Hi Oatway
The 1881 census return which shows James living at 19 Victoria Road should, I think, be disregarded.
Eliza Richards is, in fact, Eliza Oatway Law. Why she has changed her name is anybody's guess. The reasons why I think this is Eliza Law -
1) her age is right and the place of birth.
2) Eliza's son Frederick Victor Oatway was born 5 Feb 1870, at 43 Sharsted St, Kennington
3) Eliza and Andrew Law's son Arthur Alfred was born 17 Feb 1872, at 66 Keetons Road Bermondsey
I don't know why she has listed her brothers and sisters as well because they appear with their own families, except for James, obviously, because he will be in barracks somewhere, Edith Richards and Rhoda Oatway. I haven't been able to identify these two at all. Andrew Law, the husband, is conspicuous by his absence.
Now the sad bit. Eliza Oatway Law died of pneumonia on 15 Jan 1883 at 26 Victoria Road, Hackney. The death certificate shows her occupation to be waistcoat/vest maker. Probate gives Andrew Law Eliza's estate of £60. Today that would be worth about £5000! How did a waistcoat maker manage to save so much money? Well, anyway, Andrew Law disappears and on 2 Apr 1883 Frederick and Arthur are enrolled at Peckham Park School. Their address is given as 24 Clayton Road, Peckham and their parent has been transcribed as Alf Sane Davies. I have looked at the image on Ancestry and I can't read it any other way.
Life can't have been all that wonderful for the boys because on 1 May 1885 Frederick enlisted in the Royal Navy. He was invalided out on 4 Feb 1887 having served on the St Vincent and the Duke of Wellington. Then on 21 Apr 1888 he rocks up at Aldershot to join the army using the name Frederick Grey. He served 12 years in 1st Battn The Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regt) and on his discharge he had made the rank of corporal. He married Rosina Goss on 18 May 1898 at St Marks, Peckham and his first daughter was born on 14 Jun 1898! in Leicestershire. These dates are right, I've got the certificates. Perhaps the Regt was billeted in the Midlands. He was discharged in 1902, having been awarded campaign clasps for:- Paardeburg; Johannesburg; Diamond Hill; Belfast and the Relief of Kimberley. Frederick died 29 Jan 1906 of a tubercular abscess of the throat, four months before his youngest daughter was born on 19 May 1906.
Frederick's brother Arthur Alfred who, incidentally, called himself Oatway, became a solicitor's clerk and moved to Beckenham. Sadly Arthur died 11 Apr 1909 of bronchiectasis in the Royal Chest Hospital, Shoreditch. This family didn't seem to have been blessed with good health, although three of Frederick's five daughters lived to their 90s, including my own grandmother.
My thoughts were that if Jim saw the way Eliza's husband behaved after her death and her boys did OK even though they had been abandoned, then why would his own family be any different. It would probably help if we could find out where he might have been while he was in the army. Did he suffer from PTSD, perhaps? Something like that could explain the criminality - there seems to have been an element of rage or despair about his crimes. And his mother died in 1884. And his paralysis. Am I just making excuses for him? Maybe, but I do feel a bit sorry for him.
I'm going to start looking at Elizabeth Nott as you suggested. I want to make my next visit to the record office really worthwhile.
Happy holidays
Lyn
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Topic: Dead end City of London 1831 (Read 10298 times)