1
Some data on Florence Eliza May and Walter Pocock.
Collected by David Man, April 2014.
1859-60 Florence Eliza May was known as ‘Dolly’ in the family. She was the elder
sister of our direct ancestor Eleanor Ida May. She was born on 12th
November 1859 at
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the daughter of Thomas May (1822-1873) and Ida Marie
Wolff (1834-1877). Florence was baptized at St. George’s Anglican Church in that city
on 20th
(?) May 1860.
Below Florence’s baptism: Florence Eliza May daughter of Thomas
May & of Ida Marie Wolff his wife
was born on the Twelfth day of November
Eighteen Hundred & Fifty Nine and
was Baptised on the Thirteenth day of
May Eighteen Hundred & Twenty.
By Me
William Bond
Parents names:
Ida Marie May
Thomas May
Sponsors:
Richard Wolff [brother of Ida Marie]
Eliza Amelia May [sister of Thomas]
Ida Marie May
Below Dolly (left) and her sister Alice in Montreal.
2
1879 The marriage of Walter Pocock and Florence Eliza May. Walter is aged 27, a
bachelor, and his occupations is ‘surgeon’. She is aged 20 and a spinster. They were
married on 26th
November at St. John the Evangelist Church in the Borough of Lambeth
in Surrey. Bridegrooms’ father’s name: William Pocock. Spouse’s father’s name:
Thomas May (deceased). Walter is living at 337 Brixton Road. Florence is living at 16
Christ Church [Christchurch] Road, Streatham in Surrey.
Walter and Florence (May) Pocock had three children (Cecil, Sidney, and Gladys) but
there do not appear to be any descendants of this branch of the May / Pocock family.
Before looking at the family in more detail we will first describe some basic facts about
Walter’s Pocock family.
WALTER POCOCK and the POCOCK FAMILY:
1852 Birth of Walter Pocock. Walter was born in 1852 and baptized on 1st December
1852 at St. Matthew, Brixton in Surrey. His parents were William and Ann residing at
Sutherland Terrace.
1861 Census of England. The Pocock family is residing at 1 St. John's Villas, Angel
Terrace, Lambeth, London. William Pocock (43) is a shown as Member of the Royal
College of Surgeons and a Licentiate of Apothecary Hall. His wife Ann (42) is present
along with two other children: Mary (5) and Alfred (1). Walter is not present.
3
1861 continued (second page)
Also staying with William and family are two nieces, Marianne and Sarah, the daughters
of William’s sister Elizabeth (Pocock) and her husband Thomas Hatton.
Below Marianne Hatton whose mother was Elizabeth Pocock. Marianne was residing
with her uncle William on the 1861 census above. This photograph was taken in 1910 at
Ostenede.
1861 Census. Walter (8) and his sisters Florence (11) and Alice (13) (last line) are at a
boarding school ‘Keymer Lodge’ at Keymer in West Sussex. The school has not
survived.
4
1871 The Pocock family on the census for England residing at No. 28 Brixton Road, at
Lambeth in Surrey, showing William aged 53, General Practitioner, born at Brighton in
Sussex. His wife Ann is aged 52 also born in Brighton and their three children: Florence
aged 21, Walter (a medical student) aged 18, and a son Alfred G[eorge] C[larke] aged 11.
Alfred, like his father and his brother, was also a medical doctor. All the children were
born in Brixton in Surrey. Also shown is a niece Emma Pocock aged 25 born in Brighton.
There are four servants.
1872 The Times, Saturday 27th
April. Walter passes his medical exams in anatomy and
physiology. He is a student at St. Thomas’s hospital.
1881 The Walter Pocock family on the census for England is located at ‘Broadlands’, 57
Effra Road at Lambeth in Surrey. First page: Walter is aged 28 and a general practitioner
(MD), his wife Florence is aged 21 and staying with them is Florence’s brother Sydney
[Sidney] May aged 18 and a he is described as a ‘scholar’. Google map shows only
5
modern developments along Effra Road and so the house that the Pococks lived in has
probably been demolished.
1881 (continued) census second page showing servants:
From 1880 to 1887 Walter appears on the land tax returns for 57 Effra Road. The house
is owned by a Mrs. Jewett; so Walter was renting. Below is shown the 1886 land tax
assessment for £1 1s 8d.
ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE BIRTHS AND BAPTISMS OF CECIL,
SIDNEY, and GLADYS.
1882 The Pall Mall Gazette, Saturday, 13th
May. Announcement of the birth of Cecil
born on 11th
May.
6
1883 The Times, Tuesday, 23rd
October. Announcement of the birth of Sidney on 20th
October.
1885 The Times, Friday, 20th
November. Announcement of the birth of Gladys on 19th
November.
Baptisms at St John the Evangelist, Wiltshire Road, Lambeth in Surrey.
1882 Baptism of Cecil Pocock, born on 11th
May, and baptized on 18th
July as Walter
Willy Hugh Cecil Pocock, but always known as Cecil.
1883-84 Baptism of Sidney Pocock, born on 20th
October 1883, and baptized on 27th
March 1884 as Frederick Sidney Pocock, but always known as Sidney.
1885-86 Baptism of Gladys Pocock, born on 19th
November 1885, and baptized on 15th
April 1886 as Florence Gladys May Pocock, but always known as Gladys.
7
WALTER POCOCK’S PROFESSIONAL CAREER
1884 Transactions of the Willan Society of London: A society for the study of
dermatology and syphilis. Volume. I. It would appear that sometime between 1882 and
1884 Walter qualified as a surgeon (MRCS – Member of the Royal College of Surgeons)
and hence, following tradition, is addressed as Mr.
1884 Transactions of the Obstetrical Society of London, Volume 26
8
1887 The Times Tuesday, 5th
April. Walter Pocock is a partner in a new venture – The
London Skin Hospital.
1887 Further reports of the establishment of the new London Skin Hospital.
1887 London Medical Press and Circular. 9th
March
The London Skin Hospital.
It appears to have become a rule almost without exception that out of each hospital
dispute shall evolve another special hospital. Thus the original Hospital for Diseases of
the Throat, in Golden Square, is the focus from whence two or three others have sprung,
one; and now another skin hospital springs into existence, from a "scandal" at St. John's
Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, Leicester Square, the centre of many previous
eruptions. And on the principle that there is nothing like bringing sin home to one's very
door, the "London Skin Hospital" has been opened in Cranbourne Street, within a few
yards of its foster parent; and we are requested to announce that as an initiatory step of
the Committee of Management, the following appointments have been made: — Mr. Jas.
Startin, M.RC.S.; Mr. Walter Pocock, M.R.C.S.; and Mr. Edward Joseph Barry, M.D.
Ed., M.R.C.S. Eng. to be Honorary Medical Officers to the Hospital; and Mr. Startin,
Lecturer.
1889 Reynolds's Newspaper, Sunday, 3rd
November. Walter is briefly mentioned in a
news story.
9
1889 The London Gazette, 15th
November. Announcement of the dissolution of a
business partnership between Walter and Adam R.H. Oakley.
1891 The Times, Saturday, 19th
December. Notice of bankruptcy.
1891 The Pocock family on the census for England. Since the 1881 census, as we have
seen, three children have been added to the family. The census below shows two: Sidney
(7) and Gladys (5). Cecil is probably away at boarding school. Walter puts his occupation
10
as ‘Duly registered practioner’. There are three servants. They are still residing at 57
Effra Road.
EMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES
1892 Walter emigrated to the U.S. and a year later Florence and their three children
followed. The US naturalization papers have not been located yet. On various sources it
states that the naturalization of Walter’s children took place on 25th
May 1898 at Jersey
City, New Jersey.
1893 Arrival in New York of Florence (May) Pocock (33) and her three children Cecil
(11), Sidney (9), and Gladys (7) on board the S.S. Elbe from Southampton on 26th
September.
S.S. Elbe
11
1900 The Pocock family on the US census residing at Avenue C, Bayonne (Ward 3,
Hudson County) New Jersey.
Name
Age
Walter Pocock 47
Florence Pocock 40
Cecil Pocock 18
Sidney Pocock 16
Gladys Pocock 14
Helen Brennan 43
1900 US census Cecil is at Mount Hermon Boys School in Massachusetts.
Note on Mt Hermon School: Founded by the 19th
century evangelist Dwight Lyman
Moody in 1881, the school aimed to educate young people who had limited access to
education because they were poor. Moody hoped to create generations of committed
Christians who would continue his evangelical efforts. While the Bible was the primary
tool for instruction in the early days, the institution was never dogmatic. Religious
instruction was accompanied by a challenging academic program similar to that of other
private secondary schools of the era. ( from the school’s website). I have also found a
record on the census for Sidney FL Pocock at Mt Hermon but the transcriber says he was
born in Maine; perhaps an error?
12
1901 Walter Pocock died on 23rd
June and a copy of the official New Jersey state ‘Report
of Death’ has been recovered. From it we learn that Walter died at 922 Avenue D,
Bayonne, New Jersey. He had been living in the US for ten years and he was 48 years old
at the time of death. The cause of death was Angina Pectoris, nephritis. He had been ill
for a month before death and had been attended during that time by a Dr. Stevens who
resided at 150 Avenue D in Bayonne. Walter was buried at Bay View Cemetery, Garfield
Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey.
13
1905 New Jersey State Census. (image of census not available)
Florence M Pocock F 44
Cecil W W H Pocock M 22
Sydney F L Pocock M 21
Gladys F M Pocock F 19
1905 Passenger arrivals at New York on 12th
November aborad the Minnetonka: Florence
and Gladys.
Minnetonka
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1910 15th
February Passenger arrivals on board the Minnehaha (built by Harland and
Wolff) showing Florence and daughter Gladys on the last two lines
1910 Federal census Florence aged 50 and a widow and her daughter Gladys aged 22 and
single are living at 393 Avenue C, Bayonne City, New Jersey.
1912 14th
September, Florence Pocock arrival in New York aboard the Philadelphia. The
form states her age as 50 whereas Florence would have been 53. The address she gives is
virtually the same as the one on the censuses above.
1913 Under the terms of the will of her uncle Gustav Wilhelm Wolff (founder of the
shipbuilding company Harland and Wolff) Florence received 12,000 pounds which was
to be held in trust and invested for by her nephew Frederick Albert Wolff May.
1915 New York census living at 126 West 91st Street, New York City. Showing Florence
(55) who gives her occupation as Housekeeper. Her son Cecil (33) an Engineer and
daughter Gladys (28) who has no occupation are residing with their mother. A daughter
15
in law appears who is ‘Sarah’. Probably the transcriber made a mistake, as this is
probably Cecil’s wife Gwendoline (see Cecil’s section below).
1916 . Florence on the New York City directory at 126 West 91st Street.
Sidney Pocock and ? Gladys
1918 Arrival at Liverpool on board the Adriatic but I am not absolutely sure this is “our”
Florence. Why Essex?
16
1920 US census Florence and her daughter Gladys are transcribed as ‘Popocock’.
Surprisingly Gladys has an ‘m’ next to her name indicating that she is married, but
without indicating what her married name is. We know from her mother’s death
registration, which was made by Gladys one month after this census was taken, that she
was married to a man named Collyer. On this census they do not state any occupation. No
street address is given, only the electoral district in which they are living - Manhattan
Assembly District 20, New York, New York. However, since Florence died a month
later her death registration gives us more detail (see below).
1920 According to her death certificate/registration Florence Pocock died on 6th
February
at 2051 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York. (Her date of birth is given incorrectly as
6th
February 1861 whereas she was in fact born on 12th
November 1859). Her age is given
as 59 whereas she was in fact aged 60. Her occupation is ‘none’. The cause of death is
given as influenza with diabetes mellitus a secondary cause. It also says that her mother
was born in Canada whereas she was born in Hamburg, Germany. Florence was buried
on 9th
February at Bay View Cemetery, New Jersey where her husband Walter had been
interred over a decade previously.
The undertaker, Samuel Watson, is employed by Gladys F Collier the daughter of the
deceased. Thus confirming what the 1920 census says which is that Gladys is married.
The 1920 census was conducted on 6th
January, just a month before Florence Pocock
died. Both sides of Florence’s death certificate are shown below:
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The ‘A’ below marks the spot where Gladys died.
18
A PICTORIAL INTERLUDE
1905 Four years after Walter died, Dolly took her children Sidney and Gladys to visit her
sister Eleanor Ida (May) Loeck and her family in Hamburg. The photographs below
record that visit.
Back row from left to right: Ida, Sidney, and Gladys. Front row: Dolly, Gerda, and Eleanor Ida
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From left to right: Gerda, Ida, Gladys, Nora, and Sidney
The two sisters: Florence (Dolly) Pocock and Eleanor Ida Loeck
20
Ida Loeck (left) and her first cousin Gladys Pocock
21
Gladys Pocock (left) and her first cousin Nora Loeck
Ida Loeck, Gladys Pocock, and Nora Loeck
22
Gladys Pocock in Hamburg
Florence and Gladys Pocock at Bayonne, New
Jersey
The Pocock family on the beach: Sidney, Gladys, and Dolly (Florence). The book is:
Dr. Luttrell’s First Patient by Rosa N. Carey.
23
Florence (May) Pocock known as Dolly
DATA ON CECIL WALTER POCOCK:
1903 Lehigh University, Pennsylvania. The Epitome (Student’s Magazine).
24
The Hermon Club refers to Mt Hermon School
1904 LeHigh University Students’ hall of residence and their home addresses:
1906 Cecil at Columbia University studying for a Masters in Engineering.
25
1906 Columbia University Yearbook
1908 Engineering and Mining Journal, Volume 86, 17th
October.
Cecil Pocock, formerly with the Santa Fe Gold and Copper Mining Company, has
recently become general manager of the Montezuma Mines, Inc., with mines at
Montezuma, Costa Rica, Central America.
1908 Mining and Scientific Press, Volume 97, 12th
December.
Cecil Pocock has been appointed general manager of the Montezuma mines, in Costa
Rica.
1912. Engineering and Mining Journal, Volume 94, 14th
September.
Cecil Pocock, for the last three years with the Cerro de Pasco Mining Co., is now in
charge of the Santa Clara group of mines, at Morococha, Peru.
1912 Columbia Alumni News, Volume 4, No. 5, 11th
October.
Class of 1906 — Cecil Pocock, for the past three years chief engineer of the Cerro de
Pasco Mining Company of Cerro de Pasco, Peru, has resigned to take over the
management of the Santa Clara group of mines at Marococha, Peru.
1914 Marriage of Cecil (aged 31) to Gwendoline Sutton-Flack (aged 27) on 31st January
at Lima, Peru. Below is the US consular marriage certificate.
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1914 Engineering and Mining Journal, Volume 97, 14th
February.
1914 Lehigh University, Volume 1, Number 3, 1st April. Pocock — Flack . C. W. W. H. Pocock, '05, was married to Miss Gwendoline Sutton Flack, in Lima, Peru, on February 3. Mr. Pocock is a mining engineer connected with the Cerro de Pasco Mining Co., Cerro de Pasco, Peru. 1914 Passenger arrivals at Liverpool from New York aboard The Baltic on 20th March: Cecil and Gwendoline.
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1914 Passenger arrivals in New York from Southampton on 8th June aboard the Minnehaha.
1914 Passenger arrivals at the Port of New York on 26th November aboard S.S. Santa Marta:
28
S.S. Santa Marta
1915 Bulletin of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, No. 98, February:
PERSONAL
Members and guests who registered at Institute headquarters during the period Dec. 10,
1914, to Jan. 10, 1915: Cecil W. Pocock, Peru.
1916 Catalogue of Officers and Graduates of Columbia University.
Cecil Walter Pocock, E. M., 06. (892 Ave. C, Bayonne, N. J.)
1916 The New York Times, THE DEATH of WALTER POCOCK 19th July. :
CECIL’S WIDOW GWENDOLINE (Gwen) SUTTON-FALK 1881 She was born on 23rd August in England. Her father was Walter Sutton-Flack (1841 - 1907) and her mother was Sarah Louisa Mayo (1838 - 1925). 1920 On the US census Walter’s widow Gwendoline is recorded as a nurse aged 32 at the Hospital of the Good Shepherd at Syracuse Ward 16, Onondaga, New York.
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A list of residence of Syracuse arriving at Ellis Island, New York, has been transcribed and Gwendoline appears on the list three times: 1921, 1922, and 1923. Her address is given as: 220 McClelland Avenue, Syracuse, N.Y.
1970 Gwendoline’s death was registered in the second quarter of 1970 at Basingstoke in Berkshire, England (see last line).
DATA ON SIDNEY POCOCK 1915 Below are Sidney Pocock and his wife Ethel (Hughes) on 6th August at Mushkola Lake.
30
1918 Sidney’s first world war draft registration forms (below) showing that he is aged 34 living at 112 Farnham Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada and that he is the manager of a company called Cotton Threads Co. of 26 Wellington Street in Toronto. Given his age he was probably not called up for active duty.
31
1916. Registration of a US Citizen abroad. We learn from this that Sidney’s wife’s name
was Ethel N. Hughes and that she was born in Toronto, Canada. The certificate seems to
be dated by hand 30th
June 1916 and is valid for one year. It says that Sidney left the US
in November 1909 and arrived in Canada on 25th
April 1912. His purpose in residing in
Toronto is to represent a company. He obtained his US Citizenship through his father
having been naturalized on 25th
May 1898 at the Court of Common Pleas in Jersey City,
New Jersey.
32
1931. The death of Sidney from testicular cancer on 21st April aged 47 while residing at
119 Farnham Avenue, Toronto, Canada. He was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery on 23rd
April.
33
So far I have been unable to find when and where Ethel died.
As for Gladys Pocock notes I have on her say she married a man named Collier Reineke.
However I have been unable to locate such a marriage. And I have been unable to locate
a date of death.
APPENDIX
1890. Examination of Mr. Horatio Nelson Hardy by a select committee of the House of
Lords on Special Hospitals in London reported in House of Commons Papers, Volume
16, 12 May.
Question: Can you tell us at all how a person would set about getting up a special
Hospital?
Response: Yes; it is very simple. A medical man who wanted to get fame and reputation
would get a few friends of his together, and form a committee; then someone would be
got, a young man who had not a great deal to do, who would work the thing, who would
34
run it, as the Americans say, and he would issue a number of advertisements pointing out
that such a hospital had been long wanted, and supplied a great void, and that the staff
was the most capable that ever was known for treating special diseases of women and
children, and the eyes, and the nose, and the toes, and every other part of the body. And
an arrangement would be made by which the secretary would receive a certain proportion
of the receipts, and he would get some friend to advance a little money, and they would
take an old house, perhaps a tumble-down house which no one could be got to rent in
ordinary circumstances, and he would fit up a few beds in it, and open an out-patient
department, and then the thing is done.
Question: Does such a hospital as that get on to the Hospital Sunday Fund?
Response: Certainly; as soon as it had been established for three years it gets on the
Hospital Sunday Fund.
Question: But how do they manage to exist during the three years?
Response: That is a question which I think probably the secretaries know more about than
has ever been published; but all one can judge from is, that occasionally there are
revelations. There was, for instance, in the case of a special hospital for skin diseases; in
which it appeared that the secretary, after taking up a hospital like that, worked it a great
deal for his own benefit; the arrangement was, that he got 15 per cent on the receipts, and
he worked it up from, I think, £1,400 a year to about £3,000 a year, on which he would
get, of course, £450 a year, partly from payments of the patients, and partly from the
contributions of the charitable, to whom it was represented that the hospital was doing a
most important work, and had to be supported, and all the rest of it.
Question: Then, I suppose, there is also the annual dinner and bazaar?
Response: Annual dinner and bazaar, and fireworks of all sorts.
Question: I fancy the bazaars are not confined to special hospitals?
Response: Not at all.
Question: Sometimes a very great deal of expense is undertaken, which is entirely
speculative, and the returns are not equal even to the original expense of the undertaking?
Response: Yes; that sort of thing is overdone.
Question: Is it the case that the better the position of the president the better the chance of
the hospital?
Response: Yes.
Question: The treatment in any hospital is not very expensive to the hospital, is it ?
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Response: Do you mean of persons as in-patients or as out-patients?
Response to Resposne: As in-patients.
Response: As in-patients it is expensive.
Question: Is there a profit to be made in a general way out of a charge for a patient of a
guinea a week ?
Response: No; I do not think there is. I think the speculative hospitals, which I
understand your Lordship to be referring to, do not lay themselves out so much for
treating patients as in-patients as they do for treating them as outpatients; it is from the
out-patients they make their money; the out-patients will pay 1s., 2 s., 3, 4 s., or 5 s. for
treatment.
Question: Are you speaking now of the Jubilee Hospital?
Response: I am not speaking now of the Jubilee Hospital; I do not know anything more of
the Jubilee Hospital than I have already told you.
Question: You were speaking of the manner in which speculative hospitals manage to get
on?
Response: Yes they can make considerable sums from the treatment of out-patients, and
they do; and it was principally by the treatment of those outpatients that that hospital to
which I referred, the Skin Hospital, made its money.
Question: Will you continue your list?
Response: The next is the London Skin Hospital in Cranbourne Street, Leicester-square.
My objection to it is, in the first place, that skin hospitals are not wanted, and in the
second place, that if they were, there are already two skin hospitals, which are quite
sufficient for the wants of the inhabitants who are afflicted with those diseases; they can
be treated at general hospitals quite as well as at special hospitals, and there are already
two, one at Blackfriars and the St. John's, two well-known hospitals.
Question: Do you know anything about the Skin hospital; how it was founded, for
instance?
Response: No, nothing but a small hospital of that kind is wasteful, necessarily wasteful.
It is necessarily wasteful to have a small hospital of that kind, because the expenses must
be largely out of proportion to those at a large hospital; neither can they have the
advantage of the staff of a large hospital. All those patients could be far better treated at
a large general hospital.
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Question: And with regard to the skin hospital in Cranbourne-strcet: in this return, which
has been furnished to us by the Charity Organisation Society, there is no record of the
cost of occupied beds, or the number of in-patients, or the cost of in-patients; there is
nothing except the notification of 725 out-patients?
Response: That probably will be because it was only furnished in 1887; it is one of the
new hospitals, and that return, I think, dealt with those treated in 1887.
Question: There is one question I wish to ask you. You mentioned your wish that some
of these special hospitals should be abolished; but there was one class of special
hospitals; to which you referred, in regard to which you stated that certain special
hospitals were unnecessary because of the existence of other special hospitals?
Response: Yes.
Question: Then am I to take it that you would not abolish all the special hospitals, those,
for instance, for the skin; you mentioned that one of the skin hospitals was apparently
unnecessary, because there was already the St. .John's Hospital for the treatment of these
cases ?
Response: And another at Blackfriars.
Question: Therefore I may take it you do not think it necessary to abolish all special skin
hospitals?
Response: No, in the present state of affairs; they have arisen in consequence of some of
the general hospitals not giving sufficient attention to these special departments; but if the
general hospitals were properly organised, I think it would be possible to abolish the
special hospitals without any detriment to the public interest.
1884. The Medical Times and Gazette, Volume 1 Walter Pocock’s brother Alfred:
37
EARLIER POCO
Spouse: MARION HATTON
Parent/s: George and Caroline (de
Paravicini) Simon. Parent/s: Thomas and Elizabeth E (Pocock) Hatton of Brighton.
Born: 30 January 1842 Brixton, London. Born: 4 August 1847 Westminster, London.
Married: 28 November 1871, St. John's,
Cuckfield, Sussex. Married: 28 November 1871. St. John's, Cuckfield, Sussex.
Died: 12 March 1895, Ostende, Belgium. Died: 30 May 1912, Ostende, Belgium.
Occupation: Wine Merchant. Occupation: Milliner on 1871 census.
Notes: Witnesses at wedding, Charles
Ray and Lucy Nora Hatton.
MARRIAGE 1
Notes: 1861 census, scholar, age 13, with her Uncle William Pocock
M.R.C.S. and family at 1 St. John's Villas, Angel Terrace,
Lambeth, London.
Thomas Hatton, a milliner, with his wife Elizabeth, three sons
and three daughters were living at 3 Ship Street, Brighton on
the 1871 census.
SEE PICTURE OF MARION
Source: Marriage cert., family notes. Source: Marriage cert., Simon family notes,
1861 RG9/365 F110 P5.
1871 RG10/1085 F55 P5.