On just two records, my 3xgreat grandfather James Stocking is shown as a Policeman. How can that be? He was born around 1829 in Southwark, South London, the son of Thomas Stocking and Susan Brown. Various records, including censuses and family birth, baptism, marriage and death records, show him to have had fairly lowly occupations, including Rope Mat Maker, Carpet Stool Hawker and Labourer. But on two occasions, thirty years apart, James Stocking is described rather surprisingly as a policeman. Can I find any evidence for this? Let’s see.

I first found James Stocking in the 1861 census by searching for his son, my 2xgreat grandfather James Thomas Stocking, born in 1853. From the latter’s birth certificate, I knew he was the son of James Stocking, a Mat Maker, and his wife Mary Ann Collins. They were married at St Mary Newington on 22 November 1849, both under 21 years old (‘minor’) at the time. James is said to be a Rope Mat Maker; his father is shown as Thomas Stocking, also a Rope Mat Maker. A minor dynasty of Mat Makers then.

They both give their address as Castle Street, (links to a watercolour image from the London Picture Archive) which joins onto Southwark Bridge Road. What remains is now called Thrale Street. The couple is still living at 3 Castle Street, Southwark two years later when the 1851 census is taken, living with James’ parents Thomas and Susan. The family surname is transcribed as Stocken on the census form. James is working as a Carpet Stool Hawker, hawking wares rather than making mats.

James Stocking: Man of many guises

From the censuses and their children’s birth and baptism records, it seems that James Stocking and Mary Ann had eleven children born in the 18 years between 1851 and 1869 and that James Stocking‘s occupation over the years varied regularly between some form of hawking and rope mat making, but for two instances where he is described as policeman:

Nov 1849	Castle Street	Rope Mat Maker	MC
Mar 1851	Castle Street	Carpet Stool Hawker	Census
Sep 1851	Castle Street	Rope Mat Maker	BC daughter Mary Ann
Jun 1853	St Stephens St	Carpet Stool Hawker	BC son James Thomas
Jun 1855	Kent Street	Labourer	Bapts 3 children
Sep 1857	Chatham Place, Kent St	Labourer	Bapt son Richard Daniel
Jul 1859	Kent Street	Labourer	Bapt son Robert Matthew
Mar 1861	Paragon Row	Hawker	Bapt son Frederick William
Apr 1861	26 John Street	Policeman	Census
Oct 1862	Chatham Place	Hawker	Bapt son George Thomas
Nov 1864	Chatham Place	Hawker	Bapt son William Thomas
Apr 1871	26 John Street	Bricklayer’s Labourer	Census
Aug 1878	Chatham Place	Weaver	MC daughter Caroline/Chas Baker
Apr 1881	24 St Thomas Road	Bricklayer’s Labourer	Census
Oct 1883	24 St Thomas Road	General Labourer	DC James Stocking

When his youngest son Prince Arthur Stocking married a few years after James’ death, in 1891, he gives his father’s occupation as Policeman. This, and the 1861 census entry seem highly unlikely given all the other evidence of occupations. However, see more below.

Hawking and mat making

Hawkers were street sellers who often had their own particular ‘cries’ or ‘hawks’ to attract people to buy their goods, as this article and audio about street sellers (c1851) at the British Library suggests. Their distinguishing feature was their mobility: they walked the streets rather than sticking to any one pitch. As for rope mat making, a search for similar occupations in London in the 1851 census at The Genealogist reveals just 30 people with the specific occupation of Rope Mat Maker, but nearly 300 described as ‘Mat Maker’. Most are living within a mile or so of the Stocking family in Southwark. Rope Mats are still popular today, made in the form of nautical knots. See this selection at Etsy. Would James’ rope mats have followed a similar pattern? Who knows?

Policing in Victorian times

The City of London police was founded in 1839.  According to Victorian Web’s account of the history of the police, by 1841 there was around one policeman for every 900 inhabitants. 

Wikipedia suggests that by 1860, there were over 200 separate police forces in England and Wales. However, perhaps James wasn’t a metropolitan policeman, but was working for a section of docks police, or a kind of security guard for a nearby factory. I have found no records for James Stocking in those of the Old Bailey Online, in newspaper reports or any other records that suggest he really did join the police; if he did, it was short-lived, but must have made some impact on his son’s memory for him to have given Policeman as his father’s occupation on his marriage certificate.

There is more research to do to see if James really did join the police, or whether this was a joke with the census enumerator! There is just one other possibility. The Grand Surrey Canal, not far from where the family were living at John Street in 1861, employed its own policemen, as did many other docks and railway companies in London. Could James have worked for them, or for a similar organisation with its own police / security force, for a short time? I don’t think I’ll ever know, but it’s an intriguing thought.

The 1881 census is the last time James and Mary Ann Stocking appear in the censuses. What more can be found about their early years and later lives and deaths?