arthur joseph malandain + annie cox
Arthur was born in Bethnal Green on 13 July 1878 to John William Malandain and Elizabeth Cushway. He grew up in Stepney Green with his older brother John and four sisters and when he was 18, his family moved to Lewisham in south London. Arthur got a job as a Pawnbroker’s Assistant and took up lodgings near the shop on St Ann’s Road in Kensington. Booth’s Poverty Map of 1898-99 describes the area as having a mixed population from ‘fairly comfortable with good ordinary earnings’ to ‘poor, earning 18s. to 21s. a week for a moderate family’.
He was still living and working in Kensington when he married Annie Cox on 19 March 1905 in Tottenham. Annie was born in Southampton on 30 October 1875 to Henry Cox and Elizabeth Seager. By 1891, her family had left the south coast and moved to 24 Wakefield Road in Tottenham.
Arthur and Annie had one child, John Joseph, who was born in Hackney on 1 October 1905.
In 1911, they were still living on Wakefield Road along with Annie's widowed mother and Arthur continued working as a Pawnbroker’s Assistant. Five years later, 39 year old Arthur enlisted in the army and was assigned to the 112th Battalion Training Reserve in November. His attestation papers listed his occupation as a Pawnbroker and his address as 48 St Anne’s Road in Kensington while his wife and son were listed as living on Wakefield Road so it appears that after his marriage, he maintained his lodgings close to his work in west London. Arthur was granted a certificate of exemption from active service by the military authorities and transferred to the Home Service Division on 3 February 1917.
After his discharge, he continued working as a Pawnbroker and appears in the electoral registers at St Ann's Road in Kensington but from 1924, he is only listed at Wakefield Road. Arthur died in Tottenham on 1 October 1931 and his wife and son remained on Wakefield Road for several years before moving to 9 Oakleigh Gardens.
John Joseph married Gwendoline Waller on 22 June 1936 and she moved in to the family home where they stayed for three years before moving to 65 Beresford Gardens. They had three children — two daughters and a son — and John worked as a civil servant, initially with the War Office, for many years.
Annie left Oakleigh Gardens and moved to 22 Fotheringham Road where she lived for twenty years. In 1949, John and Gwendoline moved back to 9 Oakleigh Gardens and Annie died there on 13 July 1959. Her son, John Joseph, died in Enfield on 29 December 1979 and his wife Gwendoline died on 23 September 2002.