It took me a while to trace my 2xgreat grandparents John Hill and Elizabeth Sarah Windebank in later censuses, as his age and her birthplace were inconsistently recorded. Tracing him in earlier censuses revealed a previous, mystery marriage. Elizabeth remarried in 1895, but I have failed to find a reliable death record for him. So … Continue reading Was John Hill (b1836) alive when his wife/widow remarried?
Camberwell
Posts that mention Camberwell, South London
He married his deceased wife’s sister … was that legal?
At some point after the death aged 49, in 1907, of my 2xgreat grandmother Alice Mary (née Wales), her widower and their youngest children moved from their home at Herman Road, Camberwell, to Beechfield Road, Catford in South East London. They had been married for 32-3 years and had raised 19 children together. In 1919, … Continue reading He married his deceased wife’s sister … was that legal?
Alice Mary Wales: Bride at 17, mother to 19, dead at 49 [Updated]
When Alice Mary Wales married James Thomas Stocking in November 1874, she was just 17 years old (b1857). They were to become my 2xgreat grandparents, and parents of 19 children, 16 of whom survived beyond infancy. Her youngest son was just five when she died aged 49. Her early life proved difficult to piece together, … Continue reading Alice Mary Wales: Bride at 17, mother to 19, dead at 49 [Updated]
Did James & Alice have 21 Stocking children?
Early in the 2000s, my father received a type-written letter from someone researching the ancestry of one Ronald Stocking. The letter claimed that Ron's grandparents - my 2xgreat grandparents James Thomas Stocking and Alice Mary Wales - had had 21 children "all of whom were known to have survived". I was intrigued to find out … Continue reading Did James & Alice have 21 Stocking children?
A big Stocking family photo c1904? [Updated]
After putting my family tree online with Ancestry.co.uk in the early 2000s, I was contacted by a second cousin once removed, who provided a poor photocopy of a photo purporting to show our 2xgreat grandparents and some of their 19 children, taken some time in the early 1900s. In 2025, a third cousin shared a … Continue reading A big Stocking family photo c1904? [Updated]
James and Susan Stocking: Later lives, Kings & Queens
My great grandparents James Aaron Stocking and Susan Caroline Hill were born in mid-1870s London, around the time Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. By the time they married on 3 June 1900, the old Queen had been dead for nearly six months. Their early married life played out under two new monarchs. By … Continue reading James and Susan Stocking: Later lives, Kings & Queens
Building Stocking heritage: A 20th century family business
My paternal grandfather James Aaron Stocking was born just after the turn of the 20th century into a family where most of the menfolk worked in the building trades, as brickies, builders, house decorators, plumbers, gas fitters, foremen and so on. He himself did many of these jobs through the housing booms of the 1920s-1930s, … Continue reading Building Stocking heritage: A 20th century family business
Great-grandad James Aaron Stocking: A South London boy
My Dad's grandfather, James Aaron Stocking, was born in Southwark in 1876. He spent his early years in one of the poorer parts of South London, abutting the Leather Market area, home to London's tanneries, glue and size factories and allied trades. Later, he and his ever-growing family of siblings moved to Camberwell, living cheek-by-jowl … Continue reading Great-grandad James Aaron Stocking: A South London boy
Susan Caroline Hill: Born in Victorian London’s slums
The Charles Booth Archive paints a grim picture of the area where my great grandmother Susan Caroline Hill (1875-1951) lived with her family until her marriage in 1900. Her parents were far from rich, and the areas south of the Thames where she grew up were over-crowded, with people living cheek-by-jowl with the expanding railways … Continue reading Susan Caroline Hill: Born in Victorian London’s slums
My Stocking Roots 