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b.1880-d.1920
Ernest’s parents
Ernest Alfred Thurston was born in St Pancras in the 1st quarter of 1880, the son of Arthur William Thurston and his wife Mary Ann (née Woodward). Both parents were also born in St Pancras, Arthur in the 4th quarter of 1851 and Mary in the 2nd quarter of 1847.
Arthur was the son of Alfred James Thurston, a printer, and Mary’s father was brass finisher William Woodward. The couple had married in St Pancras Parish Church on the 29th of May, 1875 and at the time of their marriage both were living in Heston Street, St Pancras; Alfred at number 25 and Mary next door at number 27.
In the marriage register Alfred’s occupation is given as ‘carver and gilder’. This was a highly skilled job involving the carving of wood and/or plaster for furniture, picture frames, architectural elements etc. and then gilding the carving (i.e. covering it with gold leaf).
A tragic death
The couple’s first child, Arthur, was born in the 2nd quarter of 1876 followed by a daughter, Constance Clara, in the 3rd quarter of 1877. Tragically, Constance died in the 4th quarter of 1878 aged just one. Two years later Mary gave birth to her third child, our subject, Ernest Alfred.
Somers Town, St Pancras
In the 1881 Census we find the family living at 48, Seymour Street, Somers Town, St Pancras, a property they share with two other couples. Although the Thurstons’ neighbours in Seymour Street included clerks, printers, watchmakers, jewellers and shoemakers, Somers Town in the second half of the 19th Century was infamous for its mean and squalid streets and crumbling tenements. One third of Somers Town’s inhabitants lived in abject poverty, lacking the bare minimum required for food and accommodation.
Another child and a move to Fulham
In the 4th quarter of 1881 Mary gave birth to a daughter named Emily Mary. By the time of the 1891 Census the family had moved to 19, Shorrolds Road in Fulham, a property they shared with two other families, furniture porter George Boden, his wife Jane and their daughter Amelia, and widowed needle-woman Annie O’Connor and her son Arthur.
Arthur Thurston senior is still working as a carver and gilder and the younger Arthur, now aged 15, is an errand boy. Ernest and Emily, now aged 11 and 9 respectively, are, one may assume, attending school, but this is not indicated in the census. (The 1880 Education Act made school attendance compulsory between the ages of five and ten though by the early 1890s attendance within this age group was falling short at 82 percent. Truancy was a major problem due to the fact that parents could not afford to give up the income earned by their children.)
In the 1901 Census the Thurstons are still living together in Fulham but have moved to 26, Mimosa Street. It would appear that they are sole residents of the property apart from a boarder, 57 year-old Maria Loftus. Ernest, now aged 21, is employed as a commercial clerk while his brother Arthur is an apprentice electrician.
Marriage to Florence
On the 27th of July 1907, Ernest married Florence Edith Emily Woolley in All Saints’ Church in Fulham. Florence was the daughter of stagecoach conductor, Frederick George Woolley and his wife Susan (née Vail). She was born in Fulham in the 2nd quarter of 1884. At the time of their marriage Ernest and Florence were living at 26, Mimosa Street with Ernest’s parents but in the 1911 Census we find them living at 10, Quarrendon St, Parsons Green in Fulham. Ernest is a silversmith’s clerk.
Another tragic death
In the 1st quarter of 1909 Florence gave birth to the couple’s first child, a daughter named Muriel. Their joy was to be brief, however, as, tragically, Muriel died shortly after her birth. According to the General Records Office register, Ernest and Florence had no more children. One can only imagine the sadness of the young couple on losing their only child and wonder what effect his grief might have had on Ernest’s mental health.
The onset of Ernest’s mental health problems – and his death in Long Grove
We do not know the nature or severity of Ernest’s mental health problems or, indeed, when they began. We know that Ernest was still living at 10, Quarrendon Street (one assumes with Florence) in 1915 as he appears on the electoral register for that year. However, the next time we see him is on the 26th of May 1917 when he is admitted to Britten Street Workhouse in Chelsea. Just four days later, on the 30th of May, he was transferred to Long Grove where he died on the 23rd of December 1920 aged 40. Ernest was buried in Horton Cemetery in grave 76a.
Florence after Ernest’s death
Florence never remarried. In the 1939 Register we find her, now aged 57 and working as a paid domestic worker, living at 108 Fentiman Road in Lambeth. We do not know when or why but at some point Florence moved to 12, Lower Green, Stoke-by-Clare in Suffolk where she died aged 72 on the 7th of April 1955. An announcement in a newspaper requested that any relatives should apply to the Treasury Solicitor to claim her estate of ‘about £240’.
