London Research Trip - updates
Dad & I went to London on 18th & 19th May 2007 to try to fill in some particular gaps in our knowledge of our Martin ancestors. We went to:
- Peabody Buildings - the one just of Stamford Street, Lambeth, where my granddad, William MARTIN, lived just after his birth, with his father, William MARTIN & mother, Emily Sarah MARTIN (nee COOPER). We took photos of the estate, which will appear on the website soon. It was built to house London’s poor but had an unexpectedly well cared for look to it now!
- Some of the streets where our family lived:
i. Charles Street (now Nicholson Street) had none of the original housing. Probably bombed or just redeveloped. Have taken photos of the current street.
ii. Duke Street (now Duchy Street), had very little of the original housing. The plot of grassy parkland just East of the northern part of Duchy St is where Cory Square used to be, when granddad was born there in 1905. Have taken various photos of the area.
iii. Goding St (no 36, to be exact!). On visiting the street, there are no houses on the south side. On the north side there are businesses underneath the railway arches. Presumably the houses were destroyed in WW2 or were pulled down at some other time. I’ve written to London Metropolitan Archives for further info. - Christ Church, Southwark (Blackfriars Bridge Road), where William MARTIN & Emily COOPER were married in 1903. Have taken photos of the church, though the actual building our folks got married in was bombed in 1941.
- Family Records Office - I wanted get advice on how best to increase certainty we are looking at the correct records for Charles MARTIN & his family. A Frederick Charles Martin appears on the birth certificates of his children (William, Emma & Catherine). Clive, one of the researchers at the FRC, advised us that this was almost certainly the same person as the Charles Martin given in the census records we have (1881, 1891, 1901) and also in the marriage certificate of his son, William (1). On his advice we’ve ordered the marriage certificate for a Charles Frederick MARTIN & Emily (not Emma) RICHARDSON (Lambeth 1871). This should give us some more clues. This was my first visit to the FRC. If you haven’t been before it is excellent.
- London Metropolitan Archives - Another first visit. On the advice of the helpful Ms Wagg, from the Peabody Trust, we found the rent record books for K Block, Peabody Buildings (Stamford Street estate) and found that our William MARTIN moved to 22 K Block with his wife, Emily, in late January 1905 (about 2 weeks after granddad was born), and left in Nov 1905, with the comment: gone to Catford. This was probably to the house at 43 Engleheart Road, Catford, that the family lived in until the early 1930s.