Early life
Giles Hellyer was born on 3rd March 1835
in Weymouth. His father,
William and mother Martha, had moved to the coast in the previous
decade, taking to the sea rather than the land for employment.
This was a time of great change, particularly in agriculture,
where mechanisation and the introduction of the Corn Laws were causing
unemployment resulting in some civil uprisings including the Swing
Riots. On the other hand,
maritime trade was increasing, and in addition Weymouth was becoming a
popular resort with resulting prosperity.
Giles was the youngest son of William and Martha.
Neither of his parents would appear to have received any education as
they seemed illiterate, marking documents with a cross. His two older
brothers may have followed their father into maritime occupations, but
there is no trace of them as adults.
His two sisters, Agnes and Martha, died relatively young (aged 36
and 20) so Giles was the only one to survive to his forties.
A good deal of Giles’ life is documented in an
obituary in a local paper of Erith.
Coming of a Weymouth family, Mr. Hellyer was
born at that town on March 3rd 1835.
His youth was certainly not spent in luxury, for at the age of 8½
years, as he often recalled, he started work at one shilling a week.
According to the 1841 census, at the age of 6 he
was living at Carters Cottages, Melcombe Regis, with his parents older
and siblings Agnes (15), William (14) and Joseph (10). By 1851 they had
moved to Little George Street
- William and Joseph had left so Giles was there with his
parents, sisters. Martha’s widowed mother, Dinah Vivian, who was at this
time 83 years old lived next door and was described as a pauper.
Dinah’s husband, John, a labourer, had died in 1846.
The Crimean War
His obituary continues:
When eighteen years old he enlisted in the Navy.
A faded blue service paper in the possession of his widow shows
that he joined HMS Highflyer [a 1900 ton screw propelled frigate]
on January 28, 1853, the ship’s captain reading John Moore.
The Highflyer was the first ship to land troops,
and Giles Hellyer was in the first party that effected a landing at the
opening of the Crimean War.
He was on active service throughout that
terrific struggle of arms without receiving a single wound.
His duty lay in the trenches and from the first engagement to the
last the young seaman was an assistant of Miss Florence Nightingale in
her heroic work of succouring the wounded.
He had to the last a vivid recollection of the privations
undergone by his comrades and himself, and in their simple narration
could bring tears to the eyes.
His most cherished possessions were two medals with four clasps
bearing the names Balaclava, Sebastopol, Inkerman and Alma.
His service paper shows that he rejoined the
Highflyer, and on May 15 1857, was transferred to HMS Majestic under
Captain Hope. Three days
after joining that vessel, he with other seamen aboard, was called upon
deck to see a flogging: and despite the nature of his previous
experiences, he never recollected without horror the shrieks of men
under the lash.
He would therefore appear to have served with some
distinction, especially in his association with Florence Nightingale
Marriage – Anna Maria Bridle
In 1859, at the age of 24, he married Anna Maria
Bridle, the second daughter of William Runyard Bridle and his wife Ann
(nee Parker). The Bridles lived in Spyway, a group of cottages in the
parish of Affpuddle, a village about 15 miles from Weymouth, sitting on
the river Piddle. William
was a woodman, and he and Ann had nine children, although the parish
register clearly states that William had another daughter, Maria,
christened two weeks after Mary Agnes.
The wedding was held in Affpuddle on 10 May, and
the register shows that Anna Maria, or Annie as she was later known, was
living at “Akers Wood”, which is probably “Oakers Wood”.
So how did they meet? Annie lived in the depth of
the country, whilst Giles lived in Weymouth for the short periods when
he was not at sea. In the
1851 census there is a
grocer, John Bridle, also living in Little George Street.
Whilst not a close relation, it is possible that relatives from
elsewhere, including Annie, may have visited them in Weymouth, and hence
this maybe is how she met Giles.
By 1861 they had moved to Weymouth and the census
that year shows they were living back in Little George Street, his
father William having moved to nearby Park Street.
Giles (described as a sailor) and Annie were now joined by their
first child, a daughter Martha,born the previous year.
Merchant Vessels
On his return from the Crimea he served for the
next 20 years or so on various merchant vessels, but mainly the
“Marnhull”, a 114 ton
coaster. After his initial
service as crew, he served as First Mate, transporting various cargoes
such as coal between ports in England, Ireland, Jersey and France.
During this period, ending in 1973, he and Annie had a further
six children as follows:
1861
Daughter
Mary Agnes
1864
Son
William Giles
1866
Daughter
Emily Maria
1868
Son
Joseph George
(died 1870)
1870
Son
James John
1874
Daughter
Kate Louisa
In 1875 Giles was 40,
and retired from life at sea.
His father (now aged 70) at the same time obtained a place at the
‘Belvedere Hospital for Worn-out and Disabled Merchant Seamen’ near
Erith in Kent. Giles and his
family moved at the same time to Rotherhithe, where Giles took up the
post of lock gate keeper on the Grand Surrey Canal connecting South
London to the Thames.
Rotherhithe
The move to Rotherhithe had a tragic start as the
youngest child, Kate Louisa, died within a year of the move.
A further two children were born soon after,
Harry George in 1876 and Alice Florence in 1878, but they both
died before their 5th birthday, Harry in 1878 and Florence in
1882. In addition to these
three childhood deaths, eldest daughter Ann Martha died in 1881 at the
age of 20, leaving just four of the seven who had made then move from
Weymouth.
In 1881 the family were living at 22 Thames Street
Rotherhithe, which was in the area around Commercial Dock Rotherhithe
close to the Surrey Canal although it has not been possible to identify
its exact location.
The occupants were:
Giles Hellyer
(46) Lock gate man
b Weymouth
Annie Hellyer
(44).
b Weymouth [sic]
Mary Hellyer
(19)
b Weymouth
William Hellyer (16). Letter porter
b Weymouth
Emily Hellyer
(14)
b Weymouth
James Hellyer (10)
b Weymouth
Alice
Hellyer (2)
b Rotherhithe
Ann Berridge (71)
b Rotherhithe.
Ann Berridge was a lodger, so there were 8
occupants of the property, one of whom was an infant. Looking back to
the previous census in 1871, Ann Berridge appears there as a lodger
elsewhere and is described as a nurse, so it could be that she assisted
in the care of the children, especially the infant Alice.
Frank is a puzzle, as he does not appear on the
census, but a Frank William Hellyer was born to Ann Martha Hellyer, a
domestic servant, in St Pancras on 19th May 1879, with no
father recorded on the birth or baptism register. This must be him, as a
boy with that name and date of birth appears admissions register for
Dalmatian Road School in Lewisham on 7th February 1892. His
address is given as 2, York Place, Elgin Road, where the Hellyers were
living at the time. So it turns out that before Ann Martha died, on 13th
March 1881 of phthisis (tuberculosis), she had an illegitimate son who
later was adopted by Giles and Annie as their own child
Births and deaths continued amongst the children –
Alice died in 1882 but two further daughters were born, Rosina in 1881
and Ellen Edith in 1883. So
by this point Annie had given birth to no fewer than 12 children, but
only 7 of these were still alive at the next census in 1891.
They were then living at
2, York Place, in the same area of Rotherhithe.
Frank, Rosey (as she is called on the census) and Ellen were
living with them.
Mary Agnes had married Herbert Barham in 1882, and
was living in Charlton where Herbert was a builder’s foreman in what is
now the Rectory Fields conservation area. They had produced three
children of their own, Herbert William (1886), Edgar Percival (1887 - my
grandfather) and Harry Giles (1899), the first of Giles and Annie’s
grandchildren.
In December 1995 he sent a letter to my
grandfather, on the occasion of his 8th birthday.
Rotherhithe December 19/95
Dear Grand Son
I now rite you these few lines wishing you many
happy Returns of your birthday and we hoping that God will bless you and
keep you in good health to enjoy many of them and hoping you will obey
father and mother and be a good boy and grow up to be a good man.
Bless you and except all your aunts and uncles
Best Wishes and kindly Remember us to all your dear Brothers.
Kiss them for us and remember us to your uncle and aunt WSA.
And now dear Grand son I conclude these few
lines with love to your dear father and mother so Believe us to remain
your ever loving Grandfather and Grandmother.
G & A Hellyer.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
By 1901 all the children except Rosey and Nellie
had left home, so the census that year shows the four of them were
living at 13, Odessa Steet, Rotherhithe and Giles is still described as
“Lock gate man”.
He continued this work
until 4th February 1905 when he retired, as recorded
in the next section of his obituary.
His total service in the Navy extended to
twenty-five years. After his
retirement on pension, he went to work, not skilled and for thirty years
was there employed as a lock gateman. An oaken smoking cabinet which he
was presented when he left the Docks bears the following inscription on
a brass plate:
“Presented to Mr. Giles Hellyer,
as a mark of esteem, by the dockmasters and fellow workmen, after thirty
years service as Lockgateman at the Surrey Commercial Docks,
Superannuated February 4th 1905.”
Accompanying the gift was a memorial bearing 100
signatures. That was the
first subscription testimonial ever presented at the Surrey Commercial
Docks.
Belvedere
Following his retirement, Giles and Annie moved to
16, Upper Grove Road, Belvedere, near Erith.
Their eldest son, William Giles lived close by, at 58, Barnfield
Road – this was not far from the Royal Alfred home that Giles’ father,
William had moved to 30 years earlier.
The next census in 1911 shows that Giles and Annie
were living in Upper Grove Road, together with a domestic servant,
Elizabeth Howell, aged 38.
Giles lived for another year, dying on 20th
October 1912 of “Congestion of the lungs, syncope”. The informant was
his son William.
The final section of his obituary states:
Mr. Hellyer’s widow, an active old lady of 76
years, who celebrated her golden wedding three years ago, is as well As
can be expected after her loss..
She has had twelve children,, of whom seven - three sons and four
daughters, - are living.
The funeral takes place to-day (Friday).
There will be a service at 3 pm at All Saints’ the Parish Church
of Belvedere, conducted by the Vicar, the Rev. W.R.Hardwright.
A naval funeral could have been held, but in accordance with the
wish of the widow, the coffin will simply be covered with a Union Jack.
Annie’s last days
Anna-Maria, Giles’ widow, lived for nearly twenty
years after his death. She moved in with her youngest daughter, Nellie
Brend, who was now living with her family in New Malden, Surrey.
Nellie’s husband, Albert Brend, was a builder and was also born in
Rotherhithe. The 1921 census
shows that as well as the four children (boys aged 6-15) Albert’s uncle
George (60) a retired decorator was also living with them.
Annie finally died on 7th March 1932,
aged 95. She was living at 66, Barnsfield Road, Belvedere, but died at
37, West Hill, Dartford (West Hill Hospital?) and the informant was her
daughter Rosina, who at this time was living at 148, Knockholt Road,
Greenhithe.
As noted in Giles’ obituary, she had twelve
children, but as it turns out, Frank was actually her grandson who was
quickly, at least informally, adopted as her own child.
My father, John Percival Barham, who himself lived
to the age of 96, once told me that he remembered meeting her, in
hospital in Dartford. He described her as a little lady with white hair
in pigtails. So as a boy, he met his great grandmother, who had been
born before Queen Victoria came to the throne.