Hannah Elizabeth Wild, my great grandmother, was born at 13 Canterbury Road, Kensington on 21st October 1866 and, as blogged about elsewhere (click here), I believe she was born illegitimately. She was, in my opinion, one of the most remarkable women on my tree and seems to have been the matriarch of the family around who everything evolved; a link between the dim and distant past of Queen Victoria and the more modern age of our current Queen.
Hannah always lived in poverty - her mother (click here to read about Catherine) being a laundress working and living in what would become the slums of North Kensington. On the 1871 census, Hannah was aged 4 and living at Alpha Terrace and ten years later at 37 Talbot Grove, both in Kensington.
Hannah married William Musgrove on 19th April 1885 at Christ Church in Notting Hill, Kensington when she was very pregnant – their marriage certificate shows them living next door to each other at 36 and 38 Treverton Street, Kensington. William was 23 years old but Hannah was very pregnant and just 18. George Wattell is an unknown witness to the marriage. Their first child was born 3 weeks after they married !
They went on to have 8 children in total :
William - born May 1885
Caroline - born February 1887
Charles - born March 1891; died May 1893
Alf - born August 1893
Bert - born April 1895
George - born September 1896
Frank - born June 1898
Jack - born August 1900 (my grandfather)
Their life together ended in November 1901 with the premature death of William leaving Hannah living in the cramped, overcrowded conditions of Southam Street. She was left with the impossible task of looking after and feeding her young children aged between 1 and 16 effectively as a single parent.
Both William (16) and Caroline (14) would have been old enough to work when their father died and Frank (3) and Jack (1) were not of school age. However, Alf (8), Bert (6) and George (5) had to attend the residential Banstead Road School for the poor full time which must have been heart wrenching for Hannah - they spent around seven years at the school between 1902 and 1909. There was also a period between 17th June 1907 and 15th January 1908 during which the two youngest attended while Hannah was "in a fever hospital".
Hannah married William Musgrove on 19th April 1885 at Christ Church in Notting Hill, Kensington when she was very pregnant – their marriage certificate shows them living next door to each other at 36 and 38 Treverton Street, Kensington. William was 23 years old but Hannah was very pregnant and just 18. George Wattell is an unknown witness to the marriage. Their first child was born 3 weeks after they married !
They went on to have 8 children in total :
William - born May 1885
Caroline - born February 1887
Charles - born March 1891; died May 1893
Alf - born August 1893
Bert - born April 1895
George - born September 1896
Frank - born June 1898
Jack - born August 1900 (my grandfather)
Their life together ended in November 1901 with the premature death of William leaving Hannah living in the cramped, overcrowded conditions of Southam Street. She was left with the impossible task of looking after and feeding her young children aged between 1 and 16 effectively as a single parent.
Both William (16) and Caroline (14) would have been old enough to work when their father died and Frank (3) and Jack (1) were not of school age. However, Alf (8), Bert (6) and George (5) had to attend the residential Banstead Road School for the poor full time which must have been heart wrenching for Hannah - they spent around seven years at the school between 1902 and 1909. There was also a period between 17th June 1907 and 15th January 1908 during which the two youngest attended while Hannah was "in a fever hospital".
Hannah and three of her children remained living at Southam Street on the 1911 census. Census records are not available after this but she was living at 55 Ledbury Road, Kensington with her daughter Caroline, now married to Jack Akehurst, on the 1939 Register just before the outbreak of WW2.
When Jack Akehurst died in 1947 Hannah and Catherine moved to St Ervans Road.
JW told me that Hannah’s special friend in life was Nell Lowe. They were both widowed young and had a lot in common. Hannah initially lived at number 57 St Ervans Road but moved to number 41, where Nell lived, when a floor became vacant.
When Jack Akehurst died in 1947 Hannah and Catherine moved to St Ervans Road.
JW told me that Hannah’s special friend in life was Nell Lowe. They were both widowed young and had a lot in common. Hannah initially lived at number 57 St Ervans Road but moved to number 41, where Nell lived, when a floor became vacant.
Nell lived on the ground floor and in the basement. Hannah and Caroline had two largish rooms on the first floor, and another old lady lived on the top floor.
The house was a terrace plus a basement, all having just one front door. JW told me, "You had a dark entrance hall and steep stairs, the paintwork was brown or stained, no white ! Going up the stairs you passed the shared toilet that must have been on part of the roof. Upstairs used it too, but I don't know if Nell Lowe did. The first room was the kitchen where Hannah had her bed and her chair. The gas cooker and the sink were there too, plus a huge chest of drawers so you had no room in there to move.
The other room had a big roundish table, with chairs, various other items with Nan's bed along the far wall. All the entertaining was in there and we ate there every week.
Hannah was a real character; she had an extremely infectious laugh. She was regarded as old at 50 and sat in the corner of the room, always dressed in black long skirts."
JW found out later that the armchair Hannah sat in was really a commode, on which they put lots of covers and cushions !
The house was a terrace plus a basement, all having just one front door. JW told me, "You had a dark entrance hall and steep stairs, the paintwork was brown or stained, no white ! Going up the stairs you passed the shared toilet that must have been on part of the roof. Upstairs used it too, but I don't know if Nell Lowe did. The first room was the kitchen where Hannah had her bed and her chair. The gas cooker and the sink were there too, plus a huge chest of drawers so you had no room in there to move.
The other room had a big roundish table, with chairs, various other items with Nan's bed along the far wall. All the entertaining was in there and we ate there every week.
Hannah was a real character; she had an extremely infectious laugh. She was regarded as old at 50 and sat in the corner of the room, always dressed in black long skirts."
JW found out later that the armchair Hannah sat in was really a commode, on which they put lots of covers and cushions !
Everyone would bring her whisky for her birthday and it was considered to be the reason she lived to such an old age. My birth mother, IT, remembers Hannah being "a lovely lady". Hannah died on 20th May 1959 after breaking her hip, aged 92, apparently with her veins full of whisky !