Alfred Sidney Wire

I was excited to find this mortage indenture that involves my distant relative, Alfred Sidney Wire.

The indenture dated 9 July 1883 is for Alfred to borrow the sum of £350 to cover the mortgage on a premises in Janson Road, situated off Leytonstone Road. The premises is described as a "messuage or tenement with shop situate next and on the southern side of Janson Road in the Parish of West Ham in the County of Essex with the outbuildings yard and appurtenances thereto belonging", and giving measurements which are also contained in the plan included. Alfred was a builder by trade and, as far as I know, never lived at these premises.

Alfred was the son of John Wire and Dinah Ann George Pocock, and was born in Bethnal Green in 1852. He married Annie Elizabeth Booker and the couple had five children. In the 1891 census the family was living in nearby Cann Hill Road but by 1901 they had moved to Southend where Alfred died in the Southchurch district in 1915.

The money was borrowed by Alfred from two French Roman Catholic priests living in Littlehampton, the Reverend Xavier Barbelin and the Reverend Auguste Boitte. It is hard to know how this arrangement might have come about. The interest rate was set at six pounds per cent per annum, reduced to five pounds per cent per annum if payments were made on time.

Janson Road still exists - but it looks like the premises described have long gone.

James Curruthers, mineral borer

Here is an invoice dated July 1889 from James Carruthers, Mineral Borer, from Caledonian Road in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, for boring at Rigfoot Farm.

James Carruthers was born in about 1844, the son of another James Carrruthers and his wife Elizabeth (Betty) Martin.

James generally gives his place of birth as Cambusnethan, but sometimes as Bellshill or Newmains. He married Elizabeth Nisbet, and they had at least seven children. We first see James in Caledonian Road, Wishaw, in the 1871 census. James died on 21 July 1917, aged 73, when his address was West Thornlie Street.

This is the first time that I have come across an occupation of mineral borer. The term seems to be commonly used arounf Lanarkshire and may be connected with coal that became an important industry in the area in the mid 19th century. Any background information on this, or on James Carruthers, would be very welcome.

Conveyance of land to Alnwick National School 1897

This is a conveyance dated 20 March 1897 between Earl Percy (Henry George Percy) and The Minister and Churchwardens of Alnwick, under which Earl Percy conveys an additional piece of land for the Alnwick National School in Howling Lane.

The conveyance references certain Acts to encourage landowners to make land available to schools:

"...an Act passed in the 5^th year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria ... “An Act to afford further facilities for the Conveyance and Endowment of sites for Schools” and of an Act of the 8^th year of the reign of Her present Majesty explaining the same and to the intent that these Presents".

The document shows that there was a previous gift under a Deed Poll (referred to as the Principal Deed) dated December 1849 by Algernon Percy, the then Duke of Northumberland and the father of Henry George Percy, and that this additional land is now granted under the same terms:

"To hold the same unto and to the use of the Minister and Churchwardens of the Parish of Alnwick and their Successors for the purposes of the said Acts but nevertheless upon such and the like trusts and under and subject to such and the like provisions as are contained in and declared by the Principal Deed of and concerning the piece of land thereby conveyed as are now subsisting and capable of taking effect and to for and upon no other use trust or provision whatsoever".

The conveyance is signed “Percy”.

The site can be seen on this 1948 map, showing the position of the school. This land now appears to be the site of the Pottergate Centre. 

Henry George Percy (1846-1918) was the 7^th Duke of Northumberland. He was also a Conservative politician, being MP for Northumberland North, before the seat was abolished in 1885. He later joined the House of Lords, assuming his father’s Barony of Lovaine.

He married Lady Edith Campbell in 868 and they had 13 children.

His son Alan Ian Percy became the 8^th Duke of Northumberland, followed by Henry George Alan Percy (1912-1940), Hugh Algernon Percy (1914-1988) and Ralph George Algernon Percy (1956- ), the current and 12^th Duke of Northumberland.

Hindmarsh & Heppell, Newcastle

Here is a billhead dated 1916 for R. & T. Hindmarsh & Heppell, Estate and House Agents, Auctioneers and Valuers, from Newcastle on Tyne. It shows the company as "Successors to James Hindmarsh".

The business was set up in the 1860s by James Hindmarsh – and some details about his life are contained in an article from the Newcastle Journal dated 15 October 1898, announcing his retirement from the family business. James had no children and the business was transferred to his nephews Ralph Hindmarsh, Thomas Hindmarsh and George Heppell, all of whom had been involved in the business for some years. George Heppell died in April 1909 and his son, Thomas Robson Heppell, is shown as a partner on the billhead.

Source: British Newspaper Archive

James Hindmarsh was born in 1813 and his first work was at the West Moor Colliery. His ambitions took him to Newcastle, finding a position in the leather works owned by the Richardsons, a prominent Quaker family. Whilst working there he began to operate as what we might today call a property developer, buying and selling houses. By 1862 he had accumulated sufficient funds to leave and set up his own business in Clayton Street.

It seems that James had a few innovative ideas to push his business forward. One of these was the Newcastle and Northern Counties Property List, described as “a formidable looking publication with bright green cover, which he distributed gratis. Undoubtedly he was the pioneer of this kind of information in the north.”

The article notes that “it was his custom to go through the different streets taking note of all the empty houses, and then to go and get tenants for them free of charge. When asked why he let them without instructions, he would reply that he was at war with empty houses. And though those people might not thank him for his trouble and interference, they were, in the end, the means of sending others to him, and he ultimately found his labour had not been in vain.”

James Hindmarsh died in May 1905 at his home in Ryton.

There is also a Daglish interest in this story. Ralph Hindmarsh (1852-1920) married Mary Ann Daglish in 1874. Mary Ann was the daughter of John Daglish and Mary Hamilton.

John Gooby and Harold Eugene Gooby

I have a group of birth, marriage and death certificates for John Gooby and his son Harold Eugene Gooby that were apparently being discarded.

John Gooby was born in 21 November 1858 in Stretham, Cambridgeshire, the son of John Gooby, a farm labourer, and Hannah Pledger. 

By 1881, John was in London, lodging in Church Street, Tottenham, and working as a railway porter. He married Esther Dean in 1881 – but a year later Esther died aged 21. 

On Christmas Day 1890, John married Louisa Souerwine. By 1901 they had moved to Boundary Road, Barking and had a son, Harold Eugene Gooby, born 1891.

John died on 17 August 1937, aged 77 and was buried in Barking Cemetery. The arrangements were handled by B. Wallis & Son:

Their son Harold Eugne Gooby died on 30 September 1943, aged 52. The death certificate records the cause of death as: "Multiple Injuries and shock caused by being knocked from his bicycle by an unknown vehicle in New Road. Accidental death.”

The Chelmsford Chronicle dated 8 October 1943 reported the events under a title “Champion Cyclist Killed”:

Source: British Newspaper Archive

Gooby is not common surname. In the 1881 census there were only 110 occurrences of the name - and the highest number was in Cambridgeshire (42 of 110), centered around Ely.

Source: Surname Atlas (Archer Software)

I would be interested to know more about the Goobys and would be happy to share details of the certificates with anyone interested.

The Hart and Temme family - Shadwell, Plaistow and Rainham

I came across a bundle of certificates for Rosetta Clara Hart and Dorothy Temme. It looks like these had been lovingly kept by a family but then somehow discarded.

Rosetta Clara Hart was born in 1873 in Shadwell. In the 1881 census we find her at her family home with father George, who was born in East Bradenham, Norfolk, and who is a widower, and elder sister Harriet Mary.

Rosetta attended the High Street Shadwell school and there are school certificates from 1881 to 1885.
There is also a certificate for her membership of the Shadwell Band of Hope dated November 1886.

The United Kingdom Band of Hope Union was a temperance organisation for working class children - children were enrolled from the age of six. At the bottom of the certificate are the words "I promise to Abstain from all Intoxicating Drinks". It is interesting to note that at the very bottom in small letters is mentioned that "TOBACCO" may also be included in the form of Pledge.

In the 1891 census Rosetta is a servant in Grove Terrace, Shadwell. In 1892 she married Edmund Temme, a boot maker from Whitechapel, and in the 1901 census they are living in Redriffe Villas, Stratford Road, Plaistow, with daughters Nellie and Dorothy.

Dorothy attended the Holbrook Road School and there are school certificates for the years 1901 and 1902, such as this example from 1902:

In the 1911 census, the family are still living at the same address and more children have arrived - Edward Harry, Elsie Irene and Rosetta Clara (named after her mother). The census shows that the couple had 7 children but that only 5 were living.

I believe that Dorothy Temme may have died in 1921, aged just 24. Her parents moved to Rainham where Rosetta Clare Temme (nee Hart) died on 2 July 1956. Her husband, Edmund, had died on 26 January 1947.

I would be interested to know more about this family and would be happy to provide copies of the other certificates and other ephemera to anyone interested.