Introduction.
The following is a genealogical account of a part of the Betjemann family. While such information is most succinctly presented in the form of a pedigree, it is difficult to include all relevant detail in such a chart and maintain its clarity. For this reason, the Detail has been set out in a more narrative form immediately below. It does not however purport to be a series of proper biographical sketches of the individuals involved, although a little of such description may obtrude from time to time. The pedigree itself is shown later in the account. The pedigrees and Detail for other Betjemann families who settled in England are also shown - in other sections - as Betjemann Pedigrees II and III (see Betjemann Homepage).
1. Origins of the Family and the First Generation in England.
George Betjemann, the first member of this family to settle in England (of whom we are aware), married Eleanor Smith on March 1st, 1797 at the parish church of St George-in-the-East, Wapping - then part of Stepney. The church, one of those white stone churches designed by Wren’s pupil Hawkesmoor, is situated just above what is today ‘The Highway’ but was then called ‘Ratcliffe Highway’. The marriage was after the posting of weekly banns, rather than by licence, with both parties described as ‘single and of that parish’. The ceremony was witnessed by Gilbert and Lucy Slater, seemingly a married couple who, like the bride and groom, signed the register; many at the time still ‘made their mark’. Any uncertainty concerning the original spelling of the surname is resolved when one notes George’s own signature in the marriage register, which clearly appears thus:
In his autobiographical poem ‘Summoned By Bells’, the renowned poet and direct descendent of George, Sir John Betjeman, describes how the mother of his next door friends provided his first sense of insecurity when, as the first World War loomed, she exclaimed: “Your name is German, John” - whereas he had himself ‘always thought it Dutch.’ He asked his mother about this: “No”, she assured him, “ It is Dutch…”. He also refers to “that tee-jay-ee; that fatal ‘tee-jay-ee” (ie ..t j e..) in the middle of his name which, combined with the ‘..mann’ ending on his own birth registration, seemed to trouble the future poet, as well as various officials trying to spell it. He apparently clung to the belief that in the last century his family had, to give their company’s products an aura of Germanic expertise, actually added an extra ‘n’ - to an original single ‘n’ spelling, with its less Germanic connotation. Belief in this was fostered by the fact that a forebear did indeed use the one ‘n’ version for a time - on earlier company stationery. But, like the first George Betjemann above, that ancestor - George's eldest son, also George - began and ended the 19th century still using the double ‘nn’ form; any one ‘n’ versions in mid-century appear to have been temporary and atypical.
Later, at school, young John would be called ‘a German spy’ by his classmates and one may appreciate why, many years later, he would write to his mother that he had been looking-up some of the family’s earlier church registrations near the present day Barbican (at St Botolph’s, Aldersgate) and was pleased to find a few entries at least which spelt the name with just the one ‘n’ - as though still seeking reassurance that the name was indeed not German. It was however spelt in a great variety of ways by early incumbents, showing variations in both vowels and consonants. Variations in the final ‘n’s were but part of this inconsistency and some ‘one-n’ versions were thus virtually inevitable. Bevis Hillier states that nevertheless “To the end of his life, John insisted that his ancestors were Dutch and that the founder of the family firm had come from Holland - in the late eighteenth century.” In fact, as described below, the founder of that company - George’s son George Betjemann Jnr - was himself only born at the end of that century - and in neither Holland nor Germany, but in England. It was the elder George, initially a Sugar Baker (and later a ‘Keeper of Dairy Cows’), who was the one born abroad and, as now apparent, in north Germany (see below for confirmation).
Sir John appears to have based his conviction of a Dutch origin for the first Betjemann to settle here partly upon unverified reports he had received from Holland that one ‘Joost Betjeman’ was a public official there in the 16th century. This apparently over-rode family tradition of the birth of George Snr in Germany - in 1764 - and later elaborated by an elderly relative saying he had been a 'Sugar Refiner' there - ‘who sat in a German Parliament’. Archive searches have yet to confirm either of these suggestions, however - particularly that more unlikely latter aspect.
The prevailing religious denomination in the state of Hanover, from where so many sugar bakers emigrated to England, is and was that of the Lutheran church. Most of the parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials from 1700 on in that area have survived and remain with church incumbents. These have all been transcribed onto microfiche copies held at that church’s archives centre in Hanover, as well as at their various regional centres. One of the latter, that for the church district called Wessermud Sud, includes such register copies for all the parishes situated along the east bank of the river Wesser - just south of Bremerhaven and in particular those of Stotel, Bramstedt, Loxstedt and Beverstedt - where most of the limited Betjemann family resided for some generations, and many still do. It seems quite likely that a baptism entry for 'George' Betjemann, around the year 1764, may be located within these records by an assistant working at the Lutheran archives or by a professional genealogist, although in both cases the fees quoted were quite excessive for the anticipated time required. An ‘amateur’ genealogist was also contacted in this regard, but his fee was just as marked. Eventually, this information should be forthcoming - either to affirm or negate the views expressed here. [Note: Initially these requests suggested that George's first name, at his baptism, and while still in Germany, may have been 'Jurgen', which I understood was the equivalent of our 'George'. Later, I was not so confident about this, recalling that our first King George - from Hanover coincidentally - appeared to possess that name before coming to England - possibly spelt 'Georg'. See now below regarding this matter and the affirmation or negation of the views expressed here.]
One may wonder whether raw sugar was similarly landed at Bremerhaven and other dockside areas along the river Weser - near the small towns of Stotel and Bokel - just as it was in and near Wapping. Some early German immigrants may have been attracted to England from this area who had expertise in this trade and so set up ‘Sugar Houses’ in Wapping (eg ca 1700s?). Relatives and friends no doubt followed on once a foothold was established and many young men then came (ca 1750-1850) who had not necessarily any experience in this trade back home, but started as labourers and ‘warehousemen’ once in England. They would then progress to being ‘sugar bakers’ and finally ‘refiners’ and/or owners of their own ‘Sugar House’. Thus George Betjemann may, or may not, have been in this trade before he set out for England as a young man. Many of these men appeared to come directly from farms in that area - where economic conditions were apparently difficult - especially as the Napoleonic wars spread.
There were three farming families of Betjemanns in Stotel (just south of Bremerhaven and near Bramstedt and Beverstedt) early in the 18th century. One of these included an ‘Alheid Betjemann’ who married there in 1709 (see below). Interestingly, there was also a ‘Jost Betjemann’ born there (cf. ‘Joost’ above). A picture of the emigration of Germans to the Wapping area to work in the Sugar industry is provided in an article entitled 'The London Sugar Refiners around 1800’ by Walter M. Stern - in a volume in the Guildhall Library called ‘Guildhall Miscellany - No. 7, 1954', and in manuscripts there on which this is based. Shortages of labour in this trade in the 1790s (and beyond) in London resulted in the recruitment of many young men from the Hamburg and Bremen areas of north Germany at that time. They may or may not have had prior experience in this trade. Several more sugar bakers named Betjemann from the state of Hanover (and many others) continued to enter England over the ensuing decades (see Alien Lists - PRO, as well as a new website devoted to Sugar bakers generally, produced by the Anglo-German F.H.S.).
[NB. Since writing the foregoing about George's origins (in about 1998), I am now pleased to report that in April 2003, I received a surprise e-mail - 'out of the blue' - from a German researcher in social history - one Dr Horst Roessler - who is researching those in the Sugar industry who emigrated from Germany to England. I quote verbatim from his letter:
"My findings show that most of the German sugar bakers were Hanoverians, that they came from small villages in a fairly restricted rural region between the Lower Weser and Lower Elbe rivers (roughly between Bremen and Hamburg) and that the immigrants were the (non-inheriting) sons of (small) farmers and of rural labourers who had not worked in the sugar industry before they left home."
He goes on to say that he is familiar with many family names of this population - including that of 'Betjemann'. But of greater relevance to our present concerns, he says that he believes he has located the baptism of 'our' George Betjemann (Snr)! Again, I quote:
"I came across Betjemann entries in the parish records of Stotel, Beverstedt and Bramstedt. These (Lutheran) parishes comprise a number of small villages between Bremerhaven and the Hanseatic City of Bremen. In the 18th and 19th centuries a considerable number of young single men, often sons of small farmers, cottagers, day labourers and village craftsmen, left these villages in search of work in the British sugar industry. Most headed for London; while some returned home after a shorter or longer sojourn in England, a majority married and stayed in Britain. It is in the Bramstedt parish records that I found most of the Betjemanns. Since you found out that George Betjemann (Snr) died in June 1813, aged 49, I feel that he is identical with:
Jürgen Bitjemann, bapt. 19 June 1764, Bramstedt, parish of Bramstedt, Amt (district of) Hagen, Hanover.
I have come across various immigrants called "Jürgen" who changed / anglisized their first names into "George". As to the family name: Bitjemann is identical with Betjemann, the spelling of the name changing from time to time in the register. Jürgen/George was the son of a Hausmann (farmer) Hinrich Bitjemann and his wife Catharina Alheit Bitjemann. 'Hausmann' means that Jürgen/George's father was a well-off farmer, not a small one. Other children were: daughter Ann Trin (bapt. 19 May 1767), son Johann (bapt. 28 September 1768) and sister Becke (bapt. 24 September 1772) - and this time the family name was spelt Betjemann).
"As a rule, the first born son inherited the farm. Thus, for the other children it became more and more difficult to make a living and establish a family at home. This is why the majority of those who emigrated were non-inheriting sons. It is not clear, therefore, why Jürgen/George (the first born) left. However, sometimes first born sons did move abroad with the intention to make some money and return with savings to take over their father's farm. While most seem to have stuck to that plan others got a liking to the place they had immigrated to, fell in love, got married ... and never returned!
"Since I found neither a Georg Betjemann nor another Jürgen Betjemann born in the parishes of Stotel, Beverstedt or Bramstedt in the years around 1764, I am confident that he is the one from whom Sir John descends."
I am most grateful to Dr Roessler for providing this long awaited information. It would appear that our views were indeed 'affirmed' rather than negated, and some ideas about the sugar bakers basically confirmed. There seems very little doubt that the origin of the Betjemann family that leads to Sir John Betjeman (and many others) was indeed by way of Hinrich and then Jurgen Betjemann of a farming family of Bramstedt in Hanover, Germany. In particular, one can place considerable confidence in the coincidence of the forenames of George's mother 'Catherina Alheit' and that given by George in London to his third daughter (see below re birth and baptism of Catherine Alheit Betjemann (1804-1886). One also notes that the suggested name of his father - as 'Heinrich' - was essentially also correct. As a potential 'Hausmann' with a good sized farm to return to, George must indeed have been strongly attracted to his future wife and a life in England. Sir John Betjeman (and the rest of us) can thus be grateful that his ancestor Eleanor Smith apparently had the necessary charms to hold George to these shores!]
In the register of St George’s a year after their marriage - at the baptism of their first born - the elder George Betjemann was described as then being a ‘Sugar Baker’ - of Pennington Street, in Wapping. This is a short street just below The Highway, running parallel with it (see map below). Some of the Georgian warehouses which served St Katherine’s dock remain on Pennington Street to this day and The Times newspaper re-located from Fleet St to No.1 Pennington St some years ago. The Land Tax books for Wapping for the years 1790 to 1800 show no entries in the name of George Betjemann - either as main tenant/occupant or as owner. However, there were entries on Pennington Street - for the years 1797-99 - in the names of ‘Ann Slater, widow’, occupant of one house, and of Jacob Goodhart, owner of two houses there and proprietor of a ‘Sugar House’. Wapping had a number of such establishments then, where raw sugar, landed at the nearby docks, was prepared (baked and refined) for the retail market. It is quite possible therefore that young George Betjemann (Snr) of Pennington Street worked for such as Jacob Goodhart (originally ‘Goodhardt’ we may suggest), while he and Eleanor resided as sub-tenants in the nearby home of Ann Slater. She may well have been the mother of their friend and wirness Gilbert Slater, although this requires confirmation.
That the Slaters of Wapping were in any case close and important friends to the newly-wed Betjemanns is indicated by the fact that George and Eleanor’s first daughter and second son were named Lucy and Gilbert, respectively - early name choices which otherwise would be quite inexplicable. Moreover, after the early death of that second son, the next was named, even more pointedly, as ‘Gilbert Slater Betjemann’. The basis of this determined choice of names and the obvious significance of Gilbert Slater to George Betjemann is discussed further below. Their first son, George Jnr, named more typically after the father, was born on June 16th 1798, when the family still lived on Pennington St. He was baptised at St George’s on July 15th that year, registered in the surname of ‘Betigemann’ (reflecting spelling uncertainty more on the part of the incumbent than the parents, one suspects). Later Census records suggest the younger George was however actually born in neighbouring Whitechapel - possibly at the then home of Eleanor’s parents - but soon baptised in his parents’ home parish next door.
An Eleanor Smith was born in St George-in-the-East at about the right time to represent George’s wife-to-be (as per the IGI) but the forenames of the parents concerned were not given to any of Eleanor’s later issue. They were John and Lydia Smith of Stepney Street in that parish, with their daughter Eleanor baptised there Sept 25th 1771. If Eleanor Betjemann's 1851 Census entry could be discovered (it long remained stubbornly lacking), this may have confirmed this parish of birth and thus that parentage. [Eleanor's death certificate later confirmed that she was indeed born in or near 1771 and it now strongly appears that her parents were John and Lydia Smith, for the witness at her marriage - Lucy Slater - was very likely her younger sister, born Lucy Smith to this same couple. John Smith had married Lydia Russell in St George's church on 16 Feb 1768. Their first child, Lydia, was baptised on 28 Dec 1768, followed by Eleanor in 1771 - both at St George-in-the-East. The third daughter Lucy was baptised in Aug 1774 at All Hallows Staining, a little further west, to where the parents had apparently moved in the interim, possibly temporarily. For Lucy Smith would marry Gilbert Slater in late 1796 back at St George's - where her sister Eleanor would do so just a few months later in 1797 (to George Betjemann), with Lucy and her husband Gilbert as witnesses. A portrait of Eleanor was (in 2000) in the possession of a descendant - Mrs Doris Betjemann-Lurot, Sir John’s first cousin (still living in 2008).
Around 1800, the Betjemann family of Wapping first moved a mile or so away - to Mile End Old Town, Stepney, where their next two children were born: Lucy on 16 July 1800 - baptised at St Dunstan’s, Stepney on 28 Sept 1800 - as ‘Betjimann’; and Sarah Eleanor on 22 Oct 1802 - baptised at the same church on 13 Feb 1803 - interestingly as ‘Betjeman’. George was now described (ca 1800 in Mile End) as a ‘Sugar Refiner’. His employer may have moved premises - unless George started up on his own in that area ? Land Tax records were checked to reveal the street they lived on at this time but they did not yet appear there as tax payers - either as ‘occupants’ in their own name or as sub-tenants.
A more significant and distant move was then made by the young Betjemann family - from east of the City to the west of it - to Aldersgate near the Barbican. This occurred about 1804; for their next child, Catherine Alheit,was born there on 16 Feb 1804 (but not baptised until 28 July 1805) - at ‘St Botolph’s without Aldersgate’. This was a few days before the birth there of her sister Eleanor Gilbert (in case there were no other boys?) on Aug 1st that year, she being baptised on the 15th of the following month. Both girls were registered as ‘Betjemen’. Catherine’s middle name certainly suggested a Germanic influence in the background, being similar to that of the girl (Alheid Betjemann) mentioned above who had married in Stotel, near Bremerhaven, a century earlier. ‘Alheid/Alheit’ was a derivative of Adelaide.
[But, the crucial significance of this latter daughter's full name is now further confirmed thanks to the information forwarded by Dr Roessler, as described above; Catherine Alheit Betjemann was clearly named after George's mother back in Bramstedt, Germany.] There were to be three further sons and significantly two of these would also receive the name Gilbert - the first to live less than two years. In the text of his biography of Sir John Betjeman, Hillier notes correctly that George and Eleanor married in 1797 - although not saying where - and that “...the couple lived in Aldersgate Street”. While true, this rather overlooks the first seven years of their marriage and the reality of their East End beginnings in Wapping and Stepney some years before the move to Aldersgate Street, as now described above.
In fact, a probable factor in the move west to Aldersgate would seem to be the establishment at 5 Carthusian Street, Aldersgate (around the corner from present day Barbican tube station) of the former east-ender Gilbert Slater, ‘Citizen and Cabinetmaker’, from the early 1800s. He is listed as a ‘Knife-case & Portable Desk Maker’ in an early Holden’s Directory at this location (1804-5) but was quite possibly in the area before this, having completed his apprenticeship some years earlier. The records of the Livery Companies at Guildhall show that Gilbert Slater, born 1774, apprenticed between 1788 and 1795 under the tutelage of one Nathaniel Dawson, a member of the Grocer’s Company, and thereby acquired his Freedom of the City and the sought-after appellation ‘Citizen’. Many of those artisans resident on the periphery of the City, who were not obligated to acquire such status, nevertheless sought to do so in order to trade unhindered within its jurisdiction. The actual City Company one belonged to by this time usually bore little or no relevance to the trade or craft actually pursued (as it had done originally). Thus, Gilbert Slater was more properly designated ‘Citizen and Grocer’. Originally, I felt that he was never an actual grocer; however, it was later noted that in an early Pigot’s London Directory for 1839, there was an entry for ‘Gilbert Slater & Co. - Grocers’ (!) Possibly Gilbert the Cabinetmaker had a namesake cousin or son who, through his father’s connections, decided to enter this activity? Or, did Gilbert Slater himself decide it was a preferable second occupation? It was certainly not that common a name.
Gilbert was born to John Slater, Yeoman of Shadwell St Paul (which abuts Wapping) who would have arranged the apprenticeship with Cabinetmaker Nathaniel Dawson, ‘Citizen and Grocer’, at a fee of around £50 typically - quite a bit at the time. It is likely that Gilbert would have lived with this ‘Master’ for much of the 7 years of his training - possibly in or near the Barbican, Aldersgate or Clerkenwell, if not back in the East End itself - in all of which many fine craftsmen in wood and watchmaking, albeit Freemen of the City, were then situated. In any case, the future husbands of sisters Lucy and Eleanor Smith - ie Gilbert Slater and George Betjemann, respectively, would come to know one another about the time Gilbert completed his apprenticeship (ca 1795-96) and thus in a position to marry soon after. It was most probably because Lucy Smith, sister of George Jnr's mother Eleanor, was sensible enough to marry a trained Cabinetmaker - Gilbert Slater - that young George thereby acquired an uncle who would guide and train him into a useful skill and apprenticeship for which his descendents (and the rest of us) can be grateful and of which the future Sir John Betjeman and his progeny were likely never aware. Otherwise they may well have remained in the labouring class of east London's true Cockneys, with any poetry probably restricted to rhyming slang!
We may next complete details of George and Eleanor’s remaining issue: The first Gilbert Betjamin (as he was registered) was born on 2 Jan 1807 and baptised at St Botolph’s on the 4th of the following month. He died before the age of two however and was buried there, as ‘Gilbert Betjemann’, on Sept 18 1808. Just three weeks later, ‘Gilbert Slater Braple Betjemann’ was born and so baptised - at St Botolph’s - on 6 Nov 1808. (It is not known from whom the name ‘Braple’ derives; it later appears as ‘Prapell’ and as ‘Brappe’ at the birth and death of a son, and as ‘Brapell at his own death). [Note: It was later noted by Alan Betjemann, a descendent of George, that this surname was quite common in Southwark and could well be a family with whom the Slaters were inter-married. Alan had also suggested that the connection between the Slaters and the Betjemanns may also have related to a family link - which proved to be correct.] A son Henry followed on 16 Aug 1810, although not baptised until 10 May 1812 - on the same occasion as his new sister Rebecca, born 7 Feb 1812; both registered as Betjemann. In all later entries, however, Henry is shown consistently as ‘Henry John Betjemann’. The name choices ‘Henry’, following that of ‘George’ (after himself) and ‘Gilbert’ (after his brother-in-law), may also prove significant - as discussed later in regard to several ‘Heinrich or Hinrich Betjemanns’ in London. [And we now know that 'Hinrich' was indeed the name of the elder George Betjemann's father back in Germany, with 'Henry' being the anglicized form typically adopted.]
In all present cases, ‘St Botolph’s’ refers to Aldersgate, not to Bishopsgate or Aldgate (much further east), parishes which also had churches dedicated to this same Saint. Hillier refers to one of Sir John Betjeman’s grandfathers “..being a churchwarden at St Botolph’s, Bishopsgate, a church (as noted by Hillier) 'patronised by immigrants'…”. The latter qualification would seem to imply that it was a grandfather on the paternal (Betjemann) side being referred to - that is, to Sir John's namesake John Betjemann (1835-1893). But no Betjemann entries are found in the Bishopsgate registers - despite Sir John’s own reference to ‘sitting down there (at the Bisghopsgate churchyard) to await the spirit of his grandfather ‘toddling along from the Barbican’. A toddle in that easterly direction was indeed in keeping with the abode, churchwardenship and burial of his maternal grandfather - not in Bishopsgate itself however but in St Giles, Cripplegate (at the Barbican); but that man was a Dawson and not an immigrant. The other grandfather, John Betjemann (by then with no sense of immigrant status presumably), resided considerably further north at that time - in Clerkenwell - the family having previously used St Botolph’s Aldersgate (next to St Giles) - which had no particular immigrant connotations. The basis for Hillier’s and Sir John’s comments thus remains elusive. He may simply have had some interest in the Bishopsgate church and, in his poetic manner, felt his grandfather Dawson’s spirit may well have recognised him sitting there - not that far east of the latter's ‘spiritual abode’ - of St Giles in the Barbican. The alternative would be to assume that, for some reason, the elder John Betjemann became a churchwarden at Bishopsgate - which seems most improbable (and in any case is not confirmed by that church's archives).
With 7 children aged between 1 and 15, George Betjemann Snr sadly died - on 18 June 1813 - being buried on the 20th of that month - at St Botolph’s, Aldersgate - shown as ‘George Betjemann, aged 49’. His brother-in-law Gilbert Slater probably still lived and worked on nearby Carthusian St and would likely have helped Eleanor continue in the family’s dairy business on Aldersgate Street. [Note: The German researcher Dr Horst Roessler later found (via shipping records) that a Hinrich Betjemann of Bramstedt, Germany had visited London earlier in the year 1813. This would no doubt have been George's father, the Hausmann, who may well have been informed by letter from Eleanor that his son George was quite ill in, say, April or May of that year.] Interestingly, at his 2nd marriage in 1848, George's son George Jnr remembered and described his father (then long deceased) as having been (latterly) not a ‘Sugar Baker/Refiner’, as might have been expected, but 'a Cow Keeper'. This was confirmed on his mother Eleanor's death certificate in 1856, where she is described as the 'widow of George Betjemann, Cow Keeper'.
Gilbert Slater was to prove important in another sphere, as alluded to above. For on 3 Sept 1812, a few months before his father’s demise, young George Jnr, described in his apprenticeship contract as the son of ‘George Betjemann of Aldersgate Street’, began his period of ‘servitude’ under his 'uncle' Gilbert Slater, Citizen and Grocer, to become a Cabinetmaker - seemingly at the Carthusian St. premises. He signed his side of the bargain (aged just 14) thus:
2. The Second Generation: the Eldest Son and Daughters.
Seven years later to the day (3 Sept 1819), the younger George Betjemann, now a trained Cabinetmaker, was admitted a Freeman of the City, as a member of the Grocer’s Company. George Snr was at least able to arrange this very important step towards his eldest son’s future (and that of his many descendants) before his own early death. George Jnr would eventually marry, a decade later, and during his and the century’s ‘20s, likely continued working with his mentor Gilbert Slater on Carthusian St, near the Barbican - as he consolidated his skills and business acumen. During that time, he would no doubt meet other Cabinetmakers in the area, including in particular one William Merrick, a contemporary of Gilbert Slater (they having apprenticed over a very similar period), whose daughter, Mary Ann Merrick, George Jnr would eventually marry - in 1830.
In his poem ‘Summoned By Bells’, John Betjeman describes how (in about 1920) his father “..with joy... showed me old George Betjeman’s (sic) book..: ‘December eighteen seven: Twelve and six - for helping brother William with his desk’.” This proves awkward to interpret. Firstly, in 1807, the younger George was only 9 (albeit described in retrospect as 'old' in 1920) and, one would assume, not yet exposed to any skilled training in Cabinetmaking, and most unlikely yet to have a ‘jobs book’. Secondly, he had no brother ‘William’. By about 1837, however, after his first marriage, young George might more reasonably have made such an entry - and in such a book - but referring to his brother-in-law William (Merrick) by this shortened term ‘brother’, then more commonly accepted. (The elder George was of course never himself in this trade, being a Sugar Baker/Refiner and, latterly, 'a Keeper of Cows'.) His ancestors to this day should probably be grateful that his son was set to that apprenticeship - something the vast majority of those immigrants growing up in Wapping and Stepney at that time, typically with little education, hadn't the opportunity to follow. They mostly remained labourers, warehousemen, sugar bakers and carters.
Initially, I had no information on the viability or careers of the 4 daughters born to George Snr and Eleanor but it was later noted that Lucy Betjemann died unmarried, aged 67, in early 1868 in Clerkenwell (although buried in Kensal Green), while Sarah Eleanor either married ca 1820s or died young; which is yet to be confirmed. Eleanor Gilbert Betjemann remained single, becoming a Schoolmistress, and in her later years was being cared for in the home of her younger sister Rebecca on Long Acre, St Martin-in-the-Fields, when she died in 1854. Her place of burial, her abode in 1851 (a Census year) and any Will she may have left had (at this initial writing) yet to be discovered (but see now below). Catherine Alheit Betjemann, also unmarried, died at the goodly age of 82 in 1886, leaving a Will executed by her widowed niece Mary Ann Fitt (nee Betjemann) - both then residing at the family home and business at 36 Pentonville Road, Islington. She left a small personal estate of £370 which she directed be shared equally between her 3 nieces - Mary Ann Fitt, Harriett Lucy Betjemann and Rebecca Excelsior (Celsie) Merrick. They in turn were to give to her sister Rebecca (nee Betjemann - who married John Merrick, an Engraver) £10 and a Gold Chain. Her Watch and ?Seal were to go to her great-niece ‘Connie’ (Ernest Betjemann’s sister Constance, as described further below). As mentioned, Catherine Alheit was also buried at Kensal Green - on 11 March 1886, unmarried.
Through his acquaintance with William Merrick, the Cabinetmaker, young George Betjemann Jnr would seem to have met his future wife, Mary Ann Merrick, William’s daughter, whom he married on 16 July 1830 - at George's church of St Giles, Cripplegate (now enclosed by the Barbican complex) when both signed and were described as then ‘of that parish’, aged 27 and 32, respectively. She was likely not (yet) of that parish in fact but it saved a fee to say both were of the same parish. George now signed his name thus:
Also baptised that same day in Dec 1835 at St James, Clerkenwell were two children of Mary Ann (Snr)’s brother Richard Merrick, yet another Cabinetmaker of Clerkenwell - as was his father William Merrick. It would appear that it was the influence of the Merrick family that saw George Betjemann shift his premises northwards from the Barbican area around 1834, possibly firstly to the St John’s Square area in the south of that parish. In Pigot’s Directory for 1839, William Merrick is listed as a Cabinetmaker there but there is no entry as yet for George Betjemann - in his own right. But, by 1835, rates records already show George and family living at 6 Upper Ashby Street, Northampton Square, in north-east Clerkenwell - the Square to where William Merrick was himself soon to retire - around 1838 - when his son Richard took over his business - as a Tonbridge Ware Maker back on St John’s Square, and on nearby Red Cross Street. The 1841 Census entry for 6 Upper Ashby Street shows George Betjemann, age 42, a Cabinetmaker, born Middx, along with his sister Eleanor (Gilbert), age 34, born Middx (unmarried) and his three children George (William), 10, John, 6 and Mary Ann, 4 - all born in Middx. In addition, four others shared the home: an Apprentice William Holmes, 18, Ken Grace, 25, a Clerk, Thos Reid, 21, born Scotland and John Molson, 63, retired. The latter three appear to have been tenants or lodgers. Ashby Street, Clerkenwell is today the site of 'The City University'.
It thus seems quite possible that George left the Merrick business by about 1835-40 and started (or continued?) on his own. As mentioned above, George’s wife Mary Ann Merrick had recently died - in 1840 (possibly after giving birth to Harriett) and with whom George would eventually re-marry - in 1848. This was, surprisingly, not in the Clerkenwell area but back in rather distant Whitechapel - even though his new wife (Sarah) was the widow of a Merrick whose abode, like George’s, had always been within the more western Barbican-Clerkenwell areas. The Betjemanns has been in business near Whitechapel a few years earlier and, in any case, George's mother's family were of that area.
[We may note here that George Betjemann knew his father-in-law William Merrick from about 1825 or so until the latter’s death in 1845 and as he was himself to live 40 years more (to the late 1880s), there was thus ample opportunity for any information George may well have learned about William’s alleged gentry background (see separate 'Merrick Pedigree: Details' - on Betjemann Homepage) to be passed down initially within the Betjemann family itself, rather than primarily through one or more of the Merrick grandchildren (as, say, Celsie Merrick), only many years later.]
George’s two younger brothers Gilbert Slater Betjemann and Henry John Betjemann had also both married - around 1835 - as mentioned earlier. The latter’s sons were later shown as resident with their uncle George in the 1851 Census return for 6 Upper Ashby Street, Clerkenwell where they too were listed as ‘Apprentices’ (there), aged about 15, and born rather unexpectedly in New York, USA, but were now under the tutelage of ‘George Betjemann, Dressing Case Maker’ - along with the latter’s own two sons George William Betjemann and John Betjemann, aged 19 and 15, respectively. George’s wife (his 2nd) was now shown as SarahBetjemann, aged 54. Her former surname and date of marriage were initially unknown but these were later found - as described below. After he left Aldersgate, George’s early workshops may, as mentioned, have been in the south of Clerkenwell (to about 1840) and later briefly in Whitechapel (ca 1846-49) - when not also operating on Upper Ashby Street, Clerkenwell (1840-59) - reflecting some instability during the 1840s. [This was paralleled in the country as a whole, with much economic stress as the corn laws and mechanisation in the countryside forced thousands into industrial centres with much unemployment initially and general economic hardship.]
George's younger brother Henry John Betjemann also gave the Upper Ashby St address as his abode when he applied for his 1st U.K. patent in 1851. (He had already been granted patents in America in 1849 and 1850 to where he and his family had emigrated temporarily.) But oddly the U.K. Census in March that year does not show his presence on Upper Ashby Street, nor that of his wife and daughter - only their two sons. The three other Eleanor Betjemanns, mother, daughter and grandaughter, appeared for some time also to be oddly ‘missing’ in that Census. One had thus wondered if they may have joined Henry John in America in the late 1840s/early '50s ? However, thanks to a more recent discovery by an interested family historian, Pamela Beckett, the elder Eleanor Betjemann (the family's mother, aged 80) was eventually located for that 1851 census - still residing where expected - on Aldersgate Street (although now at No. 121), but under the mis-spelt name 'Bateman'. With her was her daughter Lucy, 51, and grandaughters Mary (Ann) and Harriett (Lucy), aged 13 and 11. Also residing at the same address were what strongly appears to have been her younger son Henry John, his wife Jane and their daughter Eleanor; but with the surname now shown even more incorrectly as 'Betymore' ! In all these census entries, there was a paucity of the usual detail (regarding places of birth, ages and occupations) but the information that was given (probably by neighbours) was enough to base confident conclusions about where the rest of the 'missing' family were in fact residing on that 1851 census night.
By about 1860, George Betjemann and family at least, had moved from Upper Ashby Street to the Pentonville area in Islington. There is reference in John Betjeman’s autobiographical work ‘Summoned By Bells’ to the family business being established ‘in 1820’ (this apparently appearing on some of the later business stationery). This seems rather early (George having finished his apprenticeship, aged 21, only the previous year) but, as mentioned, he may have worked in a kind of partnership, initially with Gilbert Slater near Aldersgate and then with William Merrick in Clerkenwell, from such a date and, in retrospect, could claim his part in any eventual Betjemann business had indeed begun that early. However, he is not himself shown in Directories as a Cabinetmaker or Dressing Case Maker on his own account until 1851 (in Islington) - even though Directories do show comprehensive entries in these very categories from at least the 1780s - including for example that for his brother Gilbert and cousin Richard Merrick.
George’s new wife was later found to be Sarah ex-Merrick, widow (nee Simcoe), a daughter of one William Simcoe. The baptism of Sarah Simcoe was located - born to William and Matilda Simcoe - in St Giles, Cripplegate in 1797. She had married Mary Ann Merrick’s eldest brother William Henry Merrick (bn 1798) on 25 Dec 1824 at St James, Clerkenwell. William Merrick died in early 1847. His widow Sarah then soon married her equally widowed brother-in-law George Betjemann - on 5 Jan 1848 - at St Mary’s, Whitechapel (after the posting of banns there over the previous 3 weeks). George (aged 49) was shown as a Cabinetmaker - then of 11 Osborne St (a continuation of Brick Lane, Whitechapel - see map below); his now long-deceased father was described on the marriage certificate as (having been) a ‘Cow Keeper’ (ie when he and wife Eleanor ran a Dairy business on Aldersgate St - many years earlier; this property seems later to have become a Cheesemonger's). Sarah’s father was shown as a Lapidary; Could this relate to the family business later including fancy stone inlay work amongst their skills? One would assume that Sarah would have inherited the bulk of William Henry Merrick’s share of his father estate in 1847, and soon pass it on to her new husband George Betjemann.
By the time of the 1851 Census, the Osborne St address was occupied by one Henry Chapman - an Undertaker (who had however been one of the witnesses at George’s marriage) and a Timber Merchant (both of some relevance to coffin-making) by which date however George is shown again at his Ashby Street abode in north Clerkenwell (just below Islington) - with Sarah, his sons and nephews - as mentioned above. He had two other apprentices residing with him then as well, making 6 in all; quite a thriving business after a seemingly temporary hiatus in Whitechapel in the 1840s. His mother Eleanor, brother Henry John and unmarried sisters Lucy, Sarah, Catherine and Eleanor were initially thought 'missing' from that Census but, as mentioned above, were later found (except for Catherine Alheit) residing on Aldersgate Street.
At the time of the 1861 Census, most of the family had now moved to 36 Pentonville Road, Islington (see map), where the Betjemann business continued to prosper into the mid-20th century, first under George, then his elder son George William Betjemann (for a long period) and finally under the latter’s nephew Ernest Betjemann. Ernest’s only son, the younger John Betjeman and future poet, apparently showed neither aptitude nor interest in the business (ca 1925-30) and, with admitted guilt, withstood his father’s entreaties to take over as its 4th generation Betjeman(n) head. It subsequently ceased trading by about 1950, I believe. [Further detail concerning the lives of Ernest and his son John may be found in the latter’s comprehensive biography by Hillier and in his interesting and fulsome Letters - excellently compiled and edited by his daughter Candida Lycett Green.] Two of the family continued residing on Upper Ashby Street into the mid-1860s (as noted in the 1861 Census). These were Lucy Betjemann, aged 60, born in Stepney and her niece Harriett, aged 21, born in Clerkenwell; both unmarried. Another family lived in the same house - possibly as tenants. By this date, the two elder Eleanor Betjemanns, daughter and mother, had both died (in 1854 and 1856, respectively).
At the other home that year (1861) - 36 Pentonville Rd - now lived George Betjemann, aged 62, a ‘Dressing Case Maker’, born ‘Whitechapel’. His father’s abode at the time of his baptism was given as Pennington St, St George-in-the-East (a part of neighbouring Wapping); as mentioned earlier, his mother Eleanor may well have gone home to her mother’s in Whitechapel - for her confinements. Also at Pentonville Road that year was George’s 2nd wife Sarah, now 62 - born City Road , St Giles, and his sons (by Mary Ann) George William, 29, still unmarried, born St Giles, and John, 25, also unmarried, born Clerkenwell - both shown as ‘Dressing Case Makers’. His daughter Mary Ann was also there, aged 23, born Clerkenwell, not yet married (to a Mr.….Fitt). There were still two apprentices residing with the family - Matthew Murfitt, aged 17 (who would later be remembered by both George and his son George William in their Wills, as a long-serving Foremen) and an Oscar Rogers, 15, and one Servant girl. Several patents were granted to George Betjemann and Sons in the 1860s (as they had to Henry John Betjemann in the ‘50s).
By the 1871 Census, George, now 72, is described as a ‘Dressing Case Manufacturer’ employing an amazing 94 men, 20 youths and 5 girls. The 1860s were obviously a time of marked expansion - under father George - but seemingly with the growing influence of George William Betjemann - still ‘at home’, aged 39 and unmarried. He was probably in effect married ‘to the business’ - without the distractions and responsibilities of family life. The house next door - formerly No. 38 - seems to have been incorporated with 36 as part of the growing business. In 1876, George William (of that expanded addesss) appears as a Trustee in the liquidation of a rival firm of Dressing case manufacturers called Toulmin & Gale after which that firm continued for a time as Betjemann & Gale Ltd. It likely complemented the output of the main firm of George Betjemann & Sons, it being removed from the Companies Act Register only in 1962, although likely ceased active trading earlier. (These and similar details (below) regarding various legal involvements of the Betjemann business were gratefully provided by Alan Betjemenn who garnered same from such as the London Gazette.]
The 1871 Census also reveals George Snr’s unmarried sister Catherine Alheit (to live until 1886, leaving a Will) residing in the house, aged 67, shown born ‘St Botolph’s, Aldersgate’, as were George’s daughters ‘Mary Ann Fitt’, 33, now a recent widow, and Harriett Lucy Betjemann, 30 - both born in Clerkenwell. But George’s sister Lucy and his wife Sarah were not now listed; the latter had died the year before and, like Lucy in 1867, was buried in Kensal Green cemetery.
In the 1881 national Census index, there was no reference to George Betjemann (born 1798); one thus assumed that he had died during the previous decade, aged a reasonable 75, or so. However, in an earlier Directory, I had noticed that the name was spelt for several years as ‘George Betzemann & Sons - Dressing Case Makers’. So the 1881 index was re-checked under this odd spelling and several such entries were indeed then found. These included those still residing on Pentonville Rd, where George was again shown, now aged a noteworthy 83, with sister Catherine Alheit, 77 - plus Mary Ann, Harriett, 41 and son George William, now 49 (and still a bachelor). The family of George Vincent ‘Betzemann’, he another ‘Professor of Music’ (like brother Gilbert), was shown similarly spelt - living elsewhere in Islington. At first, I had assumed that they had all adopted an even more Germanic form of the name - for the purpose of emphasising the quality and precision of their respective skills. But it was more likely a simple transcription error in which the hand-written letter ‘j’ was wrongly interpreted by transcribers as a ‘z’.
One had initially wondered if George, who resided at the Pentonville establishment from about 1859, may have himself ‘retired’ to the more suburban climes of Highbury before his death in 1886 at the impressive age of 88. However, as explained above, the 1881 Census showed him still residing on Pentonville Rd that year. He appeared not to have purchased a burial plot for his wife Sarah in 1870 - at the Islington, St Pancras, City of London or Highgate Cemeteries - that he would likely utilise himself later. Possibly he was in some nursing home near the end and was buried at a cemetery utilised by such? [No; see now below.] Sarah’s death was registered in Holborn since Pentonville Road, rather surprisingly, fell within that jurisdiction at that time. I intend to re-check Islington Cemetery once more - for the years 1870 and 1886 - for a possible shared burial plot there. [This now done - again negative.] It was eventually discovered (by means of an item in the Islington Gazette) that they were in fact both buried in the family's other burial plot - in Kensal Green cemetery, north-west London - she in 1870 and George on 30th Sept 1886.] He thus resided on Pentonville Road to the very end and never followed his sons and sisters as they settled progressively north from Islington - ‘upwards’ (in both the social and geographic sense) - towards Hampstead (and quietly forgetting Wapping, Stepney and Whitechapel).
Hannah’s husband John Betjemann and his older brothers quite likely received some real property and a share in the family business from their father George after his death in 1886. This should be confirmed once his Will has been found. The entry in the Kensal Green burial register for the family includes a note: “Probate of George Betjemann granted 28 Nov 1887 to son and sole executor George Wm Betjemann - exhibited 26 Sept 1900.” A Will in the name of George Betjemann was indeed entered for probate on that date and is now described further below. He had moved to Pentonville Road (after 25 years in Clerkenwell) about 1859 and continued there until his death in 1886 - having built up the business impressively from the 1830s to employ over 100 craftsmen (and 5 girls).
Betjemann Patented Perfume Tantalus (showing locking mechanism) ca 1890
George Betjemann wrote his Will on 24 March 1886, shortly after the death of his sister Catherine that month. Described as a ‘Dressing Case Manufacturer’ of 36 Pentonville Road, he left his children the following amounts: to Mary Ann Fitt, widow - £1000; to Harriett Lucy Betjemann - £1000; to his sister Rebecca Merrick, widow - £150; to his niece Excelsior (Celsie) Rebecca Merrick - £150; to his sister-in-law Eliza Betjemann (wife of Gilbert) - £100; to his sister-in-law Jane Betjemann (widow of Henry John) - £25; to his chief clerk William Candland - £50; to his Foreman Matthew Murfitt - £25; the residue of his estate, both real and personal, was to go to his two sons George William and John Betjemann - equally shared as ‘tenants in common’. He named elder son George William as his sole executor and trustee to whom probate was granted on Nov 28 1887. The Will was witnessed by the two clerks of his Solicitor - H.H. Poole of Bartholomew Close, EC1. I had (at this earlier writing) still hoped to establish George’s exact date of death and place of burial - seemingly in late 1886, aged 88, as well as his father’s parish of birth and parentage near Bremen. [Note - both of these have now been achieved]. As mentioned above, George was buried in the other family plot - in Kensal Green cemetery - on 30th Sept 1886. It is worth relating how this information was obtained and some of the additional detail associated with it:
The newspaper archives at Colindale (north-west London) reveal that a number of daily and weekly newspapers had served the Clerkenwell-Islington area throughout the Victorian era. One of these - the Islington Gazette, dated the 27th Sept 1886 - included a short announcement in its Births, Death and Marriages column of George’s death on the 23rd of that month. The following day, it had a short piece about him: “Mr George Betjemann, senior partner of the firm of G. Betjemann & Sons of Pentonville Road, departed this life last week at the ripe old age of 88 years. He had been ill for several weeks and passed away in perfect peace on Thursday afternoon last. He had been a resident of Pentonville and neighbourhood for more than half a century and although not seen much about of late, many neighbours, acquaintances and employees will miss his well-known face and figure. His memory was remarkably well-stored with recollections of past days, and his fund of anecdote simply inexhaustible. He had a rare gift for story-telling, and those who knew him intimately will remember with what pleasure they listened to his bright conversation and personal memories of by-gone days, going back to the time of George IV, and the Regency.” [His great-grandson John, whose obituaries were of course even more fulsome, would seem to have inherited these, and other, verbal skills in great measure - although not the manual or commercial ones seemingly.]
On Oct 1st, the same paper described George’s funeral also: “Yesterday afternoon (30 Sept 1886), amid much solemn ceremony, the final obsequies to the late Mr George Betjemann took place. The deceased was head of the firm of George Betjemann & Sons of Pentonville Road. He attained the good age of 88 years. For the past 50 years, he resided in Pentonville (and area) and as a consequence, there were a great many mourners. Nine Mourning Coaches, drawn by pairs of velvetted horses, and twelve Broughams, conveyed the chief mourners to Kensal Green Cemetery. At the graveside there were many other mourners, including all his employees, who had come by other means. There were 50 Floral wreaths and a great many flowers sent from all over London and the provinces. The coffin, of polished oak, bore the simple inscription: ‘George Betjemann - Died Sept 23rd 1886, aged 88 years.’ and was conveyed in a handsome open funeral carriage - drawn by 4 heavily-plumed horses. The mourners included - in the 1st carriage: Mr (George Wm) Betjemann, Mrs (Mary Ann) Fitt, Miss (Harriett) Betjemann and the Rev Dr Allon (of the Union Chapel, who officiated); in the 2nd carriage: Mr and Mrs John Betjemann, Mrs (?Rebecca) Merrick, Mr E.J. Thompson and Arthur Betjemann (then aged 10); in the 3rd carriage: Miss (?Celsie) Merrick, Mr George V(incent) Betjemann, Mr Gilbert Betjemann and Mrs Eliza Betjemann; in the 4th carriage: Mr Carisbrooke Merrick, Mr Alfred Merrick, James Fitt, Marshall and Mrs Clapton; in the remaining carriages were other friends and heads of the firm’s departments. Funeral arrangements were by Daniel Cooksey of Amwell Street”.
I attempted to locate and examine the grave concerned (section 130, row 2) but such Victorian headstones were generally much too worn and weathered to reveal any inscriptions (dating back to 1856 in the case of George’s mother Eleanor, whose death was registered in ‘E. London’ (covering Aldersgate Street) that November). Her daughter Eleanor’s death was registered in early 1854 in St Martin’s, she residing there with younger sister Rebecca and family at the time. As mentioned, she had been a Schoolmistress.
Initially, I had little information on George William (whose details as per the 1891 and 1901 Censuses should be placed about here once obtained) but his Will (1903) reveals something of his status and character. He appears not to have married and spent his entire career working within the family business until his death. This occurred on 2 Feb 1903 at 135 King’s Rd, Brighton (possibly convalescing or simply living there in retirement) when he would be aged 72. His Will, written 27 Nov 1902, was proved on 22 April 1903 by his cousin Gilbert Henry Betjemann, the Musician and one Frederick Davy, Gent - possibly a family Solicitor. His estate was a notable £15,000. - suggesting that, as his father’s eldest son, the business was (after George’s retirement and/or eventual death) largely under his control in the latter two decades of the 19th century. In the 1881 Census entry for 36 Pentonville Road, George William was described as aged 49 and a ‘Partner in the Family Business'. The two other partners were presumably his father George and his brother John. By 1902, he resided at 56 Highbury Park and later at 15 Highbury Hill, after his lengthy stay on Pentonville Road. Although dying in Brighton, he too was buried in the family plot in Kensal Green cemetery - on 7th Feb 1903.
George William’s Will begins by confirming his recent ‘Articles of Partnership’ (1 Oct 1902) between himself and his two nephews (sons of his deceased brother John) - namely John George and Ernest Edward Betjemann - and William Candland, his chief Clerk. (Why no reference to Arthur?) He appoints three Trustees, including his cousin Gilbert Henry, the Musician. He then leaves £500 each to his nieces Constance and Edith and £150 to his nephew Arthur, and to the 3 other children of his brother John - as each reaches 21; Arthur was to receive also a set of Diamond Studs set in Gold. He leaves £200 to John’s widow Hannah (nee Thompson) and then remembers eight 1st cousins as follows: Ellen Betjemann - £25; George Vincent Betjemann - £40 and Gold Watch & Chain, a Gilt Clock and his complete set of ‘Byron’s Works’; Sarah nee Betjemann, the wife of Thomas Boatwright - £25; Eliza nee Betjemann, widow of ….Laverington - £40; John Carisbrooke Merrick - £25 and a Diamond ring; Gilbert Henry Betjemann - £50 (as a Trustee), his Pearl Studs, his volumes of ‘Punch’, a Tulip Wood Desk (with many ‘Secrets’ (?drawers) and his two oil paintings ‘Pets at Home’ and ‘View of Antwerp’; Alfred Merrick - the Blue China Clock made by his uncle Alfred Merrick Snr and a pair of Pelican-ornamented Vases; and to Rebecca Excelsior Merrick (Celsie) - his Erard Piano and an annuity of £150 a year. The first seven of the above are to receive in addition £100 each from the estate after the death of his sister Mary Ann. He also left a set of volumes entitled ‘The Works of Hall of Leicester’ and ‘The Sermons of Robertson of Brighton’ and a Gold Scent Bottle to Gilbert Henry’s second wife (Matilda) Rose Betjemann.
He also left between £10 and £25 each to 7 key employees before mentioning next the children of the foregoing cousins. Thus, to John George and Ernest Edward - pairs of single stone Diamond Studs; to Katie Laverington - a Doulton Lamp; to Rose Merrick (daughter of Alfred) - a pair of Vases; to Annie Boatwright - a set of ‘Lady’s Gold Jewellry’. To various friends, he leaves a number of framed Watercolour and Oil paintings, several by named artists. His sister Mary Ann is to get any residue of the estate - for her lifetime - before the £100 each to the 7 named cousins, and any remaining moneys to the 5 children of his brother John. There is one final gift which one found rather amusing if ironic in light of a certain notoriety gained by the only son of one of the latter children, some years later. It would appear that Rebecca Excelsior Merrick, known as ‘Celsie’ in the family, was well liked and a favourite cousin of George William (and of Gilbert the Musician). Her uncle, Alfred Merrick, Watch Maker of Eton, had by his Will (1886) left George Wm Betjemann his cottage - called ‘Rose Cottage’ - with the proviso that his niece (Celsie) would have the right to live there for her lifetime. In 1902, George William in his turn kindly left the freehold of this cottage to Celsie - with the right to sell or leave it to whomever she wished. The cottage was situated somewhere that was then, we may assume, a fit place for such a well-loved human being as Celsie to live. ‘Rose Cottage’, seemingly on Wellington Road, was however situated in...Slough ! - a place the world would later come to know as a desired objective for ‘friendly bombs’ - being in fact ‘..not fit for humans now…’ - at least as describe by Sir John Betjeman in his notorious poem 'Slough' (due largely, he said later, to the creation there of its new 'Trading Estate’, with all their modern 'executives').
We may now return to the other issue of George Betjemann and Mary Ann (Merrick). John Betjemann (the poet’s namesake grandfather) was baptised on the 27th Dec 1835 at St James church, Clerkenwell - about a mile to the north of the St Giles/Barbican area the family had not long left (see map below). Another brother, Henry, was baptised there on that same day although born in Oct 1833, seemingly back in St Giles. This birth date was estimated on the basis of the age given at his early death - when buried at St John the Baptist, Clerkenwell (a sister church) the 14th Aug 1836, shown as 'aged 2 years and 10 months'. That makes the 3rd Henry thus far. It would thus appear that the family left St Giles and the Barbican area for Clerkenwell around 1834 (about when George's brother Henry John Betjemann left for New York). John Betjemann the elder, who would have grown-up, attended school and apprenticed in Clerkenwell during the early Victorian era (ca 1840-55), married Hannah Thompson in 1870 by whom he had 6 children. He died relatively young on 21 Dec 1893, some 10 years before his elder brother George William (and not long after their father), and was thus unlikely to have run the family business on his own. However, he seems to have been the one who patented the successful Tantalus lockable drinks container, in 1881, as well as something called the 'En-garde' lock which ws aso very successful. John and George William in fact ran the company in partnership after their father's death in 1886 - presumably until John's death in 1893. But there had been some disagreements between them prior to this. A new partnership was soon established between George William and John's two sons John George and Ernest Edward by ca 1894. There was however some differences of opinion within the new partnership (possibly reflecting the earlier problems) as revealed in a court case - Betjemann v Betjemann in 1895, to be described further below.]
The Betjemann Patented Lockable Drinks Cabinet - 'The Tantalus' - ca 1888.
John's Will, much briefer than George William’s, was written 3 March 1879 (when only 44) when he resided at 4 Loraine Place, Holloway Road (continuing the family’s gradual drift northwards (and upwards socially). His estate, both real and personal, was to go to his wife Hannah (his Executrix) for her maintenance and that of their children and after her death to be divided equally amongst their children as each turned 21. He died on 21 Dec 1893 and when the Will was proved - in March 1894 - the family also resided in Highbury - at 13 Compton Terrace - after a time on Holloway Road. His effects were valued at just £910. A notice in the Gazette of 12 July 1895 (just a year later), suggests that the firm of G. Betjemann & Sons (with its properties on Pentonville Road plus its machinery and stock) was to be sold by court order as per the case Betjemann v. Betjemann (1895) referred to above. This did not come to pass however but the details of this case, if located (in which two Betjemanns were involved), may be placed about here. It appears that an alleged but concealed fraud was somehow involved.
[Alan Betjemann (on the trail again) has checked the Law section of University Library and found the complete report of the Betjemann vs Betjemann case of 1895 (2. Ch. 474) which we partially quote here from Alan's account: 'The 1895 case was an appeal heard on 13th and 14th June 1895 regarding an earlier action brought by Hannah (née Thompson), the widow of John Betjemann (1835-1893), against her brother-in-law George William Betjemann (1831-1903) for an account of the partnership dealings from 1886 to December 1893 (John had died 21st December 1893). John and George William had been in partnership with their father George (1798-1886) since 1856 (possibly the year of John's majority). When John married Hannah in 1870 a fresh arrangement was made but there were no written articles of partnership and no settlement of accounts. When George senior died in 1886 his estate was shared between his sons and the business continued, with the sons sharing the profits. George William had then discovered that John had fraudulently drawn out large sums of money prior to the death of George. [How much ?] I think there was an earlier hearing at which Hannah had claimed that the Statute of Limitations prevented any action regarding this fraud, as George had not taken action soon enough after the fraud was committed. [Note, action can apparently be taken later - if it can be shown that the fraud had been concealed.] But Hannah seems to have won her argument - although George William then appealed (as here reported): It was therein stated that the books and accounts during George's lifetime had been "very irregularly kept". The question for the appeal was "the time from which a partnership account is to be taken". Was it from George's death in 1886 back to 1870 (John's marriage) or back to 1856 (foundation of the partnership)? Should George William have discovered the fraud earlier and taken action in time? What right has a partner to say to his co-partner: 'You ought not to have trusted me. You are bound to look at the books and see that I am not cheating you"? It was finally held that the accounts could be considered back to 1870 or to 1856, as the parties agreed. They settled on 1856. Possibly all this unpleasantness caused Hannah later to appoint the Public Trustee as her sole executor in her will ! ]
Notwithstanding all this, the parnership continued until 1st Oct 1902 when a new one was arranged - between George William, his two nephews John George and Ernest Edward and the firm's chief clerk William Candland. It may have included instructions as to the future partnership in the event of George William's death, which did in fact soon occur - in Feb 1903. The remaining 3 partners then continued in partnership until October 1909 when it was dissolved. Ernest and William Candland then continued at Pentonville Road while John George, who married Edith Florence Davison in 1910 (in Islington), moved to the Cross Glass Works in Dudley, Warks to run R. Wilkes Ltd. a firm which likely produced the cut glass decanters for the Tantalus. For some reason, the brother Arthur Betjemann, who resided in Paris, was listed as the Dudley company's Chairman.
John's widow Hannah died on 3 Oct 1912 when residing further west - at 9 Holford Mansions, Golders Green. She was however buried in the family’s other grave (that purchased by her husband for their infant daughter Hannah in 1875) in Highgate Cemetery. Four other Betjemanns (only) would be buried there in turn: John (1893), herself (1912), Constance (1924) and finally Ernest (1934). By her Will, for whom the Executor was, rather surprisingly, the Public Trustee, Hannah left various works of art and jewellery to her 3 sons - John George, Ernest Edward and Arthur (and to their wives); to her grandson John (the future poet), she left an engraving entitled ‘Punch and Judy’. The Gazette of 21 Feb 1913 includes a notice about subsequent claims on her estate which may pertain to the use of the Public Trustee as the Executor. Her son Arthur, a Tea dealer, then resided at 22 rue de Tocqueville, Paris where he would later help establish a Tea importing and retailing business (Betjeman & Barton) in 1919. This continued for many years (with branches in Paris, Bordeaux, Connecticut (USA), and another in England) and still trades as such, I believe, although long sold out of the family. Arthur seems to have married a Maria Haussaire in Paris in 1909 and had a daughter Doris there in 1915 (an artist and first cousin of Sir John) still living in London in 2008). She in turn had a daughter Marion and son Antoine with her French husband - one M. Lurot. [Alan Betjemann has noted a reference on a website of the French National Rugby League to an 'A. Betjemann' who played for the Stade Francais team in the Championship finals in 1905; Arthur would be the right age that year to represent this man.]
Hannah had apparently lent sons John George (referred to by her as ‘Jack’) and Ernest some money some years before - to help them continue in business - and whilst John George had re-paid his portion, Ernest had requested a further 5 years in which to do so, which she granted him. Any real property and the residue of her estate was to go equally to her daughters Constance and Edith. The former died a spinster on 3 Jan 1924, leaving her small estate to her sister Edith Mary, also a spinster, whose date and place of burial are presently uncertain (apparently ca 1950s). Their brother John George died on 8 Jan 1927 in a Nursing home in Warwickshire, having recently resided at 27 Cambell Street in Dudley, Worcs and in nearby Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire. He left a considerable £10,077. naming as his executors his brother Arthur Betjemann, now of 4 rue Rigaud Neuilly, Paris (Tea Dealer), and his sister Constance of Bryanston St, London who, with Edith, were again to share the bulk of the estate. However, there was one other bequest - of £500, plus £65 per annum for life (the interest on about £1500) - directed to one ‘Ethel Harriett Kearns Pulbrook’ - of Cremore, Sydney, Australia and, on her death, this to her children until the ages of 21. Who was she? Arthur (as noted above) appears to have had some involvement with the Dudley business, described as Chairman of R. Wilkes Ltd of Campbell Street, Dudley, when it was announced in the Gazette of 8 March 1935 that it was to be wound up.
Oddly, there was no reference in the Will to his only other sibling - Ernest. Possibly they had fallen out? It may be relevant that Ernest’s son John referred to John George (Jack) as ‘a wastrel’ - possibly an opinion passed down by his father? Also, Ernest once criticised John for ‘being lazy…’ ‘just like my brother Jack…’. John George’s wife Edith Florence pre-deceased him - in 1919 - when she resided in Dudley (but dying in King's Norton, Birmingham). Probate of her Will was granted to her husband ‘John George Betjemann, Manufacturer’; her effects worth an impressive £12,700 (which could account for the bulk of her husband’s subsequent estate). I’m not aware of any earlier source of her ‘wealth’. However, it seems possible that she may have inherited it - from a former husband - for unless at her marriage to John George Betjemann in 1910 she was shown as a 'Spinster', she could well have been the lady who, as Edith Florence Hopton (born Herne Hill, Lambeth, Surrey in Mar 1870), married a Herbert Thomas Davison in nearby Camberwell in June 1895. For the latter man soon died, in Croydon in June 1900, aged 30, leaving Edith a widow - available to re-marry similarly aged John George in 1910 (both then about 40). At the 1901 Census, she was shown aged 31 residing in Lambeth (?Herne Hill) and "living on own means". At her early death in 1919, she is listed as 49, which fits exactly with the birth of Miss Hopton in 1870. Quite possibly Herbert Davison's Will would confirm any funds (of ca £12,000, say) left to his widow?
In ‘Summoned By Bells’, Sir John Betjeman describes coming across his great-grandfather George’s dusty drawing-room (still completely furnished) over the Pentonville ‘works’, as a youngster - around 1912. One now better appreciates how relatively recently (towards the end of the century) George had died in relation to his great-grandson’s birth in Highgate just a few years into the next. But their backgrounds, interests, aptitudes, cultures and goals in life were to be markedly different. The life and times of Sir John Betjeman are of course more fully described in his biographies and Letters - in which his and his father’s contributions to the continuing genealogy of the family are well covered - and are not further elaborated here.
The firm of G. Betjemann & Sons was voluntarily wound up in Aug 1939 when one John Kynoch was Chairman (Ernest Betjemann having died in 1934) - as reported in the London Gazette on 4 Aug that year (noted by Alan Betjemann), just a month before the start of the War. The accounts weren't presented until November 1944, however, possibly due to the War. I recall reading somewhere that the company (or some residue of it) was for a time associated with a hardwood importing company (of south London) just after the war, but have no details of same. The executors of Ernest's Will are shown in the Gazette of 7 Sept 1934 as his wife Mabel Bessie Betjemann, Philip Rolls Asprey and Horace Victor Andrew (the latter a co-inventor with Ernest concerning 'folding cabinets').
3. The Second Son and Family.
George Betjemann Snr's and Eleanor’s 2nd surviving son, Gilbert Slater Brapple Betjemann, also became a Cabinetmaker and would have trained (possibly with brother George) in the late Regency period - around 1822-29. The family business was getting underway about this time - possibly in conjunction with William Merrick. Gilbert married Eliza Matilda Beaman on 6 Nov 1834 in St Olave’s, Bermondsey (south of the river) - where several of their children were subsequently baptised. By 1839, he was listed as trading there - at 18 White Street, Long Lane, as a Cabinetmaker and Upholsterer. [That is, Long Lane, Bermondsey, not the one in/nr Aldersgate.] Interestingly, his elder brother George did not himself have an entry in any Directory (as a Cabinetmaker in his own right) until 1851 - a few years after William Merrick passed his St John’s Square business in Clerkenwell over to his own son Richard. After having issue in Bermondsey (and in neighbouring St George, Southwark) into the early 1840s, Gilbert Betjemann moved back across the river to Mile End New Town (near Whitechapel) around 1845 - where first a daughter Agnes Rebecca was baptised, before dying shortly after, and then a son George Vincent Betjemann in 1847 - who would later marry in Islington in 1874. They had another son registered in Whitechapel in Sept 1851 - as ‘Henry Prappal Slater Betjamunn’(!) - recalling the father’s own unusual name. Whether ‘Braple or ‘Prapple’ is the more correct spelling is unknown. This boy also soon died (Dec 1852), his 2nd name then shown as ‘Brappe’; ‘Brappell’ was yet another version noted.
With John Jacob Betjemann living close by (see Betjemann pedigree II), one wonders if the two families were at all related ? Also, Gilbert’s older brother George seems to have had an unexpected if brief association with this same area - having re-married in Whitechapel in 1848, when both John Jacob and Gilbert lived (or had recently lived) ‘just around the corner’. See now the separate outline pedigree also for Gilbert Betjemann. His 1851 census entry shows he lived then at 19 Pelham St, Mile End New Town, Whitechapel - aged 41 (actually 43), a Cabinetmaker, born ‘City of London’ (ie St Giles Cripplegate), with wife Eliza (age 40, bn Kent) and children Eliza 12, Gilbert Henry 9, Sarah Eleanor 7 (all born in Surrey - ie Bermondsey) and George Vincent 3 (bn Middx); Henry Prapell was not born until later that year, while Agnes Rebecca is now known also to have died in infancy before 1851. The outline map below provides some perspective on the geography pertaining to the various families concerned in this account. For convenience, it will appear in other sections as well.
One wonders if these Betjemanns were drawn to Whitechapel because relations of their mother Eleanor still resided there? Note that Eleanor herself wasn’t living with her son Gilbert in 1851 nor was she living with any others of the family then residing in St Martin’s or Clerkenwell that census year. She died in 1856 at 34 Aldersgate Street at the home of one ‘Sarah E.S. White, widow’, a Cheesemonger (bn ca 1801) who lived there from at least 1841 (initially with husband James) to beyond 1861. I thought at first she may have been Eleanor’s daughter - eg ‘Sarah Eleanor ?Smith (nee Betjemann) who had married about 1825, say, but at the birth of her children in the 1830s, this Aldersgate Sarah was in fact described as ‘Sarah Elizabeth Susanna White’. One originally considered that Eleanor may have left the Aldersgate area shortly after 1835 - when her son George and family moved to Clerkenwell (see below) - only returning to an old friend in Aldersgate when infirm - around 1855, say. We certainly believed that she hadn’t returned there by March 1851 (ie the time of the Census) but, as now described earlier, it was later discovered that she and some of her family were in fact still in that area - living ar 121 Aldersgate St but under the mispelt surnames of 'Bateman' and 'Betymore'. Eleanor too was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery - in 1856, aged a goodly 85.
'The birth of Eliza Sarah Betjemann, (1838-1918), daughter of Gilbert Slater Brapple Betjemann, was registered as Eliza Sarah Gilbert Betjeman, (one "n"), at St. Georges Southwark, 4, 107, Dec. Q. 1838. As noted, she married John Benjamin McCarthy at St. Olave's, Bermondsey on 27th January 1863 (St. Olave, 1d, 47, June Q. 1863). However, it looks as if poor Mr. McCarthy died soon after (Islington, 1b, 165, Sept. Q. 1864). His widow Eliza Sarah McCarthy re-married a William Richard Lavington in 1871 (Islington, 1b, 341, Dec. Q. 1871). Eliza and William (recorded as William P.) can be found happily living at 15, Charlotte Street, London, Middlesex, in the 1881 census when William was a 39 year old Basketmaker, born in Wiltshire (Swindon &c, 8, 337, Mar. Q. 1842). Eliza and William had two children at that date, Kate E., aged 5, and Gilbert W., aged 7 months. Kate was registered as Kate Eliza (Holborn, 1b, 701, Sept Q. 1875) and Gilbert as Gilbert William R. (Islington 1b, 203 Dec. Q. 1880).
You noted that Gilbert Slater Betjemann died in 1875 in Charlotte Street, presumably at number 15 with his family. The address is now a posh hotel and restaurant. Kate Eliza was subsequently married to either George David Baker or Frederick John Whitehead (usual FreeBMD ambiguity!) in 1902 (Islington, 1b, 872, Sept.Q. 1902). William Richard Lavington died in 1891 (Pancras, 1b, 46, Dec. Q.1891). Gilbert William R. Lavington was married in 1914 to Adelaide E. Gillett (Islington, 1b, 524, Sept. Q. 1914). Adelaide Elizabeth Gillett was born in 1885 (Kensington, 1a, 115, Sept.Q. 1885). She appears in the 1891 census as the daughter of James Gillett at 67, Elgin Crescent, Kensington. Gilbert Wiliam R. and Adelaide had a son, Gilbert H. Lavington, in 1920 (Lewisham, 1d, 2811, Mar. Q,1920). His mother is recorded in the GRO index as Gilbe
I haven't managed to find any records of the marriage or death of Gilbert H. Lavington (born 1920). Interestingly, there's a request for information about a Gilbert Lavington, born 1920, in Genes ReUnited. I sent an encouraging reply but there's been no response thus far. I'll try again soon - armed with the new information.']
By December of the same year (1863) that Eliza Sarah had married firstly John MeCarthy, her brother Gilbert Henry Betjemann (b 1840), the future violinist, married Jane Wells, aged 23, a spinster, at St. Luke's Church, West Holloway, Islington, - on 31st December 1863. He was 23, a bachelor and professor of music, resident at 4, Castle Street, Barnsbury, the son of Gilbert Brapple Betjemann, Cabinetmaker. Jane's father was John Wells, a cab proprietor. A year later (1864), they had their 1st son Richard Gilbert Betjemann. A second son was possibly born to them, around 1866, for a reference was noted by Alan Betjemann to a 'Mr C.J. Betjemann' playing the violin at a concert by the Abingdon Orchestral Society on 16 Feb 1887. We have no other information at present as to this man's actual name, origin or future.
By 1866, Gilbert Henry has become established even further west - on Gt College St, Camden - still described as a professor of music. Ten years later,his father Gilbert Snr died - at Charlotte St, Islington in March 1875 - and was buried in that district’s cemetery (in East Finchley) in a family plot purchased earlier by his wife Eliza. Burials in local parish churches in London had ceased by 1854 (and often before this) for hygienic reasons associated with gross over-crowding. Possibly Gilbert Snr had come back for a time into the family business on nearby Pentonville Road - around 1860 or so? His daughter Sarah Eleanor was married on July 16 1874, aged 30, at St Peter's, Hampstead to Thomas Boatwright, 29, also a professor of music, the son of John J Boatwright, an Overseer in the Post Office. Gilbert Betjemann, likely her brother, was a witness. Sarah's father was described as Gilbert Brapple Betjemann, a Dressing Case Manufacturer.
Gilbert Snr's wife Eliza died 28 Feb 1893, aged 78, and was also buried in the family plot in East Finchley, as would be their daughter Eliza Sarah and daughter-in-law Harriett Eliza. The inscriptions on the grave read: ‘In Loving Memory of Gilbert Slater Brapple Betjemann - who died Feb 10 1875, aged 66; Also of Eliza Matilda, Widow of the above - who fell asleep Aug 21 1893; Also of Eliza Sarah Lavington, Daughter of the above - who died Feb 25 1918, aged 79; Also of Harriett Eliza Betjemann, wife of George Vincent Betjemann - who died Sept 24 1927, aged 78’. In one of the two neighbouring graves was buried ‘Gilbert William Rose Lavington (Eliza's husband), who died Jan 3 1922’ and in the other was George Vincent Betjemann, who died Jan 30 1933, there being no stone on his grave (purchased by one George Gilbert Heath). In the 1881 Census index, George Vincent, residing in Islington, was listed under Betzemann, as was his wife Harriett and sons George Gilbert born June 1875), Vincent John (1877) and Alfred Heath (or Henry?) (1879). George Vincent was himself shown as a ‘Professor of Music’ (the same as his brother Gilbert), aged 34, born in Stepney (ie Mile End Old Town); with his wife, 33 and sons, 6, 4, and 1, all born in Islington. [It was later confirmed that George Vincent did marry Harriet Eliza Heath in the June Q 1874, in Islington.]
George Gilbert Betjemann married about 1905 (wife's name being sought) and had two children in Islington: Jack Gordon, born 1907 (Edmonton), and Joan, born 1912 - both apparently given the family surname Betjemann. However, a descendent in Canada (Moira Payette) has informed us that her grandfather George Gilbert and his brother Alfred Henry appear to have changed their family name (and that of their children) to Heath (their mother's maiden name) just after the First World War (due, seemingly, to its Germanic connotations). This identifies the person who purchased the grave for George Vincent in 1933 as his son George Gilbert (born Betjemann but by then having adopted the surname 'Heath' - from ca 1918/19). The names George and Gilbert had continued in the family from the days of Gilbert Slater and George Betjemann Snr (both born in the mid-1700s) and would seem to have finally come to an end, jointly, with the death of George Gilbert Heath (ex-Betjemann) in ca 1950 (date to be confirmed).
His brother Vincent John married in Sept 1903 and had a son Leslie Vincent Betjemann in Edmonton in Dec 1904 and the youngest brother Alfred Henry appears to have had a son George Alfred Betjemann in Dec 1903 in Islington (where so many Betjemanns were born and/or registered around this same period). All 4 of these latter men may well have changed their surnames to Heath as well - around 1918-20. [Yes; Alan reports that the Gazette shows that Alfred Henry's deed poll was gazetted on 15 Oct 1918, his brother Vincent John's on 29 Nov 1918 and an Albert Gordon's rather later on 2nd Mar 1928. Vincent John Betjemann was employed by the Civil Service Commission as a Boy Copyist in April 1891 and by Aug 1895, he was a Post Office Sorter. It is possible that his son Leslie Vincent (born prior to the surname change) may have retained the original family name and have married as such about 1927 and have fathered a son ?Arthur Leslie J. Betjemann in 1928 whose 80th birthday, as 'Les Betjemann', was the one reported in the Milton Keynes press in July 2008 (as also noted by Alan). He had 3 Betjemann grandsons at that time - Josh, Bronson and Mason.
The younger Gilbert (Henry) Betjemann’s 1st wife Jane (nee Wells) died on 13 May 1894 - they then living at ‘Acacia Lodge’, Junction Rd, Upper Holloway - leaving effects valued at £130. [One may report here a small item noted in the recently released Old Bailey archives (online) in which this home of Gilbert Henry Betjemann (and wife) suffered a burglary by two young men, who stole an overcoat and other items on 8th Sept 1890, for which they received 9 months hard labour.] On 9 Sept 1896, two years after Jane had died, Gilbert Richard Betjemann, also ‘of Acacia Lodge, Junction Rd’ (their son, and also a Musician), died - in Grindewald, Switzerland (later learned from Alan Betjemann to have perished in an avalanche or snow-bridge collapse while descending the Wetterhorn - a peak which, coincidentally, his own son was also to conquer about a century later). In the 1880s, this younger Gilbert Betjemann had composed a ‘Ballad for Chorus and Orchestra’ called ‘The Song of the Western Men’ (of 23 pages) - published by Novello, Ewer & Co - a copy of which is in the Boston (Mass.) Public Library. [Hillier shows the latter composition to have been composed by his father Gilbert Henry - an equal possibility.] Another musical - ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ - described as a Pantomime - was composed by a “Mr Betjemann” - with a libretto in English written by ‘Gilbert Arthur’ and a Frencnman: M. F.R. Harve - first performed at the Covent Garden Theatre in 1878. The administration of the younger Gilbert's effects (£1600) was granted to his father Gilbert Henry who established in his son’s name a Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music which, as also learned from Alan Betjemann, still continues to this day. The elder Gilbert had re-married - one Matilda Rose Dafforne, a singer and fellow Musician. Gilbert Henry Betjemann and Rose Dafforne performed in various musical events during the 1880/90s while Gilbert's brother George Vincent was reported to have played violin along side his brother. }
Gilbert Snr died on 20 Nov 1921 and in his Will, directed that he be buried with his wife (seemingly Matilda Rose) who died in 1918 - also in Islington cemetery, his tombstone to have the inscription: ‘Gilbert Henry Betjemann, Hon R A M - Musician in Ordinary to their late Majesties Queen Victoria and Edward VII’. He left £200 to his musician brother George Vincent - (who lived to 1933), £300 to St Bart’s Hospital, a further £750 to the Royal Academy of Music and, somewhat surprisingly, £500 to ‘Miss R. E. Merrick’ - who I can only assume was ‘Rebecca Excelsior’ (Celsie) Merrick - a spinster lady who seems to have been fondly remembered by many in the family (she and her mother Rebecca having lived for a time with Gilbert) and who later retired to 'Rose Cottage' in or near Slough.
Gilbert Henry and his second wife resided latterly on Hillmarton Rd, Holloway - one of the streets young John Betjeman recalls in Summoned By Bells being taken to in his youth to visit various ‘great aunts’. He makes brief reference later in life to there having been a Betjeman (sic) ‘who was a famous conductor’. [See also Hillier’s ‘Young Betjeman’; however, Sir John seems to have known more about Gilbert Betjemann than this limited comment might imply. One wonders where Gilbert and his brother first studied the violin (the family lived in Whitechapel about that time) and whether there was any domestic conflict as to their non-involvement in Cabinetmaking and ‘business’; had they won scholarships? A biography was, according to references noted by Alan Bejemann, written about Gilbert Henry Betjemann and his musical abilities around 1900.
4. The Third Son and Family.
George Betjemann Snr's and Eleanor’s 3rd and youngest son, christened 'Henry Betjemann' but consistently described later as Henry John Betjemann, appears also to have trained as a Cabinetmaker (and Upholsterer) - before emigrating temporarily to America - in the 1830s, where his sons, George Stanley and Henry Stanley Betjemann (possibly twins), were born (in New York) in about 1835 - according to the 1851 Census. [However, the 1881 Census suggests that George may have been the (barely) elder - born ca 1834/5 - and Henry (later Harry) about 1835/6.] They too trained in this field (after returning to the UK), being shown in that latter Census (taken in March) as 15 year old apprentices with their uncle George Betjemann - residing with him at 6 Upper Ashby Street, Clerkenwell. Their father Henry John was not listed in that household in that Census although, interestingly, he did give that address when he was granted an English patent just a few weeks later in April that year. There was also a daughter - Eleanor - also born in New York (ca 1840), who never married and became a ‘Gold Embroideress’. She lived eventually in St Pancras, London with her mother Jane - as noted in the 1881 Census - and later in East Finchley. (On one occasion, her middle name was seemingly listed as ‘Hottman’ or ‘Hoffman’ - once thought possibly to be her mother’s maiden name; however, the surname ‘Stanley’ now seems more likely in that regard. [Indeed, this now fully confirmed - see below.]
When and where Henry John and Jane married (about 1833-34) was initially also unknown but now appears to have been in America. The family returned from the States by 1851. (Had mother and sister Eleanor visited them there, not returning until later in 1851 and so missing from the English Census in March that year? [No, we now know that Henry John, his wife Jane and their daughter Eleanor were in fact all staying with his mother Eleanor Snr (on Aldersgate St) at the time of that Census; see earlier for details.] See separate outline pedigree for Henry John Betjemann also. He was later listed in Post Office Directories from about 1858 to 1865 variously as a Table Maker, Upholsterer, Patentee and Fine Art Gallery proprietor - all at 28 Oxford St. [Next door, at Number 29, was just established George Rowney & Co - supplying ‘Artists’ Colours’ - a business which exists to this day, although not on Oxford St.] The 1859 Directory also lists ‘Betjemann, Hy. Jno - Cabnt Mkr of 29A Riding Hse St, nr Portland St, W1’ - possibly a retail outlet for him.
It was later confirmed that Henry John did indeed have a number of patents - eg for furniture manufacture - between 1849 and 1855 (the first two taken out in America in 1849 and 1850). By 1855, he was trading at 449 New Oxford St as a Chair and Bedstead Manufacturer (also Dealer and Chapman) but on Feb 23 that year he was declared bankrupt (as discovered by Alan Betjemann). In November of the following year (1856), he purchased a burial plot (in conjunction with his elder brother George) at the Kensal Green Cemetery for their mother Eleanor, who died that year. In 1858, a Dentist's Chair invented by Henry John was advertised in the British Journal Of Dental Science about which he later gave a talk to the Odontological Sociey of London. The 1861 Census shows he had moved to 28 Oxford St - described now as a Master Upholsterer employing 4 men, 1 apprentice and 2 porters and had obviously overcome his financial setback of 1855. In that Census, he was shown as now age 49, born London and residing with his wife Jane, age 52, born Oxfordshire (ca 1808) and unmarried son George Stanley Betjemann, 25, also an Upholsterer and daughter Eleanor H., 21, both born in New York. His mother and sister (both Eleanors) had died in the mid-‘50s.
But further problems for Henry John were just around the corner. In May, 1862, a case was heard in Chancery Court of Betjemann v. Dowling in which Henry John and his son George Stanley Betjemann were found guilty of selling a Picture by an artist (one Dowling) instead of producing an engraving of it (seemingly as agreed previously). And then, by 6 Oct 1864, the Bankruptcy records show that Henry and son George, trading as H.J. Betjemann and Son of 28 Oxford St, and late of 41 St George's Place, Kensington - as Picture Dealers, had again become Bankrupt. Henry John’s own death was registered a few years later - in distant Bradford, Yorkshire - in June 1867. Why he was there is uncertain; he may have been ‘on the road’ as he had become a ‘Picture Dealer’s Agent’ and was no longer in the London Directories by then. His wife Jane outlived him by several years. Their son George Stanley later resided for a time in Edinburgh where he too suffered financial difficulties, his 'estate' being sequestrated by the Court there on 3 Sept 1873. He was described then as a 'Vocalist'.
George Stanley Betjemann was born about 1834/35 and had recently married Sarah Jane Adams - on 29 Apr 1872 in Stratford-upon-Avon - where he appears mainly to have resided for about 5 years - seemingly as a professional musician/singer/actor. His rather late marriage may have provided a few years when he was free of the usual family responsibilities and could pursue his theatrical proclivities (interspersed it seems with his short if troubled partnership in business with his father). Hillier points out that Sir John Betjeman received a letter in 1957 from someone who worked for a local Worcestershire newspaper who had noticed in old files of the Stourbridge Observer a reference to one ‘Stanley Betjeman’ - as a performer in a touring Opera Company in April 1871. Sir John replied that he believed this man was a ‘brother of the musician Gilbert Betjeman’. This is incorrect. He was clearly ‘G. Stanley Betjemann’ - described thus in the 1st photo plate in Hillier’s book although, again, incorrectly shown there as Gilbert’s brother, and as having emigrated to America in the 1880s (which he hadn't). For besides the line derived from eldest son George (leading to Sir John) and that from 2nd son Gilbert Slater (leading to musicians Gilbert Henry, George Vincent and Gilbert Richard), there was of course 3rd son Henry John Betjemann (who, as explained, was the one who had emigrated temporarily to America a significant 50 years earlier!) - leading to several Betjemanns with the name Stanley (the maiden name of Henry John's wife Jane) as part of their identities - a name that never appears in Gilbert’s or George’s lines.
George Stanley Betjemann had two daughters, Agnes and Florence, and at least one son - Osbert Stanley Betjemann (born 1877 in Stratford). The 1881 census surname index for Warwickshire shows the family of George Stanley Betjemann had however left there by that date - the London Postal Directory for 1875 showing that he had returned briefly to the capitol - residing then at 7 Earls Court Gardens, SW. However, the family soon moved on again, for the 1881 Census index when re-examined for other counties shows them residing much further south - in ‘Whippingham, Hampshire’ (in March) - where ‘George Stanley Betjemann, 45, born in ‘America’, is described now as a ’Hotel Keeper’ - of the Royal Medina hotel there, on the Isle of Wight. With him were wife Sarah Jane, 29, born London, and their three children Agnes, 8 (b 1872/3), Florence, 6 (b 1874/5) and Osbert, 4 (b 1877) - all born Stratford. They resided at his hotel - The Royal Medina - where Sarah's mother and brother (born in Stratford) also lived with them. But, by 30 June that same year, a Sarah Jane Betjemann at least was listed as having gone bankrupt; possibly the business was in her name.
Whippingham is just behind Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Queen Victoria, who attended church at Whippingham, may have been in residence there in 1881. One wonders if her ‘close friend’ John Brown ever slipped out for the odd evening’s pint at the Royal Medina? Possibly the more so if the latter's owner entertained his clients with a song or two. George Stanley died on 23 May 1899, age 62, in Fulham in London (possibly residing with or near his son Osbert there). Alan Betjemann reports an entry noted in a database of London Photographers which shows an Osbert S. Betjemann (1876-1957), as a photographic apprentice in 1891, living at 21 Agate Road, Addie Road, Hammersmith.
But Osbert appears to have given up on this occupation and instead followed his father onto the stage. He was married in Islington in 1905 to Helen (Nellie) nee Crawford (b 1881) who, with her sister Jean Oliver (nee Crawford) and brother William Crawford (a friend of Charlie Chaplin), were stage performers from Scotland. [This kindly from a descendent Alison Rigby of Tacoma, Washington.] Osbert and Nellie had no issue of their own but raised one of Jean's daughters - Violet Oliver - as their own from birth in 1908. Osbert assumed the stage name O.B. Stanley, and Violet, who was generally called 'Poppy', thus referred to herself later as 'Poppy Stanley'. She married a Scottish comedian Jimmy Nicholson in 1929 and died in 1980. [A Violet Betjemann, thought previously to have been their daughter, married a Mr Duckett in Fulham in 1922 but Poppy would have been rather young to represent this Violet. She was possibly the Violet Marie Betjemann born in Islington in 1903 to one of the sons of George Vincent Betjemann.] Osbert died in 1957 described as a 'retired actor'. His sister Florence (b ca 1774) was likely the Florence Betjemann who married in St George Hanover Square in Mar 1893. [Note: The pedigree below now requires considerable amendment to incorporate these various new additions.]
Harry Smith's eldest child Jane Elizabeth Ann, born 1858, married Arthur E Perkins on 2 Aug 2 1879 at St Marks, Regents Park (St Pancras RD). He was a bachelor and architect, from the parish of St James, Hampstead Road, and his father Arthur Edward Perkins, a deceased architect. Jane's residence was 107 Regent's Park Road and her father, Harry Smith Betjemann, was described that year as a 'Musical Manager" - possibly for his brother George Stanley(?). The witnesses were Jane's aunt Eleanor Hottman Betjemann and Eleanor's cousin John Carrisbrooke Merrick. The origin of the middle name Hottman remains unknown. It may have reflected a friendship of her father's in New York when she was born there. Jane Elizabeth had no issue with Arthur, she dying young only 9 or 10 months after their marriage.
Harry's next child, Harry George Betjemann, born 1860, appears, as a bachelor and Cook from Tottenham, to have married on 19 June 1892 in ?Surbiton, near Kingston, Surrey, one 'Elizabeth' Baker, 40, a widow of that town. Harry's father was shown as Harry Betjemann, Upholsterer, and Elizabeth's as James Mann, a deceased labourer. The witnesses were William and Alice Oxley. No issue appears from them for 3 years until the birth is registered for a Harry Stanley Betjemann in Islington in Sept quarter 1895, followed by that for a Florence Betjemann in March 1898. There was, confusingly, a Harry George Betjemann's birth also registered that latter quarter - but in neighbouring St Pancras. His parentage is uncertain but one would assume that he too was born to Harry George. [Harry Smith's ?twin brother George Stanley would be rather old to be the father while his son Osbert (who did at least marry in Islington, but not until 1905) was probably too young. One of the sons of Vincent Betjemann is another possibility. I originally had Harry George marrying a Florence Summers in 1892 (vs Elizabeth or ?Charlotte Baker nee Mann) and wondered if said Florence was the one who (re-)married in Hanover Square after a divorce?] One wonders what happened to the 2 or 3 children born to Harry and Elizabeth/?Charlotte. Did any survive and marry ?
Harry George Betjemann died in Horsham - apparently on 17 Feb 1948. This would make him a remarkable 88. Should this have read 1928, one wonders? For also buried in that Surrey town, but some years earlier, was a Charlotte Betjeman (sic) on 27 December, 1911, aged 62 (and so born about 1850), described as a widow of 'Henry' Betjeman, a Pastry cook. She resided at 22 Clarence Road, Horsham, which was also Harry's address some years later when he proved the Will of his aunt Eleanor Betjemann. As Eleanor's Will (written in 1911) refers to her nephew Harry George Betjemann as then 'of Horsham', Charlotte would appear to have been this younger Harry's wife. She seems to have changed her name from Elizabeth to Charlotte. For a Charlotte Betjeman was noted in the 1901 Census - living as a married woman, aged 55, with her widowed brother Phillip Mann, an agricultural labourer, in Weeley, Essex (near Harwich) - both having been born nearby in Kirby le Soken, Essex. Charlotte was listed as Head (of household) with no husband shown. I note that a Charlotte Mann had married in Islington in 1870 (possibly to a Mr Baker). Is it possible that this 1st husband died ca 1890, say, and she re-married - to Harry George Betjemann - in about 1892, returning 'home' for a short time ca 1901 to care for her elderly brother before returning subsequently to Horsham (and her young family)? Or, did Elizabeth Mann simply have a sister Charlotte ?
The next son of Harry 'Smith' Betjemann was Charles William Betjemann, born 1863, who, as a Mattress Maker, aged 23, son of Henry (Harry) Betjemann, Uphosterer, was married at St Mary Magdalene, St Pancras on 25th April 1886 to Sophia Bate, aged 21, father Charles Bate, a painter. They then resided at 21 Stanhope Street. [This detail (and the next) from Alan Betjemann whose wife Jill 'once taught at St. Mary Magdalene church school in Stanhope Street' - about a century after said Charles Betjemann's birth!] His sister Agnes Eleanor, born 1868, was married on 1st April 1888, aged 21, to Alfred Berry, 24, a Packer (?), father Thomas Berry (deceased), a Cook. The wedding was at St. Jude’s church, Grays Inn Road and the address of both parties was 75 Swinton Street. We have no knowledge of the viability or future of her seeming older sister Alice, born 1866. [She may in fact have been an Adelaide Alice, born to George Christian
Betjemann, as described in Betjemann Pedigree II.]
Harry Smith's next son was Frederick Sydney Betjemann who the 1901 Census reveals was then 31 and born in Burton-on-Trent in 1870 and that his wife was Rose (nee Marks), 25. They married 29th April 1895 in St Pancras when he was a bachelor, aged 26, a general dealer, living at 36, Aldenham Street; his father shown as Harry Betjemann, Upholsterer. [Note: the year of his marriage in pedigree below (1900) is in error.] Rose was then a 21 year-old spinster living at 18, Chalton Street, her father Robert Marks, a general labourer. Their first child, Frederick Sydney Jnr, arrived rather soon - on 16th July 1895, his father by then a street hawker when they lived at 33, Wellesley Street, Pancras. (This younger Frederick married in St Pancras in 1922 to a Miss Sims; any issue?) In 1901, this family resided at 45 Lt George St, St Pancras, Frederick Snr now shown as a Greengrocer. Their second child was Jenny Louisa, born March quarter 1899, and their third, a son Arthur Robert, born 1st December 1900. From the registers at the FRC it appears that there were at least three further children, Thomas Charles, born 1st January 1911, Violet, born December quarter 1912, and Jane E, born March quarter 1915 (registered as Betgeman). There may well have been others born ca 1902-1910. At the time of the birth of Thomas Charles Betjemann in 1911, his father was a General Dealer and the family were living at 139, Bemerton Street, Barnsbury, north-east of King's Cross station. Thomas Charles had a son, Peter William, born 28th August 1946 in Westminster Hospital when Thomas was a Fruiterer, of 166, Tachbrook Street, Westminster, just east of Victoria station. The son Peter later had a taxi business at Burnham Thorpe, near King's Lynn in Norfolk. He died on 20th March 2001 (aged just 55), leaving a son Thomas Betjemann (born ca 1970) and daughter Sarah who then resided in north Norfolk.
The next son, Roland Stanley Betjemann, was born in 1873 in St Pancras and was married in Hackney in 1899 to Mary Ann Pratt. They were likely influenced in the name-choice of their son Gilbert Stanley (born 1901) by an awareness of his family’s relationship to Gilbert Henry Betjemann, the successful musician. Roland also had a daughter Helen in 1904. Gilbert Stanley married Rosa Glickstein ca 1933 and his line continues to the present with their son Alan Betjemann (a major contributor to the detail and accuracy of the later Betjamann family history shown here) and his family.
Harry's next son, Arthur James Betjemann, became a Pastry Cook, and married Maria Carvely in Islington in 1900. They had a daughter Gladys ca 1902, who married in Kingston in 1924 one Edgar Boult, and a son Arthur Robert about 1900, who married Ivy Greenfield also in 1924, in Hampstead. They in turn had a son Arthur L.J. Betjemann in 1928 in St Pancras who later resided near Paddington but did not respond when, as alluded to above, overtures were made some years ago in regard to his family history. [But see now also reference above to a 'Les' Betjemann of Milton Keynes, aged 80 in 2008.]
Henry/Harry Stanley/Smith Betjemann was noted in an 1891 Census index (as Harry Betjemann), shown rather unexpectedly as then residing in Devonshire, but born in New York 'abt 1833'. When followed up, this was confirmed as the present Harry 'Smith' Betjemann who seems to have found himself in a spot of bother with the police in the late 1880s, ending up in Dartmoor prison (in Devon). The Old Bailey archives show that, after admitting a number of convictions at a Surrey Sessions in March 1887 (when in his early 50s), he was later convicted of the theft of tools from his employer Edward Simmons of Wandsworth Road in March 1889, which he subsequently pawned for cash in Battersea. He received 5 years. He returned 'home' in about 1894 and died 5 years later - on 30 Aug 1899, age 62, in Islington - as eventually did his wife Mary Ann - in 1912, age 75. Thus the two brothers, George and Harry Betjemann, died within weeks of each other near the turn of the century, both aged 62; the possibility that they were indeed twins, born about 1835, thus appears further supported.
Their unmarried sister Eleanor, the Gold Embroideress, also resided in St Pancras in 1881 and in her Will, written in 1911, left her estate to ‘my nephew Harry George Betjemann, of Horsham, Sussex, Confectioner, son of my late brother ‘Harry Smith Betjemann’. She died in 1926, aged 86, in Finchley. [Where did she live ca 1855-75?] It was previously thought that her middle name (?Hottman) was her mother Jane’s maiden name; If Harry’s middle name was ever truly ‘Stanley’ (as was his brother’s), it was as we've seen, replaced by ‘Smith’ (his grandmother Eleanor's maiden name) for reasons best known to himself. [It is now appreciated that ‘Stanley’ was in fact their mother Jane’s maiden name.]
[Indeed. In 2005, information was gratefully forwarded from a descendent of the Stanley family now living in California (Ann Duncan) which confirms the origin of Henry John's wife Jane as a daughter of George Stanley, Shoemaker, and Ann nee Somerton - both of Oxfordshire. They'd married in Oxford in May 1800 where Jane was born on 6th June 1808 (as recently discovered by her descendent Alan Betjemann). She appears to have emigrated with her family to New York in about 1833 - as had Henry John Betjemann. They may have known one another before emigrating or possibly met on the boat. Jane's sister Eliza (from whom Ann Duncan descends) married in New York in April 1835. A letter from her to her second husband records that she was visited by her sister Jane (Betjemann) and family from Philadelphia (where they appear to have resided during the late 1840s) prior to their permanent return to England - seemingly around 1850/51. There was a third sister - Ann Stanley - who also married in New York and provided yet more offspring (9) with the middle name Stanley!
More recently, Alan reports that Immigration Passenger Lists into New York show that the small ship 'Vibilia' landed there on 29th Oct 1832 with passengers George Stanley, 50, wife Ann, also 50, and daughters Jane, 23 and Eliza, 20. Listed immediately next was one Henry Betzeman, 27. The latter strongly appears to be Henry John Betjemann, although he would in fact have been only 22 that year; possibly the second '2' was mis-read as a '7'. He and Jane would not marry for a year or so (once 'on their feet') - probably in New York. Some of the other ages, and occupations, were also approximate so that further confirmation may be needed. The eldest Stanley son, Robert, a Music Master (with wife Mary and two daughters), appears to have joined the others after they arrived in New York the following June - on the larger ship 'Hanibal'.]
Also seen in the 1901 Census was an Eleanor Betjemann, 28, born Rhyl, Wales living at Mile End, a Violet Betjemann, 1, born London, living Islington and a Lily Betjemann, 12, born Tottenham, living Islington. [One recalls also seeing on an 1891 Census an Eleanor Betjemann born about 1873 in Cavan, Ireland (but to whom?). Was this the same Eleanor as shown born in Wales and was her mother an unmarried Eleanor who left London for a time and told her daughter one thing but actually had her born and baptised elsewhere?] The 1901 Census also revealed a Jane Betzeman, 45, a married(?) Head of household, born Brixton and living then at 136 The Grove, Hammersmith with daughter Elsie, 24, born Earls Court (ca 1876) - both shown as 'Musicians'; Jane's husband not there. I recall that George Stanley lived around 1875/6 in Earl's Court before moving to the Isle of Wight. Was the above Jane nee Sarah Jane Adams? As mentioned, George Stanley had died in 1899 - in Fulham (near Hammersmith?) which would of course make Jane a widow before 1901.
Finally, George and Eleanor’s youngest child, Rebecca, married her brother-in-law John Merrick in Westminster - at St Martin-in-the-Fields - on May 2nd 1846 (by licence applied for the previous day). John Merrick was an Engraver who traded at 125 Long Acre, St Martins during the 1840s and’50s - after which his name disappears from the Directories. His death around 1860 seemed likely (but see now below on this). They had 4 children given rather exotic names (for the times) - the youngest becoming known as ‘Celsie’ from her second name of ‘Excelsior’ (a name used in one of the family's patents). Further detail is given in the Merrick pedigree and Detail (see Betjemann Homepage). Rebecca’s elder sister Eleanor (a Schoolmistress) resided with them at her death in 1854 - registered in St Martin’s - although (as with her mother Eleanor) wasn’t with any of that part of the family in 1851 - the census that year showing just John, Rebecca and their first two children, John and Alfred, residing then on Long Acre in St Martin's (today a booming commercial and tourist area). [Two of the Eleanors were however, later located back on Aldersgate St in 1851, as described earlier, living with Eleanor Snr.]
I have since heard from James McCarthy, a descendent of John and Rebecca Merrick's family, who informs me that this couple and their children had in fact simply moved 'around the corner' from Long Lane - where in the 1861 and '71 Censuses they are found at 84 St Martin's Lane, with John now listed as a 'Die Sinker', as would be his son Alfred. However, by 1881, Alfred, who married in 1874, is shown as a Dentist living eventually in Camberwell with wife Rosabella and a son Alfred John (b 1876). John seems to have died before 1881 (where uncertain) when his wife Rebecca is noted as residing in Haverstock Hill, North London (with her son John Carisbrooke Merrick who would soon marry and have a son Stewart Carisbrooke) and by 1891, on Juncion Road, Islington living with her nephew Gilbert H.B.'Betzemann'. Her daughter Rebecca Excelsior (Celsie) was also with them then but would later retire to 'Rose Cottage', Slough as noted above.
