#52Ancestorsin52Weeks Week 28/52 Edward CONNER 1829-1903

 

Ahnentafel Number 16

Context for discovery:

This biography was written as part of the 52 ancestors in 52 weeks exercise devised by Amy Johnson Crow.  You can join in too here. The theme for this week is Character.

Amy says:

“Every family has a person who might be described as a "character." But that's not the only way you might interpret this theme. What about someone named for a famous character, working through a language that uses characters other than what you're used to, or deciphering a character on a tombstone? Be creative and have fun! “

Edward was my 2^nd great-grandfather on my paternal side of the family. Conner is spelled variously as CONNER and CONNOR and can be mis-transcribed as CORMER just to make the hunt even more exciting.

This blog post is a compilation of several blog posts I have written about Edward and his family.

Childhood 

Birth Date/Place:

Edward was born circa 1829 Marylebone, Middlesex, England. I don’t have a full picture of Edward’s family, but I am reasonably confident that he had an older sister Mary Ann christened St Clement Danes 2 April 1827[i] and a younger sister Eliza Jane born 1837 christened at St John the Evangelist at Lambeth on 19^th March, mother Maria and father Edward Printer of White Horse Street.[ii] 

 

 

Baptism Date/Place:

Edward was baptised 7^th June 1829 at St Clement Danes Middlesex.  His father Edward Conner lived at 61 Clements Lane and was a printer. Maria was his mother.[iii]

You can imagine how excited I was to discover that Edward was baptised at St Clement Danes.

If you look at where it is on the map of London, I go all goose-bumpy.  It is very close to Australia House, which is where we used to go to pick up our mail when I was ten years old and visiting London with my parents. And it's not too far from Fleet Street where Edward's father may have worked as a printer.

 

 

This is an extract of a map in my father's old AA Guide to London from 1963

And then of course there is the famous nursery rhyme.  But do you know how long it is?  Here it is in all its glory:

Bull's eyes and targets, 

Say the bells of St Marg'ret's

Brickbats and tiles, 

Say the bells of St Gils'

Oranges and lemons, 

Say the bells of St Clement's

Pancake and fritters,

Say the bells of St Peter's

Two sticks and an apple

Say the bells at Whitechapel

Old Father Baldpate

Say the bells at Aldgate

Maids in white aprons,

Say the bells at St Catherine's

Pokers and tongs,

Say the bells at St John's

Kettles and pans

Say the bells at St Anne's

You owe me five farthings,

Say the bells of St Martin's

When will you pay me,

Say the bells at Old Bailey.

When I grow rich,

Say the bells at Shoreditch.

Pray, when will that be?

Say the bells at Stepney.

I'm sure I don't know.

Says the great bell at Bow.

Here comes a candle to light you to bed.

Here comes a chopper to chop off your head.

 

 

Do you remember singing that at school?  You'd have to duck under two people who would be holding their joined arms up like a steeple from memory and then they would bring them down and hold you captive if they "chopped off your head".  At least that's how I remember it.  

Just a little bit about St Clement Danes before we move on to Edward.  The wife of John Donne the poet is buried here.  Samuel Johnson "was a regular member of the congregation" according to the London Encyclopedia. (p 753) and there is a statue of him nearby.   The church was bombed during WW2 and members of the RAF contributed £150k to its reconstruction and it is now the central church for the RAF.  According to Arthur Mee's "London - the great city complete" re-published in 1957 it is also considered the flower sellers church because they feature in its windows.  And for those that like their rugby, William Webb-Ellis, famous for picking up the ball in a game of football and thereby creating rugby, was a rector here (A guide to London's churches by Mervyn Blatch, p. 206)

Unfortunately, we don’t know much about Edward’s childhood.  But I feel this nursery rhyme gives a sense of impending doom about his life.

I found an Edward Conner in the 1841 Census as a pauper schoolboy aged 12. Whether or not this is our Edward remains to be seen.  I requested a document for a Maria Conner who is listed in the Lambeth Board of Guardians Settlement and Relief files at London Metropolitan Archives in 1844/45. Unfortunately this did not seem to be our Maria as she was described as the wife of Thomas. 

I am guessing that perhaps Edward Conner Senior died somewhere between when Eliza Jane was born and when the 1841 Census was taken.There is an Edward Connor who was buried 7 January 1844 aged 43 of St Thomas’s Hospital at St John’s New Street in the Parish of St John, Horselydown. This is an area of Southwark, London. It could be Edward’s father but English death certificates are notoriously scant in terms of information so we may never know. We don't have any more information about Edward until he marries.

The North West Prospect of St. Paul's Deptford together wth. the Rector's House - print made by William Henry Toms 1757-1765

 

Married Life

Marriage Dates/Places:

Edward married Rebecca FOYNE 19 January 1851 at St Paul, the Parish Church Deptford at the age of about 21.[iv]  Rebecca was a minor.  Witnesses to the marriage were William Thomas Kness and G.A. Masters.  Rebecca’s father is listed as Samuel Foyne, Cabinet maker.  Rebecca was of Deptford parish and a spinster. They were married after Banns.

Here is a map of the places I have been able to located Edward and his family in London.

 

 

Children’s Birth Dates/Places:

Rebecca bore the following children:

1.    Edward James baptised St Paul’s Deptford in 1851[v] .Edward Jnr died 21st December 1854 of croup aged 3 years old.  The croup lasted 4 days according to the death certificate.  Edward Snr was present at the death and registered it on the 21^st December.  He was an engineer of 2 Duke Street Portsea. William Hatch was the Registrar.[vi]

2.    Rebecca Mary christened St Paul’s Deptford in 1853[vii] Rebecca Mary died 19th December 1854 aged 1 of teething convulsions which lasted 3 days.  Her father who was in attendance registered it on 21st December.  He was an Engineer and lived at 2 Duke Street Portsea. [viii]

3.    Edward G born Malta in 1856 on 20 December according to his Register of service with the Navy.[ix]

4.    Clara Rebecca born Portsea 1858[x]

5.    Walter born 1860 in Portsea[xi] Walter died 12 December 1864 aged 4 years and 6 months.  He was buried at Portsea Cemetery on 17th December. He was the son of Edward Conner of Wilminster Street Landport.[xii]

6.    Harriet born 1866 [xiii]

7.    Edwin born 1869 in Portsea[xiv]

 

Early Married Life

In the 1851 Census Edward Conner – Engineer -aged 23 is living with his wife Rebekah Conner – aged 20 at 1 Ann’s Place Deptford St Paul in Surrey, England. [xv] They seem to be sharing a place with William Groom – an Ink Manufacturer and ??? aged 46 and his wife Sarah aged 45.  I wonder if the Grooms were friends of Edward’s father who was a printer.

In 1851 on Sunday 14 December Edward James is baptised at St Paul's Deptford.  The Connors are recorded as living at Hatcham Road.  Edward describes himself as an Engineer.

1853 - Sunday 16 October christening of Rebecca Mary Connor at St Paul's Deptford.  They are still living at Hatcham Road.

 

Relocation to Portsea and Malta

1854 – Edward James Conner died December 1854 at Portsea Island, Hampshire as did Rebecca Mary.[xvi]  We ordered Rebecca Mary’s death certificate and it recorded that she died of teething convulsions on 19^th December at 2 Duke Street Portsea.  Edward died of croup on 21^st December.  What a miserable Christmas that must have been. 

1856 the family must have moved to Malta (according to Edward George’s census record)[xvii]

1858 the family moves back to Portsea

1860s

1861 - Census - Edward and Rebecca are living at 4 Kilminston Street (the writing is very faded and difficult to read) in Portsea....they have Edward G aged 5 who was born in Malta, Clara aged 3 who was born in Portsea and Walter aged 9 months who was born in Portsea.  Edward is described as an engine fitter.

12 December 1864[xviii] Walter Conner died aged four and a half years old.[xix]  

 

Portsmouth Times and Naval Gazette 17 December 1864

 

We need to obtain his death certificate.

 

The Busy Years or the beginning of trouble

1871 Census - Edward and Rebecca are living at 46 Albert Street Portsea with Edward aged 15, Clara aged 13, Harriet aged 5 and Edwin aged 2.[xx]

1875 the Electoral register show Edward Conner living at 39 Gladstone Street, All Saints, Portsmouth.[xxi]

On 6th January 1877 Clara, at the age of 19, gives birth to Daisy Clara.   

No father's name is recorded but a newspaper article in the Hampshire Telegraph in May 1877 later revealed the father to be Henry James Fulljames, a writer in the Education Department. [xxii] He is pursued for maintenance of 5 shillings per week until the child is 13 years of age. Clara is identified in the newspaper article as living at 54 Delhi Street Fratton.  I am hoping that she was living with her family at this stage. By June, Clara has moved to Norristhorpe Board School in Yorkshire as an Assistant and Daisy is fostered out.[xxiii]

1880s

Then I lose the family for a bit. 

Clara’s education record shows that she commenced duties at Roberttown Board School in Yorkshire with her sister by August 1880.[xxiv]

By the 1881 Census - 3 April - Edward G is on an armour-plated first-class ship in the Navy called the "Temeraire" in the Grand Harbour, Malta.  He is an engine artificer or REA.[xxv] Maybe once the girls left home, Rebecca and young Edwin went to Malta to be with Edward Senior.

In 1884 Clara marries William Henry Smith[xxvi] and she and her sister Harriet emigrate to Australia shortly after.[xxvii]

Senior Years

1891 Census - Edward and Rebecca are living at 31 Regent Street Portsea with sons Edward aged 34 and Edwin aged 22.[xxviii]  Later that year Edward marries Matilda Caroline Oliver who has a 4-year-old daughter Elsie from a previous marriage. [xxix]

1892 Electoral Register shows Edward at 31 Regent Street. [xxx]

1893 - 7 June Edward Senior posts notice in Portsmouth Evening News saying he won't be responsible for any debts incurred by Rebecca. Rebecca is now 63 years old.[xxxi]

 

Portsmouth Evening News 7th June 1893

 1897 - circa January Edward moves into lodgings in 63 Ivy Street,Southsesa (Ivy Street is just to the southeast of Regent Street between Somers Road and Marys Road - almost opposite Montgomery Road.  I think it might be where Blackfriars Close is today.)

 

Hampshire Telegraph Page 7 1st May 1897

 

1897 - 24 April Edward is admitted to Portsmouth Hospital after shooting.[xxxii]

         -  5 May Edward is then admitted to St James Hospital with dementia (said to have been previously at Portsea Island Union Imbecile ward) The details given, in vol. ref H8/4/4/5 are as follows:[xxxiii]

Age : 69

Marital Status: Married

Employment: Fitter, HM Dockyard

Previous place of abode: Imbecile wards, Portsea Island Union (now known as St Mary's hospital - Alex's note)

Form of mental disorder: Dementia

Supposed cause of insanity: Senile dementia

Bodily condition : Feeble

1899 - 3 May Edward is discharged as recovered

Date and place of Death

1903 - 15 April Edward Snr is admitted Portsea Island Union workhouse 

- 17 August Edward Snr discharged to hospital

- 3 October Edward Snr died.[xxxiv] at his son's residence 162 New Road

 

Death notice Edward Conner 6 October 1903 Portsmouth Evening News

 

Burial Place

At this stage unknown updated 10 Jan 2024

Edward was buried on 7 October 1903 in Section 94 Aylwins Row 8 Plot 45 at Kingston Cemetery.  As the plot was not purchased it was re-claimed and the current headstones are for the names Rosette 1954 and Alice 1970 Miller.(as per email from Portsmouth cemeteries)

Estate

I have not been able to find probate for Edward Conner

1910 – Edward’s wife Rebecca dies.[xxxv]

 

Conclusion

Edward must have felt as if he had been born at the centre of the known universe - London.  Living at Deptford, the seat of the Royal Naval Dockyard, would have given him a sense of far flung lands like Australia.  Moving to the very busy port of Portsmouth and its large dockyard at a time when the Navy was very busy indeed would have compounded those feelings of importance.  I imagine he was a member of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers and need to investigate this.

John Field in his paper "Portsmouth Dockyard and its workers 1815-1875" states that:

Within the Yard, the workforce formed a world of its own, with its own gradations...internally, the workforce was finely subdivided by skill.  At the top of the hierarchy stood the shipwrights, their supremacy challenged only, after 1849, by the skilled engineers of the steam factory.

Employment was not always secure.  Field refers to the cuts to the workforce in 1868 that were so severe that "several hundred Portsmouth families simply gave up on the town, migrating to Canada" (page 18). It is to Edward's credit that he survived this crisis.

Nor was a pension a given in those days. It was usual after twenty years service but was at the discretion of the Superintendent.  You needed to be of good character and diligent. John Field talks about the "profound patriotism' inculcated in the yard with surviving diaries o dockyard men from the period containing frequent "references to royalty, Naval affairs and individual ships".

Of their seven children, three died which seems a high mortality rate for our generation but was unfortunately common for the time, given cholera outbreaks and the like. Press articles indicate that there were troubles in his domestic sphere which proved too great for Edward to bear.

References

 

---

[i] Ancestry.com, England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975, FHL Film Number 1042333 item 1 p. 363

[ii] Ancestry.com, London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P85/JNA3/005

[iii] Ancestry.com, Westminster, London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1919, City of Westminster Archives Centre; London, England; Westminster Church of England Parish Registers; Reference: STC/PR/2/1

[iv] Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1936 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P75/PAU/043

[v] Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1920 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P75/PAU/010

[vi] Death Certificate District of Kingston in the County of Southampton, Number 395

[vii] Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1920 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1920 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

[viii] Death Certificate, District of Kingston County of Southampton, Number 394

[ix] Ancestry.com. 1861 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Class: RG 9; Piece: 640; Folio: 11; Page: 15; GSU roll: 542676

[x] FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

[xi] FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

[xii] FindMyPast, Portsmouth History Centre Archives G/PGC4/4

[xiii] FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

[xiv] Ancestry.com. 1891 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891; Class: RG12; Piece: 853; Folio: 143; Page: 28; GSU roll: 6095963

[xv][xv]            Ancestry.com, 1851 Census,Class: HO107; Piece: 1584; Folio: 34; Page: 7; GSU roll: 174820-174821.

[xvi] Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1920 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

[xvii]              Ancestry.com, 1861 Census, Class: RG 9; Piece: 640; Folio: 11; Page: 15; GSU roll: 542676

[xviii][xviii] British Newspaper Archives, Portsmouth Times and Naval Gazette, Saturday 17 December, 1864

[xix] FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

[xx] Ancestry.com, 1871  Census, Class: RG10; Piece: 1128; Folio: 156; Page: 8; GSU roll: 827775

[xxi] FindMyPast, Electoral registers 1832-1932, 1875 Constituency of Portsmouth, Hampshire, V5/36, Image 32

[xxii] British Newspaper Archives, Hampshie Telegraph, 19 May 1877

[xxiii]             Queensland State Archives, Teachers Record, Clara Rebecca Smith

[xxiv] Queensland State Archives, Teachers Record, Harriet Conner

[xxv] Ancestry.com, 1881 Census, Class: RG11; Piece: 5641; Folio: 9; Page: 14; GSU roll: 1342356

[xxvi] Ancestry.com, England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973

[xxvii] Ancestry.com, Queensland State Archives; Registers of Immigrant Ships' Arrivals; Series: Series ID 13086; Roll: M1701

[xxviii] Ancestry.com, 1891 Census, Class: RG12; Piece: 853; Folio 143; Page 28; GSU roll: 6095963.  

 

[xxix] Ancestry.com, England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837-1915

[xxx] FindMyPast, Electoral registers 1832-1932, Portsmouth, Hampshire, V6/47, Image 23

[xxxi] British Newspaper Archives, Portsmouth Evening news, 7 June 1893

[xxxii] British Newspaper Archives, Portsmouth Evening News, 24 April 1897

[xxxiii] Correspondence from Portsmouth History Centre 2015

[xxxiv] Ancestry.com, England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837-1915

[xxxv] Ancestry.com, England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915, 1910 Q2