Just twelve months ago I wrote a long post about my great uncle Herbert Wilcox. He was the eldest of the Wilcox siblings, born in 1874 in Notting Hill. His career was with the railways, and he lived in flats like the Peabody Trust style and type of accommodation in London, designed and developed as affordable housing for the working population of London at the turn of the 20th Century.
I described as much detail as I could about his life and his family. I was particularly interested in the life of one of his daughters, Margaret. She and her husband moved to my hometown of Redhill and, although I did not realise at the time, her son Richard was the convenor of the local folk club in Redhill, at the George and Dragon, that I used to go to on a Friday night.
This week my interest lies in Margarets sister, Ellen.
Ellen Kate Lenorah was born on 2nd January 1909 and baptised in the parish church of St Mellitus in the Diocese of London. A quick search tells me that this is in Hanwell, in the West of London, a distance away from Marylebone. Looking at Ellen’s parents’ marriage registration explains why. It was the church that they were married in. The church, a grade 2 historic building, was built in 1909 in red brick and Bath stone. St Mellitus was the first Bishop of London and was a missionary converting Anglo Saxons to Christianity.
Herbert Wilcox had married Ellen Harris in the parish church of Hanwell in 1907, so not the same church that their daughter was baptised in, or perhaps it was. If the new church was built in 1909 it might not have been ready for use when Ellen was baptised.
The following year, Ellen’s sister was born. Her name was Marguerite, but she changed it in later life to Margaret. Marguerite was a popular name at the time, in fact Herbert’s sister was born Margaret but later changed her name to Margurite, as she did her surname to Francis when she left London after her father died to join her brothers, Fred and George, in Tredegar, Wales.
There is little or nothing I can record about Ellen’s life and times other than where she lived and who she married.
When she was born, Ellen and her parents were living in Marylebone in what were known as the Nightingale Buildings, at number 143. They were in Nightingale Street, and built by Henry Berkely, the Viscount Portman. My guess is that they were a precursor to the Peabody Trust blocks of flats that became popular in London, in which Herbert and Ellen Harris lived for their entire lives. In the 1911 Census return Ellen’s dad is described as Loading Wagons for the Great Central Railway. Marylebone Station was just around the corner from his house. Ellen Wilcox was just two years old.
The 1921 Census return now shows that Herbert Wilcox and his family had moved into the newly built Miles Buildings at number 128. The Miles Buildings were developed by the Improved Industrial Dwellings Company, typical of the model flats that were being built in many places to accommodate working people and their families. There were several blocks of these flats in Penfold Place which is parallel with the Edgeware Road.
Ellen was aged 12 and would have been going to school locally. I am uncertain where she was at school. I used to live and work very close to her house and my guess is that Ellen had a school either at Paddington Green or maybe closer near Lissom Grove.
Miles Buildings in Penfold Place would have been a very busy area with plenty of other children of Ellen’s age to play with. A true London working class area that has 100 years later begun to take on the shape of a modern slum area, according to local politicians.
Six years later, in 1927, Ellen, at the age of 18, married James Overed, also aged 18. At the time of their marriage, they were both living at 20 Britannia Street in Hoxton. This is just off the main road between Kings Cross Station and Angel, Islington. Google Street View shows that number 20 has been demolished (possible war damage?) but many of the original buildings remain in the street. This street was designed for small workshops and manufacturing with accommodation as well. James Overed was described as a Box-Cutter. I have tried using various search engines to find out what a Box-Cutter did but the only results are to do with the equipment and knives for opening and destroying boxes. James’s father was also a Box-Cutter, and I am leaning towards the idea that they were working in manufacturing boxes that could be made up.
Marriage registration of Ellen and James Overed 1927 (via Ancestry.co.uk)
Ellen’s marriage registration, at St Mary’s, Hoxton, shows that her sister, Margaret and her dad, Herbert, together with James’s mother, Amelia, were the witnesses. Ellen and James have signed the register in their young handwriting. It is the only image, albeit of a record, that brings Ellen closer to me.
The Electoral Register for 1930 shows that Ellen and her husband have moved to Bramley Road in Hammersmith, at number 5. This is a small shop with accommodation above. They are managing or running a shop and living above. Number 5 is currently an estate agents shop.
Two years later, in 1932, Ellen had a baby girl, Iris.
Two years after that, in 1934, the Overed family had moved again. Ellen and James and baby Iris were living in a flat next door to Ellen’s parents, Herbert and Ellen and their other daughter Margaret. They were still all there in 1936.
I must now search our old friend, the 1939 Register of England and Wales where I have found Ellen and her family living in Hillfield Park, Hornsey. They have got away from the Penfold Place flats in Miles Buildings and have moved into 41a. This would have been half of a small, terraced house in an area of London that was not far from Alexandra Palace and Wood Green. James is described as an Assistant Factory Manager, of what, I don’t know. There are two other people living with them, but both their names have been redacted because the National Archives regard them as both potentially being alive. One of them of course was Iris who would have been aged 7 years. This leads to speculation that they may have had a second child who I have yet to discover.
Ellen’s father, Herbert Wilcox, died in 1947, the same year as William, his younger brother, my Grandfather.
I move to Iris Overed, Ellen’s daughter, to find out more about her mum. In 1953 Iris, at the age of 21, is now old enough to vote and on the Electoral Register, she is living with her parents. The three are living in Hornsey still but in their own house in 14 Collingwood Avenue.
My current record searches come to an end with the marriage of Iris and the death of Ellen. Iris married Leslie Alton in Wood Green and I discover in the 1962 Electoral Register of 1962 that Iris and Leslie were living in Pams Way, Ewell in Surrey.
Ellen died at the age of 95 in April 2004. Her death was registered in Folkestone, Kent.
A short thread but an important addition to the Wilcox story, nevertheless.
Leave a Reply