Better than Eastenders: What I have discovered about my house (in Florence Road)

Donna

By looking at old maps and information from the census and google, I have discovered the following facts about my house, in Florence Road:<div><br></div><div>- It was built between 1881 and 1888.</div><div>- The first owners (from 1891 census) were a Jewish family. The head of the family was an accountant. They had one servant, and four children. One of the children died at the age of three while his mother was a few months' pregnant with a baby girl - who also sadly died at the age of three and a half months. Shortly after all this tragedy (posted in the Jewish Chronicle), the accountant became a bankers' clerk, and the family moved to Brighton - and 10 years later, went bankrupt (published in the London Gazette).</div><div>- The second owner was a school master called John Teare from the Isle of Man who moved into the house shortly after the Stroud Green school was built in 1897 (not sure if there is a connection but it seems likely) and he lived in the house for over 30 years. Unlike the previous owner, they had no servant and had in fact two lodgers, suggesting they were far less wealthy. He had three boys, whom he named after himself and two of his brothers. One of the boys seems to have followed him in teaching by the age of 15. The other two wrote a book about the civil service, which was published in 1937. I am thinking of buying it from Amazon as it is still available!</div><div><br></div><div>That's all I have discovered so far. I am going to try to find out more...</div>

ChangN4N6

This is better than eastenders Florence road sounds like Downton abbey Sg. Keep up the good work Donna . Very interesting research. Thanks Chang

Donna

Thanks Chang, I have changed the title of my post!

Donna

Ok so I have found out a bit more by looking at the land certificate deeds and checking the London gazette. The land my house was built on was sold by Joseph Lucas to William hodson in 1879. Joseph Lucas was the original owner of lots of land round here ( see Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Stroud_Green>, inherited it. William hodson was the architect and builder, he lived in dalston!

barnesbq

Donna - how did you find this out? I'd love to find out about my place. <br>fascinating!<br>

dion

William Hodson built our house too - also 1879 - lived on Dalston Lane. 

Donna

Cool! Mainly by looking at the census and googling! Am breastfeeding so have a lot of time to do one handed typing and needed something to occupy my mind. Really enjoyed doing it! It costs £7 to access census records at findmypast.com. Just look up your address and then you'll find out who lived there, and you can search for them in the census and on google and in the London gazette, and see if they are mentioned anywhere. Here's an 1872 map - Stroud green is mostly fields <http://london1872.com/stanford21b.htm>; and http://london1872.com/stanford05.HTM>; 1878 map - some houses now: <http://london1878.com/stanford21.htm>; and <http://london1878.com/stanford05.htm>; Isnt the 1872 map absolutely beautiful? Here's the 1888 map, Florence road is finally there! <http://www.oldtowns.co.uk/London1888-new/sheet-4.HTM>; Here's where you can search the census: <http://www.findmypast.co.uk/search/census/1911/address>; Probably easiest to start at 1911 and work backwards.  If you look through your house title deeds (can be accessed from the land registry) you might be able to find a covenant between Joseph Lucas and your builder/architect. Let me know if this is useful, would be happy to help!

Donna

Ps just get pay as you go credits on findmypast -don't get sucked into the free trial!