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b.1859-d.1912
Henry’s parents
Henry Rose Moore was born in the June quarter of 1859 in Clerkenwell, Middlesex. He takes his unusual second name from his grandfather, Thomas Rose Moore. Henry was the oldest child of Edwin (1837-1886) and Maria Anne Moore née Wright (1839-1898). Edwin and Maria married on 2nd August 1857 at St John’s Church, Hoxton, Middlesex and together they had nine children. Edwin’s occupation is given as Coach Trimmer and this was a trade that several of his children followed. In the early days this probably meant working on horse drawn carriages but later as the railways grew in London it may have meant railway coaches and later still motor buses. It appears to have been good steady work for this family.
Henry’s siblings
In the first census after Henry’s birth, in 1861, the family were living at 14, Vineyard Walk, Clerkenwell which is just off Farringdon Road and is shown in Booth’s poverty maps of the late 1800’s as ‘poor/mixed’. Henry is 2 years old and already Edwin and Maria have another son, Arthur, born 1861.
Before the next census they were joined by Walter, born 1864, but then there appears to have been a long gap until 1872 when Thomas arrived followed by Rosina in 1874 and Catherine in 1876. These last three children were born in Hastings, Sussex but unfortunately there is no 1871 Census entry for the family.
1881-1901
By 1881 they have moved back and are living at 51, Coopers Road, Camberwell, just off the Old Kent Road and have two more children, Edwin, born 1877, and Albert, born 1880. Their final child, William, was born in 1882. None of Edwin and Maria’s children appears to have been baptised. 51, Coopers Road seems to remain as the family home until at least 1901. It is shown in Booth’s Maps as “fairly comfortable – good income”.
The 1881 Census shows that Henry, Arthur and Walter are all working with their father as Coach Trimmers but then in Feb 1886 their father, Edwin, dies aged just 49. He is buried in Camberwell Old Cemetery. Maria and the family continue to live in Coopers Road but in the 1891 Census Henry is found in Aldershot, shown as a “night lodger”. What might have caused this move or how long he stayed away we can’t know but following his mother’s death in January 1898 he returns and is shown as ‘Head’ of the family in the 1901 Census when all the siblings are living together in Coopers Road.
Two deaths in the family
This is when things begin to change. In 1902 Rosina marries Harry James Purkiss, they have one child, Harry Albert Edwin, in 1903 and then sadly Rosina dies in 1908 aged 35.
I believe that Henry’s brother Edwin died in 1909 aged 32, and is buried in the same cemetery as his parents.
The Epsom Colony
In 1911 we find Henry is a patient in the ‘Epsom Colony’, having been admitted on 5th March 1909.
The Epsom Colony was part of the ‘Epsom cluster,’ a group of mental hospitals built in the Surrey countryside in the latter part of the 1800’s to take the overflow from the Metropolis. ‘The Colony’ specialised in the care of the “Epileptic Insane”.
The Colony opened in 1902 and was of a modern design made up of small bungalows grouped together to form a community. Most people who were able worked on the farm, or in the dairy, bake house or laundry all of which supported those living in the hospital cluster.
Henry’s death
We have no way of knowing exactly when Henry became ill although the 1911 Census says he became afflicted aged 49, in 1908, just one year before he was admitted. Up until the family troubles of the early 1900’s he was apparently in regular work and was never shown on a census with any sort of disability. He died in Epsom on 9th Jan 1912 and was buried in the Horton Cemetery on 15th Jan 1912 in grave 1195b.
Henry’s siblings after his death
In the 1911 Census Catherine, Albert and William were all living together in Bermondsey and then in 1915, at the age of 39, Catherine married Frederick Arthur Strange. In the 1939 register brother Albert is still living with his sister and her husband in Bermondsey.
I believe Walter remained unmarried and appears in the 1939 register as a ‘Motor Trimmer’, retired.
