mary ann bingley
Mary was born in Bethnal Green in 1827 to Paul Bingley and his wife Ann. Her baptism record has not been located but most available records consistenly list her year of birth as 1827. All of her siblings were baptised at St Leonard in Shoreditch so she was probably baptised at the same church.
Mary grew up on William Street and although there were several streets with this name, they most likely lived on the one just off Kingsland Road which was very close to St Leonard’s Church. When she was in her early teens, Mary’s family moved to Cross Street which was on the eastern edge of Bethnal Green near Regent’s Canal. The area was developing quickly with new streets and houses being built on the open fields but it was still a semi-rural area and far less densely populated than the rest of the parish.
She married Isaac Malandain on 15 August 1853 at St Matthew in Bethnal Green and they had seven children but only five survived infancy. The family settled on East Street just off Bethnal Green Road where they lived for more than twenty years. Isaac worked as a Weaver at a time when the weaving trade was in serious decline and as a result, the family struggled to survive on Isaac’s wages even with Mary Ann working as a Weaver as well. Their situation became so desperate that Mary Ann was forced to apply for parish relief in 1861.
In 1869, Isaac died leaving Mary Ann to care for five children under the age of 15 but she managed to keep her family together despite the loss. Mary Ann died in Bethnal Green in 1888.
paul bingley + ann
Very little is known about Paul and even less about his wife. Paul’s baptism record has not been found but based on the age listed on his burial record, his estimated date of birth is about 1771. Their marriage has not been found either and Ann’s surname remains a mystery.
Records relating to two children have been found — their son Paul was born at their home in George Yard on 5 August 1797 and he was baptised at the nearby church of St Leonard in Shoreditch on 21 August. They were living on Holywell Lane in Bethnal Green when their daughter Ann was born on 13 March 1806 and they had her baptised at St Leonard on 7 April.
Paul died in Bethnal Green and was buried at Gibraltar Row Burial Ground on 17 February 1833, aged 62 years. His occupation was not listed in any of the available records but it seems likely he was a Silk Weaver and trained his son in the same trade.
No death record has been located for Ann and it is not known if she pre-deceased or survived her husband.
paul bingley + ann
Paul’s marriage record has not been found but like his father, he married a woman named Ann. Birth or baptism records have been found for seven children and their first, William, was born on 1 April 1816. Paul was only 19 years old when his son was born, and his wife most likely the same age, so they probably had not been married long. William was not baptised until the following spring, on 20 April 1817, at St Leonard in Shoreditch at which time the family was living on William Street and Paul was working as a Weaver. Over the next few months, they moved to Nichol Street where their daughter Ann was born on 20 June. Like her brother she was also baptised at St Leonard on 13 July 1817.
Mary was born on 19 March 1818 and they had returned to William Street by the time she was baptised at St Leonard on 4 April 1819 but she died in infancy. They had twin boys, Henry and Paul, on 18 April 1824 and both boys were baptised on 23 May but Paul died six months later and was buried in Mile End New Town on 17 October.
Mary Ann was born about 1827 but neither her birth or baptism record has been found to confirm the date. The family was still living on William Street when they had a second son named Paul on 12 February 1829; he was baptised at St Leonard on 11 March.
By 1841, Paul and Ann had moved to Cross Street in Bethnal Green where they lived with four of their children — William, Henry, Mary and Paul. Ann had left home the previous Christmas when she married Henry Phillips at St Matthew, Bethnal Green on 24 December 1840. Henry was also a Silk Weaver and after marrying, they lived on East Street and later Seabright Street in Bethnal Green. Ann and Henry had seven children.
Two of their sons, William and Henry, married sisters Sarah and Ann Davis. William married Sarah on 22 May 1843 at St John in Hackney and one year later, on 29 April 1844, Henry married Ann at the same church. William and Sarah did not have any children but Henry and Ann had six.
In 1851, Paul and Ann were still living on Cross Street with only their youngest children, Mary and Paul, remaining with them. Paul was working as a Silk Weaver, his wife and daughter as Silk Winders and son as a Chair Maker. Several weeks later, on 22 April, his son Paul married Louisa Davis, sister to Sarah and Ann, at St John in Hackney and they had fourteen children. In 1853, their daughter Mary Ann married Isaac Malandain at St Matthew in Bethnal Green.
Ann died in 1859 and was buried in the church yard at St John of Jerusalem in Hackney on 4 July. After her death, Paul moved in with his eldest son William and his wife who lived on neighbouring John Street and he was still working as a Silk Weaver. He doesn’t appear in the 1871 Census, either with his son or elsewhere, but in September 1873, he applied for parish relief and listed his most recent address as William’s house at 23 John Street although the Poor Law record doesn’t contain any details on why he was no longer living with family. Two years later, Paul died in Bethnal Green.
Paul's son Henry pre-deceased him in 1868 and eldest son William died in 1895. Youngest son Paul died in 1914.