George William Topping Hutchinson Records

[Archaic]

Just wanted to say thanks again for all your hard work, Lechmere!

Looking forward to reading back over this thread from the beginning.

Best regards,
Archaic

[Lechmere]

Debra A found out some details relating to Toppy’s wife Florence Beatrice Jervis.
She was born Florence Birkett and was the daughter of Clara Davis and Joseph Birkett.

When Joseph Birkett died her mother took up with William Jervis. Florence adopted the name Jervis by the time she married Toppy in 1898 and she also was baptised under the name of Jervis late in life in 1899. Her mother Clara also used the name Jervis although strangely she did not marry William Jervis until 1912.

The point of interest is that Toppy must have met Florence somewhere and at some time. I have heard this was supposed to be in 1895 in a Music Hall. Where was the Music Hall – near-ish to where she lived perhaps? Her family as we will see were all from the East End, so does that suggest Toppy was comfortable hanging around the East End?

Joseph Birkett, Florence’s father, was from an established East End family. In 1851 they were living in Globe Street, Bethnal Green, (which is now that part of Globe Road north of Roman Road – formerly Green Street).
Joseph Birkett was a 12 year old errand boy (unusually not a scholar), born in St George’s in the East.
His father, Henry Birkett was a 44 year old painter born in Norton Folgate, a small district between Spitalfields and Shoreditch.

By 1861, for some reason the family had moved south of the river to Deptford, in the Parliamentary Borough of Greenwich, Parish of St Paul’s and lived at 7 High Street.
Henry Birkett is now described as a ‘oil and colour man’ aged 54.
Joseph is now 22 and was an ‘Oil man’.

Meanwhile, in 1871 the Davis family was living at 77 Brunswick Road in Bromley St Leonard.
A bit of Brunswick Road still exists as a slip road near Backwall Tunnel, in what would be regarded Poplar. Most of Brunswick Road is slap bang under the Blackwall Tunnel Northern Approach Road.
George Davis was the head. He was 49 years old and a caulker, born in Poplar. A caulker being someone who made boats watertight by packing the seems.
All the Davis children were born in Bromley.
Clara Davis is aged 9 and is a scholar.


One other thing to notice, with all these records, is that invariably the children under 14 are described as ‘scholars’ – particularly by 1871. Education was not made compulsory for children up to the age of ten until 1880. However it is clear that most working class children went to school long before that and attendance at school was not a rare privilege. This has some significance as it has been claimed that as Toppy was described as being a scholar in the 1881 census, then he must have had an above average upbringing which is taken to imply that he could not have ended up as a labourer at one stage.
The Davis family was clearly of humble background, yet the eldest daughter, Rebecca, is described as a scholar at the age of 15.

[Lechmere]

Clara Davis married Joseph Birkett on 2nd March 1879 in All Hallows Church, Bromley.
Her address is given as 69 Teviott Street. His was 121 St Leonards Road.
They are about five minutes walk apart and both would be considered to be in Poplar.
Clara was only 17. Her father George was still a caulker.
Joseph is still an Oilman. His age is given as ‘Full’ – in other words over the age of consent. He was actually about 37 – over twenty years older than is young wife. His father is still a painter.
Note that one of the witnesses is called Rebecca Goodrick.

In the 1881 census Joseph and Clara Birkett are living at his house at 121 St Leonards Road, Bromley St Leonard, in the District of Poplar, Parliamentary Borough of Tower Hamlets.
There are two older children which must be from an earlier marriage of Joseph’s – Albert (aged 13 and born in Holborn) and Edward (aged 11 and born in Bromley).
We also have Florence, aged 2 and born in Bromley, who would later marry Toppy.

In the 1891 census Joseph and Clara Birkett are living at 5 Maria Terrace, in Mile End Old Town, Centre Ward, in the Ecclesiastical Parish of St Dunstan’s, Stepney.
Up until this time, Toppy’s wife’s families have lived in the outer East End. Now she is placed within the general area within which the Ripper story was played out.
Maria Terrace is just south of Mile End Road, opposite Stepney Green tube station. George Lusk lived on the other side of Mile End Road, a very short walk away.

They share the house, which is quite substantial, with the Donovan family (husband, wife and four children). However the Birketts only had two rooms.
The Birkett family consisted of:
Joseph Birkett, aged 50, an Oilman, colour assistant, born in St George’s. This suggests that he was a painter – just as his father was.
Clara Birkett, wife, aged 29, born in Bromley by Bow.
Florence, daughter, aged 16, born in Bromley by Bow - the future wife of Toppy).
Rebecca Goodrick, sister, aged 35, an assistant laundress born in Bromley by Bow.
This is the same Rebecca Goodrick who witnessed Clara and Joseph’s marriage. She was Clara’s sister and features in the Davis family 1871 census return, as a scholar aged 15.

[Lechmere]

Here are some of the locations.
The rough site of 77 Brunswick Road, in the grassy area immediately in front. This was the Davis family home in 1871. The wall on the left shields the houses from the Blackwall Tunnel Northern Approach. The houses would have faced this wall, which is obviously recent.

The site of 69 Teviot Street – where Clara Davis lived before she got married. A Davis family lived in this immediate vicinity at least until the 1950s. Those properties that weren’t bombed were all knocked down around that time and the entire population removed to another area of Poplar.

And 121 St Leonards Road - Clara and Joseph Birkett’s first home. This would be roughly where the semi circular arch was in the wall. This is now the playground of Langdon Park School. There are a handful of period properties still on St Leonards Road, but by and large Poplar is a wasteland of later council estates.

[Lechmere]

This is Tuscan House – just off Knottisford Street in Bethnal Green.
This is almost on the site of Tuscan Street where Toppy finally settled and was registered from 1910 onwards.

Tuscan Street itself was to the left of Tuscan House as you look at it from Knottisford Street. I mistakenly thought it was under Morpeth Street School.

To the right of Tuscan House was Bonwell Street where William Hutchinson and his family lived. I have a hunch that this was one of Toppy’s sons, but I haven’t established this one way or the other yet. Two of this William Hutchinson’s children died in the Bethnal Green Tube Disaster in 1943. Bethnal Green Underground Station is only five minutes walk away.

[Lechmere]

Toppy’s wife’s mother Clara eventually married William Jervis in 1912. At the time they were living at 45 Coborn Road – a largely intact street of fine Georgian properties.
Their marriage certificate allowed Toppy’s wife, Florence, to be traced.
Would I find a genuine period property? An elusive bricks and mortar link to those earlier generations?
No. But at least it is a tasteful modern reproduction. It is the gold coloured end terrace.

Still, a few yards to the right is this nice Mile End Old Town boundary marker.

And round the corner on Morgan Street is Holy Trinity Church. At least this still stands, but churches are seldom demolished. It was consecrated in 1839 although is no longer in proper use.
Toppy married Florence here in 1898. His eldest child was baptised here in 1899 and Florence’s mother and step-father got married here in 1912. So the church had some importance to the family.

[Lechmere]

Finally Maria Terrace, where Florence was living at the time of the 1891 census.
Was she living here when she met Toppy?
Did she go to the Music Hall from here?
And the entire terrace is intact!
It consists of fine neat three story buildings. Apart from the church this is the first Toppy related building that I have been able to find that still exists!
No. 5 has the porch that can be seen clearly in the sun light with the purple wheelie bin in front.

[Lechmere]

Once there were two little girls, Harriet and Emma, who lived in the pretty leafy Buckinghamshire village of Upton cum Chalvey on a terrace by the winding River Thames.
Now, unfortunately, it is part of Slough.
In 1851 their father William Blackall was a 48 year old farm labourer.
Their mother, Mary, was a 34 year old laundress. Both were originally from Oxfordshire.
There were three other daughters besides Harriett who was just 3 years old and baby Emma, aged 1.
Of the other daughters, one was called Mary and another Eliza.

By 1861 two little brothers and one more sister had arrived and the Blackalls are still living in Upton.
Time had been kind on father William as he had only put on one year and was now 49, although his wife had aged the full ten years.
Young Emma was now at school and aged 11. Times were tight and there were mouths to feed, so sister Harriett had already been sent away to earn a living in service at the tender age of 13.

That was the way with poor rural families that had lots of girls.
In 1871 Emma Blackall, now aged 21, was a domestic servant living in Chelsea, at 172 Oakley Street. She lived and worked in the residence of George Tapp, a retired boot and shoe maker.
Oakley Street is still there and is a largely intact street of fairly impressive looking houses. They go for about £5 million each now. Mr Tapp must have run a successful business.

But what of Harriet?
When we catch up with her in 1871 she is a 23 year old cook living in the Blackheath district of Greenwich. It is a substantial household with a lot of servants. Indeed Harriett’s elder sister Eliza (aged 29) is the nurse and sister Mary (aged 25) is the housemaid. How cosy!
There was also a young 18 year old pageboy called George Wratten from Dettling in Kent.
The head of this substantial household was George Martin Hughes, an Attorney and Solicitor.
Hughes was a partner of the city firm ‘Hughes, Hooker and Buttonshaw’ based in Budge Row, EC (which no longer exists) and he also wrote a book called ‘A History of Windsor and Sunninghill’.
They all lived at no. 7 The Paragon.

The Paragon still exists and is a much sought after crescent of houses linked by colonnades overlooking Blackheath. It was designed by Michael Searles and built between 1795 and 1806. The houses were intended for the upper middle classes (such as lawyers), and had room for carriages, stables, servant's quarters and large gardens.
The Paragon suffered bomb damage during the last war and has since been converted into flats.
This engraving is from 1864.

[Lechmere]

1881 and Emma Blackall is still living at 172 Oakley Street as a Domestic Housemaid. Now aged 31 it is starting to look like she has been left on the shelf. Mr Tapp seems to have died. He would have been 87. His wife is now 75. Her death would leave Emma without employment. Time for a change?

Emma may have been letting the grass grow under her feet but not Harriet. By 1881 she had married George the pageboy who is now George the Gardener. They are Mr and Mrs Wratten.
And where have they moved to?
Lee.
In the Parish of St Margarets.
29 Taunton Road.
To get your bearings, Taunton Road is about 5 minutes walk in a southerly direction from Lenham Road (where Toppy’s dad was living in 1891). Keep going for another ten minutes and you will get to Summerfield Street where Toppy’s sister was living by 1891.
George and Harriet have already had two kids, Agnes aged 4 (was born in Blackheath, possibly while they were both still in service at The Paragon) and George aged 1 (born in Eltham).
They shared their house with the West family (husband and wife and two kids) and two lodgers.
That would have been pretty cramped living.

In 1891 the Wrattens have moved down Taunton Road to no. 73. The household consists of:
George Wratten, a 38 year old gardener, born in Dettling, Kent.
His wife Harriet, aged 43, with Slough given as her birthplace.
Agnes M, a daughter aged 14, born in Lee (not Blackheath this time).
George junior, aged 11, born in Eltham.
Winifred, a daughter aged 8, born in Lee.
Elizabeth, a daughter aged 4, born in Lee
There are also two lodgers, but it is a lot less crowded than when they were at no. 29.

[Lechmere]

Lenham Road, Taunton Road and Summerfield Street in Lee were all similar non descript streets with small humble houses built at about the same time as each other.
With lodgers and two families living in one house, as was sometimes the case, it would have been very cramped. That might be why Agnes Wratten moved in with George and Emma Hutchinson.
This is Lenham Road

Taunton Road

Summerfield Street

[Lechmere]

Here are some interesting connections.
George Wratten junior was born in Eltham around 1880.
The Hutchinsons were living in Eltham in 1881, but by then the Wrattens were in Lee. Lee and Eltham are both near Blackheath, where George and Harriet Wratten met.

Agnes M Wratten appears in the 1891 census twice – at two different addresses in Lee.
On both occasions she is listed as being 14 years of age and born in Lee.
Once at 73 Taunton Road with her parents – she is listed as a daughter.
And again at 4 Lenham Road with George Hutchinson (Toppy’s dad) – but she is listed as a niece.
(see post 73 page 8 of this thread).

This is because George Hutchinson is now living with an Emma Hutchinson who is aged 41 and born in Upton.
She is Harriet’s sister and Agnes’s aunt.
George Hutchinson’s second partner was Emma Blackall.

It is possible that George Hutchinson got to know the Wrattens when they briefly moved to Eltham around 1880.
When Mrs Tapp died, Emma would be inneed of a new place to live. She may well have visited her sister and met George Hutchinson, who was recently widowed.
Sometime in the mid 1880s George Hutchinson and Emma Blackall moved in together in Lee and she took his name – although I don’t think they formally married. In about 1890 they had a son together called Herbert (who was born in Lee). George died in 1895 in Lewisham.
In 1886 George’s daughter married James Knott in Lewisham (Lee comes under Lewisham) and they also set up home in Lee.
The whole Hutchinson Lee connection is through the Wrattens moving there.

But what of Toppy? By 1891 he ended up far from the bosom of his family, living in a Lodging House in Warren Street. By the end of the 1890s he was living with an East End girl in the very worst streets in south London. He had taken to including ‘Topping’ as a middle name.

When did he move away from his family? Why did he move away? Where did he go in the first instance?

[David Knott]

Lechmere,

A member of the family suggested to me, as you have already hinted at, that Toppy did not get on with his step-mother. Whether this is a genuine family story, or just putting two and two together in the same way that you have, I don't know.

Attached photos of Toppy's sister and her husband James Knott (and no, I'm not related!)

David

[Lechmere]

Interesting - as we will see it seems likely that the flight of Toppy certainly coincided with the advent of Emma!

[Lechmere]

I will now turn my attention to the Topping family.
At the time of the 1841 census they were living in the parish of St Andrew the Less in Cambridge, at 19 Coronation Street.
There is William the head, a cordwainer aged 39 (a cordwainer being someone who made soft leather shoes)
His wife, Jane, was 38 and they were both from Cambridgeshire.
Living with them at this house were seven of their children, including Jane aged 10 (who was to marry George Hutchinson and become Toppy’s mother).

One member of the family had already moved out – young Susannah Topping aged 15
She was living in Harston, a village a few miles south west of Cambridge, almost certainly as a servant and was born in Cambridgeshire.

In 1851 the Topping family are still at 19 Coronation Street. William is now 48 and listed as a more humble boot maker. His wife Jane is a nurse. It says they are both actually from Ely in Cambridgeshire.
Seven children are still living with them, including Jane who is now a milliner aged 19 (she did not marry George Hutchinson until 1858). The two eldest boys have gone and been replaced by another boy and a girl. The boy is called Albert, aged 6 – he was to marry in August 1870 while living with the Hutchinson’s in Norwood (see page 9,post 87).

Meanwhile Susannah had married Abraham Gunton in Cambridge in 1850.
From another source I have found that this actually took place on 22nd Apr 1850 in Christ Church, St. Andrew the Less, Cambridgeshire. This is the same parish that the rest of the Topping family were living in, which would be normal.


At the time of the 1851 census the Gunton’s where living at Bradmore Street in the Parish of St Andrew the Less in Cambridge. Abraham is a 28 year old journeyman cabinet maker, born in Cambridge. Susannah is a 26 year old dressmaker, also born in Cambridge.
Bradmore Street is about half a mile away from Coronation Street. They are separated by the Cambridge University Cricket Ground.

[Lechmere]

I will now focus on the family of Abraham and Susannah Gunton. Remember she is Jane Topping’s sister.
In the 1861 census they are listed as living at 14 Elder Street in good old Norton Folgate. This is just off Commercial Street – behind the future site of Commercial Street Police Station.
They have moved to London.
They shared the house with seven other people in several other families.
The Gunton family comprised four people.
Abraham Gunton – a 38 year old cabinet maker
Susannah Gunton – a 35 year old milliner and dressmaker (it specifies this time that she was born in Mepal, near Ely in Cambridgeshire)
William Thomas Cruckshank Gunton, a son aged 6 years old and born in Shoreditch (this suggests they moved to London at least by 1855).
Susannah Jane Gunton, a daughter just 2 months old and born in Norton Folgate.

In the 1850s the main terminus of the Eastern Counties Railway was at Bishopsgate Station, which opened in 1840. Trains from both Cambridge and Chelmsford came into Bishopsgate Station. The new Shoreditch High Street station now occupies part of the site. In 1874 it was superseded in this role when Liverpool Street Station opened.
It might be remembered that George Hutchinson from Chelmsford married Jane Topping from Cambridge at Shoreditch Church in 1858 (see page 7, post 65 of this thread).
I think it is likely that Jane Topping followed her sister down to this area and was possibly living with her at 7 Worship Place and while there met George Hutchinson who had coincidentally moved down to London from Chelmsford.
Jane and Susannah’s father William, the cordwainer, witnessed the marriage in 1858 even though he was still living in Cambridge , where he actually died in 1865
We know from the marriage of Albert Topping in 1870 that the Topping children stayed in contact with each other.
The Hutchinsons soon moved away from the Shoreditch area as we have seen, but the Guntons remained.
In 1871 the Guntons are living at 9 Hope Street, in the Parish of Christchurch Spitalfields.
There are four other households sharing the same dwelling comprising eleven other people. A further 16 people lived in 9 ½ Hope Street. These were crowded times!
Hope Street was mostly absorbed into the growing Bishopsgate Station, and was just north of Quaker Street.
The Gunton family consisted of:
Abraham and his wife Susannah, and four children – one of whom was called Charles who was 7 years old and so was born around 1864. These children were Toppy’s cousins.