Richard the Cattle Salesman

Snow family tree

Richard Arnold Snow was born in Braintree, Essex and baptised at St Michael the Archangel church on 15th June 1826. He was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Snow and Thomas, who was originally from the village of Great Waltham, was a pig dealer. His mother Elizabeth, who had been born Elizabeth Arnold, was originally from nearby Kelvedon. The couple had been married for 2 years at this point and already had a daughter, Eliza.

Baptism record

Richard had an older sister, Eliza and there could have been other older siblings who may not have survived infancy. We do know there were two surviving younger siblings. Richard’s younger brother Thomas arrived when Richard was 10 years old. Thomas was followed by a sister, Ann, two years later. Richard apparently spent his childhood growing up in Braintree and certainly by 1841 they were living in New Street close to the centre of the town. 

As a pig dealer, Richard's father would buy livestock either from local agricultural fairs or directly from farmers. In the 1840s and prior to the development of the railways, these animals were transported across the country on foot. They would be fitted with iron shoes rather like horseshoes and walked long distances accompanied by the salesmen and their assistants, the drovers. Depending on the season, the pigs would be sold on at markets to be slaughtered or lead to pasturelands to be fattened up. The job involved staying away from home and travelling great distances. 

In August 1844, when Richard was just 18 years old, his father passed away. The funeral took place on 15th August at the church of St Michael the Archangel in Braintree. This event, as sad as it was, would have been one of the most important events of his life. We don't know what happened in the immediate aftermath of his fathers death, but four years later the Post Office Directory shows that he had moved to London and was running a ham and beef shop at 34 High Holborn. His business is also listed in the 1850 P.O. Directory, However, by the time of the census the following year the 25 year old Richard was lodging at 21 Ormsby Street in Shoreditch and was reduced to sharing a room with a 21 year old wood block carver in a house run by a widow named Elizabeth Baines. She lived on the premises with her sister and nephew with Richard and the wood carver occupying one of the rooms with the remaining room containing two further lodgers. His business the business had evidently failed as he was now working as a cattle salesman, similar to his father. 

Ormsby Street 1976

It was probably whilst living here that met a young woman who made such an impression on him that they decided to get married. His young fiancée was called Clara Collier. Clara was a year younger than Richard and was the daughter of a pewterer who was descended from silk weavers. She had grown up in Shoreditch. Richard and Clara married at Hackney parish church on 8th August 1852. 

After the wedding, Richard and Clara remained in Shoreditch, possibly with her family, but it wasn’t long before they started a family of their own. Their first daughter, Clara, was born in the spring of the following year. She was followed by Eliza who was born in the early months of 1855. Unfortunately, by this time Richard's past business debts had caught up with him and he was forced to apply for an interim order at the court for the relief of insolvent debtors in a bid to try and prevent legal proceedings against him. The order required him to attend a hearing at the court house in Portugal Street, Lincolns Inn so that any mitigating circumstances could be assessed. Richard attended the court on Thursday 1st March 1855 at 11am and whatever he said on that morning must have kept him out of debtors prison as there is no record that he was ever incarcerated. 

Extract from the London Gazette

The article above describes Richard as a salesman's assistant and a licensed drover. In those days the hours during which cattle could be moved through the streets were strictly regulated. No cattle were permitted to be driven to Smithfield Fair before midnight on a Sunday, while it was forbidden to drive animals within one mile of Smithfield before 11 pm on market days. Anyone breaching these rules could be prosecuted. It was possible, however, after 1867, to drive cattle through the streets of London, provided the prior permission of the police commissioner had been obtained. Such regulations applied both to local city drovers and to those persons bringing cattle from afar. Public concern with the barbaric ways with which the city drovers frequently treated their cattle prompted the Mayor's Court to issue an ordinance forbidding drovers from using '. . . any stick or other instrument the point of which shall be of greater length than one quarter of an inch ‘. Any drovers caught using sticks which had not been approved by the Clerk of the Court and marked accordingly, could be fined a sum up to forty shillings.

Birds eye view of Smithfield Market

In Oliver Twist, which Charles Dickens wrote in the late 1830s, he described Smithfield as being covered "nearly ankle deep with filth and mire: a thick steam perpetually rising from the reeking bodies of the cattle" with it's "unwashed, unshaven, squalid and dirty figures", the market was "a stunning bewildering scene which quite confounded the senses" Dickens' account gives us a good idea of what Smithfield must have been like when it was a 'live' meat market, when cattle were driven to market to be slaughtered on site. It was not until 1855 that the 'live' meat market was moved further north to Copenhagen Fields in Islington.

Richard's first son, Richard, was born in early 1857, they had moved to a place of their own in Hackney. Records suggest they remained in Hackney for about three and a half years before moving slightly further east to Homerton, which at the time still had a rural atmosphere. They moved into Geranium Cottage at no.3 Sydney Road at the junction with Marsh Hill. Marsh Hill, as the name implies, was the eastern extension of the High Street that lead downhill out of Homerton towards Hackney Marshes. The marshes were used at certain times of year under Lammas rights as grazing lands and this was probably an important factor in Richard’s decision to move to the area. Homerton also had decent amenities. At the time shops, lined both sides of the High Street and there were seven public houses. 

Homerton High Street c1870

Not long after moving there and at some time during the final months of 1860, Clara gave birth to twins whom they named Algernon Robert and Susan Catherine. Richard seems to have been making a success of his life as a cattle dealer because not only had he managed to move his family out to the relatively leafy suburbs, but he could also afford to employ a young servant girl. Richard and Clara’s third son, Walter, was born on 11th January 1863. His birth was followed by more children: Sarah Jane in spring 1865 and William James in the summer months of 1868.

The 1860s were not all plain sailing for Richard. In 1867 there was a nationwide outbreak of cattle plague which would have lead to restrictions in the movement of cattle. The Times newspaper for 12th September 1867 contains an article reporting a fresh case of the disease on Hackney Marshes. The unfortunate animal died along with 278,927 others across the country during the course of the outbreak. In addition to these deaths, the government’s veterinary office culled a further 56,911 healthy cattle in a bid to prevent the spread of the disease. This must have damaged Richard’s business and this may have been a period of hardship for him and his family. The other significant event of the decade was the opening of Homerton railway station in 1868. This was to be the catalyst for much speculative land development and spelled the end of rural Homerton. In spite of these challenges, Richard and his family remained at Geranium Cottage and he even had time to indulge in one of his favourite hobbies: fishing. The Chelmsford Chronicle dated Friday 13th November carried the following article:

By the time of the 1871 census, Richard was working as a cattle drover and as such, probably spent periods away from home. His daughters Clara and Eliza had grown up and were working as teachers and his younger children were attending school. 

1871 census

They remained at the house on Marsh Hill until at least 1874 (there is an entry in the local street directory for them that year). Around that time the open land south of Marsh Hill was being developed so that Homerton was now connected to Hackney Wick, which was itself becoming something of an industrial centre. This lead to an influx of poor labourers who were crammed into hastily built overcrowded dwellings. Social decline set in and it was time for the Snow family to move on, however problems persisted. Heavy rains in both November 1875 and in April 1878 lead to large scale flooding as the River Lea burst its banks. The Times newspaper of 12th April 1878 describes Hackney marshes as “…a vast lake, dotted here and there by a tree or a house, access to which was only possible by boats.” The drainage which fed into the River Lea had nowhere to go and consequently basements of houses in Hackney and Homerton became flooded. 

1881 census

Whether it was the flooding or the gradual social decline of Homerton we shall never know, but by the spring of 1881 the family had moved across the River Lea to Essex and were residing at 10 Temple Mill Lane, West Ham. Richard is described as “unoccupied” so perhaps his livelihood had suffered as a result of the floods. To compensate for the loss of income, his wife, Clara, had taken employment as a governess and his daughters were earning money as dressmakers. His son, William, was at school but his older sons had all left home to find their own way in the world.  However, two years after the census tragedy struck the family as Richard's son, Algernon, died. He was laid to rest at West Ham Cemetery on 18th December 1883. He was just 23 years old. 

In the years that followed, Richard’s livelihood eventually recovered and he resumed work as a cattle salesman. This turn around in fortune made it possible for him to leave the increasingly dirty and industrialised surroundings of Temple Mills to a more salubrious neighbourhood. They moved to 114 Olinda Road in Stamford Hill. At the time Stamford Hill was already growing in population due to the migration of the more successful people from the East End and it already had a small but growing Jewish community. Unfortunately for Richard, just as his economic situation was improving, he started suffering from ill health and he was diagnosed with heart disease. Richard died a year after his diagnosis, on the 12th April 1890, with his daughter Anne by his side. He was 64 years old. The family laid him to rest in West Ham Cemetery alongside his son, Algernon.

Ted the Carpenter

River Tamar map

When grandma was alive, she often mentioned that her mother's parents were from the West Country and since embarking on my research in 2007, I have proven this to be entirely true. In fact, I have managed to trace the Cornish branch of the family back as far as the 16th Century and plan to reveal more about this in the coming months.

This blog article describes the life of Edward Deacon, who was born in the Cornish village of Cargreen, on the banks of the River Tamar, in 1829. He was baptised at parish church in Landulph on 13th December 1829 and according to the records, his father, John, was an agricultural labourer.


Edward Deacon was the second son of John and Jane Deacon and when he was a small boy his parents decided to move the family away from Cargreen. One day they boarded a boat and sailed downriver to East Stonehouse on the Devon bank of the Tamar close to Plymouth. Here, Edward settled into a new home with his parents; older brother, James and older sister Mary Ann. The family settled in and before long Edward had a new younger brother and sister to play with. Jane Deacon was born around 1834 and John in around 1836. When it was time for them to be baptised they made the short journey back across the river to the parish church in Landulph.


By the time the census was taken on the night of the 6th/7th June 1841, Ted was living on Brownlow Street in East Stonehouse with his parents and siblings. His father, John Rouse Deacon, was working as a labourer at the time and apparently liked to drink. Life in the Deacon household may have been quite fraught at times during the 1840s. One imagines Ted’s mother, Jane, having to be the head of the family while her husband was befuddled with alcohol. In the end his drinking caught up with him and Ted’s father died at home of liver disease on 17th October 1848. At the time of his death, Ted was eighteen years old. The family arranged for the coffin to be transported upriver and he was buried at Landulph parish church on 22nd October.

Extract from 1851 census

By 30th March 1851 life for the Deacons had changed. Ted’s mother ran a horse and cart business and Ted’s older brother, James, was a “cart man”. They were probably conveying goods to and from Devonport docks which were accessible via a toll bridge over Stonehouse Creek. Ted was now 21 years old. He had trained as a carpenter and would have recently completed his apprenticeship. Ted’s younger sister Jane, aged 18, was employed as a domestic servant. Meanwhile his youngest brother John Rouse was attending school. The family were still living at 17 Brownlow Street, East Stonehouse.

By 1849 Plymouth had been linked to the growing railway network. This enabled travel by train to London for the first time via the South Devon Line and the Great Western Railway. Work commenced on a new railway bridge over the Tamar linking Devonport with Saltash. Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse were lit by gaslight, the gas for which was produced at the works on the road linking Plymouth with Devonport. The population of Stonehouse had increased to 9712 by 1848.

Marriage record

All Souls, Langham Place

In the early 1850s Ted met a girl named Ann Maria Stacey and they fell in love. Ann was the daughter of John Stacey, a labourer from Torpoint in Cornwall. What happened next is unclear, but one family story alleges that Ann was engaged to another and there was some doubt as to whether they could continue seeing each other. Matters came to a head when Ann became pregnant and it seems they fled to London to elope. They were married on 9th April 1854 at All Souls Church, Langham Place, Marylebone. There were apparently no members of their respective families at the wedding service.  If the above story is true, they probably lost the baby or it died in its infancy as there is no record of that child surviving until the next census in 1861. In time their families probably forgave them. 

After a while, Ted and Ann managed to acquire enough money to buy the lease on a house. They moved into 46 Clarence Gardens, St Pancras in the mid 1850s and started a family together. The house was situated close to the eastern side of Regents Park. Ann became pregnant again and when it was time for the birth, she travelled back to Torpoint in Cornwall to be with her parents for the “lying in” period. John Rouse Deacon was born there on 16th April 1856. His birth was followed by another son whom they named Edward Deacon in around 1860. The census taken the following year shows that Edward was working as a joiner which, according to the Victorian journalist Henry Mayhew, was "a man who works in a building, and usually at a bench, at everything the plane goes over, such as doors, windows, sashes and frames, closets, skirting, flooring - in fact, the joiner is the preparer, fixer, and finisher of a building." Living with the family was a 22 year old dressmaker from Norfolk named Emily Ruden. At the time, around three-quarters or four-fifths of all carpenters were from the country, so Edward was fairly typical in this respect. Wages in London were double those paid back in the West Country, so that explains why Edward relocated.

Clarence Gardens

In the 1860s they had two more children, both daughters. Annie Maria Deacon was born in the spring of 1864 and Lillian Deacon was born around 1869. They continued living at 46 Clarence Gardens and by 1871 Edward had specialised as a blind maker and his son, John, was now a carpenter's apprentice.

Extract from 1871 census

In autumn of 1874 Ted’s mother fell ill and passed away. This sad event would have necessitated a trip back to Plymouth for the funeral. By this time Ted himself was ill and was prone to frequent bouts of coughing. He would have been advised by his doctor that he was suffering from consumption (Tuberculosis). Unfortunately, his condition worsened and on 29th September 1875 he died. Rather unusually, he was buried the same day as his death at Highgate Cemetery.

Following his death, 46 Clarence Gardens passed to his wife, Ann, who continued living at the property. Census records for the 1881,1891 and 1901 suggest that she earned an income by renting out the rooms to various people. She eventually died in 1902 and was buried alongside her husband in Highgate Cemetery on 20th May.

Parents of Daisy Eveline Hewitt and her mother's lineage back to Edward Deacon

John the Artist

When the enumerator arrived at the doorstep on 6^th June 1841 it must have come as something of a surprise to John. Forgetting it was census night, he had taken the family over to the home of Elizabeth Mitcham on Unicorn Hill for the evening. Along with eight thousand or so other people in the village of Redditch, Elizabeth was a needle-maker. In fact the village was famous throughout the country for the manufacture of needles and fish hooks. John enjoyed a much less mundane occupation. He was an artist. John’s house and studio was on nearby Fish Hill. He lived there with his wife Mary Ann and their two children Matthew and Dominick.

John had been with his Irish wife Mary Ann (or Marian) for thirteen years. The couple were married at the parish church of St Alkmund in the village of Duffield near Derby on 23rd November 1828. John Evans Hand was originally from Dudley in Worcestershire, but the most credible record of his baptism is from the Mares Green Independent Chapel in nearby West Bromwich dated 3rd June 1804. This states that he was born on 22nd April 1804 and that his parents were John and Sarah Hand. It is possible that his parents were subsequently married in Birmingham just under a month later as it is recorded that a John Hand married a Sarah Evans at St Martins close to the city's famous Bull Ring on 1st July 1804.

Just under two years into his marriage, John's name appeared in the Derby Mercury. The edition dated 24th February 1830 states:

 We don't know whether he ever got his bag and watercolour paints back but what we do know is that shortly afterwards his son, Matthew Samuel Hand, was born. Another son, Dominick, arrived four years later, but by then the family had moved back to a city which may have been familiar to him from his childhood - Birmingham. Wrightsons directory for 1839 shows John Hand, a portrait painter, residing at 9 Marshall Street, but for some reason the family felt compelled to move to Redditch by the time of the 1841 census.

Portrait painting was the early Victorian equivalent to having your photograph taken at a studio and may have helped keep food on the table when his other art commissions dried up. Moving regularly may have helped John escape his creditors when he fell on hard times. 

Their third son, Peter, was born at the parish workhouse in the nearby village of Tardebigg on 22^nd February 1842. In the days before the National Health Service, it was common for women to give birth in the workhouse, particularly if the birth was difficult and it wasn't necessarily an indicator of poverty.  

By 1846, John and his family had returned to Birmingham and their fourth child, Mary Ann,  was born on 7^th January.  At the time, the family were residing at 24 Lower Hurst Street. Mary Ann was baptised at St Peter's RC chapel off Broad Street on 1st February 1846.  The chapel was demolished in 1969 and the site now lies below the International Convention Centre. That same year, John was fortunate enough to have a piece of artwork exhibited at the Birmingham Society of Artists in Temple Row. His painting, entitled "Portrait of a Gentleman" was displayed in the vestibule:

On the back of this success, the family’s financial situation was evidently on a more stable footing by the late 1840s. Indeed, the local directories for 1849 and 1850 show that he was still at 24 Lower Hurst Street. John and Mary Ann's 5th and final child, a daughter named Elizabeth, was born on 3rd July 1849. Like her elder sister, Elizabeth was baptised at the St Peters RC chapel on 22nd July 1849. 

One explanation for the improvement of John’s financial affairs is that Birmingham had become a boom town. The industrial revolution had resulted in Birmingham becoming one of the leading manufacturing centres in the country. A new middle class was emerging and these people could afford to spend money having their portrait painted. The wealthiest people, the factory owners and rich merchants, financed the art world and as a result there was a growing artist community in the town. Another factor that could explain the improvement in the family’s financial position is that John’s two eldest sons were now old enough to work and contribute to the family’s income.

There was a darker side to life in Victorian Birmingham. The cramped and unsanitary conditions in the more working class neighbourhoods lead to an outbreak of cholera in 1849 which claimed many lives. In the following year Birmingham was the scene of anti-catholic rioting when the Pope reinstated the Roman Catholic religious hierarchy in England by making Cardinal Wiseman the head of the church in England.

By the time of the 1851 census John and his family had moved to 24 Broom Street in the Bordesley area of Birmingham. Matthew was working as a ‘house painter’ and Dominick was employed as a ’rule maker’. Both Peter and Mary Ann were attending school.

In the summer of 1852, John’s son, Matthew, got married Sarah Gawthorp. Sarah was from Southwark in Surrey. Two years later, his other son, Dominic, married her sister Nancy. Following their weddings the sons and their wives probably lived under the same roof as John, however once they started having children of their own the house must have become overcrowded. The lack of space prompted Matthew and Dominic to move south to Southwark with their wives and families to begin a new life by around 1857.

Shortly after the departure of his two eldest sons, John and the remaining members of his family started a new life of their own in Lancashire. According to the 1861 census they were living at 2 River Place, Salford. John was still working as an artist, his wife Mary Ann was employed as a dress and mantle maker and Peter was working as a stone carver. Elizabeth was at school but John’s daughter Mary Ann was not at home. She was in fact working as a domestic servant at the Cross Keys, a local public house, on that particular evening.

Why did they move again? The following scenario may have been a factor: from the 1850s onwards photography was developing and becoming more widely available. Photographic studios were opening and people chose to have portrait photographs produced rather than a portrait painted. This would have been bad news unless John could adapt his skills. In addition, the departure of his two eldest bread-winning sons John’s financial situation probably took a turn for the worse. Secondly, the art scene in Manchester was growing. On 5^th May 1857 a fine art exhibition opened in a specially commissioned wrought iron building in Old Trafford. The exhibition was financed by local manufacturers and businessmen.

In the end, the move north did nothing to ease John’s financial concerns in the long term and it seems he moved down to London in 1861/62. With little or no money, the most likely scenario is that he either moved in with Matthew or Dominic, or perhaps they lodged in cheap rented accommodation nearby. What we do know is that by April/May 1862 John had fallen seriously ill. His illness probably started with a fever and body aches. This was followed by a rash several days later. At this point he would have been admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital and in the days that followed his condition deteriorated with the onset of pneumonia and kidney failure. He died in hospital on 15^th May 1862.

The cause of his death was Typhus fever. Typhus fever was not uncommon and epidemics occurred throughout the 19^th century. The disease was transmitted by body lice, which were widespread in the cramped working class housing of the day. John probably contracted the disease after being bitten. It was a tragic end for a creative man whose life had been afflicted by financial uncertainty. His legacy would have been the paintings he produced. Sadly none of these are known to have survived.

Walter the carriage builder

Walter Snow was born on 11^th January 1863 at Geranium Cottage which was situated at the junction of Sidney Road with Marsh Hill in Homerton.  Walter was the seventh child and third son of Richard and Clara Snow. Walter’s older siblings were Clara, Eliza, Richard,  Anne and the twins Algernon and Susan.  In those days Homerton was barely more than a hamlet adjoining the surrounding villages of Hackney, Hackney Wick and Clapton and lay close to open fields. Marsh Hill led downhill to the marsh gate and the marshes that lay beyond. Walter’s father was a cattle salesman and is likely to have used the Hackney marshes as grazing lands for cattle until it was time to sell them. It is not difficult to imagine young Walter accompanying his father to the marshes to inspect his livestock.

Marsh Hill 1890

As Walter grew up, his parents had more children so he was no longer the baby of the family. Sarah Jane came into the world when Walter was two and just over three years later, his brother William James was born. By the time Walter was eight years old, the family were still living at Geranium Cottage. Walter was attending school and his elder sisters, Clara and Eliza, were both working as teachers, possibly even at the same school. Walter would have been old enough now to notice changes in the world around him. Homerton had been connected to the railway network in 1868 and among his childhood memories must have been the images of new buildings being constructed. Gradually the fields of his early childhood were being replaced by rows of houses. Towards Hackney Wick the chimneys of industry stretched skywards and beyond, at the southern end of the Hackney marshes, the Great Eastern Railway depot had increased in size. Walter remained at Geranium Cottage until he was at least eleven years old.

During his young life he had witnessed enormous changes and as he approached his teenage years, events were about to take a dramatic turn. Heavy and prolonged rains fell in November 1875 and again in April 1878. Both events lead to widespread flooding. The River Lea burst its banks and inundated the surrounding marshlands. In Hackney and Homerton the basements of many houses were flooded. At that age the floods must have been an exciting but slightly scary experience for Walter. It is likely that Walter’s father lost livestock in the floods which may have lead to some short term hardship.

The following year sixteen-year-old Walter began working at the Great Eastern Railway’s Stratford depot as a carpenter. His starting salary at the rank of “Boy” was 1s 4d a day. Two years later Walter had left the family home and was lodging at 1 Edith Road in Stratford New Town with his older brother Richard, who was a cattle salesman, Robert who was a milkman and a brush maker, called George English, who was perhaps a friend. Walter and his brothers were lodging with the Gobbett family. The head of the family, John Gobbett, and his wife Sophie were both from Suffolk. John and Sophie had six of their children living at the house with them: Walter, Arthur, Albert, George, Thomas and Clara. Their two eldest children, Walter and Arthur, were both plasterers. Albert was a brush maker. George was a plasterer’s labourer and Clara was a twelve-year-old schoolgirl. The nature of their occupations gives some indication of the local industries at the time. There must have been a brush factory in the area and the fact that Walter was a carpenter and that four of the others were plasterers suggest there was a lot of building work going on in the area.

As time passed it is clear that Walter made quite an impression on the young Clara, who was on the verge of becoming a woman. Being five years her senior, he must have seemed quite alluring to her and over time, the feeling became mutual. This must have been quite a concern for Clara’s parents and by the time she had reached the age of seventeen Walter decided, or was persuaded by her parents, to take Clara’s hand in marriage. The wedding took place at Emmanuel parish church on Romford Road in Forest Gate on 2^nd November 1885 and among the witnesses signing the register, was her father John Gobbett. Perhaps he was just making sure that Walter would go through with the wedding! Or perhaps Walter had grown close to the family and it was only natural for her father to be the best man. At the time of the wedding both bride and groom were living on Chobham Road in Stratford.

Emmanuel Church, Forest Gate

Within two years of their wedding, Walter and Clara started a family of their own. Walter junior was born in around 1887, John in around 1889 and Thomas in around 1891. Sadly Walter’s own father, Richard, passed away on 12^th April 1890. He had been ill for a year with heart disease. By this time Walter and his family were living at 25 Stewart Road, just a few minutes walk from his previous known address. Walter’s younger brother William, who was working as a milkman, was also living with them. Walter was still employed at the Great Eastern Railway’s depot as a carriage builder.

Over the next decade, Walter and Clara’s young family continued to grow. Their first daughter, Violet Lily, was born on 27^th May 1892 at 39 Edith Road. Clara Alice was born three years later and a further three years after that, Annie was born. With a wife and six young children to support, money must have been tight, so when Walter was promoted to the rank of foreman on 19^th March he must have been very pleased. As a foreman, his wages jumped to 45s a week. He was now assisting in the supervision of repairs, painting and cleaning to suburban carriage stock and in addition repairs to some mainline stock. He also assisted in supervising the writing of destination boards and lacquering work for carriages.

Entrance to GER works, Stratford

Now that Walter was earning more money, he decided to leave Stratford New Town for one of the recently constructed houses that had been erected in Manor Park.  The open fields surrounding Little Ilford had, over a period of just over a decade, been built into neat rows of houses that joined with East Ham and Forest Gate. The houses had been built speculatively and were aimed at workers commuting into London. For Walter it would have been a short train or tram journey down Romford Road to work.

In the first year of the new century Clara became pregnant again and early in 1901 Nellie Snow was born. By the time the census was taken that spring, Walter and his family were living at 108 Dersingham Avenue. The remainder of the year was to prove a difficult one for Walter. During the summer months his mother passed away and then within weeks of that, baby Nellie died too. As painful as this must have been for him, he had to continue working to support his wife and family. Within two years of these tragic losses, his wife Clara fell pregnant once again. Their fifth daughter Edith was born in around 1903.

Throughout the early 1900s Walter’s wages increased further to 60s a week. However while Walter’s work life was flourishing, there were worrying developments at home. His wife Clara was ill. What started out as an annoying cough developed into something altogether more sinister. The coughing would have worsened as the months passed and her weight would have dropped as her condition deteriorated. She had Tuberculosis. Clara died at their home on Dersingham Avenue on 14^th May 1908 with Walter by her side. She was just 39 years old. Interestingly, in addition to TB, the death certificate cites exhaustion and cirrhosis of the liver as the causes of her death. This suggests she may have had a drink problem. It is not too far fetched to assume that she may turned to alcohol when her daughter Nellie died. 

Clara Alice Snow burial record at City of London Cemetery, Manor Park

With his wife’s death, the responsibly of looking after the household chores would have fallen on the eldest daughters Violet and Clara. They would have been aged 16 and 13 at the time. Walter would have returned to work, no doubt stricken with grief, but at the same time relieved that his wife’s sufferings had ended. This grieving period did not apparently last long and whether it was for companionship, love or for more pragmatic reasons, he set about finding a new wife. On 4^th April 1909, less than 11 months after Clara’s death, he married Alice Maud Lee. Alice was the daughter of a publican and was originally from Market Harborough in Leicestershire. They married at St Leonard’s Church in Bromley-by-Bow and in the days leading up to the wedding Walter took lodgings within the parish at 11 St Leonard’s Street.

Following the wedding, Walter took his new wife back to Manor Park and in the following year, their first child was born. Doris, as she was named, was the eighth of his surviving children. Following the birth, Alice quickly became pregnant again and in the early months of 1911, Edward was born. By this time the family had moved to 21 Wentworth Road. Clearly the house in Dersingham Avenue contained too many sad memories. The census records that Walter’s son John was also employed as a “coach maker” and father and son would have probably travelled to work together. His eldest son Walter is not listed and had by this time left home to find his own way in the world. His other son Thomas was working as a blacksmith. His daughters Violet and Clara were engaged in household duties. Towards the end of the year Alice fell pregnant again and in the spring of 1912 she gave Walter another son. He was named Richard after his own father.

The following summer his eldest daughter, Violet, got married. By the time of the wedding Walter and his family had moved again and were living at 34 Third Avenue. Alice was pregnant yet again and within weeks of his daughter’s wedding she gave birth to a daughter whom they named Ivy. Even by the standards of the day, this was now a large family.

GER carriage workshop, Stratford

As 1913 gave way to 1914 Walter received another promotion at work. He was now in charge of 88 staff comprising 54 coach makers, 5 carriage makers, 10 trimmers, 1 leather worker, 3 labourers, 2 horse keepers and 13 boys. He was one of 3 foremen assisting the chief foreman in the suburban carriage workshop. He was now 51 years old and had been working at the GER for 35 years. The evidence suggests he was an experienced and well-regarded member of staff. Meanwhile back at home, his wife was pregnant yet again and on 21st May she gave birth to another daughter whom they named Queenie.

War broke out in August 1914 and the next four years saw changes at Walter’s workplace. Firstly, an increasing number of women were employed to fill the vacancies created by young men going to fight for king and country. Secondly, the GER introduced bonus payments as an incentive to boost productivity. These payments rose from 2s a week at the start of the war to 28s 6d a week at its end. During the war Stratford Carriage Works manufactured munitions and converted passenger stock to ambulance trains. The bonus payments were a means of encouraging workers to work extra hours working for the war effort.

Site of GER works 1890s and present day

Just as Walter was doing his bit for the war effort his eldest sons were expected to do theirs. By the end of 1915 both Walter and John had enlisted with the army service corps, a unit that supplied the troops on the front line. Meanwhile, Thomas became a sergeant in the Essex Regiment and was involved in the Gallipolli campaign. In the midst of all this, Walter’s wife had become pregnant with another child and in the autumn of 1915 Marjorie Snow was born. 

Walter with one of his children

The war ended on 11^th November 1918 and all three of his sons had managed to emerge from their years of war service unscathed. By August 1919 Walter’s salary had peaked at £310 per annum, but with the war now over, the systems of bonus payments was gradually phased out.

Walter and Alice's final child, Rupert, was born on 17th February 1922. At the time his wife was 40 and he was the ripe old age of 59. The rest of the decade was a turbulent period for industrial relations and matters came to a head in May 1926 when the miners staged a national strike over a pay dispute. The TUC decided to back the miners and on 3^rd May workers engaged in heavy industry, building, railways, transport, gas, electricity and printed walked out in sympathy. The general strike, as it was known, lasted for 9 days. During the strike many people in the middle classes volunteered their time in order to do their bit to mitigate its effects. Walter remained loyal to the railway company and did not participate. This is perhaps not surprising considering that he was 63 years old at the time and approaching retirement. He had his pension to consider after all. Walter officially retired from the Great Eastern Railway on 3^rd February 1928, although his last day at the Stratford Carriage Works was 27^th January 1928. 

Following his retirement it appears that he continued living at 54 Third Avenue with his wife and children as just over a decade later, the 1939 census shows him living at the same address with his wife, Alice; his daughter Queenie, who was working as a wholesale drapers assistant and a redacted person who we can assume is his youngest son Rupert, who would have been 17 at the time. Sadly, this is the last record we have of Walter in life as just two years layer he became ill with prostrate cancer. He passed away at Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone on Christmas Eve 1941.

Matthews: a family of East End butchers

Introduction
I have written previous blog articles about my great-grandmother Charlotte Sherwood and have followed her father's line back to my third great-grandfather, William Sherwood. This article focuses on her mother's line, the Matthews. My research has shown the family has deep roots in London's East End that go back well into the 18th Century to John Matthews, who was my fifth great grandfather. There is a record of a John Matthews becoming a Freeman of the City of London on 12th November 1755. It shows that he was a member of the worshipful company of clothworkers, but became a butcher. His father's name was also John Matthews. I have also uncovered the record of a Samuel Matthews, son of John Matthews, who was admitted to the same livery company. I believe they were brothers:

Indenture of Samuel Matthews to his father John.

In an attempt to prove my theory, I uncovered a baptism at St Botolphs without Aldgate dating from 16th July 1740 that appears to match Samuel. It states that he was the son of John and Elizabeth of (Aldgate) High Street. St Botophs was completely rebuilt shortly afterwards, so his brother John must have been baptised elsewhere. I scoured the records and eventually found one at the nearby parish church of St Leonards in Shoreditch that matched:

Baptism record for John Matthews

John Matthews, son of John, was born on 6th June 1742 and baptised on 22nd June. At the time of the baptism they were living in Long Alley, which was later renamed as Appold Street and lies just to the west of where Liverpool Street station now stands.

On the 22 March 1763, the young butcher married Mary Garth at St Matthews Church in Bethnal Green. Over the years that followed they had six children together, all of whom were baptised at the same church. Their first born was Mary bp. 14th August 1763. She was followed by John bp. 15th December 1764, Christopher bp. 5 December 1765, Elizabeth 3rd May 1767, Samuel bp. 2nd November 1768 and James bp. 1780.

The year their youngest was born, London erupted into civil disorder as anti-Catholic sentiment boiled over during the Gordon Riots. The next day and night, ‘Black Wednesday’ 7th June, witnessed London’s most terrible crisis in the modern period, not exceeded until the wartime blitz 160 years later. As the day began, gangs armed with iron bars and bludgeons roamed the streets, knocking door to door and demanding money ‘for the true religion’ or ‘the poor mob’. Damaged or destroyed buildings were systematically looted, and in the hours of darkness many houses at random were broken into and plundered.  Rumours of more rioting to come swept the town. An emergency meeting of the Privy Council that morning, at the personal urging of the King, announced that the military had been given orders to shoot to kill without the need for magistrates first to read the Riot Act. Troops, however, could not be everywhere, yet the London poor seemingly could. Attacks on prominent Roman Catholics resumed through the afternoon and into the evening. Notable among them was the burning of Langdale’s distilleries in Holborn, their great vats of alcohol sending flames and smoke into the sky that were visible thirty miles from London. The fire spread and consumed numerous houses and business around. But the rioters’ main targets were once more the machinery of judicial oppression. Justice Wilmot’s police office at Worship Street, Shoreditch, was demolished and his house in Bethnal Green ransacked.  My gx4 grandfather, Christopher Matthews, would have been a fourteen year old boy at the time of the riots.

Christopher Matthews

Indenture of Christopher Matthews to his father, John

​On the 7th December 1780 when Christopher was fourteen years old he became indentured to his father John, described above as a citizen and butcher of Aldgate High Street.  It could be a costly business securing a place for a child to be trained to join a guild, but it would guarantee a more secure and profitable future for them. As it was for his own son, he only charged him the sum of 1d (1 old penny). The indenture, or apprenticeship, was for a period of seven years.

On the 22 January 1793, when he was 28 years old, Christopher married Elizabeth Teague  at St Dunstan and All Saints in Stepney.  Elizabeth had been baptised on 18 November 1776 in Brighton so she was about 10 years his junior.  He secured the lease to 60 Aldgate High Street, where all eleven of their children were born.

In March 1799 his shop was broken into and his a quantity of money was stolen .  A 15 year old boy named Joseph Sedgley was charged with burglary and was subsequently tried at The Old Bailey on 3rd April 1799. The court records relate the case below:

JOSEPH SEDGLEY was indicted for breaking and entering the dwelling-house of Christopher Matthews , about the hour of one, in the night of the 7th of March, and burglariously stealing two wooden drawers, value 1s. 168 pieces of copper money, called penny-pieces, 474 halfpence, and 30 farthings, the property of the said Christopher .
(The case was opened by Mr. Knowlys.)
CHRISTOPHER MATTHEWS sworn. - Examined by Mr. Knowlys. I am a butcher, I live at No. 60, Aldgate High-street: On the 7th of March, I was the last person up in the house, I went to bed about ten, my premises were then all safe locked up; I was the first up in the house, I went to bed about ten, my premises were then all safe locked up; I was the first up in the morning, I got up about six o'clock, I found that the tiling had been taken off the slaughter-house; the slaughter-house and the shop is all in one, under the same roof that my house is; I missed a great number of penny-pieces, halfpence, and farthings; I suspected the lad at the bar, and I took him to the officers, with a neighbour or two; I apprehended him in his father's house, about eleven o'clock on Saturday morning the 9th.
Q. When you took him; what passed between you? - A. I did not ask him any questions; he said, when I came up to him, stop, I know what you want, I want to go back for my hat.
Mr. Knapp. Q. Had you said nothing to him before that? - A. No, nothing at all.
Mr. Knowlys. Q. How far is his father's house from your's? - A. A very little way, it is in Arrow-alley; we met Mr. Griffiths in Alie-street, and delivered him up to him; I was present when he was searched, I found upon him some halfpence tied up in a handkerchief.
Q. Did you count them? - A. No, I did not; we found two-pence more in his waistcoat pocket, which, he said, was not mine; that was the very expression he made use of.
Q. What quantity of halfpence did you lose altogether? - A. Somewhere about two pounds, in halfpence, farthings, and penny pieces.
Cross-examined by Mr. Alley. Q. You do not mean to swear to the quantity of halfpence? - A. No.
Q. This lad lived with his father up to the time he was apprehended? - A. Yes.
Q. Do you know how old this unfortunate lad is? - A. I believe he is about fifteen.
See original Q. The time that you apprehended him at his father's house, was two days after this had taken place? - A.Yes.
Q. Therefore, if he had been so minded, there was plenty of time for him to have gone any where else? - A. Yes.
Q. You were not present when any conversation took place between the officers and the boy? - A. No.
Q. Have you heard that there is a forty pounds reward for burglary? - A. Yes.
RICHARD OSMOND sworn. - Examined by Mr. Knowlys. Griffiths delivered the prisoner into my custody. (The witness ordered to withdraw).
JOHN GRIFFITHS sworn. - Examined by Mr. Knowlys. I am an officer; the prisoner was delivered to me by Mr. Matthews and another neighbour; I was going out, and I delivered him into the hands of Osmond; I returned, and went into the room where they were; I believe Smith was not there at that time.
Q. Before you relate any thing that the prisoner said, did you, or any body in your hearing, tell him it would be better for him to confess, or worse if he did not? - A. No.
Mr. Knapp. Q. What Osmond might say to him when you were not there, you do not know? - A. No.(Osmond called in again).
Osmond. I found upon the prisoner this parcel of halfpence and penny pieces.
Q. Did you say any thing to him to persuade him to tell every thing that he knew about it, or make him any promise of favour? - A. No, nor any body else in my hearing.
Q. Do you remember such an expression as this- tell us what you know about it, and save yourself from being hanged? - A. No, there was nothing of the kind. After that I found two-pence in his waistcoat pocket, and he said it did not belong to Mr. Matthews: Griffiths said, there were more halfpence missing; and he said, if they would send for his father, he would tell them; then he said that they were hid under a stone in his father's yard; Griffiths and another went there, and after they were gone, he said he had missed telling them of the drawers which were under the cellar stairs, and then Smith went after them; when Griffiths came back, he said something which I did not hear.
Cross-examined by Mr. Knapp. Q. He referred you to his father's house, and to his father, for the rest of the things that you had not found upon him? - A. Yes.
Q. His father was at home? - A. Yes.
Q. Therefore, whether his father might not have given him these things, you cannot swear? - A. I cannot.
Q. And every thing that was found by his reference to his father's house, were found in his father's house? - A. Yes; his mother told him he had better tell the truth, while Griffiths was gone.
EDWARD SMITH sworn. - Examined by Mr. Knowlys. I found these two drawers by the direction of the prisoner under the coal box in his father's cellar; I found them exactly where he had directed me.
Cross-examined by Mr. Knapp. Q. He gave you directions where to find them; but whether he had put them there, or whether his father or any body else had put them there, you cannot tell? - A. No.
JOHN GRIFFITHS sworn. - Examined by Mr. Knowlys. - I am one of the Police-officers, (produces some money); I found it at his father's house under a stone in the ground; the prisoner told me it was hid there; I asked him who was with him in the robbery of Mr. Matthews, and he said, no person but himself.
Matthews. These are my drawers, I have tried them, and they fit exactly.
The prisoner called seven witnesses, who gave him a good character.
GUILTY Death . (Aged 15.)

The prisoner was recommended to his Majesty's mercy by the Jury and the prosecutor, on account of his youth
Tried by the London Jury, before Mr. Baron HOTHAM.

In 1799 the death sentence was handed out for a wide range of offences under a system of punishment known as the Bloody Code. In reality, only a fraction of these death sentences were ever carried out. Indeed, in this case, there is no evidence the poor boy was hanged and it appears the plea for clemency was granted. There is a record for a Joseph Sedgley being transported to New South Wales the following year here.

Throughout this period of Christopher's life his family grew: John born in November 1794, Elizabeth on 7th April 1796, Jane on 16th July 1799, Christopher on 4th September 1801, James on 21st July 1803, Sarah on 11th January 1806, Henry Edwin in 1808, George Garth (grandmothers maiden name) in 1810, but died in 1812, our ancestor George on 17th February 1813, Mary Ann on 7th February 1815 and finally Susannah in February 1819.  She also only survived for one year.

60 Aldgate High Street was rented to Christopher Matthews and in 1820 the owner died and the leases for the four butchers shops, 57,58,59 and 60 were put up for sale. Christopher continued to trade from his shop until his death in August 1824 aged 58.

George Matthews

Our family line comes from George,​ born 17 February 1813. Like his father and grandfather before him, he joined the family business and worked as a butcher. When he reached the age of 18 he got married to a young woman by the name of Martha Wright. The wedding took place in the parish of St Giles without Cripplegate, on the 24th February 1830. The church still stands to this day even though it is surrounded by the brutalist architecture of the Barbican Centre.

Four years after the wedding, George became a Freeman of the City of London:

Seven years after this honour was bestowed on him, the census shows the family were living 46 Aldgate High Street, next door to the Hoop and Grapes public house.  George was 28 years old and working as a butcher, his wife Martha was also 28 and they had four children, Mary (10) Christopher (7) Martha (4) and Elizabeth (2). The baptism record for Martha shows that they were previously living at 54 Aldgate High Street.​

The Hoop and Grapes with No. 46 to the left

The suburb of Whitechapel and the surrounding area became 'the other half' of London, located east of Aldgate, outside the City Walls and beyond official controls.  It attracted the less fragrant activities of the city, particularly tanneries, breweries, foundries (including the Whitechapel Bell Foundry which later cast Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and London's Big Ben) and slaughterhouses although the biggest meat market was at Smithfield, also outside of the city walls.

By the 1840s, Whitechapel, along with Wapping, Aldgate, Mile End, Bow, Shadwell and Stepney (collectively known today as the 'East End'), had evolved into the classic "Dickensian" London, with problems of poverty and overcrowding.  Whitechapel Road itself was not particularly squalid through most of this period—it was the warrens of small dark streets branching from it that contained the greatest suffering, filth and danger.


The picture below shows the row of butchers’ shops that Whitechapel had been well known for since the 17th century.  Many slaughter-houses here and in Aldgate and indeed all over London were at the backs of the houses. That means that all the animals had to be taken through the front of the shop to be slaughtered at the rear and then all of the blood etc. would run back through the premises and into the gutter in the street outside!  It would most probably be in just such a building that George and Martha were living.

Butchers Row Aldgate circa 1817

The East End was rapidly expanding ever eastwards and by 1847 the Matthews family had left the familiar surroundings of Aldgate High Street. They lived briefly at 14 Coborn Road before settling at 1 Bridge Street, Mile End Old Town, about a mile east of their old haunt. The 1851 census tells us that George was still a butcher and the family now consisted of George and Martha, both 38, Mary Hannah (19) Christopher (15) George (9) Henry (7) Edward (5) James (3) and Emma (3 months).  Martha and Elizabeth are not recorded.

Extract from Reynold's 1847 Map of London

The death of his wife, Martha, in early 1859 must have been a terrible blow that placed significant strain on George and his eldest daughter, Martha, who probably had to assume the role of her late mother. The 1861 census shows the family moved a few streets away to 4 Bow Common Road (marked blue). George, now a widower, describes himself as a cattle dealer rather than a butcher and he lived at the address with his children; Martha aged 23 and working as a governess, James aged 13, Emma aged 10, Charles aged 6 and Kate aged just 3.

By 1871 with the older children having grown up and left home, George is living with his youngest daughter Kate, now aged 13. They are boarding at 7 Salisbury Place in Bethnal Green close to Victoria Park cemetery (now renamed Meath Gardens). George and ceased working as a cattle dealer and had resumed work as a butcher.

George met a young woman named Eliza Woods and married her on 25 March 1872. At the time they got married he was 59 years old and his bride was just 21. In the years that followed they had two children, Ada in 1874 and William Ernest 1875. They had lived in City Road and then in Old Ford, but by 1881 George, his young wife and their children had moved to 15 Sedgewick Road in Homerton.  By the  following census in 1891 the 78-year-old George and his family had moved again and were residing at 143 Glenarm Road in Hackney. Despite is advancing years, he was still working as a butcher. Incredibly, the 88-year-old George was still around in 1901! The census shows him and his family living in Fort House Road in Hackney and although he is no longer working, he is described as "living on own means", which suggests he had acquired enough wealth in his long life to enjoy a reasonable standard of living. George passed away 3 years later at the grand old age of 91, quite an achievement in Edwardian England.