There are a large number of individual families living both north and south of the River Thames in the 19th Century. I have not been able to tie them all up together as yet, and so I propose to examine each family separately. I have organised them by where they were living the majority of the time; so there is at least four families living in various boroughs in Surrey, at least one prominant family living in the north of Kent, around Greenwich and Deptford, and a number living north of the river in Middlesex boroughs.

My own BRYER family has been traced to Southwark (Surrey) and St Giles (Middlesex) in the early 19th Century. I have been unable to verify the birthplace of my great-great-great-grandfather John BRYER. More information, including maps and photographs, can be found in the Hudson Family Newsletters.

Henry Bryer was a printer, living and working in Bridewell Hospital in the City of London. A (so far) tenuous connection has been made with the Oil Cloth Manufacturer, Henry BRYER of Southwark and Greenwich. Many members of this branch were Roman Catholic. An earlier Henry, also a printer, has been identified. He had addresses in Cornhill in the city, then St Pancras, and died around 1783. It is possible that his wife Ann carried on the business as she is found in Poland Street Soho around 1788, and there is a distinct chronological link with the Henry of Bridewell Precinct, in that Ann disappears from the records around the time that Henry began work in 1799.

There is a second Southwark family of BRYERs which so far do not appear to be of the same family as Henry the Printer. The earliest member I have is Joseph Henry BRYER, whose age at death suggests he was born around 1781 probably south of the river. He was married to Sarah, and they had two sons that I have been able to verify so far: James born 23 Nov 1809 and baptised at St George the Martyr Southwark on 17 Jun 1810, and Henry born circa 1811. Joseph Henry was described in the 1841 Census as a Currier and on his death certificate as a Leather Shaver.

John BRYER, another Hatter, claimed that he had been born in Bristol in about 1822. His wife, Mary APPLETON, had been born in Southwark, so it is is reasonable to assume that he had moved to London sometime before 1853 (when their daughter Hannah was born - there may have been earlier children that I have not yet traced). I had come across John through the marriage records of his children, and had initially been very confused that there was another John BRYER, also a Hatter, operating in Southwark at about the same time as my John Henry.

Joseph Henry BRYER, a leatherworker, was born in about 1781, but since he died in 1849 it is not possible to be certain where he was born apart from somewhere in Surrey. Apart from his place of abode (Southwark), the fact that he has Henry as a middle name is interesting - could he have been the father of my John Henry?

Although the main body of information relates to Edward William and his descendents, I do know one piece of information about his parentage. He was born circa 1835 in St Pancras, and his father was John BRYER, Paper Stainer. In the 1865 Post Office London Directory, this trade is actually listed as Paperhanging Manufacturers and Paperhangers; so John was involved in the manufacture of wallpaper. Unfortunately, his name does not feature in this directory, nor in the 1854 directory.

This family is currently being researched by Jim Bryer. Emma BRYER is a mystery at the moment. I have plenty of information on her son (?) William Frederick BRYER born 1840, but his father is curiously absent from William's birth certificate although mentioned on his marriage certificate!

James Curtis BRYER is still a mystery at the moment, but becoming clearer. He said, in the 1851 census, that he was born around 1818 in Bath, Somerset. His wife, Caroline Biggs, was similarly born in Somerset, but I have included them here, under the London heading, because James and his wife arrived in the capital sometime in the early 1840s, and set up as Carver and Gilder, raising sons who also entered their father's trade. They lived initially in Soho, but moved later to Chelsea and on to St Pancras, one of their sons moving south of the river to Lambeth. The research is still in its infancy.

Frederick BRYER, gunmaker, was born in Cheltenham Goucestershire in about 1844; he is so far still a mystery.

There are a number of Dorset BRYER families which I have not as yet tied together, and these are discussed more fully on the Dorset Introduction page. Here, I will just mention one or two of the more prominent members of the family. Arthur Blewert BRYER was a man of some substance, and left a fascinating and detailed Will in the year 1886. In the 1881 Census, he gave his birthplace as Newington Surrey, where he was living at the time, but his will suggests that his family roots might have been in Cheltenham, and that he was related to the veterinary surgeon William Wyndham BRYER. However, I have traced this William back to Dorset, and so I have added Arthur to this family in Dorset even though I have not fully established the relationships.

William BRYER of Hadleigh in Suffolk was a gentleman of some substance. He was born in about 1765 and lived to the ripe age of 82 years. His (only?) son John moved to London and set himself up as a Watchmaker and Chronograph manufacturer, living in some style in Stoke Newington. Whether father William was born in Hadleigh, however, I do not know, and since he died in 1847 it has not been possible to trace a possible birthplace in the census. This family is the subject of my current research.