the Flower Pot Hotel in the small Berkshire village of Aston close to Henley on Thames. Fred was to remain the landlord there for more than 40 years and The Flower Pot provided the ideal place for the other members of the family to escape to from time to time.

The Flower Pot Hotel, Aston

In time, Ada’s grandchildren grew up and her eldest grandson, John Hewitt, married Asuncion Visiedo Garcia in the autumn of 1959. Chon, as she liked to be known, was a nurse from Madrid in Spain. Within two years of the wedding Ada became a great-grandmother with the birth of their son John Hewitt in the spring of 1961. By this time Ada was becoming frail and had to give up her house in Twyford Road. She moved in with her eldest son and his wife. Bert and Gladys lived a couple of miles away at 5 Vernon Road, Seven Kings and the house backed onto the main railway line into London’s Liverpool Street station.

Ada became seriously ill with heart problems and passed away at Vernon Road on 12^th January 1962. Ada was 81 and had lived a long life during which she had witnessed many changes. She had been born during the reign of Queen Victoria and had lived through two world wars. Although she must have been immensely proud of her family she is bound to have felt a great sadness that she had lost her husband at the relatively young age of 44. She never married again.

Charlotte "Old Love" Sherwood

Charlotte Emily Sherwood was born on 23^rd June 1880 at 3 Medland Street, Ratcliff. Records show that this address was a common lodging house which suggests that her family were living in poverty. Charlotte was the seconds daughter of William and Kate Sherwood and shortly after her birth, the family moved to 1 The Orchard. Baby Charlotte lived there with her parents and her older siblings Kate and William. During the following year, the census describes the family living at the same address. Her father was working as a labourer and her sister Kate was attending school.

Ratcliff was a riverside suburb situated between Limehouse Basin (formally Regents Canal Dock) and Shadwell. The area was a terrible slum with squalid and overcrowded dwellings. Ratcliff was renowned for drunkenness, vice, opium dens and poverty. Whilst the main roads like Broad Street (now part of The Highway) and Butcher Row had improved since her father’s and grandfather’s day, the warren of side streets and alleyways were still dangerous and unhealthy places. 10 London Street, where they lived, was such a place. The street ran south from Commercial Road towards the river Thames just to the west of Limehouse Basin.

The quality of the housing took its toll on the health of the family. Charlotte’s baby sister, Martha was born on 16^th May 1883 and was baptised at the St James’s on 1^st June but tragedy struck later that year when she developed water on the brain. She was admitted to the Children’s Hospital on Glamis Road but sadly died on 12^th December. Tragedy struck again 5 years later when her father contracted bronchitis. He died on 19^th April 1888. Charlotte was just seven years old by the time this had happened.

Family tree showing parents and offspring

Charlotte’s mother, Kate, did not remain a widow for long and in summer 1889 she married George Alender. In 1891 they were still living in poverty at 10 London Street. Charlotte’s new stepfather was working as a coal porter, probably in nearby Limehouse Basin, which was where coal was transferred from the ships to barges for distribution on the canal network. Charlotte’s mum was a “charwoman”, a term meaning a cleaner. They all lived together in a single room. The two other rooms in the house were occupied by other families bringing the total number of people living at the address to 12. Life must have been hard, but one compensation was the sense of community that people shared in the East End. The family moved to 14 London Street and remained at that address for some years which suggests that George had given the family some stability.

As Charlotte grew up she would have seen the construction of Tower Bridge which opened in 1894. She would have also experienced slum clearances. Charles Booth’s survey of London Street in 1898/99 describes three houses below the Working Girls Institute being “shut” and two more being “half down“(being demolished).

At the age of 19 or 20 Charlotte met a local man called Bob, who worked as a clerk for a shipping company. The relationship developed and she became pregnant. Charlotte married John Robert Melton on 14^th October 1900 at St Paul’s Church in Shadwell. The church was on Shadwell High Street and overlooked the docks. It still stands to this day and it can be seen from The Highway and Shadwell Basin. At the time of the wedding, Charlotte was living at 442 Cable Street. In spite of the massive changes in the East End, this house is also still there.

Photo of 442 Cable Street taken in 2008

Four months after the wedding, Charlotte gave birth to a son whom they named Robert George Melton. By this time they were living at 29 Belgrave Street, Stepney; a property they shared with another couple and the landlady. This was an improvement from the slums she inhabited during her childhood. Bob was working as a commercial clerk and the money he earned was already helping to improve their standard of living.

Over the next few years Charlotte gave birth to more children and the family steadily grew. William Stanley Melton was born on 29^th October 1902 and on 15^th January 1905 they had a daughter named Winnifred Edith Lily Melton. Between the years of 1905 and 1908 they moved out of the East End altogether and settled in Essex. This is an indication of Bob and Charlotte’s increasing prosperity. They moved into 59 Saxon Road and their family continued to grow. On 4^th December 1907 Edith Dorothy Florence Melton was born and on 19^th March 1910 their third son, Bernard Charles Melton arrived. More births followed with Kathleen Agnes born on 20^th July 1914 and Arthur Sidney the following year.

War with Germany broke out in August 1914. As a 35 year old family man, Charlotte’s husband would not have been compelled to volunteer for the army. However, in 1916, the government was forced to call up older and married men for active service. After a period of training, Bob was sent to the Western Front in August 1917. This must have been a worrying time for Charlotte, as she would have been made aware of dangers her husband was about to face after three years of news coverage about the war. She also had to manage financially and look after their children.

In March 1918, Charlotte would have been notified that her husband was ill and had been invalided back to England. He had been taken to the Birmingham war hospital and is likely to have made the journey up from London at least once during his three month stay in hospital. After Bob was discharged, he was sent to Shoreham camp for training. He must have been given leave during this period. In October 1918, with Germany nearing defeat, he was given a post in the Army Pay Corps rather than being sent back to the front. This must have been an enormous relief for Charlotte. The war ended in November 1918 and there was much celebration. By this time, Charlotte was four months pregnant.

Charlotte gave birth to Alan Douglas Melton on 19^th April 1919 at 59 Saxon Road, Ilford. Less than two years later, in the early months of 1921, Charlotte and Bob’s last son, Kenneth Melton, was born.

Charlotte and her family continued to live in Saxon Road until the early 1930s. They then moved to 136 Stratton Drive in Barking. This house was brand new and was a typical 1930s semi with three bedrooms, a bathroom, lounge, kitchen and dining room. A real luxury compared with the slums of her childhood. It was apparently a time of happiness as they were able to go away on holidays and day trips with the family.

Photo of Charlotte and Bob thought to have been taken in the late 1930s

 The outbreak of the Second World War changed all of this. Charlotte’s sons were called up to fight for their country and this must have been the source of much anxiety for her. Life on the home front was difficult too. From September 1940 to June 1941 London was bombed by the Germans on an almost nightly basis and the period came to be known as the Blitz. From 1944 there was a new threat posed by the German’s new reprisal weapons. The V1 and V2 rockets were launched from the Low Countries which resulted in a disproportionately large number of them falling over the Essex and Kent suburbs of London. Thankfully Charlotte and Bob managed to get through the war years unscathed.

After the war, with Bob having retired from his position as divisional office manager at the shipping company, their life became more relaxed. They had 12 more years together and during this time they saw their children have children of their own and they spent a lot of time with their extended family. Their son, Arthur, and his wife Win, lived in nearby Dereham Road with their two daughters Janet and Jill. Charlotte’s brother in law, Albert, lived in nearby Halsham Crescent with his wife Henrietta and their children Joan, Iris and Pamela. By all accounts Charlotte was a very amusing lady and used to make everybody laugh.

Her husband’s death from stomach cancer in 1957 must have been an upsetting time for her, but with such a large family Charlotte was never going to be lonely. Charlotte or “Old Love” as she was sometimes known, was an entertaining addition to any family occasion. There is a story that one Christmas my great uncle Bill once placed a whoopee cushion under her chair and she roared with laughter.

Photo of "Old Love" with my grandad (Alan Melton) taken at Christmas time around  great Uncle Bill's (William Hewitt) house in the late 1960s. Seated the background is Asuncion Garcia Visiedo (known as Chon) the wife of  John Hewitt (son of Herbert John Hewitt). My mum (Theresa Melton nee Hand) is dancing flamenco style in front of the mantelpiece (probably after a few babychams)

Sadly as Charlotte grew older, she started suffering from senile dementia and was placed in a nursing home. She passed away on 28^th December 1970 at Dagenham Hospital aged 90 years.

Charlotte lived through a period of massive change, not just in her own life but in the wider world. Charlotte (and Bob) came from very humble beginnings in London’s East End and through hard work and sheer determination managed to bring the Melton family into relative prosperity from which future generations, like my own, could derive benefit. She is remembered fondly by older members of the family and it is clear that her legendary sense of humour saw her through some very tough times. She definitely seemed larger than life!

Charles the Printer

Charles James Upson was born at 11 Brandon Grove, Ilford on 1^st March 1889 and was the first child of Charles and Elizabeth Upson. At the time of his birth his father was working as a milkman. Two years after his birth, the young Charles was living with his parents at 7 Southborough Street, Little Ilford. At the time, his father was still working as a milkman.

When Charles was 5 years old he was joined by younger brother, Wilfred Owen Upson. His birth certificate states that he was born in Plumstead in Kent which suggests the family moved. However, by early 1897, when another by the name of Arthur was born, they were back in Ilford. A further brother, Albert Edward, was born during the summer of 1899.

By the time of the 1901 census, when Charles was 12 years old, he was living with his family at 29 Park Cottages, Ley Street, Ilford. In the years that followed, the family grew further. Later in 1901 a baby sister named Rose Ellen was born and then in the summer of 1904, the family was completed by the birth of Elsie Maud Upson. By this time it is probable that Charles had started an apprenticeship to become a printer.

By 1911, now aged 22, Charles was working as a machine minder at a print works. The census records him still living with his parents at 63 Ley Street, Ilford. This may well have been the same address as in 1901. At that time his younger brothers, Wilf and Bert, were working in a grocers shop.

Charles met a young woman named Violet Lily Snow who was the daughter of a railway coach engineer and they embarked upon a serious relationship. Soon afterwards she fell pregnant. They were married, no doubt with pressure from their parents, on Sunday 3^rd August 1913. The wedding took place at parish church in Little Ilford and the weather on the day was fine and sunny with a temperature of 76 degrees Fahrenheit. At time of the wedding, Charles was living with his parents at 16 Frances Avenue which was close to the railway line and just off the High Road. Later, Charles and his new wife moved to their own home at 81 Stanley Road, just 10 minutes’ walk away.

Their first child, Violet Maud Upson was born on 8^th January 1914. Later that year Britain was at war with Germany. Charles was now 25 years old. Some young men of his age were caught up with the patriotic fervour and volunteered to serve in the army. Charles did not volunteer but continued working as a printer.

Charles worked in the print room for the local newspaper, The Ilford Recorder. His workplace at 169 High Road was just a short walk from home. The newspaper had been in circulation since 1898 and had gained a good reputation. On 2^nd January 1915 there was a particular local news story that gained national coverage. At 9:20am a packed commuter train on its way to Liverpool Street had just passed Ilford station when it was struck by an express train from Clacton. Nine people were killed and many were injured.

On 27^th January 1916 the government introduced the Military Service Act, thereby forcing conscription into the British Army. Initially it applied to all unmarried and widowed men between the ages of 18 and 41, but on 25^th May 1916 this was extended to married men. Charles now had to fight for his country.

By this stage of the war, conscripted men had no choice of which service, regiment or unit they served with, although if a man preferred the navy it got priority to take him. Charles was assigned to the Machine Gun Corps, but as the MGC often had teams assigned to different infantry units, it is difficult to know where he served. Charles would have been trained to use the Vickers machine gun which was the standard issue weapon.

The Vickers machine gun was fired from a tripod and was cooled by water held in a jacket around the barrel. The gun weighed 28.5 lbs, the water coolant a further 10lbs and the tripod 20 lbs. Bullets were assembled into a canvas belt, which held 250 rounds and it could fire for 30 seconds at a rate of 500 rounds per minute before it required reloading. Two men were required to carry the equipment and two the ammunition. A Vickers machine gun would have also had two spare men.

A total of 170,500 officers and men served in the MGC of which 62,049 were killed, wounded or missing. Following the end of the war, Private Charles J Upson received two campaign medals: the Victory medal and the British medal. In early 1917, following Charles’s departure to fight in the trenches, his wife had given birth to another daughter who was named Ivy Winnifred Upson.

On his return from the war, Charles resumed working as a printer and settled back into his old life in Ilford before the war. Within a few months of his return, his wife was pregnant again and on 8^th January 1920 a third daughter named Constance Irene Upson was born.

After having three daughters, Charles was keen to have a son. He got his wish on 29^th August 1923 when Roy Charles Upson was born.

As far as we know, the 1920s were happy times for the Upson family. In 1927/28 they moved to a brand new house 26 Clifton Road in Newbury Park, not far from the recently built Eastern Avenue. Charles continued work at the printing press and was became a printer’s machine room overseer while his wife stayed at home to look after the children.

In 1931 tragedy struck. Charles’s wife fell seriously ill and was admitted to King George Hospital. She died on 2^nd September 1931 of pulmonary thrombosis and malignant endocarditis. It must have come as an awful shock to Charles and his children.

Following Violet’s death things must have been incredibly difficult. Charles would have needed to carry on working to support the family and the role of childcare must have fallen to his daughter Violet who would have been only 17 years old.

We do not know whether Charles was looking for a surrogate mother for his children or whether he simply fell in love again, but less than 18 months after his wife’s death, he married again. He married Freda Gwendolyn Hubbard at the local registry office on 18^th February 1933. Auntie Gwen, as she liked to be known, was initially not accepted by Charles’s children and life at home was probably rather strained. Despite this, Charles and Gwen had a child together and in 1935 Julie Upson was born.

Charles continued working as a printer’s overseer until his retirement at the age of 60 which would have been in around 1949. By this time Charles had become a grandfather. My mum remembers sitting on his knee as a small child and playing with the hook that he had in place of the hand that he had apparently lost in a printing accident years before. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to determine when this accident took place, but the fact that he was fit enough to serve in the trenches suggests it happened following his return from the First World War.

When Charles retired he was still living at 26 Clifton Road with Gwen and their daughter Julie. Unfortunately poor Charles was not to have a long retirement. He died of a massive heart attack on 17^th September 1952. Charles and Gwen had been on holiday at Myrtle Cottage in Winchelsea Beach, Sussex at the time. The suddenness of Charles death took everyone by surprise and it was must have been a huge shock for the family to bear, but at least he did not have to suffer a protracted illness. By the time of his death, Auntie Gwen had been accepted by her step-children and the family was united.

Bert The Publican

Herbert Arthur Hewitt was born on 20^th May 1872 at 26 Townsend Cottages, St John‘s Wood, London. His father was an organ builder and Bert’s older brothers; Charles, Thomas junior and Frederick were all involved in their father’s business. Bert was the youngest in the family. He was baptised on 1st November 1874 at St Stephens the Martyr, Avenue Road in St John's Wood.

Bert's birth certificate

Bert spent his childhood growing up at 26 Townsend Cottages and according to the census in 1881, was attending school. His older brothers, Thomas junior (24) and Frederick (22), helped their father build and repair pipe organs. His sister Emma (20) was a dressmaker and his other sister Mary (13), was at home with their mother. Bert’s eldest brother, Charles, had left home.

As Bert grew up he must have been surrounded by the tools of his father’s trade and their home probably had its own workshop. Despite this, there is no evidence that Bert ever took an interest in the family business. By 1891, at the age of 18, he had already left the family home to start his own life. Unfortunately Bert does not appear in the 1891 census, so it is impossible to determine what his life was like at this time, but he may have worked behind a bar.

Bert next appears in 1901. By then he was 28 years old and the joint manager of a pub called The Dreghorn Castle. The pub was situated at 157 Queen’s Crescent, Kentish Town, London. He ran the pub with a woman named Elizabeth Chillystone. Together they were in charge of three barmen (Ernest Smith, John Tomkin and Frederick Bouchien) and a cook named Louisa Butson.

Running a pub was hard work. Bert and his staff would have typically worked 12-13 hour shifts on weekdays and 9-10 hours on a Sunday. At the time, the majority of pubs opened at 7:30-8:00am and did not shut until 12:30am, although some pubs (those near markets) opened at 5am and shut earlier at around 10:30pm. An hour to an hour and a half was allowed for meals and occasional time off was granted at the discretion of the manager.

Just three years later, on 17^th April 1904, Bert married Ada Louisa Deacon at Christ Church on Albany Street, London.  The church was close to Regents Park and at the time of the wedding, both the bride and the groom were living at nearby Clarence Gardens. Ada at no.46 and Bert at no.48. There were numerous pubs in the area including two on Clarence Gardens itself and it is likely that Bert was working at one of the local pubs when he met Ada.

Soon after they were married, Bert and Ada moved into The Gosset Arms at 111 Gosset Road, Bethnal Green. Given his newly married status, Bert may have been the licencee rather than just the pub manager. Not long after they had moved in, Ada became pregnant. Ada gave birth to a son on 17^th July 1905 and they named him Herbert John Hewitt.

Excerpt from Electoral Roll for 1909

He next appears in the Electoral Roll in 1909. He's living at 73 White Lion Street in Pentonville which according to local directories from the period,  was the address for the Three Johns public house. The following year, Bert and Ada had moved back to the East End and were living at 21 Mare Street, Hackney. Bert was no longer a licensed victualler and was instead working as a grocer/beer retailer in the ground floor shop below their living quarters. Why had they left the pub and why had he ceased to be a publican? We will probably never know. One scenario is that there was some incident which resulted in him losing his license. He wasn’t to become a license holder again for several years. 

Lilly's birth certificate

On 5^th March 1910, Bert and Ada had a daughter whom they named Lillian Alice Hewitt. Within a year of her birth, they moved to 5 Sutherland Road, Bow. According to the 1911 census Bert’s parents, brother Frederick and sister Alice were also living at the address. By this time Bert was working behind the bar at a pub called Whittington Stone on Highgate Hill in North London.

Whittington Stone in 1911 (now demolished)

Highgate Hill is quite a distance from Bow, especially for someone who worked long hours behind the bar. The long commute probably spurred Bert and Ada to move closer to his place of employment and by the time their third child, Frederick Henry Hewitt, was born on 13^th March 1912, they were living at 4 Wedmore Gardens in Upper Holloway. Their new address was just a 10 minute walk from the Whittington Stone and this would have made life a lot easier. It seems that Bert and Ada remained at the same address for several years and their third son, William Arthur Hewitt was born on 10th April 1915.

War broke out in August 1914. At 42 years old, Bert would have been too old to join the army and he probably continued working at the same pub. The outbreak of war had a profound affect on pubs in the UK. The government, concerned about troops getting drunk when on leave, decided to drastically reduce the number of hours a pub was allowed to open. Under the new legislation, pubs opened between midday and 2:30pm and then between 6:30pm and 9:30pm. These opening hours remained unchanged for many decades after the war had ended.

Bert’s next big break arrived on 10^th March 1917 when he became the joint license holder of The Plough in Ilford Lane, Ilford, Essex. The pub was huge and Bert would have needed to employ a team of staff to help run it. Later that year, on 18th October, Bert and Ada had another daughter, Winnifred Hewitt and on 25^th May 1919, Daisy Eveline Hewitt was born. Both daughters were born at the pub.

Bert continued to run The Plough until 8^th November 1924 when ill health forced him to give up the license. At this stage he had been suffering from a stomach ulcer for over a year and his condition had worsened to the extent that he was unable to continue. By this stage, Bert (junior) had left home to join the merchant navy and Bill, Win and Daisy were all boarding at the licensed victualler’s school in Slough. Bert, Ada, Lily and Fred moved to a nearby flat at 10 Harts Parade on Ilford Lane.

The Plough, Ilford Lane (now demolished)

Bert’s health took a serious turn for the worse on 17th March 1925 and he was rushed to hospital. He died three days later on 20^th March of a perforated stomach ulcer. He was just 52 years old. The cause of his death suggests he may have been a heavy drinker, which isn't surprising given his chosen profession. Sadly, I don't have any photos of Bert and I don't know what he looked like.

Bert wouldn't recognise Ilford Lane now. The Plough was demolished in 2007 to make way for a health centre. According to Ben Judah's new book This Is London, the surrounding area has just a 10% white British population and Ilford Lane itself has become a red light district.