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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: Suzy100 on Saturday 10 April 21 15:22 BST (UK)
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Can anyone tell me where lucy's buildings, St Andrews Holborn, Middlesex were. Samuel Button lived there in the 1851 census but I do not know the road they were in? Thanks
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If you page back and forth on the census you can look at other addresses that might help locate it.
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"Our walk,..... brought us to Lucy's buildings, near the north end of Leather-lane, Holborn,......."
https://archive.org/stream/townswampssocial838godw/townswampssocial838godw_djvu.txt
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Also:
"MESSRS. REYNOLDS and EASON wil sell by Auction ... Nos. 1 and 2 Lucy's building (adjoining), Clerkenwell-road, Hatton-garden, held for 499 years from September 29, 1821 at 4l. ground rent ..."
Saturday, Aug. 6, 1881, The Standard
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Other mentions in newspapers put Lucy's Building at Laystall St, Vine St, Leather Lane ... :-\
Description here:
"Lucy's buildings ... is singularly well adapted for the purposes of destroying health: contiuning from the steps from the end of Leather-lane, and crossing at a steep gradient the street already alluded to, we come to three double rows of buildings, each containing twelve houses (rent 3s. 3d. a week) of three rooms each. The lowest court is reached by nine steps: at the top of the steps is a sort of narrow back-yard, in which are conveniences, one for each two houses. Nothing can be worse than this arrangement,- but we cannot go into details. The backs of the rooms built against this bank are damp, and most unfavourable to health. In the lower court is an untrapped gully-hole, which is also most offensive: here cholera was a visitor, and fever seems to be held in terror. The water-cistern was empty on Saturday evening, and would continue so until Monday afternnon. This court, badly as it is situated, might be materially improved in condition by two things - viz., and unlimited supply of water, and the application of proper traps to the closets and gully-holes."
from "The Labourer's friend"
Author: Society for the Improvement of the Condition of the Labouring Classes (London, England) Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes (London, England)
Publication Date: 1853
Also appearing in various newspapers eg:
"Mr. Holmes mentions that 'Lucy's buildings are very close, thickly inhabited by working people, and the greater part built over the old sewer. The inhabitants are very poor. There is a public pump, but the supply of water scanty.' "
Wednesday, Dec. 31, 1851 The Times
Compare this to another mention:
"Mr. Holmes describes this place as follows: - 'Lucy's buildings is very close and confined, built directly over the old Fleet sewer, and occupied by very poor Irish families: there is plenty of water from a large public cistern; the drainage is good.' "
Wednesday, Oct. 20, 1852 Daily News
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I did some sesrching for Lucy’s Building last night my time, but had to give up due to how late it was getting, and not having any success - despite searching several maps I could not find it marked on any.
Those places you mention Maddys52, Laystall St, Vine St, plus a couple more, are included in the 1851 census book along with Lucy’s Building where Samuel Button was living. The area enumerated seems to have been quite a small one of five or six roads/buildings.it appears that there was a high population in the area, which seems to tally with the descriptions in Maddy’s findings.
I haven’t yet exhausted all searches, so will return to the search again later if no one manages to locate it in the mean time.
The vicinity:
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18.79501738187462&lat=51.52242&lon=-0.11147&layers=163&b=1
Maybe the description in maddy’s post might help narrow it down.
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Thank you guys the information is brilliant. So interesting to see how they must have been living, and very sad too.