Alfred Finch (1842-1911) and Ellen Young (1841-1909)
My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunt.
Born in 1842, Alfred Finch was baptised on 1 May that year at St Mary Magdalene Church in Reigate, Surrey. He was one of Henry Finch and Jane Bashford’s many children and was brought up in the town.
By the time of the 1861 census he had moved to live in Croydon, Surrey, and was working as a bricklayer’s labourer, lodging with John and Fanny Wood, but on 4 June 1864 he married Ellen Young at St Mary’s parish church in Lewisham, now in South London. Their address at the time was nearby at Rushey Green in Catford. Ellen came from Shirley, close to Croydon in Surrey, and was born in 1841 to labourer James Young and his wife Mary.
The census records for 1871 and 1881 show that Alfred was working as a baker, living latterly at 4 Briant Street in New Cross. This had previously been known as Henry Street – his address in 1871. He had switched jobs by the 1891 census and was working as a builder, living at 50 Darfield Road in Brockley. It was doubtless a good place to be working as a builder too as extensive development was going on in the neighbourhood at the time. Maps of the era show nearby Brockley Hall and Brockley Farm being encircled by new streets of housing, so perhaps Alfred was working on those new estates? Ten years later he had moved round the corner to Lindal Road. This part of Brockley came to be known as Crofton Park with the coming of the railway.
Alfred’s wife Ellen died in 1909 and at the 1911 census widower Alfred was retired and living at 41 Brockley Grove with his daughter Ellen and her husband Alfred Harrison, a postal worker who was listed as the head of the house. Also with them on census night were Alfred’s other daughter Edith and his daughter-in-law Hetty but whether they were living there or visiting is unknown.
Alfred died at home on 9 July 1911 and was buried in plot 12003 at Brockley Cemetery with his wife. Later his daughters Agnes and Ellen would be buried with them. He left a will and probate was granted to his daughters Edith and Ellen, who were also appointed trustees. He left effects worth £905 17s.
His will is a curious document and hints that all was not well between Alfred and his only son Arthur who, for a start, was not appointed an executor. Alfred left his silver watch to his grandson Harold Harrison, daughter of Ellen, and his iron safe to the wife (Florence) of his nephew Alfred Finch. His estate was divided between his five surviving children so that Ellen received £250, Edith £205, Agnes £250 and Mary Rose £205. Arthur’s share, however, was to be held by his sisters and trustees Ellen and Edith and invested wisely in order to earn an income. Arthur was only to be paid a maximum of £30 a year from the income/and or capital by the trustees, all of which suggests he couldn’t be trusted to look after his inheritance. Was this because he was incapable through some medical condition or other (he was billed as a bricklayer in the records so was clearly able to work) or was he profligate, throwing his money away on drink, gambling or some other vice? I’ve yet to discover what the true story is…
Alfred and Ellen had a large family:
- Ellen Ada Finch was born in Deptford in 1865 and married local man Alfred Edwin Harrison in Lewisham in 1895. They had a family and he worked as a Post Office sorter. She died on 6 June 1948 at Everton Road in Croydon, Surrey.
- Agnes C Finch was born in 1870. I’ve not been able to trace her after the 1891 census.
- Edith Harriet Finch was born in 1872. She married builder Augustus Robert Harrison in 1896 in Lewisham. In 1911 he was living in Tring, Hertfordshire, while Edith was staying with family in Lewisham. She was a widow and incapacitated at the time of the 1939 Register, when she was living with her sister Ellen in Croydon, Surrey. She died in 1940.
- Arthur Henry Finch was born in November 1875. He married Hester Elizabeth Prior of Bermondsey in 1897, had children with her and worked as a bricklayer, living in Sydenham and Forest Hill in what’s now South London. I’ve yet to find a death record for Arthur. Hester died in 1935.
- Mary Rose Finch born in 1877 in New Cross. I’ve traced her to 1901 when she was living with a sister in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, but no further.
- Lily May Finch (1879-1882).
Many years later, in 2007, I moved to live in Brockley and stayed there for several years. With my partner, we often explored the cemetery looking for Alfred’s grave. To date, I’ve yet to find it or that of his wife Ellen.
Sources: Ancestry.co.uk and Findmypast.co.uk for BMD and census info, Surrey Family History Centre (Woking). Probate office for wills.