My great-great grand aunt Caroline Jane Stocking married Carman Charles Baker in 1878. By 1911, she has been widowed, but states that she had had 11 children, four of whom had died by the census date. I have not been able to find records for more than eight of them. She had a relatively short life, dying aged 60 in 1917.

Early years and marriage

She was baptised on 17 June 1855, on the same day as her older sister Mary Ann Susan Stocking and older brother – my 2xgreat grandfather James Thomas Stocking. It was perhaps her birth that prompted the baptisms of all three children. According to the baptism record from St Mary Newington’s parish register (below), her date of birth was 23 May 1855, about three weeks earlier. I have not been able to trace a birth registration record for her.

By the 1871 census, she is working as a Servant, aged 18, living at home with her parents and siblings at 26 John Street, Bermondsey, by then their home for at least a decade. She married Carman Charles Baker on 4 August 1878 at St Mary Newington. It appears that they were neighbours at Chatham Place, she living at no. 12, he at no.14. Although her husband signed the register, she only made her mark, so could not read or write.

Married life

By 1881, the couple and their one year old daughter Mary Ann are living at 253 Weston Street, sharing a property with Carman Charles West, his wife and seven children. Charles Baker is described as a General Carman, aged 29. Weston Street still stands, running alongside the Leather Market; perhaps Charles worked transporting hides or other goods there.

Ten years later, Charles and Caroline are still at the same address, occupying three rooms with their children Mary Ann, Charles, Esther and Willie, the latter just four months old. In between the censuses, they had had another son, Robert, who was born and died in 1890. They had three more children before 1901: Susan, Ernest and Clarence. The four youngest children are still at home with their parents in 1901 – now at 293 Weston Street, a property they share with two other families.

I am not sure when Charles Baker died, but by 1911, Caroline has been widowed; at the time of the census that year she is living in three rooms at 29 Decima Street, Bermondsey, with five of her children: Esther, a 23 year old Machine Hand at a Tin Works; William, 19, a Packer at a Butter Works; Susan, 18, a Machine Hand like her older sister; Ernest, a Truck Boy for a Carman and Contractor firm and 17 year old Clarence, a Warehouse Boy. Both younger boys’ place of birth is shown as Edmonton. Decima Street runs parallel to Weston Street, and is not far from Tower Bridge Road.

Although information about marriage and number of children was only required by married women, Caroline has completed this part of the form, subsequently crossed through by the enumerator. She states she had been married for 32 years (1878) and had had 11 children during the marriage, four of whom had died. However, I have only been able to trace birth records for eight of them:

• Mary Ann Martha Harriet Baker (1879-1967)
• Charles James Baker (1884-1920)
• Esther Martha Baker (1886-?)
• Robert Matthews Baker (1890-1890)
• William Baker (1891-?)
• Susan Mary Ann Baker (1892-?)
• Ernest Baker (1893-?)
• Clarence Baker (1896-1976)

Caroline Jane Baker died at the Lambeth Infirmary, Brook Street, in August 1917 and was buried at the London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery on 9 August, her age shown as 60 years.

Her eldest son, also called Charles James Baker, died of cancer in 1920; his widow applied for a pension, but this was refused by the War Office as ‘the disease was contracted’ after he was discharged (he had served as a Private in the Bedford Regiment during WW1). He was 36 years old. With a common surname, I have not been able to trace much reliable evidence of the later lives of Caroline and Charles’ surviving children.