william thomas mallandain + alice jane wooding
William Thomas was born on on 1 April 1870, to William Samuel Mallandain and his wife Jane Bull, and baptised at St Mary in Haggerston on 23 April 1876 along with three of his siblings. He grew up in Haggerston, originally part of Shoreditch but now in the Borough of Hackney, on Scawfell Street and later Pownall Road.
He was living with his family on Pownall Road and working as a Clerk when he married Alice Jane Wooding at St Mary’s Church on 30 July 1893. Alice was the daughter of Joseph Wooding, a Shoemaker, and his wife Elizabeth, and she was baptised at St Matthias Bethnal Green on 6 Nov 1870. Her family was living on the south side of Regent’s Canal on Hackney Road in south Haggerston.
They had three daughters and their fist, Alice Dorothy, was born in June of 1894 and baptised at St Paul in Haggerston on 27 June. They were living on Pownall Road as well but further down the street at number 67 however, by the time Alice started school at St Paul’s in Hackney on 1 March 1899, they had moved to Trederwen Street. Daughter Ethel Beatrice was born there on 25 September 1899 and baptised on 15 October at St Mary.
When the 1901 census was taken, the family was still living at 7 Trederwen Street where they occupied four rooms and another family occupied the remaining three rooms. William was working as a Commercial Clerk although his employer or the nature of the business is not known.
Elsie May was born on 18 July 1904 and one month later, she too was baptised at St Mary in Haggerston. But the family had moved back to Pownall Road and were living first at number 6 next to William’s parents, and later at number 7 when Ethel started school at St Paul’s.
In 1911, the family of five was still at 7 Pownall Road and occupied four rooms. The census also contains a little more information on William’s work and notes that he was a Newspaper Clerk. His eldest daughter, 16 year old Alice, was also employed and working as an Assistant Milliner — someone who makes or sells hats.
When she was only nineteen, Alice married Robert Cavers on 21 December 1914 at the Hackney Register Office. Robert was born on 11 August 1890 in Croydon, to William Cavers and Mary Josephine Long, and worked as a Grocer’s Assistant. One year after their marriage, he gave up his job as a grocer and enlisted in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps and his attestation papers show that at the time, they were living at 87 Foulden Road in Stoke Newington in the north west part of Hackney. Robert travelled to Le Havre in France and joined his battalion in October 1916 but only five months later, he suffered a gun shot wound to his left thigh and was sent to the military hospital in Rouen for treatment. He rejoined his battalion on 25 May 1917 and fought in the Battle of Langemarck near Ypres in August and September before being taken prisoner by the Germans on 20 September. He was transferred to a prisoner of war camp in Germany two months later but from his military record, it appears he only remained in the camp for one week and it is not known if he was transferred to another camp or returned to his battalion as part of a prisoner exchange.
He was discharged on 28 February 1919 and later applied for an Army pension based on the disability caused by his leg injury. After he returned home, Robert and Alice had two daughters and lived in north London for many years. Alice died at their home at 92 Lancaster Road in Enfield and probate was granted to her husband on her estate valued at £459.
Ethel married Walter Frederick Dobson the son of Charles and Rose Dobson, in Hackney in September 1924. Walter, along with his older brother Harold, grew up in Shoreditch and he was working as a Warehouseman when he married. They moved to south London and had two sons. Walter died in Lewisham in 1947 and Ethel in Haywards Heath Sussex in 1985.
Alice Jane died in Hackney in 1929, aged only 59 years, and was buried at Abney Park Cemetery on 23 August. In the spring of 1933, William remarried to Eva Mary Cox in Brighton. His youngest daughter Elsie married several months later to Charles Walter Copus in Stoke Newington. Charlie was the son of Philip Copus, a Boot Maker, and his wife Emily Chantry. He was born in Hoxton on 3 May 1900 and baptised at St Saviour’s Church on 20 May. Elsie and Charlie had two daughters and lived in Enfield for many years. Elsie died in 1986 and her husband pre-deceased her in 1970.
In 1939, William and his second wife Eva were living at 77 Palatine Road in Stoke Newington and he was working as a Sporting Journalist and she as a housewife. William Thomas died in Stoke Newington in 1945 and Eva died in 1956.