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b.1873-d.1915
Mary Ann Godfrey was born Mary Ann Fynn in Notting Hill on 31 March 1873, the second of three daughters born to Mary Ann Fynn (nee Harris), wife of Patrick (otherwise Henry) Fynn, a soldier.
Her mother Mary Ann (or Eliza) Harris was from Fordingbridge in Hampshire. Little is known of the father Patrick (or Henry) Fynn who does not appear with the family in any census, nor does he appear in electoral registers at the family’s address.
The family lived In St Katharines Road (now Wilsham St), Notting Hill, for many years; first in Cobden Terrace, where Mary Ann’s older sister Ada was born in 1870, then in number 106 which the Fynn family occupied for 40 years. Mrs Fynn worked as a laundress, assisted by daughter Ada.
Mary Ann and her sisters attended Saunders Road School. Curiously, the school recorded her parent’s name as Henry, while the parent of Ada and younger sister Annie Ellen was recorded as Patrick.
Marriage
In 1890, Mary Ann married George Godfrey, a gas fitter, at St Dunstan’s church in East Acton (both overstating their age by a couple of years). On the marriage register, her father is recorded as Henry Fynn (deceased), a soldier. We have a photo of the couple:
Children
Later that year, their first child George Frank Godfrey was born. Two more children followed: Catherine Maud in 1892 and Edward James in 1894. Catherine appears to have died in infancy. The Godfreys lived in Battersea in the 1890s before moving to Hammersmith circa 1900. By 1911 they had moved to Queensdale Road in Notting Hill, very close to the Fynn family home at 106 St Katherines Road where Mary Ann’s mother and sister Ada were still living.
Admission to Manor
Mary Ann was received into Manor Hospital in August 1912. Her case notes reveal that she was very confused, was suffering from chronic melancholia and was prone to epileptic fits.
The Manor Hospital records show that she had many visits from her family over the next 3 years: her mother and husband visited often, and she also had visits from her sister Ada, her sons George and Edward, and her husband’s sister Mary. There is no record of her younger sister Annie Ellen ever visiting. Annie Ellen married police constable (later inspector) Herbert Curtis in 1912.
Mary died at Manor hospital on 29 September 1915, aged 42, (cause of death given as general paralysis of the insane) and was buried at Horton on 4 October in grave 1825b. The funeral was attended by her mother, her husband, her sons, and her sister-in-law Mary Godfrey.
What of Mary’s husband George Godfrey (alias Coffey, alias Fynn) ?
It appears that George Godfrey was born George Coffey in the Croydon area in late 1871. His father Edward was a gas fitter from Limerick. The family seems to have changed its name to Godfrey sometime in the 1880s.
In February 1889 he borrowed his future wife’s name and joined the Royal Artillery as George Fynn, aged 18 years and 4 months. He deserted at Dover in July of the same year. The record is noted that he surrendered to the police in 1895 but was released for lack of identifying evidence. (He surrendered again in 1913 and was granted a protecting certificate).
In July 1896 he joined a militia battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, again as George Fynn, and was discharged in 1899 as being totally unfit. There is no doubt that this is the same man who had deserted from the Royal Artillery in 1889 – the description is the same, down to the dots tattooed on his left forearm.
George enlisted again in the Royal Fusiliers in November 1914 as George Fynn 9618, later transferring to the Labour Corps (275576) . His army service records for this period are not available, but medal records show that he served for four years until discharged sick in December 1918.
Army pension records give his address as 98 Mayfield Avenue, Dover. The 1921 census finds him at that address aged 48, with a wife Mable (sic) M Fynn aged 72. There is a matching marriage record in late 1915 in Dover (George Fynn and Mabel M Thomas).
In case there is any doubt as to whether George Godfrey and George Fynn were one and the same, there are good signature matches between the 1890 marriage record, the 1896 militia attestation, and the 1911 Census. Most tellingly, the Manor Hospital visitors book notes an enquiry from Private G Fynn 9618, Royal Fusiliers, and an emergency contact address for Private G Godfrey 9618 Royal Fusiliers.
George was still soldiering in 1921, in D Company, 4th Battalion of the Buffs, as part of the Defence Force at Shorncliffe. As yet we have not been able to trace him (or Mabel) after 1921.
