My paternal grandparents William James Bettis and Elizabeth May Perry both came from Leytonstone in the east end of London. My Grandfather was a Wire Rope maker who had worked in the British Ropes factory in Dagenham. After British Ropes opened their new factory in Doncaster he moved up to Yorkshire with his family in 1936 to become a foreman there. My Grandmother worked as an ‘Operator’ in the telephone exchange (in the days when calls were patched through by the Operator)Both being born by 1890 they appear on both the 1901 and 1891 censuses. I have decided to put them both in this same post as much as anything because they came from the same streets in Leyton.
First we’ll go for the 1891 Census
For the Bettis Family
1891 – Living in 3 rooms at 3 Thornton Road
Household Members:
Name Age
William Bettis 31
Sarah E Bettis 32
William J Bettis 1
and for the Perry Family
1891 – Living at 86* Oakdale Road
Household Members:
Name Age
Andrew Perry 30
Mary Ann Perry 30
Ernest W Perry 6
Alfred F Perry 3
Elizabeth M Perry 6 months
Alfred Banham 24
(* the house number is not actually noted on the census form, however counting the number of houses listed it would have been number 86)
The map shows Thornton Road and Oakdale road to be adjoining streets
If we go to Bing Maps we find that this area is covered by the ‘birds eye’ view, so we can see that the streets today look like this
Because of the way house numbering has changed it is not possible without further investigation to work out which house was 86 Oakdale Road.
Number 3 Thornton Road is perhaps easier to locate, there are only 7 houses on the street on the census and there are only 7 houses on the road today
Going back to Google Maps you find that this area is covered by the ‘Google Streets’ project, so we can see that today 3 Thornton Road looks like this
Moving on now to the 1901 Census, the Bettis family had moved around the corner to number 92 Oakdale Road (a few doors away from where the Perry’s were in 1891)
1901 – Living at 92 Oakdale Road
Household Members:
Name Age
William Bettis 40
Sarah Bettis 42
William J Bettis 11
Eleanor M Bettis 9
Minnie Bettis 5 months
However the Perry’s had also moved… to 133 Ashville Road, (which is the corner house of Ashville Road and Thornton Road and so was only a few doors away from where the Bettis’s had lived in 1891)
1901 – Living at 133 Ashville Road
Household Members:
Name Age
Andrew Perry 40
Mary A Perry 40
Ernest W Perry 16
Alfred Perry 13
Elizabeth Perry 10
Albert A Perry 7
Again it is not possible to tell which house was 92 Oakdale Road now, but 133 Ashville Road is identifiable and today looks like this
My Grandparents were neighbours and would have known each other all their lives, but I don’t think they were ‘childhood sweethearts’
Another useful website is www.freebmd.org.uk which has transcriptions of a lot of the UK Birth, Marriage and Death records from 1837 onwards.
In the register of Marriages for Apr-Jun 1915 we find
Which shows they didn’t get married until their mid twenties.
Finally just another map to show exactly where in London these streets are
