My great great grand aunt Mary Ann Susan Stocking was born in 1851, the eldest of 11 children. In her early years, she worked as a Flagmaker. In 1911, she states she and her husband William James Ward had also had 11 children since their marriage in 1873, seven of whom had by then died. However, I have only managed to find records for nine of them.

Early years-marriage

Mary was the first child born to my 3xgreat grandparents James Stocking and Mary Ann Collins. She was baptised at the same time as her brother James Thomas Stocking, my 2xgreat grandfather, and their sister Caroline Jane, in 1855, but her birth date on the baptism record is wrongly shown as 15 September 1852.

Her birth certificate shows she was born at 1 Castle Street, on 5 September 1851. Her father was working as a Rope Mat Maker.

At the time of the 1871 census she is aged 19, living with her parents at John Street, off Kent Street, occupation Flagmaker. Perhaps she worked at nearby Edgingtons’, the famous flag, tent, rope and sailmaker, a prestigious employer?

On 1 June 1873, she married William James Ward, a Packing Case Maker, at St Mary Newington. Her home address is shown as 20 Chatham Place, as is his, so perhaps he was lodging with the family, a neighbour, or it was just an address of convenience.

They were living with her parents at the time of the 1881 census (her name shown as Susanna), with three children. In 1891 and 1901 the growing family is living at nearby Alfreton Street. William Ward is described as a Packing Case Maker in the censuses up until 1901.

According to her entry in the 1911 census, by then a widow, they had married 40 years previously and had had 11 children, only four of whom are still alive in 1911. She is described as a Laundry Worker and living with her 17 year old youngest known son Frank Ward, a General Labourer. Presumably she was taking in or doing washing to help make ends meet.

There is a FreeBMD record for the death of William James Ward, aged 52, in Camberwell in the June 1902 quarter (1d 450). A possibility for Mary is the death of Mary A Ward, aged 65, in Camberwell, in the June quarter, 1912 (1d 702) from FreeBMD. She would actually have been 60 years of age, but the person registering the death may not have known her precise age. I have not ordered the death certificate to check if this is the correct Mary Ann.

The 11 (or nine?) children of Mary Ann Susan Stocking and William James Ward

In the 1911 census, Mary Ward and her youngest known son, 17 year old Frank, are sharing one room at 51 Neal Street, St Giles. The form is completed in sprawling handwriting; when she married nearly 40 years earlier, she made her mark, but now appears to sign the form, or perhaps Frank completed it for them both. She gives her age as 62 and says she has had eleven children, only four of whom are still alive by then. These are most likely the four who appear with their parents in the 1901 census at 20 Alfreton Road: Robert Henry, 17; Maud A, 14; Ethel F, 8 and Frank A, 7. However, I have only so far managed to find records for nine Ward children with mother’s maiden name Stocking.

According to the family’s appearances in the 1881-1911 censuses, their first child appears to be William James Ward. The 1881 census shows the family at 24 St Thomas Road, in the same house as Mary Ann’s parents and younger siblings. They have two other children besides 8 year old William: Arthur Ward, aged three and Elizabeth Ward, aged one.

William was baptised at St Mary Newington 8 November 1874, his birth date recorded as 9 October that year. His father is a labourer, and their home address was 11 Chatham Place. Arthur Richard Ward was baptised on 25 March 1882 at St Mark’s, Cobourg Road; by then the family address is 24 St Thomas Road, and his father is working as a Packing Case Maker. Elizabeth Margaret Ward was baptised on 12 March 1883, again at St Mark’s. Her birth date is given as 30 January 1880. The family is still at 24 St Thomas Road, but her father is described as a Carpenter … perhaps one step up from making packing cases.

By the 1891 census, their eldest son William has died (in 1889, aged 15). At home with their parents in 1891 at 20 Alfreton Road are Arthur, ‘Lizzie’, Robert Henry Ward (b1883) and Maud Amelia Ward (b1887). Arthur Richard Ward‘s birth was registered in April-June 1878, and his death, aged 17, in April-June 1895.

Towards the end of 1891, another daughter, Ethel Florence Ward was born, and son Frank Alfred Ward, in 1894. Both are in the family home in 1901. So the censuses provide the names and ages of seven children. A search of the GRO indexes for births of children with the surname Ward, mother’s maiden name Stocking, between 1874-1903, reveal only two more, giving nine:

• William James Ward (1874-1889)
• Mary Ann Caroline Ward (1876-1876)
• Arthur Richard Ward (1878-1895)
• Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Margaret Ward (1880-?)
• Rose Ward (1882-1886)
• Robert Henry Ward (1883-?)
• Maud Amelia Ward (1887-?)
• Ethel Florence Ward (1891-?)
• Frank Alfred Ward (1894-?)

It is possible that two other babies were stillborn and therefore not registered, or the Stocking surname mis-transcribed.

It is clear from death index entries that, by 1911, Mary Ann Caroline, William James, Arthur Richard and Rose Ward had all died young. If only four children are still alive, who were they, and what happened to the others?

There is a possible marriage record for an Elizabeth Margaret Ward at FreeBMD in the first quarter of 1901. She married either an Arthur Hards or a John O’Boyle. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to trace her under either surname, so do not know if they had children, where they lived or died after 1901.

A Robert Henry Ward of roughly the right age (28, rather than 25) is listed in the 1911 census as a boarder at 101 St Paul’s Road, Walworth. His birthplace is ‘Kent Road’, and his occupation is Electrician’s Fitter. The building is home to an elderly Retired Insurance Agent, his wife and a housekeeper, and a total of six male boarders. Amongst them are commercial travellers and salesmen. This is the last likely sighting of him; his name is too common to be able to pinpoint him in later census, marriage or death index records.

Maud Amelia Ward was 14 at the time of the 1901 census. So far I have failed to find any further trace of her. By 1911 she may well have married, although I have found no obvious record yet.

Ethel Florence Ward was baptised aged 2 in 1893 at St Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey; her birth date is shown as 10 September 1891, her father a Packing Case Maker of 20 Alfreton Street, her mother’s name recorded as Mariann Susan. She is aged eight on the 1901 census, so would have been only nine years old when her father died the following year. She does not appear in the 1911 census, when she would have been 18. Did she marry? Was she dead? Another mystery.

Frank Alfred Ward was the Wards’ youngest known child, born on 13 December 1893. His mother would have been 42 years old. He appears with his parents in the 1901 census, and his mother in 1911. Ancestry has a possible medal index record for him for service between 1915-1919 during the Great War.

He may have married Ethel M Ling in Southwark in 1916 (GRO index 1d 155). However, I have not found any further confirmed trace of Frank Alfred, nor of his possible wife Ethel, after 1916.

So although Mary Ann Susan Stocking and her husband William James Ward appear to have had at least nine, and possibly 11 children, of the four known to have still been living by 1911, none has left any obvious record (to me, at least) of later marriages, offspring or deaths.