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b.1815-d.1902
According to the various UK censuses, Elizabeth Payn was born between 1814 and 1819. The 1841 census records her as being aged 25*, and living with her 55-year-old mother, also named Elizabeth, in Tottenham Road, West Hackney. Written next to each of their names is ‘School’. Information from her marriage certificate states that her father was named James Payne, a gentleman, but he was not listed as living with them in 1841, so may have already died.
*Normally, in the 1841 census, the ages of people over 15 years old were usually rounded down to the nearest 5 years. For example, someone who was actually 24 years would have their age listed as 20, and someone who was actually 27 years old would have their age listed as 25.
Elizabeth Marries
On 29th June 1846, in St John’s Church in Hackney, Elizabeth married Charles Herring who was a furniture dealer, and a widower. Their witnesses were John Eaton and Emma Herring. Charles had married his first wife Henriette Turner in 1833. Their daughter Emma Henrietta was born in 1835, and Henrietta died five years later in 1840.
Elizabeth and Charles’ son, Charles George, was baptised on 19th October 1850 in West Hackney Church. The 1851 Census recorded the family as living in Forest Place, Forest Road, Dalston, where Charles was working as a furniture dealer and cabinet maker.
His address aligns with the area’s mid-to-late Victorian shift, where large residential villas often incorporated workshops or showrooms as the Dalston and Kingsland Road furniture trade flourished.
Their second son Walter was baptised in the same church as Charles George on 11th July 1852. Walter does not appear in any other records so probably died as an infant. There is a death of a Walter in Hackney in 1853, so this may well be him.
1861 Census
Charles and Elizabeth, along with Charles’ 24-year-old daughter Emma and their son Charles George, continued living at 3 Forest Place, Forest Road, Dalston. Boarding there in 1861 was Mrs C. M. Thompson, and lodging there was A. R. A. Hillibald, a professor of languages from Prussia. Later that year, on 14th September, Emma married Robert Venning Catell.
By 1871, Charles and Elizabeth had moved to 71 Graham Road, Dalston, and had 14-year-old Martha Brice working for them as a general servant. Charles was aged 58, Elizabeth aged 56, and son Charles George, aged 30, was still unmarried and working as a clerk.
Three years later, Charles George married Florence Matilda Fitch on 5th October 1874 in St Thomas’ Church in Dublin, Ireland. Their son Charles George Harry Fitch Herring was born in 1876 in Hackney, and their daughter Dorothy in 1884 in Birmingham. Charles George was working as a commercial traveller for a wholesale Looking Glass & Cabinet company.
Charles dies
By 1878 Elizabeth and Charles had moved along the road to 3 Graham Road where they continued living until Charles’ death on 13th March 1888.
Houses on Graham Road were built for the wealthier middle class and usually offered at least 3 double bedrooms on the upper floors, and the top-floor attic, or loft room, was used for live-in servants. Charles’ probate records gave his personal estate as being valued at £483 17s. 1d. [about £82,000 in 2026].
Elizabeth was living with her daughter-in-law Florence and her grandchildren Charles George junior and Dorothy at 44 Stanmore Road, Edgbaston, Warwickshire, when the 1891 Census was taken. Her son Charles George was away at the time working in Margate. Florence gave birth to her daughter, Fay Florence, in 1894 in Birmingham. They had moved back to live in Hammersmith by 1901, but Charles George often travelled back to Birmingham.
Elizabeth is admitted to Horton
In the 1901 Census, the year before her admission to Horton Asylum in Epsom, Elizabeth was boarding in 58 Forest Road, Dalston, the home of Joseph and Mary Ann Brown.
On 25th September 1902, Elizabeth was admitted to Horton Asylum in Epsom where she died on 2nd December 1902. Her death certificate states she was 90 years old and was the widow of Herring unknown of 58 Forest Road, Dalston. Following a postmortem, it appeared she died from Bronchitis and Heart Disease. Her body was buried in the Horton Estate Cemetery on 8th December in grave 82.
One can only wonder what happened to the money her husband left after his death and why she was not buried with him in Hackney.
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