James Hockley and Elizabeth Wilton

St Mary, Great Dunmow
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/3988759

James Hockley, son of George Hockley and Eliza Crow, married Elizabeth Wilton, daughter of Richard Wilton and Catherine Byatt at St Mary the Virgin, Great Dunmow on 25 Dec 1870. The groom was 20, the bride claimed to be 19, but was 23. :) James' occupation, as well as that of both George and Richard is recorded as Labourer. We know from at least three sources (1841 census, his own marriage in 1843, as well as his death certificate) that Richard Wilton was a harness maker. As Richard had died in 1858, when Elizabeth was only around 11, she either didn't know or had forgotten (and probably couldn't read what was written anyway), so I can see how this error became perpetuated.

James and Elizabeth Hockley set about repopulating Essex:

1. Alice Catherine Wilton born 12 Feb 1869 in Great Dunmow
2. George James Hockley born 1871 in Great Dunmow,
   bap. 30 Mar 1884 at St Andrew's Church, Hornchurch
3. Charles Stephen Hockley born 1874 in Poplar,
   bap. 30 Mar 1884 at St Andrew's Church, Hornchurch
4. Eliza Ellen Hockley born 15 Apr 1876 in Romford,
   bap. 28 Aug 1881 at St Andrew's Church, Hornchurch.
5. William Hockley born 1878 (died 1880, aged 1)
6. John Harry Hockley born 25 Jul 1881,
   bap. 28 Aug 1881 at St Andrew's Church, Hornchurch
7. Emily Hockley born 1884,
   bap. 30 Mar 1884 at St Andrew's Church, Hornchurch
8. Frederick Hockley born 1886 (mother's maiden name as Wilson)
9. Alfred Albert Hockley born 15 Apr 1888
10. Joseph Hockley born 1892 (died 1892, aged 0)
11. Florence Hockley born 1894

In 1871, James Hockley (20) Labourer, and Elizabeth Hockley (21 ish) were living on the Braintree Road, Great Dunmow. The two year old Alice, meanwhile, was next-door-but-one with her grandmother, Catherine Eldred.

Certainly in 1874 they were in Poplar where Charles Stephen Hockley was born. Elizabeth's mother, Catherine Eldred, was also living in Poplar around that time.

By 1881, James (29) and Elizabeth (28) were living in South End Road, Hornchurch, with Alice Hockley (14) - now using James' surname? [1] - George Hockley (11), Charles Hockley (9) birthplace given as Bromley - this was Bromley-by-Bow, Poplar - and Eliza E Hockley (4).

[1] Alice being listed with the surname Hockley on this census may NOT mean that she used it normally, nor does it infer that James Hockley is her father. It could just be the enumerator going mad with ditto marks, an assumption, or simply that it wasn't challenged.

South Hall Farmhouse, Rainham
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Anstiss - geograph.org.uk/p/3219637

In 1891 at 3, Spring Cottages, High Street, Rainham (the census shows that these & White Post Cottages were next to South Hall Farm on the Wennington Road), were James Hockley (39) Agricultural Labourer, Elizabeth (37), George (19), Charles (17), Eliza (15), Harry (9), Emily (7), Frederick (5) and Alfred (3).

In 1901, still at 3, Spring Cottages, James Hockley (48) was Foreman on Farm. With him were wife Elizabeth (44) still getting younger - I make her 54 - Harry Hockley (19) Horseman on Farm, Frederick Hockley (15) Horseman on Farm, Alfred Hockley (13) Attending School and Florence Hockley (6).

In 1911, James Hockley (63) had become the Bailiff on Farm (Farm bailiff) with Elizabeth (56), Frederick (25), Alfred Albert (23) and Florence (17).

Elizabeth Hockley died in 1924. She was 77.

James Hockley died in 1936. He was 87.

Job Sweeney and Eliza Louisa Tompson

Cable Street, Stepney

On 5 Jan 1893, Eliza Louisa Tompson, daughter of Dan Tompson and Mary Ann Green married Job Sweeney, son of John Henry Charles Sweeney and Susannah Harvey at the Parish Church of St Anthony, Stepney. They were both aged 24 and both gave their address at the time of the marriage, as 3 Monteagle Street, Stepney. Their only son, Job Thomas, was born at 25 Monteagle Street, Stepney (which further research suggests was a boarding house) on 27 Aug 1897 and was baptised at St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney, on 19 Sep 1897.

Eliza Louisa Tompson, who was my great-grandmother, was born on 24 Aug 1868 at 299 Cable Street, St George in the East. Originally, I'd found Eliza Louisa, aged 12, on the 1881 census, living with her father, in Watney Street, St George in the East. At that time, Dan's wife (his 2nd, it transpires) was listed as Sarah J, born Sarah Jane Baker, who he'd married in 1871. It wasn't until I searched the indexes at the General Register Office for Eliza Louisa's birth, that I discovered that her mother's maiden name had been Green. 

After that, I had been able to locate the 2 year old Eliza Louisa (listed as Thompson), living with her maternal grandmother, Eliza Green, landlady at The King and Queen Public House in Tait Street, St George in the East, in 1871. 

In 1870, Eliza Louisa's grandad, Edward Green, died and so did her mother, Mary Ann, on 19 Mar 1870 at 363 Cable Street, after giving birth to a son, Dan Edward Green Tompson. The causes listed on Mary Ann's death certificate state "Childbirth 7 days, Scarlet Fever 4 days, exhaustion". Last part is hardly surprising! The infant Dan also died in the 2nd quarter of the same year.

In 1891, herself then 22, Eliza Louisa, now a 'fancy box maker' was living with William and Ellen Burton, in Knapp Road, Bromley, Poplar. Eliza Louisa is listed as their niece, actually their step-neice, because Ellen Rosina Burton (née Baker) was the sister of Dan's 2nd wife, her step-mother, Sarah Jane Baker.

In 1901, Job and Eliza were living at 8, Repton Street, Limehouse, Stepney. 

My mother always claimed that her father and grandmother, Eliza Louisa, had been living in Sidney Street at the time of the Siege of Sidney Street, or Battle of Stepney that took place in January 1911. It's not impossible, but I can find no records to support this. Of course, Eliza Louisa was well away from the area when Cable Street was made famous by it's own battle in 1936.

The Battle of Cable Street gives an insight into the area.

Eliza Louisa Sweeney (née Tompson)
with her granddaughter, Ivy, c. 1939.

By the time of the census on 2 April 1911, the family were living at 102 Fore Street, in the City of London, Job having acquired employment as a Packer and Caretaker. They lived in a flat above the warehouse that came with the job. Job Sweeney died in Dec 1924. Eliza Louisa was still living at 102 Fore Street with her son and his wife, Elizabeth (Bet) née Fuller and granddaughter, Ivy, in 1939 and they all remained there until their home was destroyed in WWII, on the night of 29–30 December 1940, the so-called Second Great Fire of London.

Eliza Louisa Sweeney, otherwise Sweney (as it says on her death certificate), died on 13 Feb 1953, in Hornchurch, Essex, from coronary thrombosis, influenza, chronic bronchitis and old age. She was 84.