My Dad’s grandfather, James Aaron Stocking, was born in Southwark in 1876. He spent his early years in one of the poorer parts of South London, abutting the Leather Market area, home to London’s tanneries, glue and size factories and allied trades. Later, he and his ever-growing family of siblings moved to Camberwell, living cheek-by-jowl with the growing tram network. As I began to unpick the story of his early life, I realised that, although my 2xgreat grandfather was his parents’ first son (and second child), they went on to have a total of 19 children, almost all of whom survived into adulthood – a remarkable achievement given the poor housing and other social conditions of the time. This is part of his story.

From Southwark to Camberwell

I ordered my great-grandfather’s birth certificate from the General Record Office (GRO) – extract below – which confirmed his date of birth as 22 May 1876, and recorded his birthplace as 30 Bermondsey New Road. His father – James Thomas Stocking – is described as a Bricklayer’s Labourer, and his mother’s name is confirmed as Alice Mary, formerly Wales. She signed the Register recording his birth, indicating that she had some education.

Bermondsey New Road (now parts of Bermondsey Street and Tower Bridge Road) was in the Leather Market district of London, in Bermondsey and Southwark. It can be seen clearly on the five inches to a mile OS map of 1891-93, at the National Library of Scotland’s collection, surrounded by factories and tramways, a baptist chapel and school.

By the time James was five years old, at the time of the 1881 census, his parents had moved with their five children away from the River Thames, further South and West to 43 Herman Road, Camberwell. Herman Road ran into Bowles Road on the edge of the London County Council tram depot, south of Bermondsey New Road where James was born (see map). In later records, their address switches between Herman Road and Bowles Road (also sometimes called Herman St and Bowles St), but I am not sure if they actually moved, or the road names became conflated somehow.

Charles Booth’s notebooks recorded social conditions in the area from 1881 to 1903. He describes Bowles Road as:

leading to large LCC tram stables.

Bowles Road from Charles Booth’s Notebooks

Booth’s poverty map of London, colour-coding the streets according to the general economic and social status of those living and working there, shows Herman Street [sic] and Bowles Road as ‘Purple or Purple to Pink’.

Purple = ‘Mixed. Some comfortable, others poor; Pink = Fairly comfortable. Good ordinary earnings’.

So whilst this was not one of the most salubrious areas of London, it wasn’t the worst kind of slum either.

Growing up with a growing family

James was baptised aged six, on 19 July 1882, along with four siblings, at the church of St Philip the Apostle, Avondale Square (since demolished), which can be seen on the map above, on the North side of the Old Kent Road. The parish register records his birth date as 22 May 1876, matching his birth certificate. His parents are shown as James Thomas & Alice Mary Stocking of 43 Bowles Street, the father described as a Labourer.

At the time of the 1891 census, when he was 14 years old, James’ family has expanded to include a total of 11 children aged from the eldest, Alice, at 16, to the youngest, Richard, aged 6 months. James is still at school, whereas many of his contemporaries of that age would already have been working to supplement the family income. His older sister Alice is a Needlewoman, but all the other children of school age are described as ‘scholar’.

Education in England had been compulsory for children aged 5-10 since the Elementary Education Act of 1880. The Elementary Education Act of 1891 provided for the state payment of school fees up to ten shillings per head, which effectively made primary education free (Wikipedia). However, it wasn’t until 1899 that the school leaving age was raised to 12 years; it seems that James’ parents were keen to ensure their children had an education, and could perhaps afford it even beyond the compulsory period, despite their large family and occupations which would probably not have brought in large sums of money.

Between the 1891 census and his marriage in 1900, James’ parents had produced seven more children, one of whom died in infancy. Their home at Herman Road must have been very crowded and noisy, but it seems that even the eldest stayed at home until they left to marry: at the time of the 1901 census, all four of their eldest children, aged 19-23, are still at home with the ten youngest.

My great-grandfather James Aaron Stocking married Susan Caroline Hill on 3 June 1900 at the same church where he and his siblings were baptised, and where they baptised their son (my paternal grandfather, also James Aaron Stocking) a year later: St Philip the Apostle, Avondale Square, Southwark.