0
0
b.c1848-d.1902
Background
According to his death certificate, John was aged 61 when he died but further research found that he had been born around 1848 so was in fact 59-years-old. Later census returns stated that John had been born in Stratford, part of the ancient parish of West Ham within the county of Essex but unfortunately, no birth record or census records for 1851 and 1861 for him have been found. Stratford has now been absorbed into London.
Marriage to Jane
John was aged 20 when he married “19-year-old” Jane Colfax on 8th February 1863 in St Philip’s Church, Kensington, Middlesex. Jane was actually aged 16, and her father James, was a stone mason. John was working as a carman, and his father was recorded as being Thomas Stubbings, a labourer. Their witnesses were Sarah and Mary Ann Stevens. The newly married couple both gave 2 Kensington Building as their address and marked the certificate with crosses for their signatures. When their son John William was born nine months after their wedding, they were living in Munden Street, North End.
Children
John and Jane had seven known children:
- John William 1863 – after 1921
- Charles Henry 1865 – 1866
- Thomas Charles 1868 – 1870
- Ellen Jane 1873 – 1933
- Ada Jane 1875 – 1881
- Louisa 1876 – 1877
- Eliza Dora 1881 – 1881
Sadly, as can be seen, two of their children died before the 1871 census was taken. John was working as a labourer in the coal wharf to support his wife Jane and eight-year-old son John William. The family was living at the time at 27 Fenelow Road, Kensington.
Jane gave birth to their daughter Ellen Jane sometime in 1873, but no GRO birth record has been found for her. Ellen would later marry Frederick Abrahart and have one known daughter named Edith Caroline Abrahart.
John’s daughter Ada Jane was born in 1875, and Louisa in 1876. Louisa must have died before the next census was taken, but no death record has been found for her.
1881 Census – and later
The 1881 Census recorded the family as living at 25 Ashley Gardens, Brompton, a subdivision of Kensington. Jane was working as a laundress while John was a coal porter. According to the enumerator’s record, John was now aged 38, Jane was aged 37 (she was actually 34), and the children Ellen aged 8, Ada aged 5, and the yet to be named Eliza Dora, who was five days old and died soon after the census was taken.
Daughter Ada also died, date unknown, after this census was taken as no further records have been found for her. Their 18-year-old son John William’s whereabouts in 1881 is not known.
Daughter Ellen Jane married 27-year-old widower Frederick Abrahart on 5th August 1888 in St Paul’s Church, Hammersmith. If her birth year is correct, she was only 15/16 and not 20 as stated on the marriage certificate.
On 23rd February 1890 John’s son John William married Mary Harriet Boreham in St John the Evangelist Church in Hammersmith. The couple went on to have two known children; Harriet Mary in 1892 and John Charles William in 1893, and one unknown child that died.
Jane was aged 44 when she died from cardiac disease exhaustion on 3rd June 1891 at 2 Humboldt Road, Fulham. This address was unoccupied when the 1891 Census had been taken two months before, and the whereabouts of John and Jane at this time is unknown. Her daughter Ellen Jane Abrahart, née Stubbings, of 32 Raynham Road, Hammersmith, was present at her death.
1901 Census
John, now a widower, was in the Fulham Infirmary in St Dunstan Road, Fulham, when the 1901 Census was taken. His age was recorded as being 61 but he was 58, and his occupation as a coal porter noted. No place of birth was reported.
Admission to Horton Asylum and death
It is possible that it was from there that John was later admitted into the Horton Asylum in Epsom on 18th March 1902. His stay there was for only a few months before he died on 23rd November 1902.
Following a postmortem, the cause of John’s death was described as cerebral apoplexy heart disease. His death certificate states that John was a coal porter of Fulham Workhouse.
John was buried in grave 78 in Horton Estate Cemetery on 28th November 1902. It is unknown if his son John William Stubbings and married daughter Ellen Jane Abrahart and their families attended, but I hope so.
Copyright
If you use the published stories, partly or completely, written by volunteers of the Friends of Horton Cemetery charity (Reg. No. 1190518), please acknowledge the volunteer who wrote the story by name, acknowledge the Friends of Horton Cemetery expressly and its registration number, and include this link to the STORIES section of the website https://hortoncemetery.org/the…/horton-cemetery-stories/
Donate
Occasionally, people ask how they might financially contribute to our charity. There is a Donate link at the foot of each page of the website. All donations will be directed towards continuing efforts to restore and ultimately maintain Horton Cemetery. We thank you for your support.
