Years ago, in conversation with my Dad about his family, he recalled his ‘Uncle John’ who used to play the piano whenever Dad visited their Beechfield Road home in Catford. ‘Uncle John’ was actually his father’s uncle; it’s strange to think that, when I hold Dad’s hand, there’s a personal connection back to my great grandparents’ generation. What else could I find out about him?

A Christmas Day marriage

John Arthur Stocking was born on 30 May 1882, and baptised on 18 June that year at St Philip’s Avondale Square. He was the sixth child of my 2xgreat grandparents James Thomas Stocking and Alice Mary (nee Wales). Records at Ancestry show he started at Rolls Road School, Bermondsey on 9 April 1888, and achieved 4th grade, his highest education level, when he was 12 in 1894. By the age of 18, he is still living at the family home of 44 Herman Road, Camberwell. The census page is hard to read, but I can just make out that his occupation starts with ‘Telephone’.

On Christmas Day 1905, John Arthur Stocking married Hannah Lewis at St Philip’s Avondale Square. Bride and groom were neighbours in Herman Road. His father is described as a Gas Fitter, while her father is a Builder. The groom’s occupation is not specified, but he works for the National Telephone Company. Their witnesses were Catherine Alice Stocking, the groom’s sister. Known as Kate, she would later marry the other witness, Charles Hall.

Extract from parish register of St Philip the Apostle, Avondale Square, Camberwell (Ancestry)

I know little about Hannah’s early life. Later records show she was born on 14 March 1882 in Bethnal Green. There is a family headed by Labourer Henry Lewis at Old Bethnal Green Road in the 1881 census. By 1891, his wife Eliza is described as a widow, working as a Laundress with three children, including the youngest, Hannah, aged 9. There is a death index entry for 1882 at Ancestry for a Henry Lewis. He is the right age compared to the census. This is not proved, but if it were the same man, then Hannah would not have known her father (and perhaps not known that he was a Builder’s Labourer rather than a builder).

The National Telephone Company was formed in 1881, with headquarters in Birmingham and later at Temple Lane in London. In 1905, the year their employee John Arthur Stocking married, an agreement was signed which allowed the Post Office to take over the NTC in 1911, when its license expired. (Wikipedia)

By 1911, when the company ceased to operate under the NTC, John and Hannah had moved to 16 Beechfield Road, Catford, where his father and brother James Aaron Stocking also lived. The 1911 census describes his occupation as Telephone Jointer, so he presumably transferred from the NTC to the Post Office. The Post Office Service List at Ancestry of 1914 shows him as a skilled workman.

Those skills clearly stood him in good stead when he joined the 4th Signals Royal Engineers as a Sapper, Regimental numbers 528431 and 3494 (WW1 service medal index cards at Ancestry). The National Army Museum has a wireless transmitter from the time in its collection. Referred to as Jack, he is mentioned in a letter written by his older brother Aaron Archibald Stocking to their sister Kate from behind enemy lines in 1916.

Like his brothers and brother-in-law, he served during WW1 and, fortunately, survived. He is listed at the family home at 16 Beechfield Road, Catford, on the Absent Voters list of 1918.

At the time of the 1921 census, he and his wife Hannah, and his youngest sister Violet, are living at 16 Beechfield Road. He is described as a Cable Jointer for the GPO. I know little else about their lives for the next 18 years. By the outbreak of the Second World War, he appears on the 1939 Register with his brother James Aaron Stocking, still at 16 Beechfield Road. The London Gazette of 6 April 1943 (FindMyPast) lists him as part of the Home Civil Service, working as ‘Skilled Workman, Class I, London Telecommunications Region’.

In the electoral roll of 1949, John and Hannah were still living at 16 Beechfield Road with our great grandmother (and John’s sister-in-law). Also in the household are Susan’s daughter Dolly and son-in-law Teddy (Alfred Edward) Humber.

I believe that the older couple in the photo on the right are my great grandparents James Aaron Stocking (John’s oldest brother) and his wife Susan with – possibly – their married daughter Dolly Humber (standing right), and elder daughter Susan Elias (seated right). The children may be Dolly’s sons Peter and Brian Humber. The other two adults may be John and Hannah Stocking. The photo may have been taken in the summer of 1938 or 1939, not long before James died. However, it does not look like Beechfield Rd, unless it is the back of the house.

Hannah Stocking died in 1956. Her widower John Arthur Stocking died on 15 May 1957 at The Hospital, Buckingham, although his home address in his probate record (FindMyPast) is shown as 16 Beechfield Road. The couple did not have children. Probate was granted to his youngest sister (Violet) and his niece, our granddad’s sister.

Extract from Probate Records (FindMyPast)