Jeffries and Treacher Family History

Woolwich Common, which was originally known as the Charlton and Woolwich Commons, is to the south of Woolwich itself.  The common is bordered on the eastern side by the A205 South Circular Road which leads down to the Ferry.  The Common is about a quarter of a mile wide and about half a mile long, stretching up to Shooter's Hill Road.  On the western side is the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, formerly a military hospital.  

The southern edge of the barracks was marked by a ha-ha, giving its name to the road which runs beside it.  It is thought that the ha-ha may have been built by convicts from the Woolwich Hulks.  It was originally called the haw-haw.  The hedge and fence along the top were added later.

On the far side of the A205 was a row of large terraced houses, one of which was the home for a while to General Gordon, and I can remember it carrying a blue plaque.  Behind these houses was the maze of streets where the family lived.  All were destroyed in the 1979's and the area covered with new houses.  Some of the old road names were kept.  Although there is no longer an Engineer Road, there is an Engineer Close.

In the Woolwich Photo Galleries Section there are some photos of the Common area, including the ha-ha where Mum played and the water fountain and horse trough, which she remembered well.  The hedge along the top of the ha-ha was not there at the time.

When Samuel Abbott and Robert Treacher arrived in Woolwich (see below), it was a large town in Kent and was home to the Royal Arsenal, the Royal Artillery and Woolwich Dockyard and other establishments.  With the formation of the London County Council (LCC) in 1889, Woolwich became a London Borough.  In 1963, the LCC was abolished and Woolwich became part of the London Borough of Greenwich, although it remained as the administrative hub of the Borough.

Further information about Woolwich

• Woolwich on Wikipedia
• Woolwich Free Ferry
• A Vision of Britain Through Time

Ancestors in Woolwich - An Overview

(For a full account of our ancestors in Woolwich see Woolwich Family in the
Narratives Section.)

The family association with the Woolwich Common area came about because both of my maternal great grandfathers, Samuel Abbott, from Suffolk, and Robert Treacher, from Hertfordhire, became gunners in the Royal Artillery, which had its headquarters in Woolwich.  The frontage of the Royal Artillery barracks looks out on the northern end of Woolwich Common, and our ancestors lived either in the barracks or close by, to the east of the Common.  Not surprisingly, censuses show that there were many soldiers from the Royal Artillery and their families living in the same area.

Robert Treacher, who enlisted on 9 September 1870 in Watford , had his medical examination at Woolwich on 12 September 1970, but his first stay here was very short as on 10 October 1870 he was posted to Leith Fort, near Edinburgh. He then had a couple of years at Newcastle, where he appeared on the 1871 census. He was back at Woolwich for another short period between 1873 and 1875. He than had spells in Coldharbour and India and was posted back to Woolwich on 19 March 1884, where he remained for the rest of his life.  Robert and Jessie's first three children were born in India between 1879 and 1883, and he and his family are therefore missing from the 1881 census.  At the 1891 census, he was in Woolwich, where he lived until the end of his life, but the birth certificate for his daughter, Agnes, shows he was in Woolwich in 1888.

Samuel Abbott joined the Royal Artillery in Ipswich and was there at the 1881 census.  His medical records show that he was in Woolwich on 24 May 1881.  His marriage however took place in Suffolk in 1883 so it is not clear whether he and his wife decided to get married where they had previously lived or his spell in Woolwich in May 1881 was temporary.  He was in Woolwich from the 1891 census until the end of his life.

Samuel Abbott's daughter Rose Ellen, born in Woolwich, married Robert Treacher's son, Frederick, born in Plumstead, in Woolwich in 1911, and they settled in Woolwich Common after Frederick was discharged from the Royal Navy in 1919.  Frederick died in 1936 and his wife continued living in Woolwich Common until Mum and Dad moved into Lakedale Road and she moved in with them.

Mum was born in Woolwich in 1918 and lived there until she married in 1941.

Who lived where in Woolwich

41 Ritter Street, Woolwich

Robert and Jessie Treacher (née Flaws) and Frederick Treacher were here at the 1891 census.

22 Ritter Street, Woolwich

Jessie Treacher (née Flaws) and Frederick Treacher were here at the 1901 census.

Jessie Treacher (née Flaws) was here at the time of the 1901/2 and 1902/3 Electoral Register (Local Elections).  The register only shows eligible voters)

Grand Depot Barracks / Cambridge Cottages, Woolwich

Samuel and Clara Ann Abbott (née Scarlett) and Rose Ellen Abbott were here at the 1891 census.

Cottage at rear of 30 Green's End, Woolwich

Samuel and Clara Ann Abbott (née Scarlett) and Rose Ellen Abbott were here at the 1901 census.

19 Engineer Road, Woolwich

Rose Ellen Abbott was here at her marriage on 11 Feb 1911.

26 Engineer Road, Woolwich

Jessie Treacher was born here on 8 June 1918.

15 Engineer Road, Woolwich

Frederick and Rose Ellen Treacher (née Abbott) were here on all of the Electoral Registers from 1927/8 1934/35.

16 Kempt Street, Woolwich

Rose Ellen Treacher (née Abbott) moved here shortly before her daughter, Ivy, died in April 1942.

 

Royal Artillery Barracks

Royal Garrison Church

History

Woolwich Old Cemetery, which is actually in Plumstead, was built as a result of the churchyard of the Woolwich Parish Church of St Mary Magdelen becoming full up.  In his Records of Woolwich and District, W T Vincent writes -

"The beautiful burial-ground which fronts the King's Highway on the eastern slope of Plumstead Common was opened as a cemetery on January 3rd 1856, in pursuance of a poll taken a year earlier.  It was consecrated on the ecclesiastical side by the Bishop of Oxford, the whole having been purchased and laid out at a cost of £6,200, raised by a loan repayable in twenty years."

"The ground, consisting of nearly twelve acres, was practically absorbed in thirty years.  In that period 25,517 burials took place in the cemetery, and it became necessary to obtain more space.  Accordingly, taking time by the forelock, a vestry meeting was called on 21st December 1883, and sanction obtained without a poll to purchase twenty acres of land adjacent.  The cost of this, with the laying out and building a wall round both the enclosures, was estimated at £14,000. This also has been raised by loan, and the new ground was opened on the 23rd of December 1885, on which date the church portion was consecrated by the Bishop of Rochester."

This addition became known as Woolwich New Cemetery.

Both cemeteries were divided into sections, and, certainly in the old cemetery and probably in the new one, within each section the graves round the edge of each section were designated as first class and those in the middle of the sections as third class.

This photo of the old cemetery, looking south, was perhaps taken about 1900 and shows the main entrance in King's Highway.  An area at this end of the cemetery was set aside for Non-Comformist burials, and their chapel, which no longer exists, can be seen on the right.  The steeple of the C of E chapel can just be seen at the top of the picture, just left of centre.  In the top left corner of the photo can be seen the Brick Making site, which in the 1930s became Rockcliffe Gardens.  The current walling, railings, gates and capped pillars may well be the originals, but the rather ornate lodge has been replaced by a more utilitarian building, which when I looked in March 2015 was no longer in use.

See the Google Street View of the main entrance to the cemetery

In the 1980s, the council wrote to all known grave owners to ask for permission to remove the memorial stones in the old cemetery, presumably to make maintenance easier.  The memorials belonging to those who agreed, and I suspect those who did not reply or were untraceable, were removed and some of the headstones placed along the eastern boundary wall.  There is still some space in existing graves, but burials now are very rare.

Family Grave Site in the Old Cemetery

On 2nd December 1901 Samuel Abbott purchased, in perpetuity, a third class grave in the old cemetery, ten feet in depth for five persons at plot I128, to bury his wife Clara Ann Abbott, née Scarlett.  The grave now also contains the bodies of, in order of burial, Samuel Abbott, Frederick Treacher, Ivy Isabelle Treacher and Rose Ellen Treacher, née Abbott

When Gran wanted to bury Granddad in the grave she had to get permission from her older brother, Bill, and to take over ownership of the plot.  It is presumably still held in her name.

In the plan, on which the King's Highway entrance is on the right, the grave is 48 feet from the junction of sections D, E, H and I, and 16 feet from the path between sections H and I.  In the photograph, the site is roughly in the middle.

When I was a child, I used to go with Gran, to help her tend the grave.  It had, as far as I can remember, a simple stone surround with two stone flower pots, one of which carried the name, Ivy.  The stonework was made by W.E. Smith, who had a workshop just by the entrance in King's Highway.  There was a water cistern nearby and a few watering cans, but these are long gone.

Vincent said that it was a beautiful site, and it still is, with its simple but pretty church and many mature trees, including two splendid copper beeches.  (There used to be three, but the third succumbed, I think, to Honey Fungus, and a smaller one is now growing near by.)  The church is still used for burials in the new cemetery.  The Vincent family headstone is still standing.

Photos of the Cemetery can be found in the Woolwich Photo Galleries Section.

 

The Princess Alice Memorial

Just south of the family grave stands a memorial to all those who died in the Princess Alice tragedy.

On the evening of 3rd September 1878, the pleasure steamer Princess Alice, carrying about 700 people, was returning from a day trip on the Thames to Southend, when she was struck near Woolwich by the colliery ship, Bywell Castle.  About 550 of those on board were drowned.  Many of the victims are buried in the cemetery near to the family grave.

W.T.Vincent, in his book Records of Woolwich and District, gives a lengthy description of the tragedy abridged from the reports he filed as a reporter for the Kentish Independent newspaper.

The tragedy has not been forgotton, because in 2003, the 125th anniversary of the disaster, a wreath was laid on the memorial by Greenwich Council.

Here is the text on the memorial -

On the base of the cross -

North Side - To the memory of those who perished this cross was erected by a national sixpenny subscription, to which more than 23000 persons contributed.

West Side - The saloon steamer "Princess Alice", returning from a pleasure excursion, was wrecked off Tripcock Point by collision with the steam collier Bywell Castle on the night of September 3rd 1878.

South Side - It was computed that seven hundred men women and children were on board. Of these about 550 were drowned. One hundred and twenty were buried near this place.

East Side - "In the midst of life we are in death" Jesu Mercy

Round circle at top -

West Side - In Christ Shall All Be Made Alive

East Side - I Am The Resurrection And The Life

Family Grave Sites in the New Cemetery

Robert and Jessie Treacher are buried in section 11 in the north east corner of the New Cemetery.  Sad to say, they are buried in different communal graves.  Presumably the cost of the burial was carried by the Council.

Robert was buried in plot 688 on 26th May 1897.  He was the sixth of seven interred in the plot in 1897, with one more being interred in 1924.

Jessie was buried in plot 1236 on Christmas Eve 1906.  She was the last of twelve interred in the plot in 1906, with one more being interred in 1911.

Also buried in the New Cemetery in plot 970 of section 20 (unconsecrated ground) is Robert and Jessie's youngest child, also called Jessie, who was born prematurely on 28 June 1894 and died the following day.  She was buried on 5 July 1894, the third of twelve buried there, all in 1894.

 

Here is a map of the cemetery with section 11 highlighted and a photo of the part of the section where Robert and Jessie are probably buried -

 

Royal Artillery Barracks in December 2012.

 

 

 

Royal Garrison Church in June 2008.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Woolwich Cemetery in 2008.

 

 

 

Woolwich Common in 2008 and 2012.

 

 

 

Until the formation of the London County Council in 1889, all of the places in this section were outside of London.

Limehouse, Poplar, Shadwell, Stepney and Whitechapel were in Middlesex.  They are now part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.  The name Tower Hamlets, however, appears on pre-1889 censuses as a Paliamentary Borough or a Municipal Borough.

Plumstead was in Kent and merged with Woolwich to form the Borough of Woolwich.  Both Woolwich and Plumstead are now part of the London Borough of Greenwich.

Limehouse

• Limehouse on Wikipedia
• St Anne's Limehouse - A Church Near You
• St Anne's Limehouse on Wikipedia
• Limehouse History
• Limehouse 1868 Map *

* This part of an 1868 Street Map shows Church Row, Park Street, New Street and New Square.  Church Row runs north-south by St Anne's Church, east of the Shadwell Basin, and just north of the railway line.  Park Street, New Street and New Square are close together and are south east of Church Row near the bottom right corner of the map.  All of these roads have now gone.

Plumstead, London

• Plumstead on Wikipedia
• Plumstead Stories

Poplar

• Poplar on Wikipedia
• All Saints and St Nicholas
• Poplar in the Past
• Seaworthy Poplar
• Poplar 1920s Photo
• Poplar 1868 Map *

* This part of an 1868 Street Map shows Phoebe Street near the bottom right corner, close to the Limehouse Roads. Park Street and Phoebe Street have now gone. Abbott Road still exists but where 113 would have been is open ground in the shadow of a gas works.

Shadwell

Further information about Shadwell

• Shadwell on Wikipedia
• St Paul's
• Shadwell History
• Shadwell More History
• Shadwell 1868 Map *

* This part of an 1868 Street Map shows Coleman Street, New Gravel Lane and Philip Street.  Coleman Street and New Gravel Lane are in the bottom left corner, south of the link between Eastern Dock and Shadwell New Basin.  Philip Street is north of the Shadwell New Basin, right by Shadwell Station.

Stepney

• Stepney on Wikipedia
• St Dunstan's - A Church Near You
• St Dunstan's - History

Whitechapel

Ancestors in Whitechapel

• Whitechapel on Wikipedia
• A walk through Whitechapel in 1896
• An Autumn Evening in Whitechapel in 1888
• Whitechapel in 1889
• Whitechapel History
• Whitechapel 1868 Map *
• Whitechapel 1868 Map **

* This part of an 1868 Street Map shows Martha Street and Sheridan Street.  Both streets run east-west.  Martha Street is about a quarter of the way across the map from the left and just above the Blackwall Railway Line.  Sheridan Street runs paralllel two streets north of Martha Street.  There is still a Martha Street in the same place.  I have been unable to find out where Phillip Street and Farmer Street were.  

** This part of an 1868 Street Map shows Ellen Street, which runs east-west and is about half way across the map and about halfway between Commercial Road and the railway line.  There is still an Ellen Street in the same place