Jane Cox - Tracing Your East End Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians

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First published in Great Britain in 2011 by

P E N & S W O R D F A M I L Y H I S T O R Y

an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright Jane Cox 2011

ISBN 978-1-84884-160-4
ePub ISBN: 9781844686926
PRC ISBN: 9781844686933

The right of Jane Cox to be identified as Author of this Work has
been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to my family, especially Lil Daniels, my nan, wood chopper of Old Ford; Henry Daniels, my Great-Uncle who exposed a scam for providing fresh air for sick Bethnal Green children and died in Poplar Workhouse; his brother, who worked in the Whitechapel Bell Foundry; his sister, Esther, who died of phossyjaw contracted in the match factory; my granddad, Sid Short, oil and colourman of Roman Road, attender at Old Ford Wesleyan; his brother, Sam, Baptist butcher of Bethnal Green; Lil Short, my mum, who won the gold medal for the best soprano at the Bow and Bromley musical festival (c. 1930); Vi Short, my aunt, twice head girl of Coborn School; my first husband, Jim, with whom I lived in Stepney and drank in the Brown Bear (see p. ); my son, Charles, born in the London Hospital; my son, Oliver, who works in the Isle of Dogs; his daughter, Georgia, who, in the best traditions of East Enders (although she is not one), has a mix of blood, mainly Irish; his sons, Joseph and James, descended from a good old East End line on their mothers side.

E ast Enders are a very special breed and tracing your East End ancestry is going to be tremendous fun. Everyone has got some East End ancestors and if they havent they invent them, rollicking chaps, larky and resourceful, talking a funny language to keep them guessing, eating at eel and pie shops, shouting out their wares in clattering, colourful markets. Their wives and masters ( er in doors) are brazen lassies, smart as paint, tough as their men folk, presiding over an undoubted matriarchal society where Mum rules OK? The good tales are of bright little kids, unshod and street wise, rising above their origins and making a mint. The bad ones are of indescribable horror children dying in diseased heaps, infant sex for sale and gangs of armed bandits terrorising the neighbourhood.

The East End of our great grandparents days was another world. Let us see just what we can find out.

M y thanks to the staff of Tower Hamlets Local History Library, the old Guildhall Library, the London Metropolitan Archives and The National Archives.

I am grateful to Jane Seal for splendid maps, to Yvonne Hughes for photographs, to Geoff Mann for access to his research on the Short family, to Charles Hoare for IT help, to Katharine Hoare for advice and encouragement, to Jan Hoare for telling me what questions I should address, and to Patsy Douglas for proofreading.

All websites listed were correct at the time of going to press. Please be aware that some LMA records transferred from Guildhall have now been returned notably the Livery Company records and therefore it is advisable to check before visiting.