JOHN GARFIELD by Sylvia Lagah (NZ) Victorian London holds a fascination for many. A place of dark, brooding alleys, dimly lit streets and fog. Jack London wrote of the East End in his book "People of the Abyss" and Charles Dickens immortalised forever the plight of the underprivileged classes. John Garfield and his sisters grew up in the streets of Whitechapel, Spitalfields and Bethnal Green just a short walk from where Jack the Ripper left his eternal mark nearly 50 years later John was born on 31st May 1841 to John Benjamin and Harriett Garfield. They were at that time living at 8 Princes Court, Tyssen St. Bethnal Green. Nothing is known of his early childhood but by the 1851 census the family was living at 17 Pelham St, Spitalfields. John was the only son in a family of 4 daughters. One other son did not survive. By 1858 John was working as a chair maker, living at 4 Rose St, Bethnal Green. He married Mary Ann Amelia Letley on 6th June 1858 at St. Philips Church. Her birth certificate dated 22nd October 1841, at St Mary, Newington, gives her parents as John Henry and Mary Ann nee Harris. John seems to have lied about his age, being 17 not 21, and the marriage may have been forced on him as Mary Ann was pregnant and gave birth to their daughter Susannah Sarah on 25th October of the same year. The baby was baptised at St Leonard's, Shoreditch on 14th Nov 1858, but died on 21stNovember at only 26 days old, of convulsions. Their next child was John Frederick born 22nd Dec 1859. The 1861 census gives their address as 5 King St, Spitalfields with several other families living at the same address. The 1871 London census perhaps gives us a clue as to what happened to his family. John was living at 13 London St, Bethnal Green and listed as a Dock worker, but his wife Mary Ann Amelia and son John Frederick are not at the same address, although John is still noted as married. However listed as a visitor is one Eliza Smith from Hull. The next 10 years are shrouded in mists and can only be described as "a work in progress" Did Mary Anne Amelia die? All that is known is that John Garfield remarried a lady called Eliza from Hull sometime around 1880 and had another daughter, my grandmother, Lydia Eliza. Lydia Eliza was born on 11th May 1880. Her birth certificate gives her mothers name as Eliza Garfield late Richards formely Smith. By 1881 John was working as a Dock Foreman on the London docks and living at 39 Nelson St, Bermondsey. He died aged 50 at the London Hospital, Whitechapel on 3oth January 1889 of Pulmonary disease of the heart, Cardiac failure. John's address is given as 4 Cable Street, St Georges in the East, London. The 1891 census puts mother and daughter at 26 Wellclose Square, Whitchapel, with Eliza aged 52 working as a Charwoman and her daughter Lydia Eliza aged 10. Lydia Eliza Garfield later went into Domestic service as a cook and on 2nd March 1905 at Mortlake in Surrey, at age 25, married my grandfather, Robert George Newton who was a Seaman in the Merchants Service. Robert George was 33. They had 10 children. The eldest boys, names unknown, died withion 10 days of each otherat ages 1 and 3, both of Diphtheria and 2 girls died, one age 5 of Measles and the other, the twin of Laerence, b 1920 died at age 3 months. Again names unknown. The other children were: William Frederick b 1908 Albert Edward John b 1910 Lydia b 1912 Lily b 1916 Samuel b 1918 My aunt Lily remembers a photo on the kitchen wall of a lady wearing a black "grannies" bonnet - her grandmother Elizabeth Garfield. Lydia Eliza Garfield died aged 71 on 6th July 1951 at Aveley, Thurrock. The Garfield line ends with Lydia Eliza, however it would be wonderful to know if John Frederick born 1859, lived, loved and raised a family. He would have been a half-brother to Lydia Eliza and the final link to the family name. |
