RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => London and Middlesex => Topic started by: Greggles on Sunday 04 October 20 05:08 BST (UK)
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What does the abbreviation for place of living R H W on a marriage registry mean please? I have a John Gordon marrying a Hester Bezer on 25 November 1735 at St George in the East and would like to know their place of abode. Many thanks for any suggestions.
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L John Gordon Batr to Hester Bezar Spr both of RHWay.
Numerous other people are also “of” RHWay.
Presume the L is for by Licence.
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Wikipedia says
“ St George-in-the-East is located on Cannon Street Road, between The Highway and Cable Street, in the East End of London”
So did The Highway use to be called “R......... Highway”? Eg Royal Highway (have no idea, just a suggestion)
Helps if you click the link
“ The Highway, formerly known as the Ratcliffe Highway, is a road in the East End of London.”
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Yep. I was just about to suggest Ratcliffe Highway. :) It was a main road hence so many people in the register having it as their abode.
It goes right past the church:
https://www.locatinglondon.org/
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Thanks for all suggestions. All children’s baptisms give the abbreviation as simply RHW rather than R H Way and there is probably a very simple explanation.
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Are you thinking that RHW is not short for Ratcliffe Highway?
I’d say the reason for writing RHW instead of RHWay or Ratcliffe Highway, is simply because it is quicker and shorter as there is limited space in the registers.
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Given that John Gordon was a shipwright and that it was such a poor area, I was thinking they would have been very close to the Thames rather than the highway. However, I am happy with any suggestions you can offer.
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There are two basins (Shadwell Old Basin, and Limehouse Basin) and the Thames VERY close
See google maps.
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Many thanks for that too
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Just in case there's still any doubt in anyone's mind, RHW, as used in the parish registers of St George in the East, is indeed the standard abbreviation for Ratcliffe Highway.
Map link ...
http://mapco.net/bowles1775/bowles12_01.htm
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Given that John Gordon was a shipwright and that it was such a poor area, I was thinking they would have been very close to the Thames rather than the highway. However, I am happy with any suggestions you can offer.
It’s only a hop skip and a jump to the Thames from the Ratcliffe Highway. :)
If you explore the relatively contemporary map at my reply #3, you will get a feel for the area at that time. I’m not sure if it was a poor area or not, though it is possible some parts of the Highway were poorer, but others may not have been. As you can see, it is quite a long street.
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Bookbox and Ruskie, Thank you both so much. These explanations and maps convince me that this family of Gordons actually resided somewhere along Ratcliff Highway. I have spent too much time trying to find a site with abbreviations for street names. You have both been so helpful.
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Many of my family lived close to, and were baptised at St George in the East.
I was recently able to visit London and see the area for the first time (heavily bombed in WWII so not much like it was when my family lived there in the 1870's and onwards). The walk from Shoreditch Church, where we parked, down to the docks along Brick Lane and past Cable Street was very interesting.
St George in the East is very close indeed to the docks, which have now been heavily gentrified (the yachts in St Katherine's Dock have to be seen to be believed).
There is also the remains of the railway which ran close by.
Ratcliffe Highway, The Highway, was in the centre of the slums, and had a very poor reputation, largely driven by the extreme poverty of the families who had to live there. My great grandfather was a docker, and I can only imagine the insecurity, low pay and hard labour of the occupation.
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IgorStrav, Thank you for your family info. Unfortunately, when I last visited England, I did not have this recent information about this section of my Gordon ancestors so did not try to visit the area. I was aware that it was a very socially deprived area and generally considered to be quite a dangerous place in which to live in those early times. How they survived and raised families under such hardship is difficult to imageine.
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From Wikipedia:
By 1908 Ratcliff Highway had different names for each of its sections. From west to east these ran: St. George's Street East, High Street (Shadwell), Cock Hill, and Broad Street.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Highway
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I don’t want to put the image here as I’m not sure about it’s copyright. If you google ‘sailing ship penang’ and view the images you realise how close the housing was to the docks.
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I don’t want to put the image here as I’m not sure about it’s copyright. If you google ‘sailing ship penang’ and view the images you realise how close the housing was to the docks.
Nic, Thank you for that, will now check that site
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From Wikipedia:
By 1908 Ratcliff Highway had different names for each of its sections. From west to east these ran: St. George's Street East, High Street (Shadwell), Cock Hill, and Broad Street.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Highway
KGarrad Thank you for that information too, I had noticed these on more recent maps.
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Interestingly, Charles Booth’s maps don’t show the area as being too bad at all:
https://booth.lse.ac.uk/map/17/-0.0616/51.5089/100/0
There is the odd dark or black street but generally mixed, even with variations within the same streets. Dock areas not good but that’s to be expected.
https://booth.lse.ac.uk/map/17/-0.0616/51.5089/100/0
I have had a brief look for any information about the area 150 years earlier when Greggles family lived there but apart from a bit about the church and the parish, I couldn’t easily find much.
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Thanks Ruskie, There is so much fascinating information about the East End and the various maps have helped me find the streets where later family members resided too.
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One of my distant ancestors Frederick Triggs was born 25 April 1853, at 2 Cannon Street Road. I have always wondered how we got a name Street Road, Normally we have Street or a Road but not both.
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One of my distant ancestors Frederick Triggs was born 25 April 1853, at 2 Cannon Street Road. I have always wondered how we got a name Street Road, Normally we have Street or a Road but not both.
Because it is the Road to Cannon Street.