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

Thursday 3 June 2021

Carl Bose and Catherine Sarah Winship Soppit

The Castle, Farringdon
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Andrew Abbott - geograph.org.uk/p/5107529
The Castle Tavern used to be the only pub in England with a pawnbroker's licence

Carl Bose (b. 18 May 1874), Licenced Victualler, son of Henry Bose and Anna Kracke, married Catherine Sarah Winship Soppit (b. 4 Apr 1876) daughter of John Soppit and Louisa Thompson, in Lewisham, in 1898. Carl's parents, both born in Germany, ran the Blue Anchor, in Dock Street, Wapping. Records show the pub had been in the family from at least 1881 until 1921.

Carl and Catherine Bose had six children:

  1. Anna Louisa Bose b. 1899 D Quarter in PANCRAS Vol 01B Page 10
  2. Charles Bose b. 1903 M Quarter in ST.PANCRAS Vol 01B Page 24
  3. Stanley Bose b. 1904 J Quarter in ST. PANCRAS Vol 01B Page 9
  4. Robert Bose b. 1909 D Quarter in ST. PANCRAS Vol 01B Page 28
  5. Kathleen Bose b. 1912 M Quarter in HOLBORN Vol 01B Page 1110
  6. Edith Bose b. 1915 S Quarter in HOLBORN Vol 01B Page 862
In 1901, at The Victory (a previous incarnation of the pub to the one pictured), 152, Albany Street, St Pancras, we find Carl Bose (26) Licenced Victualler, Catherine S W (24) and their daughter Anna L (1) with Lavinia C M Dwyer (20) Barmaid and Octavia R Andrews (24) Domestic Servant. 


In 1911, the family were living at 15 Berlin Road, Catford S E. Carl Bose (36) Licensed Victualler, Catherine Sarah Winship (34), Anna Louisa (11), Charles (8), Stanley (7) and Robert (1), as well as Mary Maud Everest (21) Domestic General Servant. On the census return, Carl is described as "Son", Catherine as "Daughter-in-law" and each of their children is listed as "Grandchild" in relation to head of the household, so I think we may assume that this was Henry Bose' house, although there is no evidence of him residing there at that time. And one wonders what they will have thought of the road being renamed, given that Henry and Anna Bose were born in Germany. 

The Post Office Directory of 1915 shows Carl Bose as the landlord of the Castle, 34 & 35 Cowcross Street, EC1 (The Castle, Farringdon), which explains the registration of the last two children in Holborn. 

In 1921, at the Blue Anchor, 21, Dock Street, Wapping, we find Carl Bose (47) Licenced Victualler; Catherine Sarah Winship Bose (45), Charles Bose (18), Stanley Bose (17) and Blanche Good (41) Barmaid. That year the Post Office Directory also lists Carl Bose as the licensee at the Blue Anchor.

In 1939, Carl Bose, having Anglicised himself to Charles Bose was a Club Steward living at 9A Clarence Square, Brighton And Hove, Sussex with his wife, Catherine SW Bose. (Clarence Square - then & now.)

Catherine S W Bose died in 1945, in Brighton, aged 69.

Charles Bose also died in Brighton, in 1962, aged 87.

Canadian Avenue (formerly Berlin Road), Catford
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Chris Whippet - geograph.org.uk/p/4610261
This road used to be called Berlin Road but the name was changed during the
first World War because of the Anti-German sentiments felt at the time.

Tuesday 18 May 2021

Henry Doe and Elizabeth Doe

All Saints Church, Little Canfield, Essex

Henry Doe (bap. 20 Sep 1778), son of Henry Doe and Elizabeth Stones, married Elizabeth Doe at All Saints Church, Little Canfield in 1799. Either there were a lot of parish foundlings given the surname Doe in that area, or we have to consider the possibility that these two may have been cousins.

This Henry and Elizabeth Doe had eleven children, baptised at Little Canfield: 

  1. Sarah Doe bap. on 19 Apr 1800
  2. John Doe bap. on 14 Feb 1802
  3. William Doe bap. on 22 Jan 1804
  4. Edward Doe bap. on 17 Nov 1805
  5. James Doe bap. on 24 Jan 1808
  6. Elizabeth Doe bap. on 28 Nov 1809
  7. Jane Doe bap. on 25 Nov 1810
  8. Mary Doe bap. on 11 Apr 1813
  9. Charles Doe bap. on 15 Oct 1815 
  10. George Doe bap. on 21 Sep 1817
  11. Moses Doe bap. on 4 Feb 1821

The last child was a posthumous birth, Henry Doe (40) having been buried at All Saints, Little Canfield on 28 Sep 1820. 

In 1841, Elizabeth Doe (61) was living in Little Canfield with her daughter, Sarah Gunn (41), George Doe (23), Moses Doe (20) and William Gunn (13). 

In 1861, Elizabeth Doe (80) - place of birth Great Easton, Essex - was living with her son, George Doe (43) at 11, The Village, Little Canfield.

Elizabeth Doe, died aged 83, and was buried at Little Canfield on 3 Jun 1862.

Thursday 13 May 2021

William Palmer Wilton and Dorothy Agnes Dickins

Fitzjohn's Avenue, Hampstead
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Derek Harper - geograph.org.uk/p/1916588

William Palmer Wilton (b. 19 Sep 1869), son of Henry Staines Wilton and Amelia Palmer, married at 40 (in quite some style), to Dorothy Agnes Dickins, then 25, daughter of Henry Percy Tavener Dickins and Charlotte Rebecca Fase, at the church of St Paul, Hampstead, on Saturday, 30 Apr 1910.

Major Henry Percy Tavener Dickins VD Victoria Rifles was a wine and spirit merchant in Philpot Lane, in partnership with his brother Wyndham. This family was the Dickins known for the department store Dickins & Jones.

The Hampsted News of Thursday, 5 May 1910 reported on the Marriage of Miss D. A. Dickins and Mr W. P. Wilton: A very large congregation assembled at St Paul's Church, Avenue Road, on Saturday, on the occasion of the marriage of Miss Dorothy Agnes Dickins, daughter of Mr H. P. T. Dickins, of "Atherstone", Eton Avenue, and Mr William Palmer Wilton, elder son of Mr  H. S. Wilton of "Cotswold House", St John's Wood Park.
        The chancel of the church was handsomely decorated with giant palms and white flowers, and during the assembling of the guests an organ recital was given by Mr E. G. Croager.
        The Service was conducted by the Rt. Rev. Bishop of British Honduras, assisted by the Ven. G. A. Ford (Vicar), and the Rev. A. Congreve-Pridgeon, who with the choir awaited the bridal party at the west door.
        The bride, who was given away by her father, wore an elegant gown of ivory white satin draped with ninon and trimmed with silver and silk embroidery, while the boddice was decorated with Brussels applique. Her veil of the same lace was arranged over a spray of orange blossoms, and she carried a bouquet of lilies of the valley and white heather. Eight bridesmaids - the Misses O & M Wilton [Olive and Margaret - bridegroom's sisters]; B. Beozley, V. Hall, B. Thompson, Esther Rosamond, Molly Bartley [bridegroom's niece] and Eileen Norris - were in attendance. The four elder maids were attired in gowns of white satin, draped with ninon with silver trimming and large silver roses, and large mauve hats veiled with stretched chiffon, trimmed with pale pink roses, and finished with long mauve velvet ribbon tied in a knot at the left side. They carried mauve silk sun-shades, with bouquets of pink roses attached to the handles. The four children wore white muslin dresses, and silver and white lace caps finished with pink chiffon rosette. They carried mauve sticks mounted with pink roses. 
        Mrs H. F. Dickins [1] was attired in a handsome gown of Irish lace mounted with white satin draped with moule ninon and wore a toque of Irish lace trimmed with moule and gold embroidery, and a plume and white feather. She carried a bouquet of roses.
        The bridegroom was accompanied by his brother, Mr J. S. Wilton, who performed the duties of best man.
        The service was fully choral, and included the hymns "The Voice that breathed o'er Eden" (sung in procession), and "Now thank we all our God". An anthem was sung during the signing of the registers.
        Subsequently a reception was held at "Atherstone", and later the bride and bridegroom left Hampstead en route for the South of England, where the honeymoon is being spent."

[1] Mrs H. F. Dickins was the bride's father's step-mother, second wife of Henry Francis Dickens, the former Agnes Haines Fase, the bride's mother's sister. She was the bride's aunt AND her step-grandmother and, as the bride's mother had died in 1902, we can assume she was standing in for her.

William and Dorothy had three daughters, all born in Hampstead: 

  1. Frances Mary Wilton b. 31 Aug 1911 D Quarter Vol 01A Page 984 
  2. Agnes Joan Wilton b. 1916 M Quarter Volume 01A Page 963 
  3. Helen Margaret Wilton b. 1919 J Quarter Volume 01A Page 724 
In 1911, living at 117 Fellows Road, Hampstead, London, were William Palmer Wilton (41) Saddler & Harness maker, and Dorothy Agnes Wilton (26), employing two servants to look after them: Elizabeth Anne Crouch (35), Cook General Domestic and Ellen Friend (29), House Parlourmaid.

William P Wilton inherited Champion & Wilton on his father's death in 1915.

In 1921, at 18 Fitzjohn's Avenue, Belsize Park were William Palmer Wilton (52) Sadler & Harness Maker, Employer, with his place of work listed as 457, 459 Oxford St, London; Dorothy Agnes Wilton (36), Frances Mary Wilton (9), Agnes Joan Wilton (5), Helen Margaret Wilton (2) and five servants: Lucy Esther Same (40) Nurse; Elizabeth Ann Crouch (46), Agnes Roe Jack (18), Florence May Bass (21) and Alice Rowsell (20). Other than the nurse, William hasn't bothered to list what jobs each of them performed, but I would guess that Elizabeth Ann Crouch was still Cook and the rest were housemaids.

In 1939, still at 18 Fitzjohn's Avenue, Belsize Park, William P and Dorothy A Wilton were reduced to three staff: Florence M Kemcock, Domestic Cook; Leticia M Labrook, Housemaid and Eilan M Brown, Housemaid.

William Palmer Wilton died at the end of 1957 D Quarter in HAMMERSMITH Volume 05C Page 955, at the age of 88. He was buried, on 3 Jan 1958, in the family plot at Hampstead Cemetery, along with his parents, his brother John and sister Margaret. On his death, Major William Palmer Wilton left the company, Champion & Wilton, to his shop manager Reginald Arkell.

Amusing comment here: "In the early 1950s I met William Wilton who was pretty old then and died soon after. He told me his shop was on Oxford Street and that he lived in Hampstead. From the top floor of his shop he told me that he could see his home “until that man Selfridge built in the way”."

Dorothy Agnes Wilton died in 1965, aged 81.

William and Dorothy's Daughters

Records show that Frances Mary Wilton (42) and Agnes Joan Wilton (37), embarked in Southampton at the end of July 1953 and arrived in Quebec on 4 Aug 1953, aboard the T.S.S. Columbia and then crossed the border into the United States. They gave the address - presumably of where they were going to be staying - as 1725 Orrington Avenue, Evanston, IL.

Frances Mary Wilton died in August 1986, aged 75 and Agnes Joan Wilton died, in 2014 at the grand old age of 98, both in London. Neither married.

Helen Margaret Wilton, married in Hampstead, in 1954 to Kenneth Graeme Todd (b. 1909). Records suggest that they had two children (born in 1957 and 1960). Kenneth Graeme Todd died, in Surrey in 1994. Helen Margaret Todd died in 2017, in Exeter, Devon. Like her sister, she will have been 98.

Sunday 9 May 2021

William Thompson

Former Kettering Work House
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Ajay Tegala - geograph.org.uk/p/6651691

William Thompson, son of Solomon Thompson Jnr and Maria Willis, in 1851, aged 25, a Mason's Labourer, was still living with his widowed mother in Cransley, Northamptonshire. And in 1861, William Thompson (31) was again living with his widowed mother in Cransley and employed as a sawyer. 

In 1871, William Thompson (47) Farm Servant, was visiting his sister and brother-in-law, William Naseby and Eliza Thompson, in Rugby. 

In 1881, however, William Thompson (55), was an inmate in the Kettering Union Workhouse, as was his elder brother, Thomas Thompson. As his brother was skilled, a carpenter, perhaps he entered the workhouse as he was infirm. Could it be William went to look after his brother there? 

In 1891, back with his sister and brother-in-law in Rugby, where William Thompson (64), single, was listed as a Gardener Domestic Servant. 

There is a death of a William Thompson, aged 96, in Kettering in 1919. 

Mary Elizabeth Adcock

Belton Street Shop
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Bob Harvey - geograph.org.uk/p/4173540

Mary Elizabeth Adcock, only daughter of James Adcock and Mary Hill, in 1861, living with her parents, was described as a Dressmaker. 

By 1871, living with her widowed father, she had become a Schoolmistress.

In 1881, Mary E Adcock (37) was living at 17, Belton Street, Stamford, Lincolnshire - which may well have been the address she had lived at with her parents - by this time she is described as "Invalid Formerly Teacher". Can't help wondering if this was a result of some kind of accident for her to have been left with enough means to live off from such a short career. 

Still in Belton Street in 1891, Mary E Adcock (47) is an Annuitant. 

In 1901, Mary Eliz Adcock (57), "Living on own means", address is Milner's Row, Stamford, this may well have still been the same place from the description, "Part of this terrace remains although the houses nearest Belton Street have been demolished and replaced with a modern garage." 

Mary Elizabeth Adcock died in 1906, aged 63. She had never married.