The Hudson Family Newsletter

Issue 1
Christmas 1999

Introduction

It is a little over a year ago now that I started work on my family history, and I thought it might be appropriate to mark this 'anniversary' with the first (I hope) of a series of newsletters to keep you all informed of my progress, and to thank those of you who have helped in these initial stages by supplying reminiscences, names and dates, and precious photographs.

I began, as all the family history books tell you to begin, by asking my Father what he could remember about his family and about my Mother's family. Once the first few birth and marriage certificates had been obtained from the General Register Office, a picture slowly began to emerge of a family living in the very heart of London during the Victorian age.

Stepping back in Time

I began with my Grandmother, Victoria May Hudson born in 1897 to Walter HUDSON and Rosina Jane BRYER. Walter was a Boot Last Maker, according to Victoria May's birth certificate, and they lived in All Saint's Street Islington, just north and to the east of King's Cross Station. Rosina worked as a printer's assistant before her marriage. At the time of the 1891 census she was living at 4 Rufford Street, Islington, in some of the worst slums in London. She shared two rooms with her brother Alfred, and her two sisters Millie (Amelia) and Flora (Florence). Alfred was a bookbinder, Amelia was a domestic servant, and Florence was a sweetstuff wrapper. On 19th September 1892, she married Walter John HUDSON at Islington Register Office. They had six children: Walter, Florence, Rose, Alfred, Frederick, and Victoria. I have only been able to identify the dates of birth of Florence and Victoria, so far, and if anyone can help me with further information on any of the other children, I should be very grateful to have it. You will find a tree showing this family later in this newsletter.

Rosina is such a beautiful and unusual name that I immediately wanted to know more, and found that BRYER, in that spelling, is also an unusual surname, making it easier to find in indexes and documents. I decided to concentrate on this branch of the family initially. Rosina's parents were Walter James Bryer and Phoebe BISHOP, who had married in April 1867 when Walter was 22 years of age and Phoebe 19. They were married in the Church of Trinity Gray's, in or near Gray's Inn Road, Holborn. Their family consisted of Walter John (born 1867), Rosina Jane (born 1869), Alfred (born 1871), Emily (born 1872), Florence (born 1876), and Amelia Elizabeth (born 1877); at least these are the children I have traced so far. For a chart showing this family please see chart no. 2. Walter James BRYER was a cabdriver, working mainly in the Holborn and Soho areas of London, and his father, John Henry BRYER, was a cab proprietor. Walter and Phoebe lived in a number of houses and apartments during their married life. From 1868 to at least 1876, they lived at 28 Gresse Street, which is east of Tottenham Court Road and North of Oxford Street; in 1876, when Florence was born, they were living at 12 Little Guildford Street, near to where Great Ormond Street Hospital is now; and at the time of the 1881 census they lived at 1 Little Coram Street, a stone's throw from their previous house, and very close to Walter's parents. Living with Walter James and Phoebe at the time of the 1881 census was one Robert BISHOP, 61 years of age, and also described as a cab driver. He was Phoebe's widowed father, and he had been born, as was Phoebe herself, in the pretty Suffolk village of Dalham, between Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket. I have not yet completed my research in Suffolk, and there are many unanswered questions, not least among them is, why did a man who had been a miller in a small Suffolk village move all the way to London and become a cab driver?

Moving back a further generation, we come to Walter's parents, John Henry BRYER and his wife Emma BERRY (or Bury, or Barry, it is spelled in various ways in documents I have seen). John Henry was born around 1814, possibly in Hammersmith, or so he says in his entry in the 1881 census. Emma BERRY I know nothing about, at the moment, other than that she was born around 1817 in Soho. I do know that they were married in St Mary's Church Newington in February 1834. Newington was then a large town in Surrey, although now it has been incorporated into Metropolitan London, and will be found just south of the Elephant and Castle. I have traced, largely by happy guesswork, a considerable number of their children. They will be found on family tree chart no. 1. Emma was very young when she married, only 16 years of age, and this accounts for the fact that she was still bearing children in 1864, thirty years later! In fact I have not yet traced the early members of this family group, as they had all moved away from home by the time the 1881 census was taken. When I can get to London to do some research, I shall concentrate on this family to try to discover more.

John Henry and Emma lived, from at least 1864 to 1885, at 21 Tavistock Mews, near to the University of London. Presumably his cab company was based there. Certainly his son Arthur (born 1854) lived only a few doors down at number 14, and he was described in both the census and the birth certificates of his children, as a stableman, so he also was part of the family business! Arthur had married Louisa NEWTON on 20 May 1877 at the church of St Andrew by the Wardrobe in the City of London. So far I have traced these of their children: Louisa (born 1878), Arthur (born 1879), Ernest (born 1882), Frederick Charles (born 1883), Emily Daisy (born 1884), and Elsie Kate (born 1894). There may be other children of this marriage just waiting to be discovered!

John Henry BRYER died of bronchitis aged 71, on 27th February 1885. I still need to do a lot more investigative work to discover what happened to Emma and their other children

The Hudson Connection

Walter John HUDSON, Rosina's husband, has been more difficult to trace, largely because the name is a fairly common one. On the certificate of their marriage, Walter's father is given as Walter HUDSON, Gas-fitter by trade. I have searched the London Trades directories of the time with no success so far. I have, however, found a Walter HUDSON who might fit the bill. In the 1881 Census, father Walter gives his occupation as Smith, but I fell that a smith could easily switch trades to that of Gas-fitter if there were more work in that area. I also have a birth certificate for Walter John (born 7 September 1867 at 12 Curriers Row, Blackfriars) to Walter and Charlotte Ann Hudson, father's occupation smith. So, if this is the right Walter John was born within the sound of Bow Bells, making him a true Cockney!

Walter HUDSON and Charlotte Ann MORRIS, aged 22 and 19 respectively, were married at St Luke's Chelsea, on 22nd April 1867 (Walter John was, apparently, already on the way, a very common occurrence in Victorian times, at least if my research is anything to go by!). Walter's father was given as Thomas, a soldier, and Charlotte Ann's father as John Edward MORRIS, (deceased), a Gold Blocker. So far, I have not taken the Hudson's back any further, but if this is the correct family (and I believe it is) then Walter John had at least four siblings, Albert, Arthur, Ernest, and Jane. Jane was born around 1877, but by 1881 Charlotte Ann had died, as Walter and family were living in Little Compton Street, Soho, alone. I am currently trying to trace Jane Hudson's birth, in the hope that it will help me to identify the family further.

Bringing the Story up to Date

Walter John HUDSON was still living in the 1930's, as Phyllis Ball, nee Foster, can remember him living with Victoria May and family in Surrey, sitting by the fire with a smelly pipe! Rosina must have died after 1930, as she was a witness to Victoria May's marriage to Henry James Foster on 4th September 1930. Perhaps some of you may remember her. One of the precious photographs I mentioned earlier was lent to me by Pat Wallis, Rosina's granddaughter, and shows Rosina and her three sons, Walter, Frederick, and Alfred, taken in 1915. I include it here to show you what a lovely woman she was, even aged 45 years old and after a life of toil, and I thank Pat for lending it to me. [If you click on the thumbnail you can see a full-sized image].

Of the children of Walter John and Rosina Jane, I have found out the following, thanks to the help of Pat Wallis, Phyllis Ball and Ken Turner:

Florence Phoebe Amelia HUDSON, born 10th March 1895, went to Australia in around 1917, and worked as a domestic servant in Sydney, until she met and married Arthur Thomas PATEMAN, a railway employee, on 27th August 1918. Arthur Pateman had also been born in London, his parents being Thomas George, a gardener, and Elizabeth Amelia (nee YOUNG). He was 24 at the time of the marriage, and Florence was 23. They had two children, Jack and Florence Lilian (known to the family as Trudi), but the marriage foundered and by January 1922 Florence had returned to London with the children. The marriage was dissolved in July 1926 in New South Wales at Arthur Pateman's request. Ken Turner, Trudi's son in law, has generously supplied me with the photographs of Trudi and Jack as children, and also supplied me with the more recent history of this branch of the Hudsons.

Walter Hudson, known as Sandy to the family, married Annie Rosina, whom he had met through his sisters, as they all worked in the fur trade. He went into the regular army, and took his young family around the world with him; Rosina May was born in London, Joan Thelma in Northern Ireland, and Patricia Joyce in Egypt. During the Second World War he was a Desert Rat. I am indebted to Pat Wallis for this information, and for the more recent history of her family.

Victoria May was born on 21st May 1897 in Islington. In 1928 she was a dressmaker in London, when she had my mother, Thelma (born in September 1828). She and Thelma lived for a time in the village of Shalford, just to the south of Guildford, with Mrs Lilian South who kept a sweet shop and general store next to the Parish School in Station Road Shalford. Subsequently, when Victoria May married Henry James FOSTER in September 1930, Lilian South was one of the witnesses. Thelma kept in touch with Lilian, whom she knew as 'Auntie South', throughout her life. Victoria (or May as she was known in the family) met Henry James ('Jim') when she answered his advertisement for a housekeeper-cum-childminder. He was a young widower with three children to support, living in Vegal Road, Englefield Green, Surrey. The two boys were his stepsons Gordon and Cecil, and the daughter was Phyllis. Add Thelma to this, and you have a substantial family right at the start of the marriage! Over the next eight years, Evelyn, Georgina, Margaret and Edith were born, and the family moved to 41 Crown Road Virginia Water. Henry worked as a gardener on the Wentworth Golf Course, and Victoria worked as a housekeeper in various of the big houses on the Estate, doing any task in order to make ends meet. Henry James had been born in the little village of Dorchester close to the Berkshire - Oxfordshire border on 27th August 1900, to Henry Edward and Mary FOSTER. He died as a result of Bronchopneumonia at the tragically young age of 51, on 14th December 1951, in St Luke's Hospital Paddington.

Of Rosina, the third daughter of Walter John and Rosina, I have found very little. Pat Wallis has told me that Rosina (or Rose, as my mother referred to her) married at least twice and possibly three times. My father tells me that she came to my christening in 1953, and that she was certainly still living three or four years later. If anyone in the family knows any further details I should be very grateful to hear from them. [If you click on the thumbnail, you can see a full-sized image].

Likewise, I know nothing of Frederick and Alfred HUDSON, other than that they both married but neither had any children. Again, if anyone can remember any details, such as what trade they were in, where they live, when they married, when they died, I should be very grateful.

Postscript

I have not included detailed information about living members of the family, out of respect for their privacy.

Acknowledgements

This research would still be in its infancy without the kindness of Ken Turner, Pat Wallis, Phyllis Ball, Georgie Beaumont, and June Page. I would like to thank them all for their interest in the project and their invaluable help with details, photos, and reminiscences.

If you would like to contact me with your own memories, family documents, photographs, or indeed anything you would like to contribute to the family history, then I should be very grateful.