Previously, I outlined the story of my paternal Great Great Grandparent. A strong maternal upbringing of two generations of the Spillett family in the cathedral town of Canterbury in Kent. I had discovered my Great Grandfather, Henry George Spillett, living in Ivy Lane.
This week I am looking at how Henry and in particular, his older brother John, grew up with trades that should have given them work for the remainder of their lives. Either as Blacksmiths, Wheelrights or Publicans.
John Spillett was my Great Great Uncle and I discover him in some of the available Census returns. Here, in the 1881 Census, John is now married to Annie and they have two small children, Elsie aged 2 and Eva aged three months.
The most likely marriage record that I can find is an entry of the Register for marriages in the district of Faversham, not far from Canterbury. It would seem that John married Annie in the last quarter of 1878.
Their footprints have been difficult to find and search. In December 1882 Annie gave birth to Walter George Spillett. Records of young Walter were difficult to find. Walter was cleverly discovered by someone else searching this family. He had been sent to Willesden in North London to live with Annie’s sister. The 1891 census shows him living as her son with her husband’s surname.
Records are few and far between. After 1881 the first Census return after that year that I can find John is 1911. John Spillett, a Blacksmith, is listed as living in quite a large lodging house in East Hill, Ashford in Kent. The address was that of the Star Inn. It was a pub that offered lodgings to a very large number of people. The Census return runs to two pages of lodgers. It still functions as a pub at the present time. John is described as Widowed and aged 60 and born in Canterbury.
One of the benefits of using a search engine such as Ancestry is that you can source other family historian’s searches and trees. Very often they are searching branches not directly connected to your own family search but they have included your family members as part of a wider picture.
Luckily, I have found such an historian who has given me confirmation that a) there are few records left by John and Annie and b) those that I have found and been confused by have also been discovered and confirmed as being legitimate.
If Annie Spillett had died before 1911 and John was living in lodgings in Ashford, then the records that exist may well be true. It would seem that John had died in 1917 and his death was registered in Blean, a short way outside of Canterbury.
The most important if not the saddest record, is John Spillett’s record entry in 1915 for the Medway Union Workhouse in Chatham. How he arrived here from Ashford is not recorded. The poor law system in England changed in 1835 and the responsibility of parishes was transferred to Unions. Kent was divided into a large number of these Unions. Where you lived dictated which Union was to take responsibility for you. If you were destitute and homeless then the Union workhouse was the only option. There was strict gatekeeping and the register clearly defined each new admission as either able or temporary disabled. This also indicated what dietary meals you were entitled to.
There is a very good website dedicated to the Kent Workhouses here.
In particular, this website gives an excellent overview of the Chatham Workhouse with plans and photographs. As institutions they may have helped children and the elderly to survive, but I am absolutely certain that they were hard driven and punitive in their outlook.
If John Spillett had his death registered in Blean, I wonder if he had been transferred from the Medway Union Workhouse to the Blean Union Workhouse.
| John Spillett was born in October 1853 to Esther Spillett. His father is unknown. | |
| John married Annie Rook from Faversham in 1878. They live and settle in Ivy Lane, Canterbury. | |
| Elsie Spillett was born in 1879. She died in 1887 aged 8 years | |
| Eva Spillett was born in 1881. She died in 1892 aged 11 years | |
| Walter George Spillett was born in 1882. He died in 1959 | |
| Annie Spillett (nee Rook) died in 1907 | |
| John Spillett died in 1917 |
Of all my family searches I find this particular strand sad. John was the son of Esther, his father unknown. He was still living at home with his mother and grandmother at the age of 17 and he was learning to be a Blacksmith. This was a trade that he was described with until his death. He married Annie Rook at the age of 25 and they had three children. Elsie and Eva both died when they were children at the age of 8 and 11. This must have been unimaginably painful for Annie and John. Could this be the reason why Walter was moved to live with Annie’s sister in North London? Did Annie and John separate and go their own ways ?
At the age of 8 Walter has been moved to live with Annie’s sister, Sarah Ann who is married to Jeremiah Kistwick, a Draper, living in Willesden with their young daughter aged 13. Also in the house are living three apprentice Drapers. Two of them are sisters from Faversham in Kent, the birth place of Sarah Ann and Annie.
At the age of 18 Walter is still living with the Kistwicks and he is a Railway Clerk. He remains in that job for the rest of his life. By the time of the 1911 Census, Walter is now married to Alice who is ten years older than him. They were married in Hornsey, North London in 1908. John names his father and describes him as a Blacksmith. However, he also describes his father as ‘deceased’. I wonder if he had been moved away to live with his Aunt and Uncle to be raised by them, never to know his parents again. Did he believe they were deceased when he got married? In the register, Jeremiah Kistwick signs his name alongside the witnesses.
Two years after their marriage they were living in Blackhorse Road, Walthamstow. Then they moved to Melbourne Avenue, Southgate in North London.
There is no evidence of children being born. They lived their lives through two World Wars. Walter remained a Railway Clerk while Alice was always looking after the home. It is one strand of my family research that has definitely come to an ending. I hope Walter and Alice had a happy life given the sad circumstance of his early family life.