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b.1882-d.1914
James Cloud was born on 1 June 1882 in Lambeth, then part of Surrey. His parents were William Cloud and Mary Ann (née Newman). William and Mary had at least fourteen children.
Early Family Life
William and Mary were married on 29 October 1877 at St. Mary’s Church in Lambeth. By the time of their marriage the couple already had three children together. William worked as a cooper journeyman throughout his life. Coopers were a vital part of the economy, as almost everything was stored in wooden barrels, casks or other containers until the early 1900’s. A journeyman was a skilled craftsman who had served several years of apprenticeship. The family always lived around the Lambeth area, often moving houses regularly. Many of the children’s baptisms give a different address. People frequently moved house at this time, sometimes to move from slum conditions that the industrial revolution was causing, other times it might be to seek better opportunities and rents. William was a fairly successful cooper. At the time of his death in 1900 William’s effects were valued at £1284. 11s. 10d.
The person we are following is James Henry Cloud, the sixth child of William and Mary. He was born on 1 June 1882 and he was baptized four weeks later on 2 July 1882 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Lambeth. At this time the family were living at 11 Bond Street, Lambeth, now Bazon Street.. James started school aged three at the nearby newly opened Pocock School (later named Friar Street School), where he reached standard 3 at the age of 13 years. Many children did not reach the expected standard 6 before leaving school at this age, and that could be for many different reasons. Standard 6 roughly equates to the education of current eight year olds, so James’ education was very basic.
Identifying James and his family only really became possible by looking closely at his Horton Asylum case notes, when on his admission he mentions an older brother Charles and the fact that Charles had been in an asylum in Wales for nearly two years. It was easy then to find Charles’s settlement papers from Lambeth which confirmed the family and gave the same address James had used.
Growing up
In 1891 the Cloud family lived at 80 Gravel Lane in nearby Southwark. Although a multi-occupancy house where 17 people lived, William had quite a few rooms. The 1891 census asked the enumerator to record the number of rooms each family occupied if less than five. Two other families had just one room but William and his family did not record how many rooms they rented, so they had more than five.
William Cloud died in 1900 when James was 18 years old. William was 54 and the cause of his death was given as Lobular Pneumonia, although James later claimed that his father was an alcoholic and had killed himself. This death caused a profound change in the family circumstances. At the time of William’s death the family were living at 54 Fentiman Road, Lambeth, a four storey terraced house, now worth nearly 2 million pounds. The family was not sharing this house. Many of the older children had left home and married, most of the boys followed in their father’s footsteps working as coopers.
With so many births of children, there were also deaths. Those born last in the family were the most vulnerable. Both parents were accused of getting drunk and in 1896 Mary was remanded for neglecting her youngest infant child John Thomas Cloud. He had been born on 6 Feb 1896 and was baptized a few weeks later at St. Mary’s Church in Lambeth. Little John died aged five months. The cause given on his death certificate was Congestion of the Lungs and Natural Causes. His weight at the time of his death was well under his birth weight and at Mary’s trial a witness alleged that Mary got drunk, went out and neglected her children. Mary in return denied the drunkenness, adding that when she went out, she always left plenty of milk and an older child to administer it. Mary was acquitted as there was not enough evidence to charge her. Five of William and Mary’s 14 children died in infancy.
Coming of age
Following his father’s death James no longer had his father’s guidance. In 1901 Mary, now a widow, was still living with five of her children at 54 Fentiman Road, Lambeth. The two oldest boys were Charles and James, who before long would both be admitted for long spells in an asylum. Charles had already spent nearly a year in Cane Hill. He was discharged as ‘recovered’, and returned to the family home. Charles was appointed the administrator of his father’s will when he died intestate. On the 1901 census Charles was recorded as a master cooper, an employer and James was a clerk cooper, a worker, but before long the family disintegrated and they went their separate ways. On 1 May 1902 Charles was again admitted to an asylum, this time in Glamorgan, where he spent over a year before being discharged on 18 August 1903. What he was doing in Glamorgan we do not know.
James Henry Cloud remained in Southwark and in 1903 aged twenty-one he married Jane Hobden. Jane was the daughter of a fruiterer/greengrocer in Lewisham. In 1911, she was living with her father and stepmother.. Jane had recorded herself as a widow although James was still alive. James and Jane had separated a few years after their marriage and several years before the census.. There were no children. Jane stated that her separation was due to her husband’s drunken habits. He had not worked since their marriage. Following the separation Jane found work in greengrocer shops but in the Horton case notes a police letter says James always found her. She had to leave several posts because of his threatening behaviour.
An article in a newspaper of March 1911 stated that James was charged with threatening his wife. He admitted to assaulting her once or twice. Horton case notes also suggest he was in prison several times.
The Lodging House
In 1911 James Cloud was living in a lodging house at 86 Gravel Lane, very near to where his brother Charles was currently living at 72 Gravel Lane. In 1891 the family had all lived at 80 Gravel Lane. The lodging house was a fairly large house, it had 15 rooms with 107 people boarding there. James gave his occupation as a labourer. This was probably very casual work as later it was stated that he had not worked since 1903.
Admission to Horton and death
On 1 March 1912 James was admitted to the workhouse at St George’s House, Mint Street, Southwark, under a police order. He had been behaving in a strange manner and was having hallucinations. He confessed to a murder but the police had no evidence of this and took him to the workhouse. Sixteen days later he was transferred to Horton Asylum. It was on admission that James said his brother had been in an asylum in Wales for two years and his father had died of alcoholism. James’s condition deteriorated gradually, he maintained hostile feelings to his wife and repeatedly said he would get even with her.
He gradually deteriorated and died on 4 April 1914. The cause of his death was recorded as pneumonia and General Paralysis of the Insane.
James Cloud is buried in Horton Estate Cemetery.
Author’s Notes
It is easy to think James and Charles Cloud found it difficult to navigate their adult life without their father around. In 1903 their mother was admitted to the Princes Road Workhouse in Lambeth, around the same time Charles returned from the asylum in Glamorgan and James had got married. It was to be the first of many workhouse admissions for her. In 1906 Mary Ann Cloud was recorded in the UK Registers of Habitual Criminals and Police Gazettes as homeless. On 19 February 1906 she was committed to a certified reformatory for three years. Mary Ann Cloud died in 1936 aged 80. Charles left his job as a cooper and became a boot and shoe retailer working at home. He died in 1937 aged 59.
