I’ve been doing a ton of research on my great grandad, William Charles Brown’s family & they’re harder than hell to track down…but I think I got it & I also ran into the Alma Road issue. I Used the London A-Z road name changes website to try to figure it out, but it said Alma Road in Bethnal Green changed its name to Old Ford Road, then Mace Street. Which doesn’t make sense because Old Ford Road is centuries old. Anyhow, after looking at over a dozen maps online, I found it on one I have from 1897…but it’s “Alma Road West” on there. It branches off of Cranbrook Street, off of Old Ford Road. Is there more than one Alma Road in Bethnal Green?!
Anyhow, in a 1901 census, his family lived at #23 Alma Road, BG
Charles Henry William Brown: ab.42—(head/upholsterer), Jane (née Smith) Brown: ab.39—(wife/button maker), Jane Elizabeth: ab.16—(daughter/box maker), Mary Ann: ab.13—(daughter), Thomas: ab.10—(son), & **not listed: William Charles: ab.14—(son), Charles: ab.18—(son).
What doesn’t make sense to me though is how far away they are from everywhere else they had lived before & after..hence—is there another Alma Road further west in BG? Their other residences:
(1881)#16 Diss St, BG
(1882-88) #18  Queen St, BG
(1882-1901) #11 Warner Place, Hackney Rd, BG
(1901-?) #23 Alma Road, BG
(1911-?) #51 Wilmer Gardens, Hoxton
(1915-?) #20 Pott St, BG
*this may be my great Nan’s Attwell family: (1919) #9 Paradise Row, BG
& Charles Henry William Brown died in 1934—Walthamstow, Essex.
I KNOW from living family that my great Grandad was an upholsterer & had a shop next to a French polisher in BG…near or on Hackney Rd. in the 1900’s. But the rest has been a nightmare to figure out!
My great grandad William Charles Brown was a railway porter “heavy work” born in BG. He was Baptised 1887 at St. James the Great & his parents, Charles Henry Brown & Jane Brown lived at #16 Queen Street, BG. at the time.
He 1st married Ellen Amelia Neve APRIL 23, 1915 at St. Andrew’s Church, BG. She died in Jan. 1919. His address was #20 Pott Street, BG.
He then married my great nan-also a widower, Susanna “Annie” Matilda Attwell (prev: Clarke) on Dec 25 1919 at St. Jude’s Church, BG. Their address was #9 Paradise Row, BG. Later moving to Gilman House around 193? “Emma Street” (but off Pritchards Street). He passed away in 1946. My great nan lived in many different flats in Gilman House until her death in July, 1976.
The whole family pretty much stuck around that area, except for my nan, who married a Yankee soldier 101st Airborne Parachute Combat Infantry “Screaming Eagles” Pathfinder/Intelligence on Jan. 2, 1946 & she emigrated to the USA in the summer of 1946 VERY PREGNANT with my dad, born Oct. 1946 in the USA.
