None of these houses exist now (2018). Of No’s 1 – 8 Mornington Road, No’s 1 – 4 were demolished for construction of the Whitechapel to Bow Railway (the District Line) around 1900. No’s 5 – 8 were damaged beyond repair in the Blitz of 1940.
No. 1 Mornington Road
In 1859 London Street Directory Captain Charles Henry James lived here.
In 1861 Census, there were two properties identified as No. 1 Mornington Road.
No. 1 William I. G. Woodford – surgeon widower, 34, 3 sons: William Sidney, Alfred E., and George A H; his brother, Alfred Woodford, – surgeon, and John W. Crawley, Medical dispensing Assistant; a nurse maid, Louisa Bentley from Somerset, a house maid, Mary Ann Giffin from Stratford, and a cook, Harriet Cleal from Dorsetshire.
No. 1 Charles Henry James, 47 – Principal Harbour Master of the Port of London, and his wife Mary, two daughters, Ellen and Mary, and two servants Mary Sheen 46, born in County-Cork, and Ann Bent, 22, from Limehouse.
1863 and 1865 Directories still list Captain Charles Henry James in No. 1
For the 1871 Census, there were still two No. 1’s in Mornington Road: No. 1 William Woodford, 44, general practitioner, was still there, but now with a wife Marian, 40, and daughters – 18 year old, Alice, and Florence who was 15. The three sons: William Sidney, Alfred and George, 17, 13 and 12, all at school; cook Rachel Chigwell and housemaid Annie Selph (?) – both from Essex
The other No. 1 now housed George Thomas Strathern, 47, a clerk, and his wife Sophia, 45, a 14 year old daughter Julia, and a 68 year old seamstress, George’s mother-in-law, Louisa Wiseman.
1873 Bailey, J. G. – In London Street directory, 1877 List of accountants in London. Previously at No. 7 Mornington Road.
1881 Census shows the house transformed into a college: No. 1. Mrs Elizabeth Brindle, née Lyde, a widow of 63, and her daughter Miss Elizabeth Ann Brindle, 30, and her sister Mary J Lyde, 50, were Headmistress and Governesses of a boarding school here. 6 young women, aged 10 – 17, were boarders; Lucy L Langdale, 18, was also a boarder, but was a Governess. There were also two servants: Lynne Tate and Margert Fowler, aged 20 and 15 respectively, born locally.
1882 “Ladies’ College: Principal, Miss Brindle, assisted by Masters and a Resident Governess. Pupils prepared for local examinations. Kinder Garten department for juniors. A limited number of boarders received. Private lessons given.” (East London Advertiser April 1879.) In September 1882 they were advertising at this address for a ‘Governess Pupil’ who would provide ‘services’ in return for lessons in Music, French and Drawing. (Islington Gazette, 12 Sept 1882)
1885 Apartments for Let were advertised at No. 1, “three rooms and a kitchen”. (Tower Hamlets Independent and East End Local Advertiser – Saturday 07 March 1885)
1891 Census: No. 1 Llewellyn Bowen, age 57, born in Swansea but now London Harbour Master, and his wife Anne, and daughter Annie, 52 and 22. They had a cook, Ellen Draper, 26, born in Derby, and a housemaid Edith Templar.
No. 2 Mornington Road
1861 Census: No. 2 Samuel Linder, Ship-owner, 43, his wife Susanna, 25. They had a house maid and cook: Selina Hubbard, 26 from Suffolk, and Harriet Gow, 22, from Northamptonshire.
1861, 1863 Mrs Samuel Linder was on the ladies committee of the Society for Supplying Home Teachers and Books in Moon’s Type for the Blind, (City Press, September 1861) On 14 November 1863 she gave birth to a daughter. (Morning Post 18 Nov. 1863)
1863, 1865, 1867 and 1870 Street Directories give Samuel Linder
1871 Census: No. 2 was empty.
1873, 1875 Street Directories gives Brown, Reverend Archibald Geikie
1875 Reverend Archibald Geikie Brown was involved in a lengthy religious controversy in the East London Observer in Spring 1875 with Rev. Richard Parnell of The Vicarage, North Bow, about the integrity of ministers who Brown alleged didn’t believe in the catechism they were teaching. Rev. Brown was the very successful minister at the East London Tabernacle in Burdett Road (from 1871). The building could seat 2,500 people. At the weekly Saturday afternoon prayer meetings at least 1,000 would attend. (East London Tabernacle website). He would organise annual events to collect donations at the Tabernacle throughout the day. “The meeting was made a very lively one, through pieces being sung by the Sunday School Choir and the young men of the Bible class alternately. These consisted of “Hold the fort,” “Brightest and best of the morning,” “The gate ajar,” “The lifeboat,” &c., the whole congregation joining most heartily in the choruses. … In about ten minutes £30 was added to the amount received during the day, the sum total being over £310. [Approx £320,000 in 2017’s money.] So, from morning to night, a stream of silver, variegated with occasional pieces of gold, flowed through the Tabernacle doors into the pastor’s hands. We do not wonder that he remarked he “always found money came in best when it was left to the people to bring it, rather than always squeezing and collecting for it.” (East London Observer, 27 Feb 1875)
1876 The Daily News has a notice of the death, on 20th September, of Sarah Dawson, age 28, wife of A. G. Brown. Their infant son, who only survived a few hours, died on the previous Friday. There was a similar notice in Nonconformist, 27th September 1876. ”
“Indisposition of Rev Archibald G Brown. On Sunday morning a large congregation assembled at the Burdett-road Tabernacle. During the service earnest prayers were offered for their bereaved Pastor Mr. Brown. … The evening service was opened by an appropriate hymn, which was heartily joined in by those present. The lesson was then read, and the sorrowing pastor rose, and remarked: “I felt this morning I was not able to stand by the Lord’s table, and I was afraid you would think that grief alone had kept me from the task. I would not for the world have you think so, for the blow has been so sudden and altogether painful in its particulars, that it was a physical impossibility for me to preach to you – for the whole of my nervous system is shaken. I hoped sincerely to have been able to stand with you for a half-hour this evening, but I cannot. So I hope, dear friends, if I am away from you for two to three weeks, you will not think that personal sorrowing has turned me from you. I do it for the best, as I think a change is requisite to strengthen my nerves. I thank you, dear friends, most heartily for all the kindness you have show to me, for your sympathy, I am sure, reads the case. I do not deserve all this love, but we have all our souls, and I trust in my absence that you will all come, as usual, to the week evening services.” Mr Brown then gave out the hymn, “I long to be with Jesus,” which was heartily sung, … A short fervent prayer was uttered by Mr Brown and the service was brought to a close by singing the well-appreciated hymn, “Sweeping through the Gates.” (East End News and London Shipping Chronicle – Friday 06 October 1876)
1881 Census: No. 2 William James Murray, 56, a Carman by trade (a driver); his wife Rosina was 55. They could afford to live here as they had two daughters working as school teachers, a daughter who was an accountant and two sons who were clerks. The eldest daughter is not listed as having any occupation. Eliza Legg, 20, from North Shields and Jane Allen, 21, from Essex were their servants.
1889, a Mrs. W. advertised for a general servant, aged 25 – 30, “must be a good plain cook … two in family; another servant kept; wages £16.” Applicants were instructed to apply to “2 Mornington Road, Bow, (right hand side of the road)” – so by this time some of the housing on the east side must have been built. In May 1891 she was advertising for a housemaid for a wage between £12 and £14. And again in May 1891 (Islington Gazette, 24 Jan 1889, 5 May 1891))
Maybe “Mrs. W.” was an agent, as the Census 1891 gives: No. 2. Andrew Walker, a 59 year old steam tug and barge owner. His wife Fanny was 44. They had two servants, Elizabeth Howell and Elizabeth Smith, 38 and 22 years old, who had been born in Huntingdon and Wisbeach.
1893 Mr Fegen, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (M. R. C. S). Referred to in The Lancet, 26 August 1893…” The honorary secretaries, Mr. Fegen, M.R.C S., 2, Mornington road, Bow, and Mr. A. G. R. Fullerton, M.R.C.S , 122, Brompton-road, S.W., will be glad, there- fore …” [this much is available free of charge on-line….]
1895 Post Office Directory gives Herbert Samuel Russell.
No. 3 Mornington Road
1859 Directory gives Emmanuel Frederick Hebard Esq., as the first occupant of No. 3.
1861 Census: No. 3 Charlotte Augustus Stephens 42, describes her profession as being a ‘Lady’; she lives with her nephew Alexander Thomas Wace 17, wine merchant, plus his 8 younger siblings, age between 8 months and 15 years old. There are 2 servants: a nurse, Kate Nott, 18, born in Devonshire; and a cook, Maria Nelson, 24, from Ealing.
1863 Directory gives “Miss Thorn” as the resident.
1863 Vosper, Alfred Samuel Moon. Mr Vosper apparently had a sulphuric acid factory adjacent to the house. His third marriage was to Charlotte Elizabeth Holmes. His house was invaded and occupied and virtually destroyed by men of the Holmes family in March 1865, who believed the property should be theirs. Read the full story, Singular Mode of Asserting a Claim to a House, on the “Cricket and Crime” page of this website. London Street Directories of 1865 and 1867 show Alfred Samuel Moon Vosper still in residence.
1870, 1871 Rich, Charles in London Street Directory. In 1871 Census: No. 3 Charles Rich, 75, retired tobacco merchant, with two servants: Ellen Holden, a widow of 58, born in Yorkshire; and Elizabeth Rumble, a single woman of 20. In 1879 he died of apoplexy on 11 April, aged 84. (London Evening Standard, 16 April 1879)
1881 Census: No. 3 was unoccupied.
1882 Post Office Directory: Captain John Lowth Stagg
1891 Census: No. 3 John H. Godwin, 48, Agent and Commercial Traveller, with his wife Eliza, 42; a son and daughter John and Eliza, both 17; the boy was an accountant’s clerk; two more sons, 14 and 4 years old, two more daughters, 7 and 12, and a servant age 25, Rose Tanner, born in Finchingfield, Essex.
1895 Directory: John Henry Godwin
No. 4 Mornington Road
1859 Street Directory: Adolphus Skeen, Esq.
1861 Census: No. 4 Adolphus Skeen, 35 – dealer in wood; a wife, Sarah A. Skeen, of 32, a daughter and four sons, all young and at school, a housemaid and cook.
1863, 65, 67, 1870 Directories all have Adolphus Skeen Esq.
1871 Census: No. 4 Adolphus Skeen, 45, timber merchant; wife Sarah, 43, two daughters, four sons, one of which, at 17, was a mahogany salesman. There was a nurse and a domestic servant.
1871, 1873, 1875 Directories all have Adolphus Skeen Esq., resident here – so he lived at this address for at least 16 years.
1880 Johnson, Edward George, Oil and Colour Man and Italian Merchant, was declared bankrupt in Lloyd’s List, 11 August 1880, and the London Gazette 27 August 1880. He also had addresses in 42 Pitfield-street, Hoxton and 103 High-street Camden.
In 1881 Census: No. 4 was a Missionary Training College and must have been quite crowded: there were 15 male boarders in the 20s, one born in Armenia, another in Rotterdam, listed as Missionary Theological Students. Widow, Mary Ann Andrews, 49, was head of the household, her occupation being Chapel Keeper. Daughters, Annie Andrews and Jessie Andrews, were confectioners, and young Frederick was an errand boy.
Post Office Directory of 1882 has the house as unoccupied.
1891 Census: No. 4 William Eddington, 65, was a bone-boiler by trade! His wife Jane was 63, and they were both born in Gloucestershire. They had a 26 year old daughter, and servant, Annie Clifford, 24, who had been born in Stepney.
1895 Eddington, William, in London Street Directory, in 1899 died on January 18th, aged 73 “Beloved son of the late George Eddington, White House Farm, Redwick. A loving husband and father, a dear brother, and a faithful friend.” [Notice in Bristol Mercury – Saturday 28 January 1899]
No. 5 Mornington Road
1859, 1866 Smith, Percival, a manufacturing chemist, lived here in 1859, age 38, with his wife Sarah Jane, age 28, who gave birth to a son in April. (Morning Post, 20 April 1859)
By 1861 Census there were three children and three servants: No.5 Percival Smith – age 40, a manufacturing chemist, born in Bristol. His wife Sarah Jane was 30. They had three young sons, age 6 months, 1 year and 3 years old. They had a 24 year old cook, Martha Severn; a young nurse, Annie Russel, and a housemaid of 17, Eliza Goodwin. They were all local.
Percival Smith died five years later, 4 June 1866 “Effects under £18,000.” [Probate]. [accessed July 2017 http://ghgraham.org/percivalsmith.html] The street directory for 1867 lists Mrs Smith as the resident.
1870 Street Directory lists James Payne.
1871 Census: No. 5 James Payne, a linen agent, 46, his sister Eliza 37, and a widow, Anne Sutcliffe, 40, and a 24 year old domestic servant, Alice Cunningham.
1871, 1873 Street Directories list James Payne.
1878 House advertised “To Let, Convenient Nine-roomed House … rent £50”. March 1878. (East London Advertiser 2 March 1878)
1881 Census: No. 5 was the home of the Scrutton sisters, Mary and Annie(?), 52 and 37, unmarried and living on annuities, which were generous enough to allow the employment of Harriett Kennedy, a 53 year old cook from Scotland; and a housemaid, Martha Sedgeley, 19, from Stow-in-the-Wold, Gloucestershire.
1882 Street Directory has “Misses Scrutton”.
1891 Census: No. 5 unoccupied.
1895 Street Directory: Daniel Stephens.
1895 – reported in The York Herald, 23rd November 1895, “Weatherby Petty Sessions – On Thursday last, before Col. Gunter and Capt. Manley, a man named Mark Adams, of 5, Mornington Road, Bow, London, twice remanded on a charge of obtaining 11s 6d by false pretences from Herbert Holmes, son of Mr. E. S. Holmes, Red Lion Hotel, Weatherby, was fine £1 and costs. The evidence went to show the the prisoner sold to Mrs Holmes a case of “Stramonium” cigarettes, which she understood were made from pure tobacco, “fit for any lady to smoke.” Mr Peckover, Leeds, appeared on behalf of the prisoner.
No. 6 Mornington Road
1859 Chorley, Mrs. Elizabeth T. Listed in the Street Directory. She can hardly have been in there long, but her furniture and effects were auctioned at the house – comprising “capital goose-feather beds and bedding, handsome 4-post bedsteads and furniture; about 100 ounces of plate, jewellery, linen, mahogany wash-stands, with marble tops; wardrobes, chests of drawers, bed steps, fenders and fire irons, chimney, mirror, and dressing glasses; Turkey, Brussels and Kidderminster carpets; a 6-7 octave cottage piano-forte, Spanish mahogany framed chairs, chiffoniere, couches, easy chairs, Pembroke, loo, and other tables, inlaid mahogany book-case, set of Spanish mahogany dining tables, damask window curtains, clocks, engravings, books ornamental items, china and glass, large bath, with hot and cold water apparatus; kitchen requisites of the usual description, and other effects.” East London Observer, Saturday October 29 1859
1861 Census: No. 6 Parker Ayres, building contractor, his wife Harriet Ayers, both 49, he from Kent, she from Devonshire; and a servant, Elizabeth Smith.
1863 Street Directory lists Miss Gardner.
1870 Street Directory: William Palmer.
1871 Census: No. 6 William Cook, soap-maker, 27; his wife Fanny, 24, and a widow, Susan Payne, employed as their domestic servant.
1871, 1873, 1875 street Directories list William Cook.
1881 Census: No. 6 Joseph J Hickmott, a timber merchant, 41; his wife Adelaide, 31, and 6 very young children, and a nursemaid, Emily Bell – 14 years old, from Essex.
1882 Street directory has John Joseph Hickmott jnr.
No. 7 Mornington Road
1859 – 1871 Bailey, Joseph Graham, accountant and insurance agent, listed repeatedly in London Street Directories. In 1870 he is secretary of a fund to raise money to pay off debts incurred building St Stephen’s Old Ford, listed in the East London Observer in June 1870 and other times. Later at No. 1 Mornington Road.
1861 Census No. 7 Joseph Bailey – accountant, 38, wife Jane, 39, two daughters age 14 & 16, and a son aged 2, Benjamin John Bailey, a boarder, 42, who was born in India, and a lodger who was a widower of 76, Charles Johnson, born in Manchester. One housemaid, Elizabeth Jones, 23.
1871 Census: No. 7 Joseph Bailey, accountant, 48; and his wife Jane, 49, a schoolmistress, two daughters were also teachers, a son and daughter were still at school. Three women being teachers, perhaps they’d set up a small school as they had 5 young boarders: Rachel Hughes, who was 16 and had been born in Sierra Leone; Charlotte Bennett, 9, born in Ratcliff; Katherine M Bilderbeck, 7, born in Pentonville; George Robertson, 11 from Bromley; and Herbert W Lukin, 10, from Ogbourne in Wiltshire. Elizabeth Perry was their general domestic servant, born locally.
1873 Street Directory lists Joseph Bailey, accountant and insurance agent.
1875 Street Directory lists Joseph Dobson.
1881 Griesell, Frederick, a warehouseman, gave this address to the court in November 1881, accused of violent assault against Mrs Emily Samuel and Georgina Baxter. “As they were walking along Bow Road, the Prisoner put his arms round the Complainant’s neck and otherwise misconducted himself. Georgina Baxter… indignantly remonstrated with him about his conduct, when he told her if she did not get away he would strike her. She then said, “Oh, no, you won’t,” and had no sooner uttered the words than he struck Mrs Samuel three violent blows…” (London Evening Standard, 3 Nov 1881)
1881 Census: No. 7 Walter Jones, 46, manager of an iron works, born in Cheshire. His wife, Jessie, 44, was born in South Shields. There were 5 children between 16 & 7 years old, and a servant, Mary Howell, 27 – she and all the children having been born in Wolverhampton.
1882 Directory lists Walter Jones.
1891 Census: No. 7 unoccupied.
1895 Street Directory has Ambrose Falla Flère resident at No. 7 (In 1901 Census he will be recorded as being an Emery Manufacturer, with wife and five daughters)
No. 8 Mornington Road
1859 Directory lists Arthur Gurney
1861 Census: No. 8 Arthur Gurney, wine merchant, 48; his wife Emma, 31, had given birth to 8 children in about as many years, 4 daughters and 4 sons age 4 months to 9 years. To help her she had a nursemaid, Amelia Mills, 33, and an under-nurse, Emma Lovett, 18, and a housemaid, Eliza Purvis, 25. The nursemaids were local, from St George’s in the East, but Eliza was from Yorkshire.
1863, 1865 Street Directories list William Stevens.
1867, 1870, 1871 Street Directories list John Francis Smith Esq.
1871 Census: No. 8 John F Smith, secretary to a Lighterage Company, lighterage being the loading, unloading and transferring of cargo. He was 43, wife Jane, 41. They had a 20 year old son who is an accountant, and a daughter, Jane. With them was John Smith’s widowed sister-in-law, Maria Barcham, 50, who had ‘income from houses’. Kate Cronan was their 28 year old Irish general domestic servant.
1874 Long, John. He was a director of ‘The Richard Green’ building and investment society, head office in Fenchurch Street, 4 July 1874. (East London Observer, 4 July 1874)
1875 Directory lists John Long.
1876 Notice in London Echo, 15th June, “Mornington-rd, (8), Bow-rd, to let; nine large rooms and washhouse.
1881, 1891 Censuses, No. 8 is unoccupied.
1895 Wyatt, Reverend John Thomas, in London Street Directory. – Chaplain of Bow Cemetery – Interviewed 1897. [Charles Booth’s notebooks to his survey of London, Nonconformist Churches District 12, p.78-103. LSE library] (He will be listed at No. 8 in the 1901 Census, a 63 year old widower, living with two daughters and a clergyman boarder)
MORNINGTON GROVE - LONDON E3 