william mallandain + sarah ann dodds
William was born in Bethnal Green on 23 Mar 1854 to Isaac Malandain and his wife Mary Ann Bingley. He was baptised, along with three of his siblings, at St Simon Zelots on 10 May 1857. Although his surname was occasionally spelled Mallandaine, he signed his marriage register without the final ‘e’.
photo by Chris Irvine
He married Sarah Dodds at St Peter Stepney on 20 November 1876. Sarah was born in Bow in 1857 and was one of three daughters born to James and Matilda Dodds. When they married, William was living just south of St Dunstan’s Church at 23 White Horse Street where he worked as a Warehouseman and Sarah was living at 291 Oxford Street, now a section of Stepney Way that lies between Cavell and Jubilee Streets.
Their daughter Harriett Matilda, named after Sarah’s two sisters, was born on 18 April 1879. William and Sarah were living at 8 Portland Place in Mile End Old Town when Harriet was born and he was working as an Engineer. But sadly, little Harriet died on 27 May and was buried at Manor Park Cemetery near Ilford in Essex three days later.
They had a second child in early October 1880 but William Horace James died days later and on 11 October, he too was buried at Manor Park. When the census was taken the following year, William and Sarah were living at 56 Chisenhale Road in Bethnal Green where William worked as a Silk Trimming Finisher but he died several months later, aged 27 years, and was buried at Manor Park Cemetery on 8 December.
Manor Park Cemetery
By the middle of the 19th century, both the parish and private burial grounds in London were nearing capacity and the need for a new cemetery was acute. To address the problem, the City of London purchased 200 acres of land seven miles away in Manor Park near Epping Forest in Essex and commissioned William Heywood, the city’s Chief Engineer, to design the new cemetery. The City of London Cemetery and Crematorium, known as Manor Park, was consecrated in 1857 and in the first year of operation, there were almost 3 000 burials. The cemetery became the primary burial ground for London parishes and as parish churches were demolished, particularly those damaged by bombing during the second world war, and their burial grounds cleared, the remains were also moved to Manor Park. Since opening, there have been more than 600 000 burials at Manor Park and now that the cemetery itself is nearing capacity, graves older than 75 years with deep burials are being reused with new burials added on top of older ones.
Sarah Ann remarried to William Bourne on 24 May 1883 at St Mary le Bow and her sister Harriet signed the register as one of the witnesses. Sarah had a daughter named Edith who was born in the spring of 1884 and although she was born three years after William’s death, she was registered under the name Mallandain. There is no record of Sarah and William ever living together and by 1891, Sarah and Edith were living with her parents on Coleworth Road in Leyton. They both appear under the name Mallandaine and Sarah was listed as a widow with no sign of her second husband or any indication as to why she was still using her first husband’s name.
In 1911, Edith was lodging in one room of a house at 10 Cambridge Road in Southend on Sea and working as a Typist for a Shipping Agent. She never married and died in Bournemouth in 1948. Sarah has not been located in the census but she entered the Renfrew Road Workhouse in Camberwell several times in 1914, in March and again in December,but no further records have been located.