Alice was the eldest of my 2xgreat grandparents’ children and appears to have had a steady childhood, albeit one of 19 children. After leaving school, she worked as a needlewoman, making shirts and hat trimmings. Her home life after she married was also straightforward, although she only had two children, a small family for the time. I was unprepared, then, to find that hers was a tragic death, one that had never been spoken of in my hearing and was, perhaps, unknown to my Dad.

School days and needlework

Alice Caroline Stocking was born on 10 December 1874, barely 11 days after her parents married; her mother Alice Mary (Wales) was just 17 years old, her father, James Thomas Stocking, 21. The young couple were probably living with her maternal grandparents at the time; they were still in the same street, at 43 Bowles Road, when school admission books at Ancestry.co.uk show that she was enrolled at Rolls Road School, Bermondsey, on 26 April 1880, aged 5.

She was baptised at the church of St Philip, Avondale Square, on 19 July 1882, when she would have been eight years old. Her date of birth is consistent with other records but, on this occasion, her first names are given as Alice Mary Anne Stocking, daughter of Alice and James of 43 Herman Road. She was baptised on the same day as her younger siblings: my great grandfather James Aaron Stocking, sisters Emma Mary Anne and Harriett Elizabeth Stocking, and baby brother William Henry Stocking.

Rolls Road School, Bermondsey, was an imposing Victorian brick built affair. The London Picture Archive has several images of it, including one taken in the 1880s, around the time she and her siblings attended. The 1891 census shows a 16 year old Alice Stocking squashed into four rooms with her parents and ten siblings at 44 Bowles Road, Camberwell, working as a ‘Needlewoman, Shirt’. Whether she would have undertaken the sewing work at home or in a local factory, I am not sure.

A Christmas Day wedding and family life

While her parents married very young, Alice seems to have been in no hurry to wed. She was 26 when, on Christmas Day 1900, she married 23 year old Brushmaker William Joseph Scofield at the same church where she was baptised.

Extract from marriage register, St Philip, Avondale Square (GRO)

Alice’s occupation is left blank, although she was probably still contributing to the family income with her needlework. Both bride and groom give her parents’ home address as their place of residence: 44 Bowles Road. They both sign the register with a firm hand. The witnesses are her sister Catherine Alice Stocking and Henry Scofield (the groom’s brother and probably best man) whose flourishing signature rather dominates all the other information.

When the census was taken three months later, on 31 March, William Joseph Scofield (known as Bill) and his wife have moved away from her family home and are living next door to his parents at 33 Parfitt Road, Rotherhithe. Bill’s father is Ebenezer Scofield, also a Brushmaker like his son. He is at no. 31, with his wife and their seven other children, and Bill’s maternal Uncle, Joseph Barnett. Bill and Alice are occupying three rooms in no. 33, sharing the building with a Waterside Labourer, his wife and two children, and a single, middle-aged woman. Both the latter and Alice are working as Gents’ Hat Trimmers, so Alice clearly did continue to work after her marriage.

By the mid-1800s, one of the country’s most prominent hat makers, founded in the late 1700s by Miller Christy, had its large hat manufacturing premises at Bermondsey Street. Christy’s may perhaps have employed women like Alice to make hat trimmings at home, as piece-work, although there were probably many other, smaller hat makers for whom she may have worked.

Parfitt Road no longer exists. In the early 1900s, it was part of an area sandwiched between the Bricklayers Arms extension and the original site of South Bermondsey Station on the railway line running into London Bridge. It is now under the site of the 1980s Rennie Estate. The map below shows the layout of the railway lines around Parfitt Rd (not shown):

Railway Clearing House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

It would not have taken Alice long to reach Christy’s on foot, by bus or by train. On 11 November 1901, their first child, William Aaron Joseph Scofield, was born. He was baptised a month later, on 11 December 1901 at St Philips Church. The baptism record shows that his parents were still living next door to Bill’s family at 33 Parfitt Road. From at least 1905, Bill is recorded as registered to vote at 26 Herman Road, so it seems they moved back to her parents’ locality for a few years; they were still there in 1907.

Alice Caroline Scofield was 33 years old when their second and only other child was born. Alice Maud May Scofield was born on 25 February 1908, almost a year to the day following the death of her grandmother, after whom she appears to have been named. She was baptised on 11 March that year at Clare College Mission Church, Rotherhithe, a break from the family tradition of St Philips. Her father is still described as a Brushmaker, but the family address is different (but illegible).

Clare College Mission Church was built for the Cambridge college of the same name. Charles Booth’s notebooks relating to his survey of poverty in London records an interview with the Reverend Pridie, Minister of the Clare College Mission, at Abbeyfield Road, Rotherhithe, on 13 January 1900. There was clearly a church in existence then and the Minister reported that the area was becoming poorer with the expansion of the railway.

In 1911, the church was rebuilt in Italianate style, with very high roof and large, round window, and was one of the first concrete churches built in the country. It has since been adopted as an art gallery in Southwark Park, and is on English Heritage’s Grade II buildings list. The listing, however, also relates to a building from 1900, and it is not clear if that is the same as the 1911 one or not (was one built on the other?). The baptism record refers to All Saints Church, Clare College Mission, whereas the now derelict building is referred to as the Church of the Epiphany. See images at: Dilston Grove – Artsadmin.

By the time the new Clare College Mission Church was built in 1911, the Scofields have moved a little further South. The census that year finds them at 21 Zampa Road, South Bermondsey. The census form, completed by Bill, lists himself, still a Brushmaker, his wife and two children. They are occupying three rooms. A Mrs Ashworth and her five young children occupy three other rooms.

The Lloyd George Domesday Survey at The Genealogist shows that in 1913, the property and its neighbours were tenement buildings, each with a 16ft frontage. No. 21, and the majority of others in the road, were owned by the London Labourers Dwelling Society. Both ground and first floors had three rooms and a scullery, the lower with access to the outside WC, the upper with steps to the yard. The road was recently renamed John Berylson Way in honour of the late chairman of Millwall Football Club. A comparison of the Survey map of 1913, and today’s Google map, shows that the Club’s stadium, built in 1979, is sited directly on top of where no.21 and its neighbours would have stood.

The London Labourers Dwellings Society (LLDS – my abbreviation) was one of many such societies set up throughout the Victorian period to improve the lot of the working poor by building ‘model’ lodging houses to accommodate them. Peter Higginbotham’s excellent Workhouses.org website provides much detail and images for some of these building projects which were established across the capital. In 1875, the LLDS had housed nearly 400 families (almost 2000 individuals).

By 1918, electoral registers show that the Scofields have moved again, this time to Acton in Middlesex. They resided at 15 Graham Road, Acton for at least a decade. I failed to find the family in the 1921 census, searching by surname. A search for 15 Graham Road at FindMyPast, however, revealed that they had been transcribed as ‘Swfield’!.

Extract from 1921 census (FindMyPast)

Google Street View shows Graham Road lined with semi-detached villas that could be Edwardian, a far cry from the ‘model’ workers’ tenement lodgings of Bermondsey and Rotherhithe. Bill Scofield must have been doing quite well to be able to rent (presumably) the property. On the census form, he states that he is a ‘Bristle Dresser for the Brushmaking Industry’, employed by John Mason, Brush Manufacturer of Rothschilds Road, Acton. This was John Mason & Sons, Brush Manufacturers of 22 – 24 Rothschilds Road, Acton, according to a Middlesex Directory listing at the University Leicester’s special collections (no date or directory name given).

Their son, William Aaron Joseph Scofield, is 19 and working as a Motor Engineer’s Fitter employed by Ogston and Deemster Motor Works of Victoria Road, Willesden. Grace’s Guide shows that one of the Works’ owners was one H. C. Scofield. This was Harry Charles Scofield, born around 1877, and Bill’s brother. The Grace’s Guide entry for him confirms that he was the son of Ebenezer Scofield, Brushmaker. Sadly, the business had folded by 1924, when it was put up for sale by order of the Receiver.

Their daughter Alice Maud May Scofield was still at school, aged 13. Boarding with the family are Edith, Gladys and Vera Shefford, aged 18, 15 and 11 respectively, the eldest two girls working as a shorthand typist and a clerk for businesses in the city.

A tragic death: “Suicide, whilst of unsound mind”

The family were still at Graham Road in 1928, when tragedy hit. It seems that Alice had been suffering for several months with ‘an annoying ear problem’ and had brooded on the condition. On 19 December 1928, she appeared brighter, but that was the last her husband saw of her. The following day, her body was found on the foreshore of the River Thames, near Kew. She had a parcel tied round her neck, containing a brick and piece of coal which together weighed about a stone. The inquest, which was reported in local newspapers, found that the cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning. After hearing evidence from her husband and others, the Coroner pronounced a verdict of ‘suicide, whilst of unsound mind’.

The Richmond Herald, 29 December 1928, and The Acton Gazette (left) of 28 December both covered the inquest.

The article in The Richmond Herald also had a short addition, noting that representatives of the family had asked the Coroner to try to limit press coverage. The stigma of suicide was clearly still strongly felt; the Coroner’s answer was “you know as well as I that you cannot interfere with the Press. I find the Press here are extremely reticent and do not give anything that it [sic] not absolutely necessary.”

Bill Scofield was 50 years old when his wife died, their son 27 and their daughter just 20.

My grandfather would have been 28 years old when his father’s sister, his aunt, committed suicide. My father was born two years later. Did grandad know about the circumstances of Alice’s death? Perhaps, given the stigma of suicide, it was never talked of. How sad.

The next generations

Alice and Bill’s grown-up children both married two years after their mother’s untimely death. William Aaron Joseph Scofield married on 19 April 1930. His address at the time is given as 15 Graham Road, and his occupation as Engineer. The marriage took place at Kew Parish Church. His bride was 31 year old Dorothy Violet Paxton, spinster, who was working as a Clerk, and was the daughter of George Paxton, an Engine Driver. The witnesses included the groom’s father and sister, both identified by their initials and surname, and a member of the bride’s family, D Paxton.

Seven months later, on 2 November 1930, his sister Alice Maud May Scofield married at St Alban’s Church in Acton Green. She was 22 and had no recorded occupation at the time. She was not living at home with her father; her address is given as 75 Bollo Lane, Acton Green.

Her husband Charles George Vaines, was 24, a Traveller like his father, Charles Henry Vaines. He is recorded as living at 52 Weston Road, Acton Green. There were four witnesses to the marriage: the bride’s father, W J Scofield, R. M. Vaines, F. Stagg and what looks like L Mason. After their marriage, the couple appear to have moved in with her father, as electoral registers for 1931 show all three at 15 Graham Road, Acton.

At the outbreak of WW2, The 1939 Register finds William Joseph Scofield living with his son and daughter-in-law at 1 Bideford Avenue, Ealing. He is still at work, although his occupation is a bit difficult to read. It may say ‘Instrument makers and ?manufacturers, transport …?’. His son, William Aaron Joseph Scofield, is working as a ‘Charge Examiner, Precision Aircraft Instruments, aircraft and general? Motor? Transport’. He is also recorded as an ARP Warden, and his wife’s name – shown initially as Daisy V Scofield, is corrected to Dorothy. One record is redacted, and is presumably for their only child, a son Geoffrey W Scofield, who was born in 1934.

Alice Maud May Vaines and her husband had two children, both of whom died in infancy. Phyllis E Vaines’ birth and death were both registered in the Apr-Jun quarter of 1933, and Allen C Vaines’ birth and death were registered in the last quarter of 1936, both in Brentford, Middlesex. In 1939, the couple is living at 14 Newborough Road, Acton. Charles George Vaines is working as a Foreman Bread Salesman, while his wife is undertaking ‘unpaid home duties’. In the same household are Charles’ 79 year old parents. One record is redacted, but I have not found any evidence of further children of the couple, so this may have been a family member or other evacuee child. Another, unrelated family also shares the house with them.

Twenty years after the death of his first wife, William Joseph Scofield married for a second time, to Amelia Elizabeth Butland. The marriage took place in the first quarter of 1948, registered in the Uxbridge district. In 1939, Amelia had been living at 353 Balmoral Drive, Hayes, Middlesex, and was working as a Clerk in the Civil Service. It seems that Bill moved in with her after the marriage. He would have been 69 years old, while she was 51. Sadly, the marriage did not last long. Bill’s death, aged 70, took place on 5 November 1948 in the Cottage Hospital, Hayes. He was buried on 10 November in Acton Cemetery and his probate record shows that administration of his estate was granted to his widow, Amelia Elizabeth Scofield. His home address in the probate record is 353 Balmoral Drive.

His children continued to live in the Acton/Ealing area for some years after the war.

At some point in the early 1950s, William Aaron Joseph Scofield and his wife Dorothy moved to the Isle of Wight. She died there in 1958, her widower surviving her for nearly 20 years. He died in Ryde, Isle of Wight, in 1974. Their only son, Geoffrey William Scofield is recorded, aged 17, on a ship’s passenger manifest bound for Montreal, in Canada (FindMyPast). His home address is shown as Enterprise Stores, Binstead, nr. Ryde, Isle of Wight. Did his parents run the local shop? His return to Binstead from Canada two years later (Ancestry.co.uk) records his occupation as RC Navy – presumably Royal Canadian Navy.

In 1956, he married Gail Meinhoefer in the Isle of Wight and it seems that they had at least one child. He is recorded aboard the ship Homeric, leaving Southampton on 9 July 1958, accompanied by a minor, Michael Scofield, who was born on 7 November 1957. Again, his occupation is ‘Royal Canadian Navy’. His last known address in this case is shown as ‘The Dugout’, West Street, Seaview, Isle of Wight. I do not know what happened to them after this date.

Alice Maud May Vaines died two years after her brother, in Bournemouth, Hampshire. She was 68 years old. Her widower remarried, aged 71, to Matilda Evans, who was also a widow. He died in Bournemouth in 1981.