This week’s post is based on one piece of research that I am using that triangulates other stories from the National Archives.
When my cousin Elsa died at the beginning of the Covid lockdowns, a funeral that I would not have missed under other circumstances, she also left some papers and photos that her brother sent on to me. He knew that I was interested in researching everything about our family. There was an extraordinary photo of Uncle Sid in his military splendour. I had never seen him in a photo as a young man before. Photos of other members of the family who I was only able to identify because of the name of someone else on the back of them. Who they were sent to or who they were holding as a baby in their arms.
There was also an envelope containing a copy of the Will of my great great grandfather, Samuel Walker. It was dated August 1886.
I have described Samuel’s life and story from when he was born in Rotherhithe and how he became a Cheesemonger and eventually a Provision Merchant based near London Bridge and the Pool of London.
Samuel and his wife, Emma Humphrey moved to Croydon, and they had six children.
| Samuel Henry Walker (my Great Great Grandfather) | 1825 – 1888 |
| Emma Humphrey (nee Humphrey) | 1827 – 1884 |
| Henry (Samuel Henry) | 1852 |
| Emma | 1854 – 1887 |
| Frederick | 1859 |
| Cornelius (my Great Grandfather) | 1861 -1929 |
| Mary Ann | 1863 |
| Adelaide | 1865 |
In 1871 the Walker family had moved to 2 Albert Terrace, Hackney and ten years later they had moved to 33 Lambert Road, Brixton.
Samuel’s wife died in 1884 aged 58. Samuel had bought the freehold of lair (a Scottish word for a burial plot) in Norwood Cemetery and that is where her memorial stone is.
Samuel died four years later in 1888 and was also buried in the same plot and his name was added to the memorial stone.
The lives and records of Samuel and Emma’s six children have not been easy to track and check. I know something about my great grandfather, Cornelius, basic birth marriage and death information. I have never discovered how he spent most of his life describing himself as ‘Of Independent Means’ in official records. I have sometimes assumed that he was connected as a sleeping partner in his father’s provision trade.
His eldest brother, Samuel Henry Walker (known as Henry in the family to differentiate him from his father) was in the provision trade as a Broker. Whether he also was connected to his father’s business is also uncertain.
In 1886, Samuel Walker wrote his will. This was a sensible thing to do given that he was a widower and with six children, a thriving business and thoughts about his own mortality.
Copy of Samuel Walker’s Will 1886 (in the author’s collection)
The will was prepared by Carter and Bell, solicitors at 10a, Idol Lane, London E.C. Their office is probably long gone after bombing in the Second World War. Idol Lane is still there but with much new development. It is between Monument and London Bridge in the heart of the City of London.
I have done my best to get the fine details of the Will sorted and understood and the following bullet points give the gist of it.
- Samuel gives his address as 40, King William Street, by London Bridge. This was his trading office and not his house in Brixton that I presumed he was still living in.
- He gives to his son Samuel (the eldest son known as Henry): his gold watch and chain and a diamond ring plus £100.
- He gives his son-in-law, Edward Festing Marsden £200.
- He gives Robert Humphrey of Braintree Essex, a tailor, a legacy of £100.
- Each of his Executors were to receive £50. They were Edward Bell, the solicitor preparing the Will and Thomas Fryer, a gentleman of Streatham.
- All remaining jewellery, plate, linen, china, glass, books, pictures, prints, furniture and household stores to his daughters – Mary Anne Walker and Adelaide Walker.
- His freehold grave at Norwood Cemetery he gave to his children – Cornelius, Mary and Adelaide.
- An allowance of £1 per week during the lifetimes of Samuel junior and Cornelius.
- His daughters – Mary Anne and Adelaide to receive £1.10 shillings per week.
- The remainder of Samuel’s estate to be divided – one half going to his son, Frederick George Walker, if living at the time of his death – in the event of his death, the half of the estate was to go to Samuel’s grandchildren, equally divided, if they reached the age of 21.
Edward Marsden was married to Emma Naomi Walker. Her husband was to receive a lump sum of £200. A year after the Will was made and a year before Samuel died, Emma died.
Robert Humphrey is related to Emma Walker, Samuel’s wife. Perhaps her brother.
I have not done research on Mary and Adelaide. My guess is that they were still single, and they would be the beneficiaries of everything in the house.
The intriguing story in this Will is regarding Samuel’s son Frederick.
I have previously mapped out the Walkers when they lived in Hackney. At this time Frederick was a boarder at a private grammar school in Shoreham. I cannot help thinking that Samuel Walker was becoming a wealthy man to be able to send his son to a private school. I have not found any other evidence that Frederick’s brothers and sister were also privately educated.
I have no idea what Frederick did after school, but I have found an entry in the Register of Apprentices Indentured in Merchant Navy. Frederick is entry 4256 and he was bound to Thomas Griffith and Company of Liverpool on 18th December 1877 for four years. He sailed to Australia on the Sailing Ship Alumina (merchant shipping registry number 50297) and at Port Victor (now known as Victor Harbour, south of Adelaide) he deserted his ship on 15th April 1878.
So, at the age of 19 Frederick went to sea. Four months after signing up as an apprentice, he deserts his ship. It seems, from my limited research, that deserting ship in Australia was a frequent method of gaining a free passage.
Why is this relevant to Samuel Walker’s Will? Because there was a Codicil prepared in 1887, eight months after the Will. Here is a sample of it:
Whereas the said Frederick George Walker went abroad some time since and I have not heard of him for a lengthened period, Now I declare my said will to be that if my son Frederick George Walker is living at the time of my decease he shall take the moiety of my residuary real and personal estate bequeathed to him by my said will but I Direct that if at my death it shall not be known whether my said son Frederick George Walker is living or or where he is residing or whether he has died in my lifetime and he has left any child or children – the Trustees of my will shall at a charge of (his share) not exceeding £20 – take such measures and make such enquiries by advertising or otherwise as they shall think fit for the purpose of ascertaining whether my said son survived me and where if he be living his place of residence may be And I Direct that unless within 12 moths after my death it shall be ascertained to the satisfaction of my Trustees or Trustee that my said son survived me or that he died in my lifetime leaving a child or children who survived me then the share shall be applied and dealt with by my Trustee upon the footing that my son died in my lifetime – the Trustees use their discretion not expending a larger sum than £20.
Excerpt of Samuel Walker’s Codicil instructing the Trustees to spend up to £20 to find out where Frederick was living, if he was still alive. (From the author’s own collection).
For all anybody knew, Frederick was still in Australia where he had jumped ship nine years previously. In his father’s Will he has been left half the real and personal estate. In the Codicil his father has left the equivalent of £2000 to be spent on finding Frederick, within twelve months of Samual Walker dying. After that, Frederick or his children would have no claim on the estate.
I wonder what measures the Trustees did take to find Frederick. If his family knew that he had gone to live abroad, then he never contacted them in those nine years. I must presume that Frederick was cutting his ties with his family for some reason. However, his father still longed for him to have half of his estate.
However, I have no knowledge if the Trustees ever found Frederick or if he ever received his half of the estate. If he didn’t, then his brothers children became reasonably wealthy when they reached the age of 21.