This week I describe some of the details of the records that I know of and have found regarding the three Wilcox siblings who left London for Wales. Two of them left under circumstances that cannot be proved and there is only one anecdotal story relating to it. The third joined them after her parents died.
It’s usually married woman that the term nee is used to describe their maiden name. Fred and George Wilcox changed their name to Francis, Fred’s middle name, when they left London. So, I am using nee to describe their former identity.
Why Fred and George left London will remain a mystery until more concrete information can be found. The anecdotal story is this. George was working for a newspaper. In one Census return he was described as an Office Boy in a Newspaper Office. The story that his descendants have told me is that he was a reporter and that he had been filing stories about a criminal gang who then targeted him. For this reason he decided to flee London and go into hiding under a false name. The questions arise, why did he leave with his brother? Why did he feel that he could not return to London? Was there another motive for fleeing London if the anecdotal story is not correct?
Of course, these questions fall into insignificance when their life stories unfold after they start their new life.
The eldest of the three was Frederic William Francis, born in 1881.
Frederic William Francis Wilcox baptism register entry 1881
It was he that presumably decided that the new surname to live under would be Francis. Perhaps the brother thought it was Welsh sounding. Or simply that by dropping Wilcox, they automatically received a new surname that they did not have to invent.
They did not want to be found.
George was younger by six years, born in 1887.
George Harold Victor Wilcox baptism register entry 1887. Note the entry above him for Doreen Hough, her father was an Assistant Commissioner for Burma.
The earliest Census return that Fred and George appear in is 1891. The Wilcox family, having started life in Portobello Road, had moved to Acton where both the boys were born. The Wilcox family have then returned to Portobello Road where Fred, aged nine, and George aged four, are not listed with an occupation such as Scholar. Only their Father has an occupation and he is a Decorator.
The sort of building they were living in was a typical London brick house, probably four stories high with maybe a shop below them. The family would have had a floor of the house and there would be other apartments. Alternatively, they might have had a three story terraced house. We cannot be certain because the area of Portobello Road they lived in, the upper end, has been completely redeveloped over the last few decades.
The Wilcox family were bouncing to and from Portobello Road and Acton. The reasons will nearly always be to do with economics. Working class tradesmen such as John Wilcox Snr would always need to follow the work. West London was expanding fast and there would have been great opportunities for a Decorator.
Although I have found George in the 1901 Census return, I cannot find an accurate record for Frederic. There is one that lists Fred with an incorrect spelling for his name. A Frederick Wilcox is listed in the 1905 Electoral Register for Camden. He is living in a model lodging house called Stanley Buildings. I am certain that this is not our Fred.
George was 15 in 1901 and still living at home. He had a job as a Newspaper Office Boy.
1901 Census return showing George’s occupation as a Newspaper Office Boy. Fred has left home. George is 15 years old. Ten years later his world has completely changed. (National Archives via Ancestry.Com)
What I can be certain of, if Fred was still living in London in 1905, is that Fred and George left London between 1905 and 1911. However, I don’t think Fred was living in London because of his marriage to Minnie Jane Williams in 1906. It took place near Abergavenny.
Copy marriage certificate 1906 (purchased from General Registry Office 2021)
Fred had left London before 1906 and was living and working in Hereford as a Draper’s Porter. He was living at 1, Barton Cottages in the town. In the 1901 Census return, Minnie Williams was a domestic servant for a Farmer and his family in The White House, Llanvihangel Gobion. I’m uncertain what she was doing at the time of her marriage but she was recorded as living in Llanarth. However, the wedding took place in the Mozerah Chapel in Llanvihangel. The chapel is still active, although the spelling has dropped the ‘z’ in favour of an ‘s’. To continue the fraud of his new name, Fred has described his father as John Francis. This was probably the first time that the name of Francis is being used in legal documents. There is no evidence of George being at the wedding.
In the five years between Fred’s marriage and the next Census return of 1911, both Fred and George have both not only arrive in Wales but are settled in the mining village of Sirhowy and are living in a terraced house. The brothers were working in a Coal Mine.
Census return 1911 (National Archives accessed via Ancestry.Com)
Fred and George were living at 2, Butleigh Terrace. Fred was 29 and George was 24. The brothers were working for a coal Mine, Fred was a Pit Surfaceman and George was a Timberman’s Labourer, below ground. Minnie would appear to be keeping house. The Francis household also had a Boarder, Hubert Gurmin who was a Coal Miner (Hewer).
They would have been working long hours in conditions that were not easy.
So, Fred and George had fled London before 1906. Fred has fallen in love with Minnie but how they met is a mystery and what George was doing for a living in 1906 is also a mystery. But what is certain is that they have discovered an occupation that would give them a good income, security, and anonymity from whatever it was that they ran away from and caused them to change their name for and which would create a family life that kept them distant from the Wilcox dynasty in London.
In future posts I shall uncover what happened to George and his sister Margaret, in Wales.