St Mary Aldermary, Bow Lane, London EC4 - West end cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/885942 |
- Sarah Baker b. 1 Nov 1822, bap. 10 Jan 1823
- Charles Hoile Baker b. 23 Aug 1825, bap. 9 Oct 1825
St Mary Aldermary, Bow Lane, London EC4 - West end cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/885942 |
St Mary, Broxted cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/3374354 |
St Dunstan & All Saints, Stepney cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/3477079 |
Disused railway bridge over Rotherhithe New Road cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Stephen Craven - geograph.org.uk/p/2426607 |
Henry George Case (b. 1851 on Alderney, Channel Islands) son of Henry Case and Elizabeth Symes married Amelia Elizabeth Baker, daughter of Charles Hoile Baker and Amelia Young, on 23 Dec 1877, at Christ Church, Watney Street, St. George in the East. Henry Case' address was 23 Cowley Street and his profession as Stone Mason. Witnesses were C R Baker (Amelia's older brother Charles Richard) and Sophia Baker, her younger sister.
Henry and Amelia had seven children:
Sangley Rd, Lewisham cc-by-sa/2.0 - © N Chadwick - geograph.org.uk/p/3162332 |
John Winship Soppit, son of John Soppit and Louisa Tompson married Mary Ellen Finch, at St Lawrence, Catford (built in 1887, demolished in 1968 to make a car park) [in Lewisham registration district] on 24 Sep 1904.
John and Mary Ellen had three daughters:
Mary Ellen Soppit then died in 1924 D Quarter in BIRMINGHAM NORTH Volume 06D Page 486.
In 1928, John Winship Soppit then remarried to Mary Baker (née Morrell), daughter of William Jabez Morrell and Sarah Waldron. This time we know she was a widow - her first husband Samuel Horatio Baker had died in 1925 - and had at least two sons from that previous marriage.
Second wife, Mary Soppit, died, aged 65, on 13 Jul 1950.
John Winship Soppit died, in Birmingham, on 6 May 1969. The death notice in The London Gazette gives his address as 15 Homecroft Rd, Yardley, Birmingham. It's ironic that growing up in Birmingham in the 1960's, at times I'll have been mere streets away from there, while my mother felt as 'a fish out of water' in that city. If only she'd known she had relatives so close.
St Peters Church, Knowstone cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Roger Cornfoot - geograph.org.uk/p/6092409 |
Shadwell Basin cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Stephen McKay - geograph.org.uk/p/4625222 |
Watney Street and entrances to Shadwell Stations cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Ben Brooksbank - geograph.org.uk/p/3999191 |
Charles Frederick Burden (b. 22 Oct 1858, bap. 15 Apr 1860 at Holy Trinity (Church built 1844, demolished 1963), Milton-Next-Gravesend, Kent), son of William Henry Burden and Mary Elizabeth Sharland, married Sophia Baker (b. 1858), daughter of Charles Hoile Baker and Amelia Young, in 1878 at Christ Church Watney Street, St George in the East. Charles' father's occupation was listed as a Tidewaiter - who was a customs officer who boarded ships on their arrival to enforce the customs regulations.
Houses at corner of Shadwell Road and Gladys Avenue cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Martin - geograph.org.uk/p/5165865 |
Gideon Baker (b. 1854 in South Petherton, Somerset), son of John Baker and Jane White, married Susan Rhoda Bussey (b. 1857), listed as Susan Aurora Bussey on the marriage record, daughter of James Wilmot Bussey and Ellen Jane Munday, at the second church of St Mary's Church, Portsea in 1876.
In 1881, Gideon Baker (25) was a Refreshment House Keeper at 37, North Street, Portsea, with Susan Baker (23), Richard Bussey (17) Brother-in-law, Butcher; Caroline Bussey (31) Sister-in-law, Housekeeper; William Shotter (5) Nephew (son of Susan's sister Hannah Jane); Thomas Beckford (30) Dockyard labourer, Visitor from Devonport, Devon and three Seamen, Boarders: George Matthews (21), John James (23) and William Madgarrick (25), so presumably were also running this as a boarding house.
Twenty years earlier, in 1861, Gideon's father, John Baker, who had come to Portsmouth between 1854 and 1861, was also a Refreshment House Keeper in North Street, Portsea, so we can presume he is carrying on this business.
"Towards the end of the 19th century the temperance movement [a social movement against the consumption of alcoholic beverages] gave rise to a lot of establishments which didn't sell alcohol and were known as tea rooms or refreshment houses. They weren't the old coffee houses, more like modern tea shops." [Source]
Moderation or abstinence didn't help, however, as Gideon Baker died, aged 34, on 22 Mar 1889 and was buried at Kingston Cemetery, Portsmouth.
By the time Probate was granted on 10 Dec 1890, Susan Aurora Baker had already remarried to William James Leese, son of John Leese and Caroline Bussey, who was her first cousin. (William James Leese' mother, Caroline Bussey, was the sister of Susan Rhoda's father, James Wilmot Bussey.)
Neither of these marriages produced any natural children, however.
In 1891, William James Leese (31) and Susan A Leese (33) (William, 12 years younger than his wife, made himself 10 years older) were living in London Avenue, Portsmouth with Jane Hayward (21) Boarder from Sussex. William James Leese' occupation was listed as Dockyard Writer. His appointment as a Dockyard Boy Writer had been announced in The London Gazette in 1884 and, in the same periodical in 1895, his elevation to 'First Class Writer in the Expense Accounts Department of Her Majesty's Naval Yards'. In 1919, 'Assistant Expense Accounts Officer in H.M. Naval Establishments'.
In 1901, William J Leese (31) Clerk Civil Service and wife Susan R Leese (39) - she was 43 - were living in Gladys Terrace, Gladys Avenue, Portsmouth.
In 1911, there was a record of a William J Leese in Gibraltar.
In 1921, William Leese (51) Civil Servant (Clerk) for the Admiralty, from Newhaven, Sussex, was at 25, Trafford Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon, Surrey with Susan Leese (63) and Winifred Dugan (21) Adopted Daughter.
Susan Rhoda Leese died, aged 65, on 9 Jul 1922 S Quarter in CROYDON Volume 02A Page 269. Probate was granted to William James Leese.
In 1939, William James Leese (b. 7 Oct 1869), Civil Servant (Retired), Widowed, was listed at 1 Lavant Cottages, Hurgas Hall, Lurgashall, West Sussex, living in the household of Winifred May French (b. 25 Dec 1899) and her two children. Winifred May Dugan of 25, Trafford Road, daughter of William Duggan, Builder (her biological father), had married Stanley French, Draper, on 14 Jun 1923, at Christ Church, Croydon. William J Leese had been one of the witnesses at this marriage of his adopted daughter.
William James Leese died, aged 83, in 1953 S Quarter in CROYDON.
St John's Church, Waterloo Tom Morris, CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Combe Florey: village street cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Martin Bodman - geograph.org.uk/p/56115 |