peter mallandain + jane oddy
Peter was born on 8 November 1836 at the family home on James Street in Finsbury and baptised at the nearby church of St Luke on 4 December. He was the youngest the son of Peter Mallandain and Elizabeth Hodges. His father was an inkstand manufacturer but Peter’s older brothers were already working with his father so he started working in the printing industry as a Compositor or Typesetter. On 5 August 1851, fourteen year old Peter was apprenticed for seven years to Jeffery David Dennis, a Printer Compositor journeyman, from St Mary’s parish in Whitechapel.
Peter married Jane Tabitha Mary Oddy on 9 January 1861 at St John the Baptist in Shoreditch. Jane was baptised on 8 March 1841 at St Bride Fleet Street, the daughter of John William Oddy, a West Indies merchant, and his wife Jane Elliston. Jane lived in the same street, Bridport Place, as Peter’s older brother Charles which may explain how the two met. Following their marriage Peter and Jane lived at 14 Bingham Place, New North Road in Shoreditch where Peter was employed as a Printers Reader. They lived in Holborn Hill for several years before moving south of the Thames to Newington and later to Camberwell. They had eleven children but only seven survived to adulthood.
Ada Elizabeth Jenny was born on 25 January 1862 and baptised one year later at St Andrew in Holborn. Their first son, Peter Elliston, was born on 25 July 1864 and was also baptised at St Andrew. Shortly after their son’s birth, the family moved to Newington in the London borough of Southwark and settled at 61 Beresford Street where their next two children were born, Albert Edward was born on 12 July 1866 and Rose Emma on 29 January 1868. They were baptised together at St Peter's Church in nearby Walworth on 27 September 1868 and the baptism record notes that Peter was working as a Collector.
One year later, Jane gave birth to twin boys, Frederick and Charles, on 22 July 1869 but Frederick did not survive the day and Charles died two days later. They had their seventh child 18 months later when Jane Matilda, known as Jennie, was born on 9 December 1870.
In 1871, the family was still living at 61 Beresford Street in Newington and Peter was employed as a Collector & Traveller to a Stationer’s Printer and the family was doing well enough financially to afford one female servant, 22 year old Elizabeth Miller. A year later, they had moved to Camberwell and were living at 65 Leispie Road when daughter Daisy Louise was born on 24 July 1872. They had another daughter, Alice Isabel, on 8 January 1874 but she died weeks after her second birthday and was buried at Nunhead Cemetery in Southwark on 28 January. She was baptised at Emmanuel Church in Camberwell on 8 March and Peter's occupation was now listed as Stationer & Printer. Six months after Alices’ death, son Frank Sydney was born on 8 June 1876 and baptised at Emmanuel Church on 16 July.
It seems that Peter may have started his own business as a Printer and Stationer in the early 1870s as he later appears in several notices in the London Gazette (dated between November 1876 and March 1877) relating to the ‘winding up’ of various companies where he filed a petition as a creditor - ‘Peter Mallandain of Church-court, Old Jewry, in the city of London, Stationer and Printer, carrying on business under the style or firm of Mallandain and Co.’ It is possible that these uncollected debts caused financial hardship for Peter as two years later, he was forced to file for bankruptcy:
In the London Bankruptcy Court — In the Matter of Proceedings for Liquidation by Arrangement or Composition with Creditors, instituted by Peter Mallandain, of No. 1, Church- court, Old Jewry, in the city of London, Stationer and Printer, carrying on business there under the style or firm of Mallandain and Company, and residing at 65, Leipsie-road, Camberwell, in the county of Surrey. NOTICE is hereby given, that a First General Meeting of the creditors of the above-named person has been, summoned to be held at the offices of Messrs. Kendrick and Walter, of No. 99, Gresham-street, in the city of London, on the 17th day of April, 1879, at two o'clock in the afternoon precisely. Dated this 21st day of March, 1879.
Their eleventh and final child, May Gertrude, was born on 16 July 1879 but she died ten days later and was buried at Nunhead Cemetery on 30 July. In 1881, the family was still living on Leipsie Road in Camberwell and Peter’s occupation was again listed as Printer & Stationer. Their nineteen year old daughter, Ada, has not been found in the census but eldest son Peter was working as a Printer’s Apprentice, most likely with his father, and Albert was working as a Draughtsman while their remaining children were still at school.
By 1891, Peter and his family had moved from Leipsie Road to 8 Shenley Road in Camberwell. The house has been replaced by a modern development but many Victorian houses remain — including those next door — and the Mallandain home was likely similar to these 3-storey terraces. Peter was no longer working as a Stationer but he was still in the printing business working as a Corrector for Press. Their six youngest children were still living at home and all of them were employed outside the home except for Daisy. Peter Elliston was working as a Wholesale Stationers Assistant, Albert as a Lithographer and Draughtsman, Rose as a Clerk in the Post Office, Jane as a Telegraphist in the Post Office and Frank as an Assistant Wholesale Stationer. Ada was working as a Governess for the Smith family in Friern Barnet north of London and caring for their four year old daughter. One year after the census, their eldest son Peter Elliston died of pneumonia 1892 aged only 28 years and he too was buried at Nunhead Cemetery.
Peter frequently visited his sister, Emma, at the French Hospital and his letters dated 1898 and 1899 indicate that he also corresponded with William Arthur Mallandain in South Africa regarding the family history. In one letter, he recalled seeing William’s brother, John Elliot, as he carried on business as a collector: ‘At the time, he was conductor at the Olympic Theatre and I frequently saw him in the neighbourhood of the Strand, as being then a collector for a large firm I was out of doors almost wholly and much about London.’
Later letters also confirm that Peter was in touch with a number of second cousins from the John branch of the family including Sarah Ann Mallandain, Mary Georgiana Mallandaine and Edward Mallandaine Jr in Canada.
In 1901, sixty-one year old Peter was still working as a Corrector for Press and only three of their adult daughters remained at home with them. Rose Emma had been working as a Clerk in the Post Office since she was first commissioned in 1896 and her sister Jennie was working as a Telegraphist also at the Post Office. Frank had emigrated to Canada in 1895 and Albert had left to marry in 1896. Ada was still working as a Governess but she had moved to a situation with the Kane family at Lanterne House in Kingston upon Thames in south London closer to her own family in Camberwell.
Daughter Daisy was not listed as having an occupation in 1901 but one year later, she too left home when she married Ernest Charles Coote at Christ Church in Lambeth on 22 May 1902. Ernest was born in Walworth in 1866, the son of Charles Nurse Coote and Keturah Daniels, and worked as an Insurance & Actuarial Clerk. They settled in Brixton and had four daughters — Marjorie Mary born in 1903, Kathleen Isobel in 1907, Norah Louise in 1908 and Dorothy Jean in 1913.
In 1905, Rose Emma sailed from Liverpool to Montreal to visit her younger brother Frank who had emigrated years before. She stayed with him in Canada until 1908 when she returned to England. By 1911, Ada had returned home to live with her parents and her sister Rose Emma in Camberwell. Her occupation was still listed as Governess but no employer was noted so she may have been between positions. Peter was still working as a Corrector for Press although this census includes more detail on his occupation as his occupation includes Printer's Reader. The census also notes that the family occupied eight rooms and once again, they were able to afford to hire one live in servant. Jennie had accepted a job with the London Telegraph Office and was assigned to their office in Prenteg, Merionethshire near Snowdonia National Park in North Wales.
Peter died at home on 9 December 1920 and was buried at Herne Hill Cemetery in Camberwell. Jane Oddy died six months later in May 1921. Peter died intestate but his estate, valued at only £12, was proved in London on 16 September 1921 to his daughter Rose. Although they had seven surviving children, only three went on to marry and only two of those had children. Peter and Jane had seven grandchildren, four girls by daughter Daisy and three boys by son Frank.
Rose returned to Canada for a second visit in 1928 and sailed on board the Aurania from Southampton to Montreal on 14 July and she listed her sister Ada of 32 Wyatt Park Road in Streatham as her next of kin in England. Ada, Rose and Jennie lived together in Streatham — the house on Wyatt Park was owned by their brother Albert. Ada died in June 1940 and was buried at Nunhead Cemetery on 28 June and Jennie was killed in a road accident in Bournemouth on 23 June 1948 and buried at Nunhead Cemetery.
Daisy died in Streatham on 10 February 1953 and probate on her £3000 estate was granted to Frank William Hunt, a retired valuer. Her husband, Ernest Coote, had died in 1919 but Daisy never remarried and raised her three young daughters alone. Rose died at Lambeth Hospital on 27 August 1956 and was buried at Nunhead Cemetery on 31 August; probate on her estate, valued at £580, was granted to her niece Kathleen Coote.