I’m continuing my overview of the children of John and Mary Ann Londors (my 3 x great grandparents) with their daughter Elizabeth. In doing so, I need to acknowledge my indebtedness to Rita March, who is a descendant of Elizabeth’s, and whose family tree photographs I have made use of in this post.

Elizabeth Smith, nee Londors, in later life

 

Elizabeth Londors was born in 1833 in Barking, the third of the seven children of John Londors (1787 – 1876) and Mary Ann Schofield (1802 – 1887).  In 1841, when she is eight years old, Elizabeth can be found living with her parents and siblings at White Hall, Barking.

Elizabeth was no longer living at home when the 1851 census was taken, and I’ve been unable to find any trace of her in the record for that year. Given that she would marry George Smith in Bow in November, I wonder if she was already living and working there, perhaps as a domestic servant?

George, who was born in Barkingside in 1824, was the son of agricultural labourer Charles Smith and his wife Sarah.  Charles, born in 1784, and Sarah, born in Coopersale, Epping in about 1787, had at least nine children, of whom George was probably the third. In 1841 the Smiths were living at Red Bridge in Barkingside, where their neighbours were the Young and Flack families. In 1851, they are said to be living at ‘Beehive’, close to Fern Hall, but since the same families are close by, I suggest this is probably the same address under a different name. By this date, only son George is still living at home.

George and Elizabeth Smith, nee Londors, in about 1885

George Smith married Elizabeth Londors on 23 November 1851. Curiously, the record describes both parties as being ‘of full age’. However, while George would have been about 27 at the time, Elizabeth could only have been 18 or 19, and thus legally a minor. George is described as a labourer, like his father Charles, and like Elizabeth father’s John. The marriage was witnessed by John Schofield Londors, Elizabeth’s older brother, and by Sarah Londors, who might be John’s wife, or his and Elizabeth’s sister.

As with the marriage of her brother John earlier in the year, the most curious thing about Elizabeth’s marriage to George is its location: the parish church of St Mary, Stratford-le -Bow, and the fact that the couple give Bow as their place of residence at the time.  As mentioned above, the only explanation I can think of is that Elizabeth had been working in the area.

St Mary, Stratford-le-Bow

We know from later records that George and Elizabeth’s first child, Elizabeth, was born in Barking in 1854, so the couple must have been back in their home area by then.  Certainly by the time of the 1861 census George and Elizabeth Smith were living at Hattons Corner, Barkingside, close to Carswell House and not far from George’s widowed mother Sarah (his father Charles had died in 1859) and his unmarried brother William. By this date the Smiths had three other children besides 7 year old Elizabeth: these were Mary Ann 6, George, 4, and Sarah, 1.

Ten years later, George and Elizabeth can be found living in St Swithins Road, next door to Elizabeth’s brother William and his family. This is probably the same address as in 1861, since the Smiths’ neighbours on the other side are still the Hattons of Carswell House. Elizabeth’s older brother John, as well as her parents, can also be found living in St Swithins Road. Eldest daughter Elizabeth is no longer at home (she would have been 17 by this time), and in addition to Mary, George and Sarah, there are four younger children: Maria, 9, William, 7, Henry, 5, and Alf, 2, all born in Barking. The Smiths also have a boarder: 22 year old agricultural labourer Joseph Dear from Upminster.

In the 1881 census, we find George, 57, and Elizabeth, 48, at ‘Hattons Corner Beehive’ (which again appears to be the same address, between the Hatton family and the family of William Londors) with Mary Ann, 26, a dressmaker, William, 17, Henry, 15 (both agricultural labourers), Alfred, 13, and (Ernest) Victor, 1. There is no sign of Elizabeth, Sarah, George, or Maria at this date, but all would have been old enough to be living independently.

The 1891 census finds the Smith family still at the same address in Barkingside. George is now 67 and Elizabeth 58, and living with them are Annie (another name for Sarah?), 31, who is working as a sick nurse, William, 26, Henry, 24, Alfred, 22, all labourers, and Ernest Victor, 13.

I gather that George Smith died in 1893, at the age of 69. In 1901 his widow, Elizabeth, now 69, could be found living at 2 Fern Hall Cottages, which may well be the same house that the family had occupied since the 1850s, as it appears to be close to Carswell House. Still living at home are unmarried sons William, 36, a railway case hardener, Henry, 34, a farm waggoner, and Ernest Victor, 23, a railway engine stoker.

I haven’t found a record for Elizabeth’s death, but it was almost certainly before 1911, since the census for that year finds brothers William, 47, and Henry, 43, living at Melford, New Road, Beehive, Ilford. Meanwhile Ernest Victor and his wife Harriet Ann (they married in 1909) and their baby daughter Gwendolen were living at 19 New Road.

Mary Ann Shaw, nee Smith

The Shaw family in 1895

(Photo shows Elizabeth, her daughter Mary Ann, and the latter’s children Ethel and Fernley John, ‘not yet breached’, i.e. not yet in trousers)

Some time around 1890, George and and Elizabeth Smith’s daughter Mary Ann married Birmingham-born wheel turner and machineman John Joseph Shaw, who was eight years her junior, and in the following year they were living at Red Bridge with their baby daughter Ethel Mary Maud. Ten years later they would be living in Etchingham Road, Leyton, and would have a second child, John Fernley. By 1911, they would be living in Stratford, where Ethel would be working as a telephone operator and John Fernley as an apprentice engineer.

Fernley John Shaw

Clara Lilian Shaw, nee Rivers

I understand that Ethel remained unmarried and died in 1977. John Fernley or Fernley John Shaw married East Ham-born Clara Lilian Rivers in 1922 and their son Norman John was born in Edmonton in 1925.

Update

The will of Elizabeth Londors’ sister Mary Ann includes the information that William Smith junior later worked as a ‘mechanic’ and Ernest Victor Smith as a ‘confectioner and tobacconist’.