Elizabeth Francis King
The Early Years
Elizabeth Francis was born on Dec. 21, 1867. The family was living at 15 Salisbury Crescent, Newington. For unknown reasons, she wasn’t baptized until July 7, 1872, at St. Mary Magdalene on Massinger Road (now St.) Southwark. The church of Saint Mary Magdalene, Southwark, is also known as Saint Mary Magdalene, Walworth. It was constructed in 1843 but was damaged during WWII and was later demolished. The parish was merged with Lady Margaret Church, Walworth. Unfortunately, their records are housed at the London Metropolitan Archives and are not online.
Her parents were John King (1830-1881) and Emma Rogers (1838-1896). His occupation was Stoker for the gas company, and they lived at 16 Townsend Street (doesn’t exist anymore). A stoker is someone who puts the coal in the boiler. It’s a brutal job. Her siblings were: James John, Sarah Ann, Joseph William, Anne Kezia, Jane, Emma Elizabeth, and James Robert.
Her father dies.
1881 census: still on Townsend St.; Elizabeth is age 13. Her father had died on 20 Apr 1879, and her younger brother Robert was born three months afterwards. She was living with her mother, brother Joseph, age 19 and deaf; sisters Ann, age 16, Elizabeth, age 13, Emma, age 11, and Robert, age 1.
Alfred Edward Bulbrook
The Early Years
1864 Nov 13: Alfred Edward was born in Newington, London. He is the son of George and Sarah Ann Spencer. His father was a journeyman boot closer, and they lived at 4 Ewhurst St., Walworth (there is no street but there is a road with that name). It’s also listed as Newington area. George had a hard life, his parents spent years in the workhouse, and life wasn’t that much better when they got out.
1868 Mar 2: He was baptized at St. Mary's Newington.
1871 Census: His mother, Sarah, is a widow. Living with her are her daughter, Sarah (Sarah Ann), age 10; sons John (George John), age 8; Alfred, age 6; Henry, age 4; and Sarah’s 17-year-old sister, Agnes Spencer, who is working as a brush drawer. (Indexed as Bullbrook on FindMyPast.) They live on South Street, in the St Mary area of Newington (also the St Saviour area of Southwark), London, England. Sarah works as a needlewoman.
1881 Apr 3 Census: Alfred is living with his mother and is age 16, and they are living at Northampton Place in Newington, (also St Saviour Southwark). His occupation is a carman. A "carman" historically referred to an individual who drove a horse-drawn carriage or wagon, often involved in transportation or delivery. This could encompass various roles, from local delivery persons to those working in streetcar systems or railroads.
Life Together
1886 Oct 3: They were married at All Saints Church, Newington, Surrey, England. Her middle name is Florence on the banns. I think this is because, from her handwriting, you could tell she was barely literate and probably copied what the priest erroneously wrote down. Albert couldn’t write; he made an X mark on the banns.
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| All Saints |
There have been a lot of errors on various trees because of the name issue. There was an Elizabeth Francis King born in Norfolk, who many have connected to Alfred in their trees. But she was the daughter of a barrister and would not have married beneath her in those days. Our Bulbrooks were always working poor, and sometimes even poorer than that. My grandfather, their son, mentioned to my Uncle Bobby that he spent time in the workhouse when he was young (his brother John William died in a workhouse). Other branches of the family were in the workhouse as well. Also, our Kings were never in the Norfolk area. On all the children’s birth certificates, her middle name is Frances. The banns are the only place where Florence is listed.
As you can see in the timeline, the family moved a lot, probably due to monetary reasons.
1888 April 21: Alfred Robert was born. They were living at 21 Blewett Street (address listed on birth certificate). Alfred Robert was baptized on 13 May 1888 and died on 24 July 1888 of convulsions. He was buried on 31 July 1888 at Manor Park Cemetery (Newham). Why he’s buried in Newham across the river is a mystery. They had moved to 8 Acre Street by the time of his death (address listed on death certificate).
1889 May 6: Alfred John William was born. He went by John. They were living at 8 Acre Street. I have his birth and death certificates. He died on 1904 September 16 at the Malling Union Workhouse, age 15 years. He died of a spinal abscess and spinal meningitis. I can't find any records on why he was in the workhouse, and if the rest of the family was with him. My Uncle Bobby told me that his father had been in a workhouse when he was a child, which would indicate the whole family was in the workhouse in 1904.
1891 census: Alfred is age 24, a carman, living with wife Elizabeth and son John, age 3 (Alfred John William), all born in Walworth. They lived at 39 Beckway St, Newington, (St Saviour Southwark), and it doesn't exist anymore. They were living with Elizabeth’s brother, John Arthur King.
1891 Sept 14: Alfred James was born. He was baptized at Peter’s in Walworth. For some unknown reason, he is not listed with the family on the 1901 census, he would have been 10 years old. He later married Elizabeth Florence Oldman and died on 10 November 1950, and was buried at Nunhead Cemetery (where his mother is also buried). He was nicknamed “Pudney.” They had four children: Alfred William “Shoggie”, Florence, Henry Charles, and Christopher John.
1894 January 14 Annie Emma Kenzia was born. They were living at 21 Aylesbury Street in Walworth. I can’t find that street. There is a street with that name on the other side of the Thames, but nothing in Walworth. I have seen historical references to it being in Walworth, so I know they were not living across the river. She died three years later on 19 March 1897 of whooping cough, bronchial pneumonia, and anasarca (swelling of the body due to fluid retention). Poor little tyke must have suffered. Once again, they were living at a different address, 26 Shaftesbury Street, Walworth. I also could not find this street in Walworth. I did discover that Shaftesbury Street was renamed Aylesbury Street, but, oddly, they were on Aylesbury first, then Shaftesbury. I’m still researching this.
I knew that a child existed that I didn’t have in my database. Elizabeth had put on the 1911 census that she had 7 children total, I only had 6, and there was a big gap between Alfred James and Robert Walter. But she wasn’t in any of the census records since she died young. But I lucked out, FindMyPast recently posted immunization records for Southwark. I ran a check for Bulbrook, and there she was listed with the remarks “gone,” which meant she was dead, but they also listed her date of birth. With that information, I was able to find her birth and death records in the GRO.
1898 Jan 24: Robert Walter born. The address on his birth certificate is 53 Barlow Street. This is my grandfather. He was baptized on 9 February 1898 at St. Christopher’s, Walworth. He married Florence Harriet Brooker on 25 December 1919. Florence was four months pregnant. They had seven children: Florence Elizabeth, Rosina Maud “Nicky”, Doris Martha, Robert Henry Alfred, Maud, Leslie, and John Vernon. They divorced sometime around 1944, and he then married Hilda Emily Bowden (nee Coomber) on 26 February 1947 and had two daughters with her: Kathleen and Maureen.
During WWI, he was a Private in the 12th (Bermondsey) Battalion, East Surrey Regiment. He was admitted to the 4th Stationary Hospital at St Omer (Saint-Omer) with Shell shock on 3 August 1917 and discharged back to his unit on 31 Aug 1917.
After the war he was a boxer and wrestler under the name Gypsy Dean in the 1920s, then worked a long time for the electric company; he was also a famous Tory politician in the 1950s. He was their poster boy, and when he died, his funeral was attended by many famous people. He is buried at Greenwich Cemetery (AKA Shooter’s Hill) in Greenwich.
1900 Apr 25: Maud Elizabeth was born. They were living at 16 Townsend Street. She was baptized on 18 May 1900 at St. John the Evangelist in Walworth. She died on 27 January 1908 at the Southwark Infirmary of tubercular meningitis.
1901 census: age 34, occupation: carman, living at 53 Barlow St., Newington, St. Saviour Southwark, London with wife Elizabeth, sons John (Alfred John William) age 11, Robert (Robert Walter) age 3, and daughter Maud (Maud Elizabeth), age 0. Living next door to a Walter King, but I am not sure if he is a relative of Elizabeth.
1902 Oct 18: Charles Edward was born. They are still living at 53 Barlow Street. I could not find any baptism records for him. He married Lydia Lily Somerville in 1933 and has 6 children: Joyce Lydia (who moved to Australia), Constance, Dorthy, John Edward, Charles William, and Thomas. He died in 1975 Sept 10.
1906 Feb 9, Alfred Edward died, age 41, of pneumonia. They are living at 3 Arthur House, Markdyke Street.
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Mardyke St. |
Elizabeth the Widow
1911 Apr 2 census: listed as age 42, widow, married 23 years. Living at 5 Osborn Street. The 1911 census asks how many children, living and dead. She put a total of seven: 2 still living and 5 dead. This is incorrect because in 1911, she had three children still living: Alfred James, Robert Walter, and Charles Edward. I believe she was confused and thought they meant children still living with her, which would have been two.
There were also rumours that she was a moneylender. In Victorian England, moneylenders often exploited the economic hardship of the working class, lending small amounts of money at high interest rates. This practice, sometimes referred to as usury or loan sharking, was driven by the limited access to credit for the poor, who were often desperate for funds to survive. I had heard from another cousin that she was not a nice person (he said she accused one of her daughters of stealing money, and they had a tempestuous relationship). Moneylenders weren’t normally nice people in those days, often using muscle to get their money back. But again, this is just a rumour, and my Uncle Bobby didn’t mention it either.
She was an onion peeler at Hayward's. My Uncle Bobby remembers that she smelled funny!
Living with her were Robert (age 13) and Charles (age 8). Robert was a milk boy. This census confirms she was born on Townsend Street in Walworth. Both Robert and Charles were born on Barlow Street in Walworth.
On the 1921 census, she was living with her son Charles at 14 Massinger Street, Old Kent Road.
And was now making pickles. She was a “pickle hand” (probably handler) working at Pink’s Jam & Pickle Factory on Staple Street https://thebarrowboy.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/the-pinks-factory/. Charles is age 18, and an unemployed carman, he put Bullivant & Co. as his previous employer. What is interesting is that their border filled out the census, and his name was Edward Sommerville, the widowed father of Charles’s future wife. This is probably how they met.
1939: listed as Balbrook on the FindmyPast Index, living, I presume, with son Charles (the line above her is blacked out) at 58 Smyrk's Rd, Old Kent Road, Southwark (now East Walworth) and still making pickles. Some of the townhouses are still standing, but 58 is gone; it ends right before her townhouse. I believe that Charles continued to live at this address for many years, as his sons Charles William and John Edward are listed at this address in the 1960s.
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| Smyrk's Road |
1952 Feb 15: Elizabeth dies at age 84 in Southwark at Newington Lodge. Newington Lodge was not a nice place, starting as a workhouse and later a place for people displaced by the war. https://southwarkheritage.wordpress.com/2021/05/28/newington-lodge-remembering-an-institution/ Her death certificate does show “of 58 Smyrk’s Road,” so maybe she was there temporarily due to illness. She was buried at Nunhead Cemetery on 22 February 1952 in section 22. Nunhead was originally called All Saints and is now a local nature reserve. Her area is unfortunately off limits. I don’t know if she is buried with her husband; I couldn't find his burial records.
Note: Newington, Walworth, and Southwark are all in the same area of London. Newington and Walworth are part of Southwark. Over the years, the names and boundaries have changed, but the family has always been in the same area of London. Southwark was known for its inns, theatres, spas country resorts, and other places of entertainment and recreation. But it also grew in notoriety for its poorer, run-down district. This area is generally where my family lived.
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