Albert Edward FORDHAM (1878 - 1950)
Albert's Childhood
My Great Great Grandfather Albert Fordham was born on the 4th December 1878 in Mermaid Court, Southwark in London. The son of Charles Fordham, a 25 year old brewers labourer and his wife, 28 year old Eliza Fordham nee Howell. Albert's parents had both come from the East of England, his far from the village of Hadstock in Essex and his mother from Sawston in Cambridgeshire. Albert's birth was registered 42 days later he was born.
When Albert was born he had 2 older brothers, 6 year old William Charles Fordham and 4 year old Walter James Fordham. Albert's family had been living in London some time when he was born as his parents both lived in Bethnal Green almost 7 years prior to his birth, where his father worked as a milkman at the time. Southwark, where Albert was born, makes its first appearance as the family home in 1876, 6 years prior to Albert's birth, when, a little under a year after his parent's wedding Albert's eldest brother William was born at 2 James Street and again Albert's father was working as a milkman (milk carrier on the certificate).
When Albert's second eldest brother Walter was born in 1874, 4 years prior to Albert's birth, Albert's father was no longer a milkman in London but a Farm Labourer in his home town of Hadstock. My research so far shows no explanation for the return home but by 1877 the family had returned to Southwark when the year before Albert was born Albert's older brother George Alfred Fordham was born. Sadly he died the following year.
By the 22nd August 1880, when Albert was 1 year old his brother Jesse Elger Fordham was born in the family home, which had moved to 6 Red Mead Lane in the district of St. George in the East. On the birth certificate Albert's father was listed as working as a Brewers Servant. The birth was registered 40 days after the birth by Albert's father Charles.
The family moved again and by national census on the 31st March 1881 the family had returned to Southwark and were living at 5 Chapel Court. Albert's father at this point supported his wife and 4 sons by working as a carman. Nearby lived at lot of Albert's wives family. Albert's parents-in-law and sister-in-law at 9 Mermaid Court, his brother-in-law's family at 7 Newcomen Street nearby.
In 1882, when Albert was aged 3, his brother Charles Frederick Fordham was born. Not a family to stay in the same place long, by 1885, when Albert was aged 6, the family had moved to Greenwich where his sister Eliza Laura Fordham was born. Then in 1887, when Albert was aged 8, his sister Catherine Emily Fordham was born in the district of Poplar.
On 31st March 1891 the national census took place and shows Albert, now 12, living in a busy house, with his father Charles, his 18 year brother William and 16 year old Walter all working as General Labourer's supporting Albert's mother, Albert himself and his 5 siblings. The family home at the time of the census was in Deptford, Greenwich.
In 1894 Albert's eldest brother William Fordham married Alice Foxwell in the Camberwell district of London.
In1898 Albert's second eldest brother Walter Fordham married Clara Elverstone in the Greenwich district of London. Albert's brother possibly new her for several years as the 1881 census shows that they lived near to each other in Southwark and at that time Albert's father and his new-sister-in law's father both worked as Carmen.
In 1891, back in Greenwich, when Albert was aged 12, his sister Alice Amelia Fordham was born. Her death was sadly registered later the same year.
Marriage
On the 28th January 1900 Albert, aged 21 married 22 year old Helena Amelia Miller. At the time of marriage Albert worked as a Royal Navy Stoker on board the HMS Minotaur while she was living at 76 St. Leonard's Road in the port town of Weymouth. By now Albert's father Charles was working as a night watchman. Albert's father in law William Miller, a glazier, was one of the witnesses to their wedding (see their marriage certificate in the first quarter of 1900). (Thanks to wikipedia open commons for their map of Weymouth left!)
Eight
and a half months after they were married, on the 17th October 1900,
Albert's wife gave birth to their only child Albert Edward Charles
Fordham at their pleasantly sounding boarding house at 7 Love Lane,
still in the in the coastal town of Weymouth where they married.
Their son's name appears to be a combination of Albert's and Albert's
father Charles. Albert's sons birth was registered 41 days
later on the 27th November by his wife Helena. Albert at this
point is still working as a stoker in the royal navy. (see
Albert junior's birth certificate in the last quarter of 1900).
On the 31st March 1901 the national census took place showing that the Albert, his wife are still living in the boarding house at 7 Love Lane. We can now see from the census that the house he was born in, and that the family lived in was actually a boarding house owned by George Anthony and his wife Jane. In total the census shows fourteen men and seventeen women were staying at the boarding house on the night of the census, including several carpenters, bricklayers, labourers, a house painter, a gardener, a laundress and a cook. Albert senior was no longer listed as working for the Royal Navy, instead he was a "laid off" naval stoker for the merchant navy. The census now gives us a glimpse of Helena's origin, with her place of birth being Blackheath in London (see 1901 census in Weymouth). Whether Helena moved to Weymouth with Albert before they married or whether they met there is a mystery. This is the last record I have been able to find with Albert's wife Helena on it.
Meanwhile Albert's father, now a farm labourer and his wife are now living with three of their children and are now living with Albert's elderly maternal grandparents.
In 1901 Albert's youngest brother Charles Fordham married Florence Parkes in Greenwich.
On 31st March 1911 the national census took place. Albert, now 32, was the head of a family home in Willesden, Middlesex. Having left his career as a naval stoker and he was now working as a motor driver, although interesting the census shows his industry is "laundry". Sadly I haven't yet found out who this means he was driving for. With Albert in his house now are his son Albert Jr and the 29 year old housekeeper Forence Shallis from Devon. While the census states Albert is married there is no sign of his wife Helena at the address or anywhere else on the census.
Meanwhile in Brockley Albert's father, now a 58 year old horsekeeper is living with Albert's mother Eliza, brothers Walter (a carman) and Jesse (a porter), sister Katherine and sister-in-law Clara.
The First and Second Balkan Wars
On
the 14th May 1912 Albert's father Charles died aged 59 in the
Camberwell infirmiary in London of Syncope (losss of consciousness)
caused by Chronic Bronchitis and Asthma. He had been living at
22 High Street (probably in nearby Clapham) and working as a tailor.
The infirmiary was linked to the Camberwell workhouse but would have
provided also for the poor of the area. Only the year before on
the 1911 census Charles had been living with Albert's mother and two
of his brothers in Brockley.
On the 8th October 1912, 4 days after Albert's 34th birthday, the First Balkans War began when Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia attacked the Ottoman Empire. On the 30th May the following year the Treaty of London was signed dealing with changes in territory during the war. The countries involved our unhappy with the distribution and on 17 days after signing the treaty, on 16th May 2013 the Second Balkan War began. On 10th August 1913 the Second Balkan War ended.
In 1913 Albert's second youngest brother Jesse Fordham married Catherine Wright in Greenwich. At the end of the year Albert's mother Elizabeth died aged 63 in Camberwell district of London.
On the 28th June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated. On the 4th August Britain, Albert was aged 35 and Britain was at War.
Albert, aged 40, saw a truce declared on 10th November 1918.
Meanwhile on the 16th January 1919 in the United States of America prohibition began.
On the 28th June 1919 the controversial Treaty of Versaille was signed.
Later Life
My father remembers that Albert's son, Albert jr., followed Albert's naval career, firstly as a buglar and later as a Royal Marine.
On the 3rd May 1924, when Albert was 46, his son Albert Jr married Violet Elizabeth Potter, the daughter of a porter. His son, aged 23 when married was serving as a Private in the Royal Marines and living in the barracks at Chatham Dockyard in Kent (the town where most of his descendants would come to live). Albert's daughter in law, also aged 23, lived at 23 Thornhill Road Islington and the couple were married at the Islington registry office. Witnesses to the wedding were both relatives from his daughter-in-laws' family.
Above
is a photo of Albert' son, Albert Jr., in his sergeants uniform.
The chevrons show that he was a sergeant whereas the crossed guns
crown and stars show he was a gunnery instructor first class.
This uniform was for the time period 1923 to 1927 (thanks to the
Royal Marine Museum for identifying the uniform).
My father also told me a story of Albert Jr. returning from leave to his father's house. After visiting the local pub he returned to the house we he was refused admittance by the housekeeper and he had to sleep that night in the coal shed. The housekeeper, it turned out was also in a relationship with Albert's father and disapproved of the Albert junior's visit to the pub. Angry he left the next morning. Years later, the story continues, Albert junior was visited by two social workers who, mistakenly believing the housekeeper to be his mother reproached him for not providing support for her in her old age.
In 1930 Albert, aged 52, became a grandfather father for the first time when his daughter-in-law gave birth to their son was at the Royal Navy maternity nursing home in Barnsole Road, Gillingham. By this point Albert junior was a Corporal in the Royal Marines and the family living at 5 Longfellows Road, Gillingham. Albert junior registered his son's birth 30 days later.
In the spring of the same year Albert's younger brother Jesse Elger Fordham died aged 50 in their birth district of Southwark. He was the first of the the 9 siblings to die.
His son and daughter-in-law were living in Gillingham still in 1939 when the Nation Registration Act required they register for identity cards. Albert was living in Deptford during registration and was aged 61.
In 1944 Albert's older brother Walter died aged 67 in the district of Camberwell, not far from where they were both raised in Southwark as children.
I haven't found much about Albert's later life. At some point he may have moved to Kent, as Albert's death was registered in 1950 when he was aged 72 in Maidstone, the neighbouring town to where his son lived.
Albert's Childhood
My Great Great Grandfather Albert Fordham was born on the 4th December 1878 in Mermaid Court, Southwark in London. The son of Charles Fordham, a 25 year old brewers labourer and his wife, 28 year old Eliza Fordham nee Howell. Albert's parents had both come from the East of England, his far from the village of Hadstock in Essex and his mother from Sawston in Cambridgeshire. Albert's birth was registered 42 days later he was born.
When Albert was born he had 2 older brothers, 6 year old William Charles Fordham and 4 year old Walter James Fordham. Albert's family had been living in London some time when he was born as his parents both lived in Bethnal Green almost 7 years prior to his birth, where his father worked as a milkman at the time. Southwark, where Albert was born, makes its first appearance as the family home in 1876, 6 years prior to Albert's birth, when, a little under a year after his parent's wedding Albert's eldest brother William was born at 2 James Street and again Albert's father was working as a milkman (milk carrier on the certificate).
When Albert's second eldest brother Walter was born in 1874, 4 years prior to Albert's birth, Albert's father was no longer a milkman in London but a Farm Labourer in his home town of Hadstock. My research so far shows no explanation for the return home but by 1877 the family had returned to Southwark when the year before Albert was born Albert's older brother George Alfred Fordham was born. Sadly he died the following year.
By the 22nd August 1880, when Albert was 1 year old his brother Jesse Elger Fordham was born in the family home, which had moved to 6 Red Mead Lane in the district of St. George in the East. On the birth certificate Albert's father was listed as working as a Brewers Servant. The birth was registered 40 days after the birth by Albert's father Charles.
The family moved again and by national census on the 31st March 1881 the family had returned to Southwark and were living at 5 Chapel Court. Albert's father at this point supported his wife and 4 sons by working as a carman. Nearby lived at lot of Albert's wives family. Albert's parents-in-law and sister-in-law at 9 Mermaid Court, his brother-in-law's family at 7 Newcomen Street nearby.
In 1882, when Albert was aged 3, his brother Charles Frederick Fordham was born. Not a family to stay in the same place long, by 1885, when Albert was aged 6, the family had moved to Greenwich where his sister Eliza Laura Fordham was born. Then in 1887, when Albert was aged 8, his sister Catherine Emily Fordham was born in the district of Poplar.
On 31st March 1891 the national census took place and shows Albert, now 12, living in a busy house, with his father Charles, his 18 year brother William and 16 year old Walter all working as General Labourer's supporting Albert's mother, Albert himself and his 5 siblings. The family home at the time of the census was in Deptford, Greenwich.
In 1894 Albert's eldest brother William Fordham married Alice Foxwell in the Camberwell district of London.
In1898 Albert's second eldest brother Walter Fordham married Clara Elverstone in the Greenwich district of London. Albert's brother possibly new her for several years as the 1881 census shows that they lived near to each other in Southwark and at that time Albert's father and his new-sister-in law's father both worked as Carmen.
In 1891, back in Greenwich, when Albert was aged 12, his sister Alice Amelia Fordham was born. Her death was sadly registered later the same year.
Marriage
On the 28th January 1900 Albert, aged 21 married 22 year old Helena Amelia Miller. At the time of marriage Albert worked as a Royal Navy Stoker on board the HMS Minotaur while she was living at 76 St. Leonard's Road in the port town of Weymouth. By now Albert's father Charles was working as a night watchman. Albert's father in law William Miller, a glazier, was one of the witnesses to their wedding (see their marriage certificate in the first quarter of 1900). (Thanks to wikipedia open commons for their map of Weymouth left!)
Albert's
ship (see the pictures above and below - thanks to Wikipedia
Commons), the HMS Minotaur, was old by the time he served on it,
having become a training ship in 1893. It was scrapped in 1905.
_stern_view.jpg)
On the 31st March 1901 the national census took place showing that the Albert, his wife are still living in the boarding house at 7 Love Lane. We can now see from the census that the house he was born in, and that the family lived in was actually a boarding house owned by George Anthony and his wife Jane. In total the census shows fourteen men and seventeen women were staying at the boarding house on the night of the census, including several carpenters, bricklayers, labourers, a house painter, a gardener, a laundress and a cook. Albert senior was no longer listed as working for the Royal Navy, instead he was a "laid off" naval stoker for the merchant navy. The census now gives us a glimpse of Helena's origin, with her place of birth being Blackheath in London (see 1901 census in Weymouth). Whether Helena moved to Weymouth with Albert before they married or whether they met there is a mystery. This is the last record I have been able to find with Albert's wife Helena on it.
Meanwhile Albert's father, now a farm labourer and his wife are now living with three of their children and are now living with Albert's elderly maternal grandparents.
In 1901 Albert's youngest brother Charles Fordham married Florence Parkes in Greenwich.
On 31st March 1911 the national census took place. Albert, now 32, was the head of a family home in Willesden, Middlesex. Having left his career as a naval stoker and he was now working as a motor driver, although interesting the census shows his industry is "laundry". Sadly I haven't yet found out who this means he was driving for. With Albert in his house now are his son Albert Jr and the 29 year old housekeeper Forence Shallis from Devon. While the census states Albert is married there is no sign of his wife Helena at the address or anywhere else on the census.
Meanwhile in Brockley Albert's father, now a 58 year old horsekeeper is living with Albert's mother Eliza, brothers Walter (a carman) and Jesse (a porter), sister Katherine and sister-in-law Clara.
The First and Second Balkan Wars
On the 8th October 1912, 4 days after Albert's 34th birthday, the First Balkans War began when Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia attacked the Ottoman Empire. On the 30th May the following year the Treaty of London was signed dealing with changes in territory during the war. The countries involved our unhappy with the distribution and on 17 days after signing the treaty, on 16th May 2013 the Second Balkan War began. On 10th August 1913 the Second Balkan War ended.
In 1913 Albert's second youngest brother Jesse Fordham married Catherine Wright in Greenwich. At the end of the year Albert's mother Elizabeth died aged 63 in Camberwell district of London.
On the 28th June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated. On the 4th August Britain, Albert was aged 35 and Britain was at War.
Albert, aged 40, saw a truce declared on 10th November 1918.
Meanwhile on the 16th January 1919 in the United States of America prohibition began.
On the 28th June 1919 the controversial Treaty of Versaille was signed.
Later Life
My father remembers that Albert's son, Albert jr., followed Albert's naval career, firstly as a buglar and later as a Royal Marine.
On the 3rd May 1924, when Albert was 46, his son Albert Jr married Violet Elizabeth Potter, the daughter of a porter. His son, aged 23 when married was serving as a Private in the Royal Marines and living in the barracks at Chatham Dockyard in Kent (the town where most of his descendants would come to live). Albert's daughter in law, also aged 23, lived at 23 Thornhill Road Islington and the couple were married at the Islington registry office. Witnesses to the wedding were both relatives from his daughter-in-laws' family.
My father also told me a story of Albert Jr. returning from leave to his father's house. After visiting the local pub he returned to the house we he was refused admittance by the housekeeper and he had to sleep that night in the coal shed. The housekeeper, it turned out was also in a relationship with Albert's father and disapproved of the Albert junior's visit to the pub. Angry he left the next morning. Years later, the story continues, Albert junior was visited by two social workers who, mistakenly believing the housekeeper to be his mother reproached him for not providing support for her in her old age.
In 1930 Albert, aged 52, became a grandfather father for the first time when his daughter-in-law gave birth to their son was at the Royal Navy maternity nursing home in Barnsole Road, Gillingham. By this point Albert junior was a Corporal in the Royal Marines and the family living at 5 Longfellows Road, Gillingham. Albert junior registered his son's birth 30 days later.
In the spring of the same year Albert's younger brother Jesse Elger Fordham died aged 50 in their birth district of Southwark. He was the first of the the 9 siblings to die.
His son and daughter-in-law were living in Gillingham still in 1939 when the Nation Registration Act required they register for identity cards. Albert was living in Deptford during registration and was aged 61.
In 1944 Albert's older brother Walter died aged 67 in the district of Camberwell, not far from where they were both raised in Southwark as children.
I haven't found much about Albert's later life. At some point he may have moved to Kent, as Albert's death was registered in 1950 when he was aged 72 in Maidstone, the neighbouring town to where his son lived.
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