Thomas William Beckwith - b 14th Aug.1859 d 14th April.1935. As his father, Thomas John, did not obtain Goldsmith's Freedom until after Thomas William was born, neither he nor future offspring were eligible for Freedom by Patrimony. However, in the early 1950's son Eric made representations to Goldsmiths and was able to obtain the Freedom by Purchase, an astute move as within 3 years this transpired to be the only male Beckwith line in this part of the family.

"He was a very gentle and lovable personality who was absent-minded to the extent of taking the children out for a walk and returning home without them! Nevertheless, he had a good head for business (usually associated with property) but held Labour convictions, believing that wealth should be more equally shared. Upon retirement from the Civil Service (Somerset House), he devoted much time to his grandchildren, all of whom adored him". (Margery Pears)

During the 3rd quarter of 1889 he married Emily Gertrude SPEAIGHT ('Gertie') (13th Oct 1866 to 27th Feb 1939)."'Gertie' was a very capable woman of strong and dominating character so was the driving force of this part of the family. An excellent housewife and needlewoman." (Margery Pears)

Gertie had a brother Charles and sister Carrie and both these Speaight families remained close to the Beckwiths for at least two generations. "Carrie had a house and beach hut at Hayling Island and she named the hut 'Ailsvia' after her two nieces - Gertie's daughters Ailsa & Silvia. (Saira Holmes - granddaughter of Charles Speaight)

Their three children were Eric Thomas, Ailsa Gertrude and Silvia Jessie Frances. For their full details, please see Tree 3 and Tree 3 Notes

George Ivatts Beckwith - b12th Feb 1861 (birth certificate so not 5th as previously shown), d 15th April 1938 (Good Friday). His father, Thomas John Beckwith, mentions, in his diary for 1865, the demise on 15th May of an Uncle Ivatts (aged 80). This could well explain George's rather unusual second Christian name. Obtained Goldsmiths Freedom by Patrimony on Feb 1st 1888 at which time he was living at 31 Tollington Place, Tollington Park, London N and is described as a 'Commission Traveller'

In 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses he is shown as an Insurance or Assurance Agent living at the respective family homes in Southwark, Islington and Stroud Green but in 1918 he was working for £96 per year as an Assurance Salesman for the Prudential and was living in rented accommodation in Langdon Park Road, Highgate which cost 6/6 (32½p) per week. He is remembered by the Delderfields (see 9.8) as "a big florid man who worked in insurance". However, the obituary published in a Brighton newspaper says "Before his retirement in 1928 he was a prominent stockbroker and had been honoured with the Freedom of London." the latter possibly actually referring to his Goldsmiths Freedom. The obit continues "He was associated with .... the Dickens Fellowship ... the British Empire Society and the anti-Vivisection Society." One wonders if the last named was as a result of influence from H G Chancellor MP who was closely related to the Surls.  The address quoted is 20 Upper Rock Gardens, Brighton.

On 18th August 1934, at the age of 73, he married Dorothy Drew YARROW ('Doll' or 'Dolly'), a widow, who was George's housekeeper at the time. Doll was born 1st July 1894 and died 12th June 1956. It seems that she stayed on in Upper Rock Gardens until her death.

The two children of her first marriage - Reginald and Ronald - retained the Yarrow surname .....

Reginald Herbert YARROW was born 11th July 1915 and settled in Lewes (Sx). During his long career in local govt. in the town he was mayor four times (1984 the most recent) and was awarded the MBE. He was still a town councillor in Lewes in 1987 after which contact was lost.

Arthur Charles Beckwith - born 27th July 1862, died 3rd Feb 1948. Shown in 1891 census as a 28 yr old clerk in the War Office still living with the family in Islington and this occupation is confirmed on his Goldsmith's Freedom (by Patrimony) on 7th Feb 1894 with address still as 31 Tollington Place, Tollington Park..

On 30th Aug 1899 he married Edith JOWERS who was born 2nd Dec 1877 and died on 5th April 1969. The family lived in Muswell Hill, London N10 but some time after Arthur's death, Edith moved to Findon in Sussex.

"Edith Beckwith had an enormous mahogany side-board on which she had a photo of every member of her family.  As a result she talked about them a lot and I remember her mentioning that Ailsa, Thomas William Beckwith’s daughter was a very good soprano. Edith herself was an accomplished pianist and played for “events in the social calendar”. She was also very good at needlework, especially embroidery. She embroidered a tablecloth as a present for Peggy’s 25^th wedding anniversary which I still have." Jenny Barham.

At the same time, in her later years and to younger members of the family who visited her in Muswell Hill, Edith was a most formidable character with an acerbic tongue. 

Their four children were Arthur Charles Stanley, Kathleen, Mary and Muriel (Peggy) - for their full details, please see Tree 4 and Tree 4 Notes

Jessie Anne Eliza Beckwith - born 19th March 1864, died 30th July 1951. She is shown in  the 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses at the respective family homes but though 27 years old in 1891, no occupation is shown in any. RTB explains this "she was never employed but helped her mother at home." Around 1914, after their mother's death, " Aunt Nancy retired from the Post Office on a very small pension and with this, and the money that Jessie had inherited as the eldest daughter, they maintained their rather frugal household and brought up their adopted son. They moved house quite often and ended up at West Worthing."  This was "Wildwood", Stone Lane - a wonderful house where my family holidays were spent during the early 1950's. RTB adds "Ethel Delderfield recalled how Nancy used to trust Jessie's judgement and defer to her opinion. I can confirm this. Though she (Nancy) had strong opinions of her own, she always treated Jessie as head of the household, and deferred to her opinion. Nancy was the active one, Jessie's health not being very good, so took all the initiatives."

For more info, please see Hannah Constance ('Nancy') below.

Albert Edward Beckwith ("Bertie") - His birth date has been shown in previous charts as 13th Jan 1873 but the year has now been confirmed as 1866. However the remark that he died aged about 10 looks to be pretty accurate - his death was recorded in the Dec qtr of 1874 when he would have been almost 9. The place of death is shown as Strand district of London, possibly indicating that he died in hospital there.

Francis Henry Beckwith ("Frank") - Previous charts have shown him as the 8th child born c1873 but, with help from the 1881 census, his birth has been traced to much earlier than originally thought. He was in fact the sixth child and RTB has confirmed the date by kindly obtaining a copy birth certificate - it was 11th June 1869 (and the family home at the time is shown as 26 Roman Road, Holloway, Islington). When he obtained his Goldsmith's Freedom by Patrimony on 7th Feb 1894, the same day as older brother Arthur Charles, he too is listed as living at 31 Tollington Place with occupation "Clerk in Guys Hospital".

In Sep qtr 1896 in Camberwell, London SE5, Frank married Annie Elizabeth KNIGHT. She was born in Sep qtr 1869 in Dover, Kent, the eldest of the two children of James & Elizabeth KNIGHT. When Annie was born, James was a grocer and the family were living at St James St in Dover but by 1881 they had moved to Hornsey, London and were still there in 1891, with James still a grocer, albeit at a slightly different address. However, in the 1881 census Annie is not with the family - she has finally been traced to Christchurch, Hants where as a 12 yr old scholar she was residing with relatives John & Emma Payne, John being a professor of mathematics. In 1891, 5 years before her marriage, Annie is with the family in Hornsey as a Milliners' Shop Assistant so hopefully she didn't need to use a calculator.

Frank & Annie had two children: Marjorie Elizabeth and Gerald Frederick, both born in Lewisham, London SE13. For their full details, please see Tree 5 and Tree 5 Notes

In 1901, Frank & Annie  are shown with 1yr old Marjorie at 83 Tresillian Road in Lewisham. Frank is shown as 'Hospital Clerk' (born in Barnesbury but, in a move that will likely confuse family historians, the enumerator's beautiful copperplate writing has been transcribed into the Index as 'Barras Cary') and he followed in his father's footsteps by becoming Secretary to Guy's Hospital. After a spell in S E London, the family had moved by 1911 to the Rochford district of Essex. By WW1 time they were in Westcliff-on-Sea (near Southend) where sister Nell seems to have been a frequent visitor. Arthur Surl as a young teenager also went to stay with them but the stories of mischief that he and cousin Gerald Beckwith got up to in Westcliff are best not repeated here.

No death record for Frank has been found but a likely one for Annie has now been been traced - Sep qtr 1928 in the Rochford district. She is quoted as age 61 when actually 59 but age discrepancies on death records are commonplace.

Edith Lucy Beckwith - born 7th October 1871, she is shown in 1891 census living in the Islington family home without occupation. On 11th Feb 1899 she married Edwin John SURL ("Ted", born 7th August 1857 so 14 years her senior), living initially at 85 Digby Road, Stoke Newington thence 25 Ferme Park Road, Stroud Green (Hornsey) and finally 33 Dartmouth Park NW5, near Tufnell Park/Archway.

She excelled at needlework and became superintendent of the Highbury Depot of Queen Mary's Needlework Guild from 1915-1918. It is thought that she was awarded the BEM in 1919. She died on 30th July 1948, two years before Ted (d 5th Nov 1950).

Edie's Identity Card (unsigned !) issued during WW1

 They had two children: Geoffrey Edwin and Arthur Lionel. For their full details, see Tree 6 and Tree 6 Notes

Hannah Constance Beckwith ("Nancy") - Born 23rd November 1873 (note, not 1874 as previously thought) in Southwark, the first in this line to be born south of the Thames. She is shown in 1891 as a "hospital clerk" but this census info cannot be relied upon as it is suspect in many other respects, including wrongly showing her age; it is known that she spent at least most of her working life in the Post Office. In 1914, whilst in the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital having an appendix operation, she met 4 year old Anthony Thomas Delderfield who was in hospital having treatment for Rickets. RTB adds "he was one of seven children (two boys and five girls) of a family living in very poor circumstances in Pancras Road (near Kings Cross). This gave her the rather unusual idea of adopting this little blond boy. His parents agreed to the adoption provided that his name was not changed and they had access to him and Tony (or Tom as he preferred to be called) believes that there was a letter to this effect. [A letter was sufficient at this time - modern adoption legislation dates only from 1926]." 

As noted under Jessie above, Nancy took early retirement and the two sisters then brought up the youngster ... until he emigrated to New Zealand in 1929 and contact was lost, Nancy later referring to him as a 'naughty boy' for this. However Tom's younger sister Ethel, who had frequently stayed with the 'Aunts' and her brother in earlier times, maintained contact with Nancy right up to the time of her death (17th March 1956). In a stranger than fiction coincidence, contact was re-established in 1988 when Ethel was in hospital in Brighton and her nurse was none other than Roger Beckwith's daughter Sarah. She was then introduced to Tom when he visited thereby enabling a fuller story to emerge:

Anthony Thomas DELDERFIELD (registered at birth just as Thomas), b22nd July 1910. Emigrated to New Zealand in 1929 to work on the land. He joined up in WW2 and saw service on several fronts but, sometime after the end of hostilities, decided to return to England. Not being a good letter writer, he had lost touch with the Aunts and his own family whilst in New Zealand but, after returning to England, found his natural family again, initially living with his brother in London thence with Ethel in Brighton. This must have been after Jessie's death and not long before Nancy's but sadly seems never to have renewed contact with Nancy, whether or not she knew of his return to England. "Although he knows what he owes to his Aunts, he feels sore at having been given away by his family" (RTB) .

Tom died on 14th November 1992 and RTB conducted the funeral service just like Nancy's, 36 years earlier.  

During meetings between Ethel, Tom, Sarah and Roger in the early 1990's, Ethel mentioned two other items of interest:

- One of her sisters was killed by a V bomb in 1944. This probably clears up the question I posed back in 1986 as to who were Elsie & Gracie one of whom was killed by a V bomb (letter from Nancy to Dolly Beckwith nee Yarrow in 1944).

- She recalled being taken by Nancy to a church in Whitechapel to check the record of a family baptism or marriage and being told by her that her own father was adopted, like Tom. This could be read as referring to Ethel's father but if it refers to Nancy's, this opens up many interesting possibilities !  

Ellen Sarah Beckwith ("Nell") - Thanks to RTB, her birth has now been traced to 23rd July 1876 in Southwark. Details of Nell have been rather difficult to come by as she was not discussed "in front of the children" at family gatherings when I was young and, though now known to be only 14 at the time, she was not listed with the rest of the family in the 1891 census and has yet to be traced elsewhere. 

However, in 1901 she is listed with the family in Victoria Road, Stroud Green and, like Nancy, she worked for the Post Office, both of them being shown then as 'Clerk, London Postal Service'. From her diaries for 1906 and 1908 it appears that she worked in the City, had a good social life and was both a keen traveller and church-goer. She mainly travelled around London by train and tube (using some railway lines which have long since been closed) but the few bus journeys (mainly by horse-bus) demonstrate how little some central London routes have changed over the years, eg a trip in 1906 on a 137 'motor bus' to Crystal Palace, a route that still runs over a century later and only recently cut back from the Palace to Streatham Garage.

Died 13th June 1921 in Italy. From the contemporary account of her travelling companion and long time close friend, Kathleen Fitzgerald, it would appear that the accident which ultimately proved fatal actually happened on June 4th 1921, when, whilst standing near an allegedly badly secured door on an overcrowded Italian train, she fell therefrom sustaining head injuries. Doubts seem to have lingered in some minds that it was actually suicide and, given the far greater stigma attached to this in the early 20th century than nowadays, may explain their attitude. Whatever, several family members went to Italy for the funeral, including Nancy, who recalled that "Italian children from the village came down the hillside carrying flowers."

28 Ossian Road, Stroud Green appears still to have been her official residence in 1921 but there is evidence that she was based in Westcliff (living with her brother Frank) shortly before her ill-fated holiday.