elizabeth mallindine + cornelius kelly
© Doc77can
Elizabeth was born at 12 John Street in Bethnal Green on 21 February 1859 and baptised on 13 March at St Matthias. She was only eight years old when her father died and nine when her mother remarried. She grew up on Trafalgar Place and later on Thomas Street off Bethnal Green Road.
On 25 October 1877, Elizabeth married Cornelius Kelly at the St Anne Roman Catholic Church on Underwood Street in Mile End New Town. Elizabeth was baptised at St Anne on the same day of her wedding, no doubt to allow her to marry in the Catholic Church. Cornelius Kelly was born on 15 August 1858 in Mile End New Town to Edward Kelly and his wife Mary Ann Corshett; he was baptised on the same day at St Mary & St Michael Catholic Church on Commercial Street in Stepney.
The following year their first son, Cornelius, was born in Bethnal Green and in the fall of 1880, daughter Elizabeth, known as Lizzie, was born. When the census was taken in 1881, the family was living at 100 Harford Street in Mile End Old Town and Cornelius was working as a Rag and Bone Man.
Their son Cornelius was admitted to the Halley Street School on 3 May 1886 and at the time, the family was living at 136 Eastfield Street in Stepney. The school and their street were located between St Dunstan’s Church and Mile End Park.
Rag and Bone Man
A rag and bone man was essentially a scavenger, searching out and collecting any used or discarded items that might be resold to shops or merchants for a few pennies. At a time when nothing was wasted, the rag and bone man could resell old cotton and wool rags that were used to mend old clothes or as stuffing in mattrasses, rabbit skins that could be used for trimmings on coats and gloves and empty glass jars for use in jam and pickled onion factories. Scraps of metal were the most prized but even bones were profitable. Most people bought meat on the bone and when the meat had been roasted off, the bone was boiled in the pot for soup before being handed over to the rag and bone man. The bone was carved and used as knife handles or combs but most often it was ground into bone meal and used as fertilizer. Life as a rag and bone man involved long hours for little reward and most struggled to survive as their earnings depended on what they could collect on any given day.
Henry Mayhew included a description of the rag and bone man in his book, London Labour and the London Poor, published in 1851: ‘The bone-picker and rag-gatherer may be known at once by the greasy bag which he carries on his back. Usually he has a stick in his hand, and this is armed with a spike or hook, for the purpose of more easily turning over the heaps of ashes or dirt that are thrown out of the houses, and discovering whether they contain anything that is saleable at the rag-and-bottle or marine-store shop. The bone-grubber generally seeks out the narrow back streets, where dust and refuse are cast, or where any dust-bins are accessible. The articles for which he chiefly searches are rags and bones – rags he prefers – but waste metal, such as bits of lead, pewter, copper, brass, or old iron, he prizes above all. Whatever he meets with that he knows to be in any way saleable he puts into the bag at his back.’
Elizabeth and Cornelius had three more children — William in 1886, Mary in 1888 and Maria in 1890 — but no birth or baptism records have been found or confirmed. In 1891, the family of seven was living at 1 Burn Street in Limehouse near the river Thames and they likely moved there as Cornelius was working as a labourer on the docks. Son Edward was born in Limehouse in 1892 and Thomas in 1895.
Like many other families, the Kellys left the overcrowding in the East End of London and settled in West Ham in neighbouring Essex. In the thirty years between 1871 and 1901, the population of West Ham increased by more than 200 000 as many East Enders moved to take up jobs at the Royal Victoria Docks and other new industries in the area and they were also attracted by the improved housing that was built to accomodate the influx of workers and their families. With his experience on the docks, Cornelius may have found work easier to come by in Essex.
By 1901, Cornelius, listed as Con, and Elizabeth were living at 40 Wightman Street in West Ham along with their five youngest children. Cornelius was working as a Coal Porter and there were three young male boarders, all employed as Coal Porters, also living in the household.
Their eldest son Cornelius was living with his uncle John Kelly and his family at 9 Cologne Street in Mile End Old Town and working as a Carman along with his uncle. A few months after the census was taken, he married Ellen Enever in Mile End.
Daughter Elizabeth married Charles Arthur Whittaker in West Ham in 1900 and the following year, the newlyweds were living at 13 King Street, off Barking Road, and Charles was working as a Cable Hand.
The family next appears in the public records in 1911; Cornelius, Elizabeth and three of their children — Mary, Edward and Thomas — were living at 41 Nelson Street in Canning Town near the Royal Victoria Docks. The census return notes that they had been married 32 years and had nine children but only six were still living. Cornelius was employed as a Dock Worker, daughter Mary worked as a Tube Maker for a rubber manufacturer and her brother Edward worked as a Machine Assistant at the same factory. Youngest son Thomas worked as Labourer at the local oil works and two of his co-workers were lodging with the family in their 6 room house. Cornelius and Elizabeth’s two grandchildren, nine year old Charley Whittaker and his five year old sister Lily, were also living with them but their parents, Charles and Elizabeth, cannot be located elsewhere in the census.
Of their remaining children, son William was not living with the family and there is a possible death record in the March quarter of 1911 for 25 year old William Kelly in West Ham. Maria was also missing but there is a possible marriage match in 1906 that has not been confirmed. Eldest son Cornelius and his wife Ellen had also moved to West Ham and were living down the street from his parents, in three rooms at 8 Nelson Street, along with their two children, Ellen aged one and new born son William. Cornelius was working as a Costermonger and the census notes that although they had five children, only two had survived.
There are no confirmed records of the family after 1911 as their common names make tracing them particularly difficult but there is a possible death record for Elizabeth in 1928 and sadly, two death records for Cornelius the father and the son in 1933.