As I have described on another page, at the beginning of the 20th Century, the children of Alfred and Catherine Allen were:
I am now able to track some of them, at least, through to 1911, the year of the last Census that is available to us.
Susanna (née Allen) and Robert Stebben were still living on Eardley Road, Streatham, London SW - number 85, apparently 2 doors from where they had been in 1901. The intrusive nonsense that is Google Street View
shows a medium-sized terraced house.The house seems to back onto the
railway line between Balham and Streatham Common stations; from the 1901 Census it would seem that the houses were occupied by two families.
In 1911, Robert was described as a "Police Pensioner". He was
51. Still living at home with the couple were their children: Alfred, Edith, Mabel and Wilfred - aged 20, 23, 17 and 6 - in that order as they are listed on the Census.
After 1911, we would need to trace the family fortunes through registration documents, but we do have available a newspaper cutting that tells us of Susanna's death and her funeral, back in Glemsford.
Caroline remained in Filey, Yorkshire, in the service of the Gwynne family as a Domestic Nurse.
Roderick Edmond Howe Gwynne, Captain Late 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and his wife Edith, aged 52 and 50, respectively,
had just one son, Chedworth (aged 7), living at home; they had three domestic servants, including Caroline. In 1901, they had lived at 12 Brooklands; in 1911 they were at 13, Southdene. The two roads run parallel to each other,
close to the sea.
We also have Caroline's obituary from the local Suffolk Free Press in 1957.
Bernal, in 1901, had been with his wife Ada, and children Ethel and Wilfred, at 38 Albert Road, Croydon. In 1911, Ada, and children Ethel, Wilfred and Cyril, were living at 26 St Johns Road, Croydon.
Bernal is not mentioned on the Census - Ada signed the form, but she describes herself as "Married". I can't locate Bernal at present: perhaps he was away on business.
Bartle and Florence (whom I have now found in Sutton Valence, Kent, in 1901) had moved, by 1911, to Tovil, on the outskirts of Maidstone. Bartle is described in the Census as "Elementary (Head) Teacher," and was employed by the Maidstone Education Committee.
Florence was a "Teacher - Elementary School", also employed by the Maidstone Education Committee, and by 1911 they had 3 children - Gwendoline, Brian Bartle and Rupert Leofric. This last was 8 years old, and born in Maidstone (his brother and sister were born at Sutton Valence) - so we can guess that, perhaps, the family moved to Maidstone before 1903.
The family employed Alice Broad (18) as a General Domestic Servant.
Again we are lucky to have several newspaper notes of Bartle's death and funeral in Glemsford, as well as some further details of Bartle and Florence's children.
From another newspaper clipping we know that Bartle's school in Maidstone was St Stephens - also in Tovil, and, untl 2005, still a C of E Primary School.
There is an interesting side issue of History to investigate further, perhaps, in Florence's status as a teacher after her marriage: tradition has it that, before 1914, female teachers were expected to be unmarried, and there were certainly cases of women being dismissed from teaching upon their marriage. I haven't time to investigate this fully at present, but someone else might ...?
Rupert (born 1875) remains as elusive as ever, and a suspicion is that he had already moved to New Zealand (where he died in the 1920s). I have, however been able to find the woman I presume to be his future wife, Maud Sterry.
In 1901, Maud was living with her family on Out Southgate, Bury St Edmunds, just beyond Jail Farm. She was 13. Her parents were Frederick and Marianne, and she had one brother and five sisters.
Frederick was a "Beer House Keeper".
In 1911, however, Marianne Sterry, then a widow, was living with her father, Augustus Large, a farmer. With her were four of her children, including 23 year old Maud and 8 year old Ada.
Significantly, perhaps, the farm was Park Farm, Churchgate, Glemsford.
It also fascinates me that