elizabeth mallindine + william lovett
Elizabeth was born on 17 April 1839 at 4 Pear Tree Court in Shoreditch to Christopher Mallindine and Sophia Hall. Her father’s death in 1844 threw the family further into poverty and the family was forced to rely on parish relief to survive. By 1851, eleven year old Elizabeth had been taken out of school and worked on piece work at home, making paper boxes by hand, with her sisters. The pay for this type of work, performed predominantly by women, was very low but it might have been enough to help the family survive.
On 5 January 1860, Elizabeth married William Lovett at St Philip in Bethnal Green. William was a 22 year old Cabinet Maker living next door to Elizabeth at 5 Sclater Street; he was born in Bethnal Green on 8 March 1838 to William, also a Cabinet Maker, and Charlotte Jackson.
Their first son, William Charles, was born on 19 July 1859 at 5 Harts Lane and although he was born prior to their marriage, he was registered under the name Lovett with Elizabeth listed as ‘formerly Mallindine’ as if they were married. William’s occupation was listed as a Master Chair Maker and he continued in this trade for the rest of his working life. The family was still living on Harts Lane when Charles Christopher was born on 21 February 1861 but they had moved on by the time the census was taken several months later and were living at 5 Carlton Place off Cudworth Street and across the railway line from Three Colts Lane. William’s sister Sarah was also living at number 5 along with their step-brothers James and Frederick but they were listed as separate family.
Elizabeth Charlotte was born on 25 October 1864 at 9 Carlton Street and baptised at St Matthias on 20 November; her baptism record lists the family’s address as 9 Cheshire Street near the church dedicated to St Matthew. Two years later, Joseph was born on 21 October at 9 Barnsley Street in Bethnal Green and baptised at St Matthias on 11 November 1866 where the family was again listed on Cheshire Street.
On 30 August 1870, their daughter Emily was born at 9 Three Colts Lane but the family actually lived on Mape Street. She was baptised on 18 September at St James the Great. Six months later, William and Elizabeth had returned to Carlton Place and rented rooms in a house at number 9 where they would remain for the next 20 years.
They lost their first child when two year old Emily died at home of smallpox on 12 March 1872. Smallpox is a viral infection that begins with a high fever and a red, bumpy rash and within days results in fluid-filled blisters on the skin. It is an airborne virus that is transmitted through close contact with an infected person and was prevalent in the overcrowded conditions in the East End of London in the 19th century. Although a vaccine was developed in 1813, it was not readily available, even after compulsory vaccination was introduced by an Act of Parliament in 1853, particularly amongst the poor who had little access to medical care and no money to pay for the services of a doctor. The parish officials in Bethnal Green were repeatedly criticised for failing to fulfill their obligations under the Vaccination Act and infection rates in the area were the highest in London and even exceeded the pre-vaccination rates. The mortality rate for healthy individuals was between 20 and 60% but this rate increased dramatically for those in chronic poverty especially children with death usually occuring within 10 to 15 days of contracting the virus. In 1844, over 10 000 people in London died of smallpox and 90% of those were children under the age of five years living in the city’s poorest and most crowded areas. In 1871-72, one in five children under the age of five in Bethnal Green died of smallpox. Although vaccination rates increased and deaths decreased, the smallpox virus was not eradicated in Western Europe until the early 20th century.
Only two weeks after Emily’s death, William and Elizabeth lost another child, five year old Joseph, to smallpox on 23 March. He died at number 11 Carlton Place and as smallpox was known to be highly contagious, he may have been moved out of the house to prevent him and his siblings from contracting the virus or he may have already been showing symptoms and was moved into isolation.
Elizabeth gave birth to her sixth child, daughter Eliza Elizabeth, on 3 June 1875 at the family home at 9 Carlton Place. Only four years later, her eldest son 20 year old William Charles married Hannah Henderson at St Jude, Bethnal Green on Christmas Day. Hannah was born in 1859 to John Henderson, a Gas Fitter, and Elizabeth Hobbs and her family lived next door to the Lovetts at number 8. William was also working as a Chair Maker and likely learned the trade from his father but two years after their marriage, they had moved to Suffolk Street and William was now employed as a Bricklayer. William and Hannah went on to have nine children and lived in Bethnal Green, including a stint back on Carlton Place, for twenty years before moving to Hackney.
In 1881, William and Elizabeth were still on Carlton Place along wih their three youngest children: 20 year old son Charles worked as a Labourer, 16 year old Elizabeth was a Brush Drawer, and six year old Eliza was in school. William was still working as a Chair Maker and Elizabeth was also working as a Chair Caner, weaving seats out of strips of wicker. The following year Charles married Eliza Helena Darby at St Jude on 29 October and they had three children. Daughter Elizabeth married William Vale at St Jude on 30 April 1888 and they had seven children but only five survived.
By 1891, only 15 year old daughter Eliza remained at home and she was out working as a day servant but they did take in a lodger, 70 year old Wood Chopper, Jem Bryers. But by 1901, it was just the two of them and they moved to a smaller house and rented three rooms at 15 Winchester Street. The census also notes that William was working ‘on his own account’ from home or in today’s terms, self-employed.
Their daughter Eliza had left home and began a relationship with widower William Kelsey. He was 7 years older than Eliza and had been married to Matilda Bird from 1887 until her death at the London County Lunatic Asylum in Banstead, Surrey in 1897. James and Matilda had one daughter together, May Matilda, in 1888 but it appears that Matilda left the family home by 1893. She appears in various Poor Law examinations in 1893-94 where her husband is listed as absent in one and living on Wilmot Street in another. It is unlikely that should would have received relief from the parish as they would have expected her to return to her family but it seems her illness became so severe that she was eventually committed to an asylum.
It is possible that Eliza worked for William Kelsey as a servant, cooking, cleaning and caring for his daughter while he worked and their relationship developed later but it is not known why they did not marry after Matilda died. Their first son, Frederick, was born on 4 December 1898 and they went on to have six more children but lost three in infancy. In 1901, they were living in two rooms at 72 Cyprus Street and William was working as a House Painter. Ten years later, they were living in 4 rooms at 281 Globe Road with William and Eliza listed as husband and wife married for 10 years. They finally married on 17 October 1930 while Eliza was receiving medical treatment for breast cancer but she died less than a year later; two weeks later, William died of cardiac failure while he too was receiving cancer treatment.
William and Elizabeth moved one last time, to Warley Street, and 73 year old William continued to work as a Chair Maker. Elizabeth died of pneumonia at 9 Warley Street on 19 April 1914 followed by William five years later.