The Deacons
Click the photographs to enlarge them
To the right of the page I have drawn up the relevant miniature family tree. In the case of a subject marrying more than once, only the marriage relevant to our family is shown.
To view the Deacon Family Tree Click Here
To view the Deacon Dynasty Click Here
To view the Horn Family Tree Click Here
Richard Deacon, Born ???? Married Ann ???
Samuel Deacon, Born 1748 Married Sarah Wilcox
Joseph Deacon, Born circa.1766 Married Mary Harris
Robert Watts Deacon, Born 1836, Married Martha Ellingham
John Benjamin Deacon, Born 1880, Married Annie Elizabeth Horn
Benjamin Deacon was a carpenter by profession, born in Westbury, Wiltshire around 1809. In 1833 he married Emma Watts and moved to London. By 1841 he was living in Park Street, Stoke Newington and had two children, Robert and Elizabeth.
Emma Watts was the sixth of six children, born on the 8th June 1812. Her brothers and sisters were Elizabeth, born 1801, Mary Ann (1803), Joseph (1805), Jane (1806) and John (1810). Her fathers name was Robert Watts, part of a large family thriving in west Wiltshire, and her mother's name was Martha (nee Gerish) again a very common west Wiltshire name.
Benjamin and Emma were married in Walcot, Bath, Somerset at St Swithin's Church on 10th April 1833. The witnesses were not family members but James and Ann Neate, names that have no significance as yet. Does this suggest that the union of these two families was not welcomed by the respective families? Their first child named Robert Watts Deacon was born during 1836 in Stoke Newington London, many miles from the Wiltshire countryside, so as far as they were concerned thier future was not in Somerset or Wiltshire but eastwards, in London.
It is about 115 miles from Bath to central London, in 1833 there was no railway, in fact coincidently 1833 was the year the young Isambard Kingdom Brunel was appointed engineer by the Great Western Railway. Travel from bath would have been by canal (The Kennett and Avon) or by mail coach. The journey by coach would take about 14 hours, by canal considerably longer.
Benjamin and Emma Deacon went on to have seven children in total, but only five survived and the youngest of the surviving children, Joseph, was classified as an invalid in the 1871/81/91 censuses. The family remained at the Park Street address but the 1851,1861 and 1871 censuses show their address as "Rose Cottage". By 1881 it reverts back to Park street so it is conceivable that "Rose cottage" was actually in Park street and the family may not have moved at all. Or maybe did not move that far.
Benjamin
died in April 1884and Emma three years later in February 1887. The three
remaining children still at home were Elizabeth and Anna, neither whom married
and Joseph the invalid. In the census of 1891 all three were still together at
the address of number 1, Woodlea road, Stoke Newington. Elizabeth and Anna
were both dressmakers of 48 and 40 years respectively and Joseph had no
occupation.
A Westbury
picture page is available with a few photographs taken in the year
(2000). Click
Here to view them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three years after the birth of
John Benjamin, Robert Watts Deacon died from cancer of the tongue. At
the time the family were living at 30, Rosemary Street, Hoxton, Shoreditch.
Robert's occupation was given as "Housepainter" What happened to
Martha and her three young children we cannot begin to wonder. She did not
have any family that we are aware of in London, apart from her younger
brother Arthur who appears to have been living in the Canning Town area of
east London. We can find no trace of any of the family in the census of 1891
or 1901. The next reference we find is the marriage of Emma Maria Deacon to
John William Darnes in 1908, two years later it was John Benjamin Deacon
marrying Annie Horn. Both marriages took place in the Tottenham / Edmonton
area of north London.
An
additional page has been prepared describing Littleport in days gone
by, the struggle to keep ahead of the flood waters plus a few photographs
both old and new. The same page also contains pictures of the Bridge House
Inn (Martha Ellingham's Birthplace) and Ely Cathedral. To view this
page click here.
To read what we know about Martha's Family History,
the
Ellingham's Page is here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
L
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"
Walking all the way there and back again, come rain or shine. The
teachers and cleric were very good to Mum, taking an exceptional
interest in us four girls ,making dresses with materials we could
never afford and always including us in parties and outings where
we would otherwise not be included. They would often call to see
Mum with little tokens of food and clothes as we were considered
to be a poor deserving family. At 10 years old I joined the Girl
Guides and Rosa, Pud (Lilian) and eventually Win joined the
Brownies group attached to the Church. When we moved to
Chingford, about 1928, I took over as Captain and Leader of the
6th Chingford Guide and Scout troop belonging to the Wesleyan
Church in Station Road (where we were married) but Rosa, Pud
(Lilian) and Win changed their allegiance over to the Sunday
School classes at the Hall in Kings Head Hill which I did not
like. I continued with my Girl Guide Leadership until Mike was
born and then came the War. Rosa seems to have been the only one
to ally with the Plymouth Brethren . Pud (Lilian) was married
from the Hall with Pam, Audrey and Ruth (Nieces) as bridesmaids
but she left after a few years and I don't think Win was very
deeply involved. Mum stuck with Rosa and Alf for which we
will always be grateful as they provided a home for Mum's later
years.
Winnie Deacon met Donald Jack Gowing around 1936 during her time
at the Sewardstone mission. At the time Winnie and her sister
Lilian were Sunday School teachers, collecting children on the
way and returning them home after class. One of her friends at
the time was Betty Kavanagh who would join her collecting and
returning the children, something they both loved to do. During
this time Betty recalls "we got to know one another very
well"
Back row,
Gladys
and Leslie Darnes, Winifred May Deacon, and
mystery girl. Front row, Lilian Dorothy Deacon, George
Brown and Esther.
This Photograph was
taken in 1932, in Queens Grove Road Chingford, on the occasion of Beatrice
Annie Deacons twenty first birthday. In the picture, (back row), Gladys
and Leslie Darnes are Cousins of the family,( their Mother was Emma M.
Deacon, John Benjamin's sister) Winifred May Deacon, and a mystery girl.
Front row, Lilian Dorothy Deacon, George Brown (friend of Beatrice) and
Esther (a long time friend of Beatrice), plus another "mystery
guest". The photograph will be remembered as one of the first ever
taken by Beatrice with her birthday present of a "Box
Brownie" Camera.
One by
one the five children grew up and were married. Rosa married Alfred Peacham
in 1937, Beatrice married an insurance man Ernest
(Curly)
Collins in 1938 and Winifred married Donald Jack Gowing in 1940, the
following year was uneventful until Leonard John married Doris White in
1942 and then Lillian married Eddie
Jones in 1946. Only
three of the five children went on to produce children of their own, the
first Grandchild for John and Annie Deacon was Michael Ernest, born in November
1938 to Beatrice and "Curly" Collins, Ruth Lilian Peacham was
next, 8th
May 1940, followed by Audrey Ann Gowing, 6th
January 1941.
Each
of the five children will have their own page eventually, and all the links
below will be "live", one day. Maybe.
click
on the photographs to enlarge them
Beatrice and "Curly" Collins Page. Winifred and Donald Gowing Page.
Leonard and Doris
Deacon Page. Rosa and Alfred Peacham Page. Lilian and Eddie Jones
Click here to return to the top of the page Deacons of Westbury Page
Robert
Watts Deacon
Robert Watts
Deacon was born in Stoke Newington,
North London in 1836, he was the first child of Benjamin Deacon and
Emma nee Watts. Robert had six brothers and sisters, Frances Jane born
December 1837, Elizabeth born 1841,
Emma (1845), Mary Ann Dempsey (1847), Ann Elizabeth (1859), and Joseph (1854). Joseph is recorded as being
an invalid on a later census but no further details are available. Like
his father and probably his Grandfather, Robert's
occupation was a carpenter. On the
third of July 1874 Robert married Martha Ellingham, Martha was born in Littleport, Cambridgeshire in 1840. How she come to be in London we do not
know. Martha and Robert married at the Holy Trinity Church, Hoxton, Shoreditch the
parish in which they were living at the time, both at the same
address, 3 Napier Street, (now called Napier Grove). One month after their
marriage they lost their first child, Charles Edward. He was Christened on
the 27th March 1874 at St John the Baptist Church, Shoreditch, and
died
6th August 1874. The cause of death on the certificate is
unreadable, the address written on the death certificate was 36 Union Street, Shoreditch. The next
child, Emma, was born in 1876, by now the family were living in Islington.
In 1878 Herbert was born and in 1880 John Benjamin was born
at the address of Sherborne House, Rotherfield Street, N1.
John Benjamin Deacon
John
Benjamin Deacon was
born in Islington, North London in 1880. He was the youngest of the three
surviving children, having an elder brother Herbert (born 1878) and sister Emma
(born1876). John
married Annie Elizabeth
Horn in May 1910 at St Philips Church, South Tottenham. She was the daughter of Charles and Emily Horn,
born in 1884 at 69,
Mayfield Road, Hackney, North London. She was the second of four children
the oldest being Jessie born 1882, with Emily Maria (1887) and Charles
(1890). (More information on the Horn family can be found
here.)
eft to right, Rosa Lilian (age 5 years), John Benjamin Deacon (age 38),
Lilian Dorothy (age 4), Annie Elizabeth Deacon (nee Horn, age 34)
and
on her lap Winifred May (age 1) and Beatrice Annie (age 7).The photograph
we think was taken in 1918, before the birth of Leonard John, when the family were living in
a small upstairs flat in Windus Road, Stamford Hill, North London, prior to moving to Queens Grove Road Chingford, Essex, in the early 1930's.
They stayed there for a few years before moving on to Pretoria Crescent (still in Chingford) where they remained
for many years.
Annie Elizabeth lost her Father
in 1906 when she was twenty two years old, he died of cancer in
St Bartholomew's Hospital in London and as a result she had little
option but to leave school and go "into service" at the Kings Head Hotel,
Kings Head Hill, Chingford where she was trained to be a cook and a barmaid.
Her mother died the following year, also of cancer, in the Hackney
Union Infirmary in Homerton. Annie married
John Benjamin Deacon in 1910 and they found a small flat in Tottenham where their
first child was born, Beatrice Annie ( 4th May, 1911). Rosa Lilian was born 4th June 1913, Lilian Dorothy 1914.
The fateful year of 1914
saw the beginning of the First World War, the family moved on to Windus Road,
Stamford Hill, to be near the factory where John Benjamin was working.
During this time his handwriting was used on the Banknotes being
produced by his employers "De la rue". There
were large cellars at the factory and the children were taken there at night
to shelter from the zeppelin bombing raids, whilst John Benjamin worked on
in the factory that were also making munitions! More children
came along at the next address of Warwick Cottage, Warwickshire Road, Stoke
Newington. The house was owned by a Mrs Harding who occupied the ground
floor. Winifred
May was born on St Georges Day 23rd April
1917. The only boy in the family Leonard John was born September
12th 1919.
The young family were sent to regular Sunday School
(as were most children at that time) at the Stoke Newington Wesleyan
Church, as Beatrice remembers,
Beatrice and "Curly" Collins, newly married in
February 1938 and were living at Frederica Road in Chingford opposite
the north Chingford Congregational Church and at the time Curly's
father Ernest Edward Collins was a member of the Chingford Rotary Club.
Some friends of theirs were at the same time considering marriage
and were looking at houses on the newly built Hawkwood Estate off
Sewardstone Road (bordering the Hawk wood, part of Epping Forest). The
cost was around £500 with a £5 deposit. The times were such it
was difficult to make plans for the future and they eventually decided
not to buy. A close friend of Leonard John Alf Dival, (who appears in
Len's wedding photograph) was born and grew up in the old part of Hawk
wood.
Deacon Family Tree
Deacon Dynasty
Homepage
Table of
Contents
Littleport Page
Horn family Tree
