Inherited Craziness
A place to share all the nuts found on my family tree

Showing posts with label Dunford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dunford. Show all posts

Friday 15 April 2022

James Maslin and Jessie Elizabeth Dunford

Batavia Road, New Cross
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Chris Whippet - geograph.org.uk/p/4358143

There appear to be no records of a marriage between James Maslin and Jessie Elizabeth Dunford (or any Jessie, anywhere, for that matter), but they were living as husband and wife in the home of James' parents, William George Maslin and Charlotte Bland, in 1881. James (23) was a Blacksmiths Labourer from Deptford; Jessie (21) Collar Ironer, reputedly hailed from Southwark.

James and Jessie had three children:

  1. Jessie Elizabeth Maslin b. 1883 J Quarter in GREENWICH Volume 01D Page 994, bap. 6 Jul 1883 in Hatcham, presumably Hatcham, St James
  2. Florence Charlotte Maslin b. 1886 J Quarter in GREENWICH Volume 01D Page 1021, bap. 23 Jan 1890 at Hatcham, St James
  3. James Thomas Maslin b. 1890 M Quarter in GREENWICH Volume 01D Page 1032, bap. 23 Jan 1890 also at Hatcham, St James
(Hatcham largely corresponds to the area around New Cross.)

The mother's maiden name on all three registrations is listed as Dunford. On Jessie Elizabeth's baptism, her mother's name is given also as Jessie Elizabeth (on those of Florence and James, it is listed only as Jessie), so I'm taking in on trust, although as that's the only place the middle name of Elizabeth appears, it leads me to think it's just assumed and to doubt that the mother actually had this middle name. Those birth and baptism records are the only sources for identifying who she was: I found no birth records of a Jessie or Jessie Elizabeth Dunford anywhere, let alone near Southwark ~1860.

In 1891, one of two families living at 15 Batavia Road, New Cross were James Maslin (33) Blacksmiths Labourer, Jessie Maslin (31), Jessie (8), Elizabeth (5) - clearly, they mean Florence Charlotte - and James (1).

Then Jessie Maslin died, at just 35, in 1895 M Quarter in Greenwich.

In 1901, James Maslin (43), listed as single, and employed as a Potman (a man employed in a public house to collect empty pots or glasses), was living at the (Common Lodging House), (formerly Brunswick House), 124, Tanners Hill, St Paul Deptford. Eldest daughter, Jessie E Maslin was employed as a General domestic servant in the household of Sydney T Wayment (33) Grain merchant at 194, High Street, St Nicholas Deptford. Cannot be sure of where Florence Charlotte was in 1901, but at 15, she was almost certainly also in a situation somewhere as a domestic servant. Son, James Maslin (11) from New Cross, Surrey, was a boarder in the household of Edward Cheeseman (39) Potman (public house) at 4, Morden Street, Greenwich.

Common Lodging Houses, also known as the doss-house, were an option for those who could scrape together a few pence to stay out of the workhouse, though they were scarcely any better and notorious for overcrowding.

It's no surprise that James Maslin died, aged 44, in the 4th quarter of 1901.

  • In the second quarter of 1910, Florence Charlotte Maslin married Albert Robert Williams, in Woolwich. In 1911, Albert Robert Williams (25) Soldier A S Corps, Sergeant, from Clonmel, Tipperary; Florence Charlotte Williams (24) from Deptford and their one-and-a-half month old son, Robert Ronald Williams, were living at Caxton House, Godfrey Hill, Woolwich. 2nd child, Irene Dorothy Williams, was born, in Woolwich, in 1912.
  • James Maslin (21), in 1911, born in New Cross, Kent, was with the 2nd Battalion The King's Shropshire Light Infantry, in Trimulgherry (Tirumalagiri), India.