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b.1882-d.1910
We cannot be sure where Gertrude was born and who her parents were. She herself did not seem to know much and whether she knew her parents is unknown. Perhaps no one bothered to ask her. There is little to go on. There is no definite trace of a Birth Certificate or baptism and what is known about her background seems to be acknowledged within a lifetime of care.
There is a birth certificate for a Gertrude Sykes which I have looked at and explored the possibility that this could be the right one. It shows a Gertrude Sykes born 4 March 1882 to Joseph and Mary Mabel Sykes nee Mathias. Joseph is a Trade Collector. They were living at Waterloo Street in Camberwell.
I then checked the General Record Office births for children with the surname Sykes and mother’s maiden name of Mathias. I found the following
- Joseph E born Islington March quarter 1877
- Bessie born St Giles December quarter 1878
- William Edward born St Saviours quarter 1880
The couple married on 8 June 1876 in Westminster. Joseph gave his occupation as a Commission Agent and his father as Edward a Grocer and Mary’s father William was stated to be a licensed victualler.
The 1881 Census shows the family living at 9 Sutherland Square in Newington. Joseph senior aged 30 working as an Agent for coals from Glossop. Mary aged 28 from Pembroke in Wales. The children Joseph aged 4 and William aged 11 months. Bessie had died in 1879.
Despite all sorts of searches to see where this family appeared next came to a dead end. All members of this family then seem to disappear so we will never know if this was our Gertrude’s family or what happened to them all.
Gertrude’s Early Life
The first time anything can be found about our subject is in February 1885 when she was admitted to Hackney Union Workhouse aged 3 years old from the Infirmary on the 20 February.
She is discharged alongside other children to Brentwood District Schools on 5 March 1885, from the notes it looks as if her mother Mary was living at 1 “Nisbit Street, Homerton”. This could be Nesbit Street just off Homerton High Street. In 1890, this area was described in Booth’s maps as being a “very poor area of chronic want”. It was 2 streets away from the Workhouse. The accompanying notebooks stated, “prostitutes used to live here” and the area had the lowest semi criminal class.
Apart from the above family found in the 1881 census no definite trace can be found of Mary at this time or indeed Gertrude’s father and so from the little evidence we have we can only assume poor Gertrude came from a very poor background where her parents may not have been able cope.
The Hackney Brentwood District Schools were poor law schools for orphaned or abandoned children, and it appears Gertrude spent most of her younger years there. On 24 April 1887 she was admitted back to Hackney Workhouse along with other children but only for one day and she returned to the school with this same group. The purpose of this is not clear.
The next time we encounter Gertrude is another admission to the workhouse on 16 February 1891 where it states she was admitted from Rottingdean Convalescent Home. Rottingdean is in East Sussex. There were several Convalescent Homes on the coast and the Poor Law authorities believed that some of the children in their care might benefit from the sea air. From this, it can only be assumed that Gertrude was not a well child and after 3 days she was sent back to Brentwood School. On the register it notes her mother as “Mary?, Elizabeth, Homerton”. It is still not clear from this who her mother was.
1891
At the time of the 1891 census, she is shown as an inmate of the Brentwood School and noted place of birth as unknown.
A victim of abuse
Gertrude was still at Brentwood Schools in 1894 when a scandalous case of abuse hit the headlines. A nurse from the school named Ella Gillespie went on trial accused of “systematic cruelty” over a number of years. Witnesses stated that they saw Gertrude being beaten with nettles by Gillespie and undoubtedly the poor child was on receiving end of some of her other awful punishments.
Gillespie knocked the children’s heads on the wall, cut their heads with a bunch of keys, made the infants kneel with their bare knees on the wire guards over the hot water pipes, and kept them there. She was seen forcibly immersing a child’s head in a bucket of water and keeping it there and beating children with a cane on their hands and feet and the “ basket drill” was alleged to have been practised, and that she kept the children without water to drink when they were thirsty, in consequence of which they drank water from the pan of the water closet. Gillespie was found guilty and sent to prison for 5 years. The Superintendent and the Matron were suspended. It is awful to think what terrible things these children endured.
Below is a small part of a very long article in the Chelmsford Chronicle dated 1 June 1894. The report of the trial where a witness statement saw poor little Gertrude being thrashed with stinging nettles by Nurse Gillespie.
The Religious Creed Register shows that Gertrude was at the Brentwood School until 11 April 1896 when about the age of 13 she was sent to Margate Metropolitan Asylum. It quite clearly records her mother as Mary living at 1 Elizabeth Street in Homerton.*
By 15 February 1899 when she was about 15 years old Gertrude returned to Hackney Union Workhouse from the Metropolitan Asylum in Margate. The Asylum in Margate was opened in 1898 at East Cliff House, and it specialised in treating Tuberculosis related illnesses, also rickets and ophthalmia. It offered children seaside recuperation. Again, this is an indication that all was not well with Gertrude’s health. She was discharged at her own request from the workhouse on 2 March 1899.
However, she was back again on 5 November 1900 admitted by the matron but now she is working as a servant aged 16. She was discharged at her own request on 22 November 1900 but 4 days later she was back in the Workhouse. Again, she was discharged at her own request on 14 December 1900.
1901 time spent at a Maternity Home
By the time of the 1901 Census Gertrude was in another care environment, this time The Maternity Home of Rescue Society, Victoria House at 89 Central Hill, Upper Norwood, Surrey. She was listed as an inmate involved in laundry work. This establishment was a listed Children Home and listed as a home for fallen woman or woman who were likely to fall into trouble specialising in the age group of 14- to 25-year-olds.
These establishments sometimes offered up to 12 months free support and moral reform. Laundry work was the most common work for these young women; it was considered symbolic cleansing. Whether Gertrude was pregnant or not or whether it was thought by the authorities she was at risk we will never know. I could find no record of a child being born.
1902
By the following year Gertrude was in real trouble, and her mental health was at a very low ebb, and it is the start of her journey into despair. From the Poor Law Removal and Settlement documents we can see that on 1 July 1902 she was admitted to Shoreditch Infirmary from 63 Clifton Street, Finsbury where she was working as a servant.
Stamford Mercury dated 3 May 1901
Was this Gertrude’s employer? Did the Maternity Home find work for Gertrude with Mrs Beskers? If so, it did not seem to help or last long.
On 12 July it stated that she “attempted to strangle herself owing to a strong feeling coming over her and a voice telling her to commit the act- patient is morose and sullen”. The medical examination of the 14 July showed this was the first attack, that she was not epileptic and not a danger to others. It goes on to say she was “morose and sullen- has uncontrollable fits of temper – says she feels she must yield to any sudden impulse”.
It also went on to say she had no known relatives, so she was all alone in the world. As there were no vacancies in the London County Asylums on that date, it was decided she would be removed to Bethnal House and on 18 July she arrived there. It was noted she had no injuries, but her hair was “nitty”.
By 9 September of that year there was finally space for her at the London County Asylums and Gertrude was removed to Horton Asylum where she remained until her death on 18 June 1910 and she was buried at the Cemetery on 23 June 1910.
Gertrude’s death certificate shows she died of fatty degeneration of the heart and Acute Gastro Enteritis which she had had for some weeks. She was recorded as being 26 years old.
In search of Gertrude’s mother
The search for Gertrude’s mother proved to be a thankless task. I did find a Thomas and Sarah Sykes living at 33 Nesbit Street in 1881 and wondered if she was a relative or if Gertrude was their child. Searches of the census records and baptism records proved to be fruitless. This was a dead end.
The records state Mary Sykes lived at Elizabeth Street in Homerton. As far as I can tell there was no Elizabeth Street in Homerton at that time. Nesbit Street had several spellings, such as Nisbit or Nisbet. I am wondering whether there was a transcription error in the Workhouse records as Elizabeth and Nesbit and its variations do have similar letters. The only known address for Mary was Nesbit Street in 1885 and then she disappears.
Was she Mary Mabel Sykes, wife of Joseph? Mary Mabel Mathias who was named on the marriage certificate came from Pembrokeshire. I could only find her in the 1871 Census in Pembroke Dock. After 1881 there is no further trace of her or the whole family.
Who was Joseph Sykes?
After finding the marriage certificate for the parents named on the birth certificate for the Gertrude Sykes I had located, I tried to find Joseph Sykes. He came from Glossop born around 1850 and his father was named as Edward Sykes a Grocer.
I did find an Edward Sykes a Grocer living in Glossop married to Betsy. They had a son called Jerry born in 1850. He can be traced in the 1851 and 1861 censuses. I found a newspaper articles that track Jerry to Liverpool in 1870 and 1871 where he is working as an apprentice. Edward Sykes left his wife in 1871 and she confirmed her son had moved to Liverpool. Edward died in 1878. Perhaps Jerry changed his name to Joseph after his father left the family. It is the only link I can trace to the marriage certificate and the birth certificate.
Frustratingly, none of this definitely links Gertrude to Mary Mathias and Joseph Sykes. Even more frustratingly, the entire family as listed in the 1881 census completely disappear. They could have changed their names and moved on leaving poor Gertrude in the workhouse.
Authors Thoughts
Gertrude Sykes led a life of care, one of the forgotten lives from the most poor and deprived backgrounds of London. Possibly, her mother could not cope. Gertrude may have been born with an illness or a disability as she did spend some time in Infirmaries and Convalescent Homes. Her death certificate shows she died of heart disease. Was she born with this problem?
She also spent time in a Maternity Home. Was she pregnant or a vulnerable young woman at risk of sexual exploitation?
Clearly her life was an unhappy one. Even when she was supposed to be in a safe environment, an educational setting, she was subject to systematic abuse from those who were meant to care for her. All these things must have made their mark on her and after years of hardship and illness despite everything it all became too much for her, and she tried to take her own life. The later years of her life in a Mental Asylum would have not cured her and she must have remained in mental torment and possibly her death finally brought her the peace she deserved.
Special thanks to Linda Martin for her help in this story.
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