edward mallandain + alice seddon
Edward was born in Hertford in 1796 and baptised at the local parish church of St Andrew but his family was originally from London and they moved back there some years later. After he finished school, Edward travelled to the north west and settled in Lancashire where he worked as a School Master and later as a Railway Clerk. It is not known why Edward moved so far from his family but it is possible that he obtained a teaching position in Lancashire and this prompted his decision to move.
He married Alice Esther Seddon at St Mary, Oldham on 16 June 1822. Alice was baptised in Radcliffe, Lancashire on 25 March 1798 and only her mother, Nancy Seddon, was listed on the baptismal record. Edward and Alice lived in Prestwich between 1823 and 1835 which, at that time, was a small rural village midway between Manchester and Bury.
Seven of their eight children were born in Prestwich and they were all baptised at the church of St Mary the Virgin. Their first, John, was born on 26 February 1823 and baptised on 2 March. Mary was baptised on 16 February 1825 but her birth date was not listed on the baptismal record. George was born on 5 January 1827 and baptised on 13 February followed by Sarah who was born on 26 June 1829 and baptised on 12 July.
Eliza was born on 24 April 1831 and baptised on 13 May and two years later, her brother Edward was born, on 22 March 1833, and baptised one month later. Alice followed two years after Edward, on 6 September 1835, and she was baptised at St Mary on 11 October.
When the 1841 Census was taken on 6 June, Edward was still employed as a School Master and he was living at Bury New Road in Prestwich with Alice and four of their seven children. John, Mary and Sarah do not appear with their family and haven't been located elsewhere. Several months after the census, their youngest child, Emma, was born on 7 November in Todmorden, Yorkshire but baptisted at St Mary in Bury. There is no further information available to explain why Emma was born in Yorkshire when the family was still living in Bury.
Their daughter Alice was educated at the French Protestant School on Bloomsbury Street in Westminster and although the school record does not list the dates she attended, she likely entered the school when she was eight years old and remained until she was twelve or thirteen. She may have boarded at the school or perhaps stayed with her grandparents in Stepney. There is no record of any other of their children attending the school.
Eliza died aged only fourteen at Todmorden, Yorkshire on 19 November 1845. She was buried at St James, Hebdon Bridge on 23 November and the death register lists her home at the time of her death as the Hebdon Bridge Railway Station. Later records confirm that Edward made a career change from School Master to Railway Clerk so it is possible he was working at Hebdon Bridge at the time of his daughter’s death.
By 1851, Edward, Alice and their children Sarah, Edward, Alice and Emma had moved to Seed Hill in Rochdale where Edward was working as a Railway Clerk. Their two eldest sons had left home — John was working in Stockport and George had married and moved to Manchester.
Their 26 year old daughter Mary was living in London with her grandparents and when her grandfather died in 1853, he bequeathed his free-hold cottage in Ely Place to Edward and the remainder of his estate to Mary. His will notes that Mary ‘who having lived with us from her childhood is I consider justly entitled for her sole and separate use independent of her husband if she marries.’ Mary does not appear with her grandparents in the 1841 Census but there is a possible match for a Mary Mallendain, aged 15 years, working as a female servant in the household of George Batty in Hackney. This census doesn't list a place of birth but it does note that this Mary was not born in the county.
Her grandmother died in 1847 and in 1851, Mary was living with her grandfather at 58 Southampton Road in Camberwell in south London. Four years later, Mary married widower Josiah Stone at St Pancras Church in London on 5 May 1855 and although it is possible that her family attended the ceremony, none were listed as witnesses. The marriage certificate notes that her father, Edward, was a Station Master rather than a Railway Clerk so he may have obtained a promotion. Two years later, their eldest son John also married, to Elizabeth Sibbald, at Trinity Church in Littleborough.
In 1861, Edward, Alice and three of their daughters — Sarah, Alice and Esther — were living in Littleborough just north of Rochdale and Edward was working as a Railway Clerk possibly for The Manchester and Leeds Railway that ran through Rochdale and Littleborough. The railway was incorporated in 1837 and by 1839, the first section of the rail line from Manchester to Littleborough was complete but construction on the line continued until 1840 when the terminus was completed at Normanton 11 miles south of Leeds.
Their son Edward was lodging at 6 Latham Street in the Castleton area of Rochdale and he was also working as a Railway Clerk. He never married and died in Castleton on 8 November 1868 of unknown causes; four days later, he was buried at St James in Hebden Bridge — in the same church yard as his younger sister Eliza. Twenty four years later, his sister Sarah Ann was granted probate on his estate, valued at £809, but the record does not include any information as to why the family applied for probate so late.
By 1871, Edward had retired from the railway and they moved south to London and lived on Somerford Grove in Hackney for the next 20 years. Three of their surviving daughters — Sarah, Alice and Emma — never married and lived together with their parents until their deaths.
Their daughter Alice died, aged only 42 years, on 25 October 1877 in West Hackney and was buried at Abney Park Cemetery on 31 October. Mary was living at 40 Islip Street in St Lukes with her sister Emma. Mary’s first husband, Josiah Stone, died in 1866 and she married a second time, to James Phillips, in September 1879. Mary and James, who was employed as a Livery Stable Keeper, lived at 44 St Johns Road in Islington in 1881 and they were wealthy enough to employ one domestic servant. By 1891, Mary was a widow once again and was living with one servant at St Johns Villas on Fairbridge Road in Islington. She died on 29 June 1894 and probate on her £750 estate was granted to Christopher Kirby, a Grocer.
Alice Esther Seddon died on 4 March 1879, aged 80 years, in West Hackney and was buried at Abney Park Cemetery. Edward was still living on Somerford Grove in 1881 along with daughters Sarah and Emma. Four years later, a theft from the family home was reported in the Lloyd’s Weekly newspaper on 25 March 1883 and it reported that 20 year old Robert Hughes, a painter by trade, was charged with stealing ‘11 silver spoons, 3 rings and other property belonging to Mr. Edward Mallandaine of Somerford Grove, Stoke-Newington’. The report did not include details on the circumstances of the theft — whether Hughes stole the items while working at the house — but the items were recovered and returned to the family. Robert Hughes admitted the charge in court and was remanded in custody.
Edward died at Somerford Grove on 1 July 1892 and probate on his estate totalling £1500 was granted to his daughter Sarah. He was buried next to his wife Alice Esther at Abney Park Cemetery in Hackney. Sarah was living alone at Somerford Grove in 1901 while Emma was listed as a Visitor at 224 Wightman Street in Hornsey — the residence of Elizabeth Cook and her sister Annie. Emma died at 9 Somerford Grove, Hackney on 9 November 1907 and was buried at Abney Park Cemetery on 13 November.
By 1911, Edward and Alice’s only surviving daughter, Sarah, was once again visiting Elizabeth Cook and her sister Annie who had moved to 16 Paston Place in East Brighton on the south coast. Sarah later gave up the house in Stoke Newington and moved to Brighton where she lived with the Cooks as a paying guest until her death on 28 Sep 1917. Probate was granted on her estate, valued at £3635, in London on 16 October 1917 to her nephews, William Sibbald Mallandain and John Edward Mallandain. Sarah was buried at Abney Park Cemetery on 2 Oct 1917.