george mallindine + matilda pepper
George was born on 5 September 1872 at 22 Pelham Street in Mile End to William Mallindine and Elizabeth Mary Pearce but his baptism at Christ Church in Spitalfields on 11 December 1881 did not occur until he was nine years old. His father died when he was 14 years old and in 1891, he was living with his mother at 120 Buxton Street and working as a French Polisher. His father had been a French Polisher and his two older brothers, William and Thomas, also worked in the trade.
His mother died the following year, when George was 20 years old, and eight months later, George enlisted as a Gunner in the Royal Artillery. He is described on his attestation papers as being 5’7” tall, 120lbs, with a fair complexion, grey eyes and light brown hair. Two days after enlisting, he reported to Crownhill Fort near Plymouth in Cornwall which was built in 1866 to defend the Royal Dockyard at Devonport. George’s service record shows that he spent the first fourteen months of his seven year term in England.
Before he enlisted, he began a relationship with Matilda Pepper and by the time he left for Plymouth, she was two months pregnant. Matilda gave birth to Clara Lilian on 3 July 1893 but as they were unmarried, their daughter was registered and baptised under the surname Pepper. Her baptism record from 23 August 1893 at Christ Church, Spitalfields, lists her father’s first name as George and his occupation as a Polisher which seems to confirm that she was his daughter.
On 10 February 1894, George was posted to India although no specific place is listed in his service record. He remained in India for 2 years and 279 days before being declared medically unfit and sent home to England on 14 November 1896 and finally discharged on 20 April 1897. There are no details on the cause of his medical discharge but he did receive a pension of 6 pence a day for 12 months.
After returning to Bethnal Green, he married Matilda at St Matthew on 9 May 1897 with his sister Martha and Matilda’s brother William Thomas appearing as witnesses. Matilda was born in Bethnal Green at 12 New Church Street in Bethnal Green on 9 October 1874 to William Pepper and Matilda Smith and her father also worked in the cabinet making trade.
After their marriage, they moved to a house at 14 Reuben Street near the Bethnal Green Railway Junction off Three Colts Lane and George was working as a Labourer. George William was born at the family home on 18 August 1898 and baptised on 4 September at Christ Church, Spitalfields. The family had moved again to 148 Vallance Road by the time daughter Martha Florence was born on 30 March 1900; she was baptised at Christ Church Spitalfields on 15 April.
When the 1901 census taken, George, Matilda and their three young children were still living on Vallance Road in two rooms and George was again working as a General Labourer. Eliza Lilian was born 20 March 1902 and her baptism record from All Saints in Mile End New Town on 13 April provides more information on George’s occupation, as he was listed as a Bricklayer’s Labourer, and their new home at 129 Buxton Street.
After four healthy children, their next three died shortly after birth. Florence was born in the summer of 1904 but died before her first birthday, William Thomas was born in early 1906 and died several weeks later as did Agnes who was born in early 1907. Arthur was born on 23 November 1907 and survived but Emily, who was born in 1908, also died within weeks of birth.
On 5 March 1909, they welcomed another healthy daughter, Agnes Lilian, who was born in Whitechapel. Matilda gave birth to twins, William and Emily, on 11 March 1910 but they died the next day. The family was living at 11 Great Eastern Buildings on Quaker Street at the time and George was working as a labourer at a Dust Destructor – a large furnace with an enormous chimney used to burn rubbish.
When the census was taken the following year, they were living at 17 Pole Street in Stepney, near St Dunstan’s Church, with their six surviving children and George was working at the destructor depot for the Stepney Borough Council. The family of eight were living in five rooms along with lodger Ellen Winnett and her three year old daughter Winnifred. Seventeen year old Clara was working as a Feather Curler but the younger children were still at school or home.
Shortly after, Matilda gave birth to her thirteenth child, Rose May was born on 17 May 1911. James Ernest was born on 27 January 1913 and baptised at St Dunstan, Stepney on 16 February followed by William Thomas on 14 February 1914 in Mile End; he was baptised at St John in Limehouse on 22 March but he died 18 months later.
George and Matilda’s eldest son, George William, was the first to leave home when he joined the Royal Navy on 29 April 1915 at the age of sixteen. He served on the HMS Impregnable for four months and was promoted to Boy 1 before he was transferred to the HMS Ganges and finally the HMS Black Prince on 26 August 1915.
Clara was still living at the family home on Pole Street when she married Thomas James Wooder at St Dunstan in Stepney on 20 February 1916. Thomas was born in West Ham on 21 May 1895 but when he married he was serving as a Sergeant in the Army Pay Corps in Shrewsbury and Clara joined him there after their marriage.
Three months after Clara moved away, George and Matilda learned that their son George William had been killed in action during the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916. The battle between the Royal Navy and the Imperial German Navy consisted of three main engagments over a two day period off the north coast of Denmark's Jutland Peninsula. The HMS Black Prince lost contact with the rest of the Royal Navy fleet and was believed to have been shelled by a German battleship and all 857 crewmen died when she sunk George's body and those of the other crewmen were never recovered but they are memorialised at the Chatham Naval Memorial.
A year after losing their son, Matilda gave birth to their sixteenth child, Margaret, who was born on 1 September 1917 and baptised at St Dunstan on the 17th. They were still living on Pole Street but George’s occupation on the baptism register was listed as Soldier although no service record for this second engagement in the army can be found.
Martha was the next to marry to Stanley Herbert Edward Clark at St Dunstan, Stepney on 28 August 1920 with her sister Eliza as a witness. Stanley was born on 20 March 1896 in St Pancras and still lived there, on Mornington Crescent, and worked on the railway. Martha and Stanley had two sons, Leslie born in 1921 and George in 1925.
James married Ida Kathleen Balls in Stepney in 1934 and five years later, his sister Agnes married Ida’s brother, Frederick Leslie Balls, in Romford, Essex and that event was published in The Essex Chronicle 8 Sep 1939:
Miss Agnes L. Mallindine, of 47 Way, Elm Park, was married at the Hornchurch Parish Church on Saturday to Mr. Frederick L. Balls of Stepney. Mr. G. Montell, uncle of the bride, gave her away. Miss Joy Wooder (niece of the bride), was bridesmaid, and there were two other attendants, Miss Maureen Pudney and Miss Iris Mallindine (nieces of the bride). Mr C. Balls was best man.
Rose married Thomas Henry Bunce on 4 August 1935 at St Dunstan Stepney and they had one son two years later. Their youngest daughter Margaret married David Littlechild in Romford in 1938 and the last to marry was Arthur to Dorothy Gray in 1941.
In 1939, George and Matilda were living at 47 Arbour Way in Hornchurch, Essex along with their daughter Margaret and her husband David Littlechild. George’s occupation was listed as Retired Council Labourer and David was a Jewel Case Wood Worker.
Their son Arthur was away serving in the Second World War but three of their daughters were living close by. Eliza was living at 47 Sunnyside Gardens in Hornchurch with husband John and their three children; Rose and Thomas were at 32 Elm Park Avenue and Agnes was in Ilford at 107 Thorold Road with her husband and two children.
James and Ida remained in Stepney at 51a Alderney Road and he was working as a Lorry Driver but the remaining sisters Clara and Martha had left London. Clara was living in Aldershot with her husband, who was working as an Export Clerk, and their two children while Martha was in Bexley,Kent at 32 Shirley Avenue with husband Stanley, who was now a Railway Inspector, and their two sons.
George died in Hornchurch , aged 71 years, and was buried at the local cemetery on 2 February 1944. Matilda died later that year and is believed to be buried with her husband.