alfred james mallendane + helen beatrice saunders
Alfred was born on 20 August 1887 at Darling Row, Bethnal Green, the son of John William Mallendane and Emily Brett. He was listed as James on most official records but was known as ‘Sandy’ to his family and friends. He married Helen Saunders on 3 August 1913 at St Simon Zelots, Bethnal Green.
Helen, or Ellen as she was known, was born at 51 Felix Street on 15 June 1892, the daughter of Charles Walter Saunders and his wife Helen Baldwin. Ellen was baptised at St Peter on 3 July and grew up in the same neighbourhood as the Mallendanes. The Saunders family lived on Cranbrook Street in 1901 but they had moved back to Felix Street by 1911.
At the time of their marriage, Sandy lived at 1 Violet Row and worked as a Sawyer while Ellen worked as a Boot Maker and lived at 55 Warley Street in Bethnal Green.
Alfred and Ellen had seven children but only four survived infancy and their first daughter was born just six months after their marriage. Ellen was born on 28 January 1914 at 55 Warley Street and baptised at St Simon Zelots on 22 February. Sadly, she died at Queens Hospital on 3 November 1914, aged only 10 months and the death certificate listed the cause of death as ‘diarrhoea & vomiting, 14 days’ and ‘marasmus’. She was buried at Manor Park Cemetery on 9 November.
Marasmus was a term used to describe emaciation either from severe malnutrition or as a symptom of a secondary cause such as an infection, virus or other disease. Although the infant mortality rate was declining, the rates in the poorer areas of London and other large cities ranged from 90 — 110 infant deaths out of every 1000 live births (by comparison in 2006, the infant mortality rate in England was 4.6 deaths per 1000 births). In 1914, the main causes of infant deaths in urban centres included respiratory diseases, diarrhoea and dysentery.
Six weeks before his daughter’s death, Sandy joined the army and was posted to the Royal Field Artillery in Preston, Lancashire as a Driver. His attestation papers record that hewas 24 years old, 5’ 4” tall and 120 lbs with brown eyes, brown hair and a fresh complexion. He lived at 25 Russia Lane in the Old Ford area of Bethnal Green and was employed as a Sawyer when he joined up. On 14 November 1914, he was transferred to Lewes in East Sussex but one week later, on 20 November, his status was officially recorded as ‘deserted’. There are no further details in his service record related to his desertion or any comments on the ramifications of his actions but his military file does include details on his daughter Ellen’s death including a certified copy of her death certificate. Ellen died one week before Sandy’s alleged desertion so it is likely that he returned home without permission to be with his wife.
After his stint in the army, Sandy returned to his family and later ran a fruit stall on Green Street in Bethnal Green. Their first son Alfred James, known as Jimmy, was born on 30 March 1915 at 41 Surat Street and baptised on 25 April 1915 at St Simon Zelots. Daughter Doris was born in the fall of 1916 but she died shortly after her birth. Three years later they had another daughter, Gertrude Rose, who was born in the fall but she too died only months after her birth and was buried at Manor Park Cemetery on 12 January 1920.
Charles William, or Charlie, was born on 23 February 1921 followed by son Edward George, known as Teddy, on 4 October 1924. Their last child, and only surviving daughter, Joyce was born on 1 June 1926.
Jimmy married Florence Neal in 1937 and they had two daughters. He served with a paratrooper regiment in World War II and a family story describes how he was dropped into Italy and landed next to his brother-in-law in a trench. After the war, he returned to Dagenham and ran a business selling fruit and vegetables from his truck. Jimmy was well known in Dagenham and each year he donated a tree for the children’s community Christmas party.
Charlie also served in WWII as a paratrooper and when he returned home, he married Doris Bennett in 1949 and they took over his father’s fruit stall on Green Street. Charlie and Dolly did not have any children. One year later, Teddy married Eleanor Bennett and they had one son. Joyce married Francis Butler, a Furrier, in Bethnal Green in 1953 but they did not have any children.
Jimmy died suddenly of heart failure on 26 October 1949 and was buried at Manor Park Cemetery; he was only 34 years old. Two months later, his father Sandy died, aged 63, and he was also was buried at Manor Park Cemetery. Ellen died on 2 May 1965 and was buried next to him. Charlie died in 1974 and was buried at Manor Park Cemetery. His wife Dolly remained in Bethnal Green but never remarried.
Sandy and Ellen’s youngest child, Joyce, died of heart failure at Epping Forest on 1 July 1987.