george mallindine + amelia skinner
George was born on 26 November 1834 at the family home on William Street, the youngest of ten children born to William Mallindine and Martha Edghill, and baptised on Christmas Day at St Leonard in Shoreditch along with 12 other children. His mother died when he was just six years old and the following year, he was living with his widowed father and two brothers, Francis and William, in James Place. Ten years later, George and Francis were living with their elder brother Thomas and his young family and they were all working as French Polishers.
He married Amelia Skinner on 15 June 1857 at St James the Great in Bethnal Green with James William Skinner and Eliza Tye as witnesses. Amelia was born in the spring of 1828 to Henry Skinner and Jane Maskell and baptised at St John of Jerusalem in Hackney on 11 May. George and Amelia were living on Mape Street when they married and both were able to sign the register although with some difficulty.
Amelia gave birth to twin boys named George and William on 19 April 1858 but William died four days later. They were living at 53 Weymouth Terrace in Haggerston when Thomas William was born on 20 May 1860 and he was baptised at St John the Baptist in Shoreditch on 27 June along with his older brother George.
They were still on Weymouth Street north of the Hackney Road near St Mary’s Church when the 1861 census was taken and George continued to work as a French Polisher. Two years later, Alice Amelia was born on 30 September and baptised at St John the Baptist in Shoreditch on 21 October but she died on 8 November and was buried at Victoria Park Cemetery one week later. A second daughter named Alice Amelia was born at the family home on 6 November 1864 and baptised at St Mary in Haggerston on 25 December — 30 years to the day that her father was baptised. Frederick was born on 8 September 1866 but no baptism record has been found.
By 1871, they had moved to 3 Alfred Place in Shoreditch which ran along the Regent’s Canal near the Haggerston Basin and Amelia’s youngest brother George and his family lived next door. On 12 June 1876, Alice was admitted to the Maidstone Street School and her brother Frederick joined the following January. The school was several streets away from their home and although Maidstone Street no longer exists, the school still remains but has been renamed Sebright Primary School.
On 30 January 1881, their twenty year old son Thomas married 17 year old Alice Allman at St Thomas Bethnal Green one month before their son, Thomas, was born. Alice was born in Norwich to Joseph Allman and Emily Dawson and her family lived down the street at 8 Alfred Place. Sadly, Alice died giving birth to their son and although he survived the birth, he died nine months later.
In 1881, George and Amelia were still on Alfred Place along with sons George and Frederick. Twenty-two year old George was working as a Cabinet Liner – someone who stained the furniture – and fourteen year old Frederick had left school and was working as a Book Binder. Alice hasn’t been found elsewhere in the census.
Two years later, eldest son George married Mary Ellen Simmonett at St Peter in Bethnal Green and on 25 May 1885, Thomas married a second time to Ellen Smith at St Augustine in Haggerston and the family celebrated a third wedding when daughter Alice married James Kilgour at St Leonard in Shoreditch on 10 April 1887.
George and Amelia remained on Alfred Place and in 1891, they lived in four rooms with their youngest son Frederick who was also working as a Cabinet Liner. But after more than 20 years in their home, they were forced to leave and they spent the rest of their lives in and out of the workhouse.
The first admission record is dated 19 June 1895 when 60 year old George was admitted to the Shoreditch Workhouse and the reason given for seeking relief was that he had no home. The first record of Amelia’s admission was on 3 November 1896 when she was admitted to the Workhouse from the infirmary so she may have entered at the same time as George. Illness could have played a part in George’s inability to work and support them and if their children were not in a position to help, their only option was the workhouse.
Amelia was moved from the workhouse back to the infirmary on 2 December 1899 and she was still there at the time of the 1901 census. On 16 March 1899, George was discharged at his own request after spending almost four years in the workhouse but six months later, he was admitted to the infirmary at the Hackney Union workhouse on Sidney Road in Homerton. In order to claim relief from the parish, the right of settlement had to be proven to the Board of Guardians and if the claimant wasn’t able to satisfy this requirement, they were removed to their previous parish.
A removal order was signed by the Hackney Board of Guardians on 19 September 1899 and George was returned to the parish of St Leonard in Shoreditch as he was deemed not to have a right of settlement in Hackney. He was described as a pauper, aged 65 years, and could claim a right of settlement in Shoreditch as he had resided in the tenements in Alfred Place for at least three years before 1896. He was admitted to the St Leonard Workhouse Infirmary on 1 November and even though he was discharged on 2 March 1900, he was readmitted to the infirmary two weeks later and was still there in 1901.
Amelia died in Shoreditch in 1908, aged 80 years, presumably in the workhouse. There are no available records relating to George between the 1901 and 1911 census when he was recorded at the Belmont Workhouse on Brighton Road in Morden, Surrey. Belmont was known as a ‘spill-over’ workhouse that housed paupers from other parishes across London and by 1910, over 1300 people resided there. The conditions in the workhouse were so bad that 300 inmates rioted and thirty policemen with truncheons were called in to restore order. One of their chief complaints was their diet as the only food served was a ‘watery porridge’.
George died at Belmont and was buried there on 27 Mar 1914.
Their youngest son Frederick married Sarah Edmondson at St Luke in Hackney on 19 June 1904 and at the time, he was living at 33 Kenton Road in Hackney and working as a Time Keeper. Sarah, who was born on 15 September 1867, was the daughter of James Edmondson and Emily Smith and she was also living on Kenton Road. Her father was employed as a Decorator and Fred listed his father’s occupation as a French Polisher but it’s not known if he was still in contact with George or knew his whereabouts.
Fred and Sarah had one son, Ernest Frederick, who was born on 15 July 1905 and baptised at St John in Hackney on 27 August. They were living at 1 Tredawney Road in Hackney and Fred was working as a Carpenter’s Labourer but by 1911, they had moved to 20 Wellesley Road in Walthamstow, Essex and were living in a three room tenement, which was term used for most rented accommodation. Fred and Sarah don’t appear in the records again until 1939 when they were living at 84 Queen’s Road in Walthamstow; Fred’s occupation was listed as a retired Tobacco Worker. Their son Ernest had married Florence Minnie Louisa Prickett in 1931 and in 1939, they were living at 23 The Greens Close in Chigwell, Essex and Ernest was working as an Insurance Clerk. Sarah died in 1941 followed by Fred four years later; their son died in Ipswich in 1989.