London Custom House??

[SooCatt]

Thanks everyone and especially Hughar - that's an interesting web site.
Susan

[barrystanford]

the only reply that is any where near right is hagar, i was born in cust om house, it is an area north of the royal group of docks now closed, south of the beckton road to the right is canning town to the left is beckton, the city airpord  was built in between the royal abert and king george the 5th dock, if i can help anymore contact me,BARRY. P.S. UP TILL THE 1950S IT CAME UNDER ESSEX BUT HAD A LONDON POST CODE E16, WE HAVE ALWAY THOUGHT OF OURSELFS AS LONDONERS

[SooCatt]

Thanks for that Barry.
I wonder how familiar you are with the history of the area?  I would appreciate your ideas as to what would have brought my husband's GG Grandparents down from West Yorkshire for a relatively short period of time at the turn of last century.

They were from mining stock and their first three children were born in West Yorks, in the late 1800's - the next three were born in Custom House at the turn of the century and sometime in the next 15 years the whole family moved back to West Yorks.

There doesn't appear to have been any family connections with the area so I'm assuming ti is work of some sort that took them there.  It seems a leap from mining to the docks though.

As I say I'd appreciate any ideas.

Susan

[hughar]

Susan,
The 1901 census shows William Handley as a Stoker (although what was written first is crossed out and not clear).  Maybe he had to come out of the mines, and took the stokers' job as it was closest to what he was used to doing - shovelling coal?

Barry mentioned Beckton, which was the site of one of the country's largest gas works.  And there were others in the area.  They would have needed lots of stokers.

You may find this site useful http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.65/chapterId/1553/Powering-the-City.html 

[barrystanford]

thats prob, it .susan, but they also had stokers on ships in those days, and the royal docks was close by and many seamen lived in custom house, barry

[ragdollrosie]

Canning Town and Custom house , Beckton have all changed so much since I was a kid growing up around there. It has all undergone new developments. I still have family living in the area, but each time I go to visit it seems it has changed a bit more!

[Deb Stevens]

G'day to everyone here,
(where to start)...ok, my name's Debbie (Deb), and for as long as I can remember I've been fascinated in the process of tracing one's family tree, and with some help, have managed to trace mine as far back as 1816 to when my great grandmother (x5) was born-Jane Green
BothJ ane and my great grandfather, John Melvey, met and married soon after arriving as convicts here in Australia. Jane arrived 1834 and John in 1830.
Have gone really well with everything going forward, but my search has taken me back to the Old Bailey and Jane's sentencing...it was here that I had hoped to trace her whereabouts leading up to her arrest, and according to the details of the court, she had been living somewhere in a place called Mill Yard.
The defendant,(Henry Godwin) lists his address as no 4, Coberg-terrace, Bow-road, and says he is(was) a waiter in the Custom-house. He goes on to say he was approached by a female (Jane) at the top of Wells Street......I have googled these details to death, and somehow landed here on this forum.....the document also described the house Jane had been staying at as "in a nook next to a chapel"......and having researched, realise that this area is probably teeming with chapels!

Am hoping against hope that someone here might be able to give me a new lead, even possibly some street names or areas where I could continue my search.

Thanks for reading 
Deb Stevens

[geno500]

Hi Deb   The area you are trying to explore in London is not easy,in those days it was a rabbit warren of small streets and yards, the gentleman who got robbed lived at Coburg Terrace Poplar in the parish of St Marys,but he said he was dinning with friends and was on his way home,the Mill Yard mentioned is likely to be the one off Cable Street,which is probably the most notorious street in the East End of London,the man would have been about 3/4 of a mile from his home,to reinforce that the policeman was from H division the famous Ripper division based at Whitechapel which covered the are area where you ancestor was arrested,just where you start looking for the family back from Jane will be difficult,I would try Ancestry,they have the London Parish records online,at least you have a rough idea of her age the target area will be any of the parish along the Thames from Wapping to St George in the East,and also Stepney ,Poplar,and Ratcliff,to name a few,one thing for sure your ancestor did herself a lot of good being transported to Australia,her life in that area of London in those days would have been short.

[Deb Stevens]

G'day geno500 and thank you so MUCH!

Your information is brilliant and I am wondering if Cable Street was anywhere near to Back Church Lane??? After I left the initial post here, I went looking again, and THINK I am getting closer....when you said the Whitechapel area (Ripper) I had goosebumps all over!! hahaha
Jane was born in Ireland(Dublin) but the most I was able to learn of her days prior to arriving in England are next to nothing. I did, however locate her baptism details (if in fact it is my Jane Green) and if correct, her mother's name was Mary. Not a great deal there, and so my search continues....meanwhile, am sticking to her last known whereabouts being what appears to be the 'seedy end of town', and who knows where or why she was even here to begin with? This is a challenge I have set for myself, not giving up until I get the answers! Anyhow, again, a huge "thank you" for not only bothering to respond, but for supplying further details of that period...should you have any other tips please feel free to drop them here or my email...cheers!

Hi Deb   The area you are trying to explore in London is not easy,in those days it was a rabbit warren of small streets and yards, the gentleman who got robbed lived at Coburg Terrace Poplar in the parish of St Marys,but he said he was dinning with friends and was on his way home,the Mill Yard mentioned is likely to be the one off Cable Street,which is probably the most notorious street in the East End of London,the man would have been about 3/4 of a mile from his home,to reinforce that the policeman was from H division the famous Ripper division based at Whitechapel which covered the are area where you ancestor was arrested,just where you start looking for the family back from Jane will be difficult,I would try Ancestry,they have the London Parish records online,at least you have a rough idea of her age the target area will be any of the parish along the Thames from Wapping to St George in the East,and also Stepney ,Poplar,and Ratcliff,to name a few,one thing for sure your ancestor did herself a lot of good being transported to Australia,her life in that area of London in those days would have been short.