COMPLETED The Lodge, Bancroft Road, Mile End Old Town - Was this a hospital ?

[Tillyboo]

Good evening,

I have just received my grandmothers birth certificate and it shows that she was born in June 1906, The Lodge, Bancroft Road - Sub District of Mile End Old Town Eastern.

She was in fact illegitimate as only her mothers name appears on the birth certificate, the father was left blank. My great grandmother lived at 111 Bridge Street, Mile End Old Town and she was a Domestic Servant.

We always thought my grandmother's father was Portuguese so Lord knows who he was. My great-grandmother  did get married and my grandmother was given her husbands name. He was fair haired, Danish and extremely short so it was always unlikely he was going to be her biological father - the birth cert confirmed this.

Anyway, I'm waffling on so ...

- Does anyone know what 'The Lodge, Bancroft Road' was ? My GGM and GM were Jewish and I believe this area had a large Jewish community so I'm wondering whether it was some sort of establishment for immigrants to get help and care i.e. unmarried  mothers to give birth etc.

- Is there anywhere I can find out about what sort of house she would have been a servant in ? Was Bridge St. a well to do area ? maybe a rich Jewish family ?

- Without the 1911 census is there any way I can find out who resided at the Bridge St. address in 1906 (stories in the family relate to my GG being raped by possibly the master of the house / visitor of wherever she was living - maybe this address ? May not even have been in this country though as she was Dutch.

In anticipation of maybe some answers  Many thanks

Tillyboo

[patrish]

Hi Tillyboo.

Looking at Booths Poverty Map of London 1898-99 Bancroft Road is shown as being some households comfortable others poor, fairly comfortable good ordinary earning and a few middle class well to do.  It is not shown as poor or very poor.

On 2000 map the road is still shown.

You might be able to find out about The Lodge  at  http://www.eolfhs.org.uk/eolintro.htm

 I hope this is of some help to you

Patrish.

[Tillyboo]

Hi Patrish,

very useful thank-you, I'll check out the website tomorrow - my bed is calling me ! I stay up too late researching ... 

Tilyboo

[patrish]

You are welcome    I am off too shortly 

[jorose]

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/index.html?MileEndOldTown/MileEndOldTown.shtml
- I have the feeling that 'The Lodge, Bancroft Road' was a way of referring to the MEOT workhouse.

If she had been working as a live-in domestic servant she possibly would have lost her job when it turned out she was pregnant, so the Bridge Street address might have been temporary accomodation - sometimes women just went into the workhouse infirmary to give birth, so she probably wasn't in there very long.

I can't seem to find the street on www.historicaldirectories.org , but the Times turns up a few mentions of the place:

1914: grocer Daved de la Fiente (nephew of Joshua de Lara, shot by Sydney Smith), was a grocer living at Bridge Street, Mile End.
1908: Edward Aylett, lived Bridge Street Mile End, worked for James Calcutt (imprisoned for fraud).
1899: Thomas Jones Davis, a grocer, had a second store at Bridge Road Mile End (fined for selling adulterted butter).

I think Daved might have been 'de la Fuente' - born 1879, married 1912 (listed as da la Fuente) to Matilda Beth.  I mention this family because on the 1881 census - Joseph and Esther Delafuente listed with children including David and also Sarah and Joshua Delara - shows that this family were also Dutch.

[patrish]

Yes Jorose you are right, I should have looked at that link as I have seen it before  as I have ancestors from that area also.

It seems to have been common practice rather than putting workhouse on the certificate, I have come across it before  with illegitimate births.

[Tillyboo]

Hi jorose,

This is very interesting thank-you and makes very good sense. I never thought of a workhouse.
I'll research the Dutch family to see if there is any link - although I know that there was a Dutch Jewish community in that area at the time.

Poor woman had a very tough life it seems, Sarah her daughter, died before she did at the age of 54 and it sounds as if Leah gave up after that and died soon after. My Aunt recently found an old letter from Leah to a friend saying 'My darling girl has gone, she suffered so much, how am I going to carry on without her?' ....  Blimey it was very emotional to hear that and I didn't even know my Great Grandmother or my Grandmother. Funny how this family tree business gets to you isn't it.

She also lost the majority of her family to the holocaust. I am very lucky to be here from what I have discovered.

many thanks
Laurie

[Tillyboo]

Hi jorose and patrish,

Spot on !

I found this piece of text, it seems it was indeed a workhouse.

"In many London and middlesex poor law unions or parishes the maternity ward was in the workhouse rather than in the workhouse infirmary. After 1904 a birth certificate should not state that a birth took place in a workhouse giving instead the street and number as place of birth, for instance, 4 Kings Road, St. pancras, instead of St. Pancras workhouse. Alternatively, a euphemistic name might be used such as THE LODGE, BANCROFT ROAD, for Mile End Workhouse'

Thank-you very much for the pointers and information.
Laurie

[eeyores4me]

I have had my fathers birth cert for ages and only recently realised Bancroft Lodge where he was born was a Workhouse
Anybody have any ideas of where to get a photo of it??? thanks