Victorian Surveillance

Blackwall, Monday Night,

My Beloved Maria,

I have just finished your Aunt’s ….. and hope dear Maria you got home quite safe and from all surveillance from those at home. I hope dear aunt was not hurt at my not going… but you know dearest my reasons for not doing so………… I hope you will be able to come on Wednesday to my brother’s. They dine about 2… so will meet you a little before 2 by Bromley Church. I think you know the way dearest – get down at Byford Corner – at the side of Bow Church – thro’ the gates – to the left …. Where I hope to meet you dear Maria – could, dear you let me know if you can come… in the meantime believe me in haste my affectionate tho’ saucy (?) little Ria.. Your own affectionate and faithful Henry.

Maria Robinson and her family in the 1841 census for Poplar

Henry, it appears, was keeping up his contacts with elder brother, Thomas Edward, the baker, and one may guess that with the baker’s ovens fired up, a good meal was always to be had over with brother Thomas and his family. Of course, all these issues of surveillance remain quite intriguing, and Henry and Maria’s pre-marital relationship was certainly conducted in cloak and dagger fashion. But for now, Maria was to be introduced to Thomas Edward, his wife, Ann Jane Chapman, and approval and comfort sought.

Strange to consider too as Henry and Maria sat down for their dinner with Thomas Edward and Ann, that their son, Thomas Edward junior, aged just six, and gazing with fascination up at the young and perhaps beautiful Maria, would, before too many years had passed, be treading the aisle with Maria’s sister, Rosetta, herself, a mere child safely monitored at this very moment no doubt under the keen eye of Elizabeth Parker, Harriett Wombwell’s house servant and factotum.

Not that Maria was precisely a fountain of wisdom, maturity and experience at this point, and it is worth just reminding ourselves that as Maria took her place at Thomas Edward’s dining table on that Wednesday afternoon in 1848 most probably she was not yet twenty years old. If so, there may indeed have been good reasons for the surveillance that Henry snarls at, and one wonders even more what Maria, the silent and enigmatic Maria, whose replies to these letters have never come down to us, made of all Henry’s effusive communications. She was after all still just a teenager.

It may be then that Harriett Wombwell’s major concern was that Maria was in the time-honoured phrase simply ‘too young’. However, you can’t help but feel that there was more to it than this. Harriett herself had married young, and all the evidence suggests she was extremely keen on finding good husbands for her children. Henry, as he seems to have been resentfully aware, somehow did not fall into that category.

1851 Census Record for 65 Four Mills Lane in Bow, where Henry’s brother Thomas Edward ran his bakery business and provided refuge to Henry, and periodically, Maria.

The Line of Maria Bradley and Francis Benjamin Boyd Fleuret

Maria Bradley (1817-????), a great aunt of Hetty Jane Owen was the third child of Thomas Bradley and Elizabeth Hounsell.  She was living with her brother Henry and his family in 1861 in their house in 8 Coborn Street, Bow. She married Francis Benjamin Boyd Fleuret in 1841 St Dunstans and All Saints Church. He died in 1846, and the couple had two children.

First Generation (First cousins x1 removed of Hetty Jane Owen)
1.			Maria Bradley (1817-????) m. Francis Benjamin Boyd Fleuret (????-1846)
		i	Francis Boyd Fleuret (1844–????) married Elizabeth Ann Lamb in 1882 in Durham. Elizabeth was formerly married to a ‘Mr Richards’ and had three children from this marriage.
	2.	ii	Maria Louisa Ann Fleuret (1846–????). She was born in 1845 in Limehouse St. Anne’s and is buried in Kensington Green Cemetery. In 1866 she married Henry Dowsett Smith (1846-1895) in Westminster. Henry was from Clerkenwell, and a bookseller. They had three children. After his death in 1895, she married Alfred Charles Dawson in Kensington in 1900.
Second Generation (second cousins of Hetty Jane Owen)
2.			Maria Louisa Ann Fleuret (1845–1933) m. Henry Dowsett Smith (1846-1895)
	3	i	Louisa Annie Elizabeth Smith (1867–1906). She was born in Notting Hill, but emigrated to Canada. She died in Port Thunder, Ontario. In 1885 in Ontario, she married Thomas Riddell Boyce, who was originally from Dishforth in Yorkshire. They had six children. Louisa Annie Elizabeth Smith and her son Thomas Cox Boyce. From Shirley Smith’s Ancestry.com page. Louisa was a second cousin of Hetty Jane Owen. The photo would have been taken in Canada.
		ii	Henry Arthur Smith (1869–????). No information is available for Henry or his younger sister below apart from their births in London.
		iii	Anne Georgiana Smith (1872–1874)
Third Generation (Third cousins of Hetty Jane Owen’s children)
3.			Louisa Annie Elizabeth Smith (1867–1906) m.  Thomas Riddell Boyce (1864-1927)
		i	Thomas Cox Boyce (1885–). He was born in Port Arthur, Ontario. He volunteered for service in World War One, and by 1921 was back in Canada. He married Melvina Kimble Putman (1888-1968) and they had four children.
		ii	Arthur Fulford Boyce (1887–1953). He was also born in Port Arthur, Canada. He married twice and had two children.
		iii	John Fleuret Dowsett Boyce (1889–1953). Likewise born in Port Arthur, and likewise married twice.
		iv	Eva Churton Boyce (1891–1958) was born and died in Port Arthur. She married James Henry Hodgkinson and they had two children.
		v	Florence Lena Marguerite (Daisy) Boyce (1896–1913) was born and died in Port Arthur.
		vi	Henry (Harry) Bradley Boyce (1901–1943). He too was born and died in Port Arthur. He married Bertha Almeida Parker (1909-????).

Thus the direct descendants of Maria Bradley, as far as we can follow the records, ended up in Canada, where they still presumably live.

The Line of Ellen Sarah Powell and Ithiel Price

This extensive line, which throws up the possibility of branches of cousins in both South Africa and in Canada, as well a murder and suicide in London in 1940, is as recorded below. Its inclusion is based on the proposition that Ellen Sarah Powell was the daughter of Eleanor Robinson and George Powell, and the niece therefore of Charles John Robinson.

First Generation (Second cousins x1 removed of Hetty Jane Owen.)
1			Ellen Sarah Powell (1822-1911), b. St. George in the East, Middlesex and d. in Croydon, Surrey. She m. Ithiel Price (1809-1879), b. Stepney, and d. 48 High Street, Stepney. He worked as a parish clerk.
	2.	i	Ellen Elizabeth Price (1843–1894), b. Mile End Town, and m. Frederick Perkins (1840-). He was a professor of Music, b. St. George in the East. The family moved to Lambeth and from there to Deptford.
		ii	Ithiel Price (1845-) b. 1845, St Dunstan and All Saints, Middlesex.
		iii	Isaac Price (1846–) b. 1846, Stepney, Middlesex.
	3.	iv	George James Garratt Price (1848–1912), b. Mile End Old Town, d. Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. M. Matilda Seagar (1855-1931). Matilda was born in Sydenham, Eastern Cape, South Africa and died in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal.
		v	James Price (1850–) was born in Stepney, Middlesex.
	4.	vi	John Alfred Price (1851–1927) b. Ratcliff, Middlesex, England, d. Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, m. Matilda Dunham (1855-) b.  Wymondham, Norfolk, England. In 1881, he was working as a clerk in the Probate Registry in Nottingham.
		vii	Harriet Robinson Price (1854–) b. Ratcliff, Middlesex. Was living with her brother Charles in Battersea ın 1901.
	5.	viii	George Powell Price (1857–1931) b. Ratcliff, Middlesex, and d. Ipswich, Suffolk. M. Mary Ann Jane Kite (1860-1911), b. Islington and d. Ipswich. He was a government clerk in the Ipswich Probate Office in 1891.
	6.	ix	Charles Nairn Price (1859–) b. Ratcliff, Middlesex, m. Elizabeth Julia Brown (1870-), b. Battersea, London. He was a Professor of Music  and living in Battersea in 1901.
	7.	x	Albert Henry Price (1861–1945), b. Stepney, Middlesex, d. Lambeth, London. He married Annie Elizabeth Shorrocks, b. 1870 in London. In 1881, he was living in Islington and working as violin bow maker.
	8.	xi	Frederick Price (1865–), b. Stepney and m. Eva Jacobs (1872-1919) at St. Mary, Newington in 1892.
Second  Generation (Third cousins of Hetty Jane Owen.)
2			Ellen Elizabeth Price (1843–1894) m. Frederick Perkins (1840-).
		i	Nelly Georgina Perkins (1867–1875), b. and d. Lambeth.
		ii	Ada Perkins (1868–), baptized  Saint Dunstan, Stepney, London.
	9.	iii	Frederick Gilbert Victor Perkins (1871–1956), b. Lambeth, d. Hampshire. He married Elizabeth.
		iv	Dora Nairn Perkins (1877–), b. Covent Garden, Middlesex.
3			George James Garratt Price (1848–1912) m. Matilda Seagar (1855-1931)
		i	Ithiel Price  (1878–1900), b. and d. Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
	10.	ii	Maud Price (1879–1967), b. Camperdown, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, d. Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, m. Frederick William Pride (1876-1963), b. Porth, Glamorgan, Wales, d. Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
		iii	James Price  (1881–1973) b. Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, d. SA.
	11.	iv	George Cairns Price (1891–1964), b. Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, d. Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape. M. Irene Gladys Miles (1888–1976), b. South Stoneham, Hampshire, d. Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape.
4.			John Alfred Price (1851–1927) m. Matilda Dunham (1855-)
		i	Alice Mary Price (1877–) was born in Nottingham.
		ii	Ellen Powell Price (1879–) was born in Nottingham.
	12.	iii	Mabel Price (1884–1945), b. Nottingham. M. Ettore Luigi G Nencini in Brighton in 1907. She died in 1945 in Westminster.
	13.	iv	Claude Alfred Price (1889–1945), b. Nottingham, d. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He married Mildred Ursula Wakeford (1889-), who was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire.
5.			George Powell Price (1857–1931) m. Mary Ann Jane Kite (1860-1911)
		i	Ellen Georgina Price (1884–1963), b. and d. in Ipswich, Suffolk.
		ii	Florence Mary Price (1885–1973) b. and d. in Ipswich, Suffolk.
		iii	Frederick George Price (1887–1973) b. and d. in Ipswich. M. Hilda Victoria Parker, born 1885 in Mildenhall, Suffolk. They had at least one child.
		iv	Edith Ethel Price (1888–1982) was born and died in Ipswich.
		v	Marjorie Barbara Price (1890–1953) b. and d. in Ipswich.
6.			Charles Nairn Price (1859–) m. Elizabeth Julia Brown (1870-)
		i	Charles James Price (1893–) was born in 1893 in Brixton.
		ii	Elsa Elinor Price (1894–) was born in Clapham, London.
7.			Albert Henry Price (1861–1945) m.  Annie Elizabeth Shorrocks, (1870-)
		i	Annie Thomas Price (1897–) was born in Marylebone, London.
		ii	Ithiel Price (1899–1959) was born in Lambeth and died in Surrey.
8.			Frederick Price (1865–) m. Eva Jacobs (1872-1919)
	14.	i	Dora Price (1892–1940), b. London, d. Staines, Surrey. M. Leonard William Gleeson (1883-1940), b. Marylebone, and d. Staines.
	15.	ii	Baron George F Price (1895–1969), b. Newington, d. Bath, Somerset. M. Dorothy Winifred Keep (1885-1969), b. Newbury, Berkshire, d. Torbay, Devon.
Third  Generation (Fourth cousins of Harold and Olwen Eldridge)
9.			Frederick Gilbert Victor Perkins (1871–1956) m. Elizabeth.
		i.	Alfred Neil Perkins (1909-1997), b. Bingham, Nottinghamshire, d. Plymouth, Devon.
10.			Maud Price  (1879–1967) m. Frederick William Pride (1876-1963).
		i	Garrett Edward Pride (1906–1976) b. Elandslaagte, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and died in Johannesburg, Gauteng. M. Catherine McKirdy Benson, b. Glasgow.
		ii	Marjorie Beatrice Pride (1911–1994), b. Elandslaagte, KwaZulu-Natal, d. Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal. M. George Darby (1912-1969). He was from Swinburne, Free State, South Africa.
		iii	Delphine Elinor Pride (1914–1990), b. Elandslaagte, KwaZulu-Natal, d. Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. M. Douglas Alistair Giffen (1918-1995), b. Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal, and d. Durban.
		iv	Bertram Isaac Pride (1916–2004), b. Elandslaagte, KwaZulu-Natal, d. Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal. M. Margaret Stewart Morris (1918-1994). She died in Durban.
		v.	Kenneth Basil Pride (1919–2002), b. Elandslaagte, KwaZulu-Natal, and d. in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. He married Maria Theresa Patricia Du Trevou (1923-1994). She died in Durban.
11.			George Cairns Price (1891–1964), m. Irene Gladys Miles (1888–1976).
		i	George James Price (1921–1965) b. Germiston, Gauteng, South Africa, d. Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa. M. Ellen Thelma Cooke (1923-2004), b. Natal.
12.			Mabel Price (1884–1945) m. Ettore Luigi G Nencini
		i	Alfredo Ettore Geovanni Nencini (1907–1940). He was born in Brighton. Having left his first wife, on the 14th December, 1940, Alfredo murdered Kathleen Emily Nencini at 14, The Rise, Hillingdon, and committed suicide. See: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1257961
		ii	Elena Margherita Nencini (1909–1988), b. Orston, Nottinghamshire and died in Lambeth. M. Gerald R F Brown.
13.			Claude Alfred Price (1889–1945) m. Mildred Ursula Wakeford (1889-)
		i	John Winter Price (1914-), b. Vancouver and died in Gabriola, British Columbia. M. Lucille Ford (1916-) and they had six children. Lucille, b. Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada.
		ii	Phoebe Price
14.			Dora Price (1892–1940) m. Leonard William Gleeson (1883-1940).
		i	Robert Alan Gleeson (1919-1976), b. Ealing, d. Camberley, Surrey. M. Lilian May Williamson (1914-1976) and they had two children. Lilian, b. Brentford, d. Camberley.
15.			Baron George F Price (1895–1969) m. Dorothy Winifred Keep (1885-1969
		i	Peter Price (1925-2003) d. Torbay, Devon.