Week #5 52 Ancestors 52 Weeks : In the Kitchen

When you have many facts about an ancestor and you are wondering how to collect them all to make an interesting story, you could create an Ancestral Card using Trello. Here’s one that I have been working on for my Allery Tribe. It’s a great place to gather all the data for your tribe – the Kitchen Sink approach.

The facts about this ancestor are gathered in this post in the Kitchen Sink approach too – everything I know about him and significant people in his life. In the Ancestral Card I have posed three questions for my further research and later stories about Walter.

My grandfather Walter died in 1915, at the early age of 43, when my dad was still a boy of 15 years. This could account for the fact that the Allery Tailoring busines was not inherite by my father, who was not yet of age to take on the running of a business. Read on to find out who did inherit the business?

According to Ancestry.com and records I have discovered there, Walter was born in 1871 – over 140 years ago – and two lifespans away from me.

On this birth record Walter is shown as having been baptised on 31 Dec 1871 at St Bride Fleet Street. His parents were Samuel John Allery and Mary Ann Hall who were shown as living at 26 Crown Street, Camberwell and displayed in the Parish Register for the city of London, St Bride Fleet Street parish.

Walter’s father was a tailor and his mother was a tailoress – a pathway to his own tailoring expertise later in life. The next record I have for 9 year old Walter is the census 1881 which shows him living with his parents and siblings (he is one of 6 children of this marriage) – still at 26 Crown Street, Camberwell in the borough of Lambeth.

Tailor is listed as his profession in the 1891 census and his parish is listed as St Andrew by the Wardrobe. By this date he is 19 years old and his two sisters, Rosina and Jessie are both listed as tailoresses. I have now subscribed to The Genealogist online to enable clarity of searching and the transcipt of the 1891 census shows some interesting details of what has happened since the last census in 1881. Walter’s mother Mary is no longer on the scene (Mary Hall d. 1881 at the early age of 35) and his father Samuel is now married to Jemima Blackburn, mispelled in this census as Emma.

Walter’s widowed grandmother Mary Allery is living in this house and it seems that Samuel now owns several properties in Fleur De Les Court – nos 38 – 42. Later with the census for 1901, I locate great great grandmother Mary Allery living with another son, Albert Allery, a Fish Buyer, at Rea Barn Road, Brixham, Devon.

By 1901 census Walter has become a Tailor – Journeyman, and  is now married to Harriet Priscilla has lost one son (Walter b. 1898 d. 1900) and now has another son Cecil Henry b. 1900, my dad. I wonder how Harriet could bear such tragedy and joy in one year – the death of her first born (25 March 1900) and the birth of her second son (25 April 1900).

In the 1901 census is also listed Joseph A Allery, a brother. I believe that he is the son of Samuel and Jemima – so really a step-brother to Walter – nevertheless an important sibling as I was later to find out. Joseph inherited the Tailoring premises on the death of Walter in 1915. What I now need to find out is what happened in this tumultuous period of time when so much happens in the life of Walter Allery – 1891 to 1901. His mother moves in and out again, a daughter is born and not living with him, a son is born and dies, another son is born and it seems he is looking after his step-brother Joseph.

Curiously the name Allery is mispelled in this census record as Allerly, making it difficult to trace accurately in other sites.

The mystery daughter (Lilian Georgina b. 1896 ) is still to be accounted for – she is listed as a daughter in the 1911 census for my grandfather. By this census the details are now hand recorded by the head of the household, so I doubt my grandfather would make an error of this magnitude in such a document. Perhaps she was a child born illegitimately and later claimed by Walter and Harriett. On this record we can now see that Walter’s profession has escalated to Master Tailor. Sadly we note that two of his children have died and from my other records that would be first born Walter Frederick who lived from 13 September 1898 to 25 March 1900 and Ivy Dorothy who lived from 27 Jan to 5 April 1904.

His burial record came to surface whilst I was googling his name and the following is from the burial register at Kingston Cemetery, London.

Death date is 5 April. His register number is 32102 and his private burial plot number is C Class 3472. He was buried at 4pm on Saturday 10th April 1915.

Private Records

Perhaps Walter knew he was dying, otherwise why would he have sold the tailoring premises to his step brother Joseph (Frank Joseph Andrew Allery) in September 1914. This information came to light when searching for details in Ancestry. In the record it also notes that Walter had moved from number 53 to ‘Endora” 51 Chatham Road, Kingston. He owned both of those properties too and properties 23, 25 and 27 Washington Road, Kingston.

His service to the country during the Boer War and is listed as Private W Allery, Reg No. 3739 on the Queens South Africa Medal Awards List. He served in South Africa in 1901 and 1902 as part of the East Surrey Regiment, Duke of Cornwall´s Light Infantry. (I have solved one of the questions listed in his Ancestral Card. He appears not to have served in WW1 as he died in April 1915.) On his attestation report, for the Royal Berkshire Regiment 1895, he is described at 5 feet 1 and 3/4 inches tall, skin fair, eyes blue, hair brown.

I have been told that Walter’s death was an accidental death – knocked down by a cyclist in the High Street, Kingston. So I am heading over to the British Newspapers to find any article about this event on 5 April 1915.
Note: This was misleading and not true. Walter Frederick Allery died of Tuberuculosis Meningitis at his home at 51 Chatham Road, Kingston attended by his younger brother Benjamin Robert Allery.

It seems that Walter had amassed a small fortune (2,952 pounds) that he left to his widow Harriet and I imagine that much of that was derived from his tailoring business and his many properties. He had suffered many set backs in his life including the deaths of two siblings, deaths of five children, the death of his mother and, it is sad to note his own death at age 43. Difficult for his children and his wife to bear. Note: His wife Harriett Priscilla lived to the great age of 82 and never remarried.

This is the Kitchen Sink of the details I know about Grandfather Walter Frederick. (It has way too many characters to keep track of as a reader, and if you have read this post to this point, I commend you.)

Wait there’s more! I’ve just revisited his profile in Ancestry and there are 14 more Hints waiting for me to review, who knows what else I may add to the ‘kitchen sink’. What I need to do now is find the hidden gems in the life story of Walter Frederick Allery and celebrate his achievements.