Table of Contents
G5: Henry Jones (1855-1900) and Mary Peters (1855-1933)
Birth: Henry Jones was born in around 1855. Nothing is known of his early life.
Marriage: to Mary Ellen Peters in Hollywell during 1875. The were both aged about 20.
Spouse history: Mary had been born during 1855 in the tiny hamlet of Mynydd Isa, the first child of Peter and Ellen. She was christened in Bistre Emmanuel Church in nearby Buckley on 29 April 1855. Her mother died when she was just 9, and her father never remarried. There is no record of Mary on the 1871 census.
Children: (1) Sarah in 1875, (2) Eleanor in 1877, (3) William in 1879, (4) Annie in 1881, (5) John in 1884, (6) Louisa in 1886, (7) Alfred in 1889, (8) Herbert in 1893, and (9) Emily in 1896. Louisa had sadly died in March 1889.
Residences: by 1879 the family had moved to the Wrexham – the largest town in North Wales. Sitting between the Welsh mountains and England, it had rapidly industrialised, with ironworks and large-scale collieries operating alongside hundreds of more traditional pits. The family lived in a terraced house on Wellington Road in the southwest of the town. Living with them was Mary’s 63-year-old widower father Peter, who was a cattle dealer. Over the next few years, the family joined the hordes of Welsh migrants moving to Liverpool, where they settled in the Toxteth suburb.
- Henry: 7 Wellington Road, Wrexham (1880-1881); 59 Ritson Street, Liverpool (1890-1896); 2 Exe Street, Liverpool (1896-1899)
- Mary: 7 Wellington Road, Wrexham (1880-1881); 59 Ritson Street, Liverpool (1890-1891); 2 Exe Street, Liverpool (1896-1933)
Occupation: Henry was a carter, driving the animals that pulled a vehicle.
Deaths: Henry died at the Royal Southern Hospital in 1900 and was buried in Toxteth Park Cemetery on 13 April. Mary died in 1933, aged 78, and was buried with her husband on 24 November.
Notes: in 1901 the recently widowed Mary lived with her four-year-old granddaughter Bessie – but it is not clear whose child this was. Curiously on the 1911 census Bessie is cited as a ‘relative’ while on the 1921 census she is a ‘daughter’. Mary also took in Alfred Wylde who was first captured on the 1911 census as a 16-year-old stationer’s apprentice. Originally from Daresbury, he eventually became a seaman and lived with Mary until his untimely death in October 1925.
G4: Sarah Elizabeth Jones (1875-?)
Birth: Sarah Elizabeth Jones was born in Mold during 1875. She was the first child of Henry and Mary.
Residences: 7 Wellington Road, Wrexham (1880-1881)
G4: Eleanor Jones (1877-?)
Birth: Eleanor Jones was born in Mold during 1877. She was the second child of Henry and Mary.
Residences: 7 Wellington Road, Wrexham (1880-1881); 59 Ritson Street, Liverpool (1890-1891)
G4: William Jones (1879-?)
Birth: William Jones was born in Wrexham during 1879. He was the third child of Henry and Mary.
Christening: on 11 January 1880 in Wrexham.
Residences: 7 Wellington Road, Wrexham (1880-1881); 59 Ritson Street, Liverpool (1890-1891)
Notes: William possibly emigrated to the United States where he married Clara Marie Ashley in 1908, but this needs to be further researched.
G4: Annie Jones (1881-?)
Birth: Annie Jones was born in Wrexham during 1881. She was the fourth child of Henry and Mary.
Residences: 59 Ritson Street, Liverpool (1890-1891)
G4: John Meredith Jones (1884-1959)
Birth: Meredith Jones was born in Wrexham on 28 January 1884. He was the fifth child of Henry and Mary. It’s likely that he was known as Jack.
Marriage: on 31 May 1914 to Agnes Hughes in St Peter’s Church in the city centre. He was aged 30 and she was 25.
Spouse history: Agnes had been born in Liverpool on 7 June 1888 to carter Richard Hughes and Margaret Ann McArdle. The family lived on Linden Street close to Edge Hill station, with Agnes being christened later that month at nearby St Nathaniel’s Church. They must have liked this street as they lived in three different houses on it over the next 20 years. Agnes was enrolled into St Saviour Infants School in 1893.
Children: none.
Occupation: John became a mariner and in 1907 was part of the crew of the RMS Saxonia, a passenger ship of the Cunard Line that sailed on the Liverpool-Boston route. Until two years prior it had been the largest ship in the fleet. He was possibly a waiter, for which he was paid £3/5 a month. He continued to live with his parents when not at sea.
John had given up life at sea by 1911 when he worked as a builder’s labourer. He drifted through various manual labour jobs, being a carter for the Liverpool Cooperative Society when captured in the 1921 census, and a labourer on the wharfs in 1939.
Residences: at the time of their marriage in 1914, John and Agnes lived together in a terraced house on Oak Street, close to Wavertree station. After the war they moved south into Toxteth where they shared a house on Tay Street with Agnes’s sister Annie Tippin, husband Edward and their two children. This became a long-term arrangement with the sisters still living together in 1970, long after the deaths of their husbands.
- John: 59 Ritson Street, Liverpool (1890-1891); 2 Exe Street, Liverpool (1907-1911); Oak Street, Liverpool (1914); 6 Tay Street, Liverpool (1921); 33 High Park Street, Liverpool (1938-1959)
- Agnes: 10 Linden Street, Liverpool (1888); 11 Linden Street, Liverpool (1893-1894); 6 Linden Street, Liverpool (1901-1911); Oak Street, Liverpool (1914); 6 Tay Street, Liverpool (1921); 33 High Park Street, Liverpool (1938-1970)
Deaths: John died in 1959 of chronic kidney failure caused by cancer. He was cremated at Liverpool Crematorium on 7 May. Agnes survived him by 22 years and died in 1981 when aged 93.
G4: Louisa Jones (1886-1890)
Birth: Louisa Jones was born in Wrexham during 1886. She was the sixth child of Henry and Mary.
Death: Louisa died aged just four and was buried at Toxteth Park Cemetery on 23 March 1890.
G4: Alfred Jones (1889-1939) and Madeline Frediani (1891-1957)
Birth: Alfred Jones was born in Liverpool during 1889. He was the seventh child of Henry and Mary.
Marriage: on 7 July 1912 to Madeline Frediani at St Peter’s Church, which despite Madeline being christened as a Catholic was a Church of England. He was aged 23 and he was 21.
Spouse history: Madeline was born in Liverpool on 22 April 1891 to Italian immigrant Joseph Frediani and his wife Catherine Gianelli, a second-generation immigrant. She had been born in the home of her maternal grandparents on Islington Place and christened at Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church on 5 May 1891.
Children: (1) Doris in 1912, (2) Nora in 1914, (3) John in 1916, (4) Joseph in 1920, (5) Herbert in 1923, (6) Mary in 1925, (7) Francis in 1928
Occupation: Alfred entered the printing trade and became a compositor, insetting the letters of words into the frames of the printing press. Individual letters and punctuation marks were cast on small metal blocks, known as sorts. The compositor assembled these sorts into words, then lines, then pages of text, which were then bound tightly together by a frame, making up a form or page. If done correctly, all letters were of the same height, and a flat surface of type was created. The form was placed in a press and inked, and then printed on paper. A key skill of the compositor was their ability to read the sorts, which were cast backwards so that they would print correctly.
Alfred seemingly gave up the no doubt tedious work of a compositor for the sea. By 1916 he was employed as a ship’s steward by the Booker Line of Old Hall Street. They were a modest shipping company focused on transporting sugar from their plantations in South America to Liverpool. His role was to see to the comfort of the passengers and crew.
Military service: Alfred enlisted in the army during February 1916 and joined the 2/10th (Scottish) Battalion, The King’s (Liverpool Regiment). The Battalion was sent to France in February 1917 and for much of the year they served in a quiet section near Armentières. Many of the men witnessed the detonation of the mines under Messines Ridge on 6 June 1917, an explosion reportedly heard in London. The sister 1/10th Battalion sustained such losses during the Battle of Estaires in May 1918 that they absorbed the 2/10th Battalion. Soon afterwards Alfred was shot in the thigh and wounded, albeit not too seriously. After a period of recuperation, he re-joined his unit at the end of June. The Western Front soon entered its final phase with the Hundred Days Offensive. The Battalion fought at La Bassée Canal and helped to secure numerous villages. Alfred remained in France after the armistice and did not return home for demobilisation until September 1919.
Residences: the newlyweds initially lived with Madeline’s family on Lambert Street before moving across the city to Strathcona Road in the dense network of terraced roads close to Wavertree Playground. They soon moved in with Alfred’s parents in 1916 when he was fighting in France, and then lived with Madeline’s parents back on Lambert Street until 1924, and then independently thereafter. In 1933 they moved around the corner to 58 Islington, a main road that ran through central Liverpool. This was perhaps a flat above the business run by Madeline’s younger sister Josephine who was registered on the electoral roll as the business proprietor.
It appears that during the war Madeline swapped houses with her cousin Mary Burns and family, moving into their former home on Rendal Street near Anfield Cemetery. By 1945 she lived with her sister Philomena, daughter Mary, and daughter-in-law Rose Jones.
- Alfred: 59 Ritson Street, Liverpool (1890-1896); 2 Exe Street, Liverpool (1896-1911); 40 Lambert Street, Liverpool (1912); 26 Strathcona Road, Liverpool (1912-1914); 2 Exe Street, Liverpool (1916); 40 Lambert Street, Liverpool (1918-1932); 58 Islington, Liverpool (1933-1939)
- Madeline: 51 Craven Street, Liverpool (1897-1901); 40 Lambert Street, Liverpool (1911-1912); 26 Strathcona Road, Liverpool (1912-1914); 2 Exe Street, Liverpool (1916); 40 Lambert Street, Liverpool (1918-1932); 58 Islington, Liverpool (1933-1939); 48 Rendal Street, Liverpool (1945-1956)
Deaths: Alfred died during the summer of 1939 when aged just 49. He was buried on 7 June in Toxteth Park Cemetery in the same plot as his parents. Madeline died at home at Rendal Street on 27 July 1957 aged 66 and was buried in Ford Cemetery. She left her estate to daughter Nora, while the remainder of her mother’s estate was passed to Philomena.
G3: Doris Jones (1912-1975)
Birth: Doris Jones was born in Liverpool on 10 November 1912. She was the first child of Alfred and Madeline.
Christening: on 1 December 1912 on St Thomas’s Church on Ashfield Street.
Residences: by the time that the 1921 census was taken Doris lived with her paternal grandmother on Exe Street, and continued to live there following his death, sharing with her aunt Emily until the street was demolished in 1970. The pair then moved together to Arundel Street.
- 26 Strathcona Road, Liverpool (1912); 2 Exe Street, Liverpool (1916-1921); 40 Lambert Street, Liverpool (1918-1930); 2 Exe Street, Liverpool (1934-1969)
Occupation: Doris worked as a receiving rum checker in 1939.
Deaths: Doris died in 1975 when aged 62.
G3: Nora Jones (1914-2000)
Birth: Nora Jones was born in Liverpool on 23 September 1914. She was the second child of Alfred and Madeline.
Christening: unusually, she appears to have been christened twice – first in St Thomas’s Church of England on 7 October 1914 and then a few days later at St Mary of the Angels Roman Catholic Church.
Marriage: to Henry Curtin in Liverpool during 1938. She was aged 23 and he was 22.
Spouse history: Henry was born in Liverpool on 29 September 1915, the seventh of eight children born to Irish immigrant Michael John Curtin and his Liverpudlian wife Mary Jane Guy. Michael was a fitter’s labourer who also served in the merchant navy as a greaser. The family lived on Forge Street, close to Canada Dock in Kirkdale.
Children: two girls in 1939 and 1940.
Occupations: John followed in his late father’s footsteps to become a seagoing marine engine greaser.
Residences: the family lived in a terraced house on Jessica Street in the south of Bootle, moving before the end of the war to Iris Street near Kirkdale station, which would be their home until at least 1970.
- Nora: 26 Strathcona Road, Liverpool (1914); 2 Exe Street, Liverpool (1916); 40 Lambert Street, Liverpool (1918-1923); 6 Jessica Street, Bootle (1939); 2 Iris Street, Liverpool (1945-1970)
- John: 24A Forge Street, Liverpool (1915-1937); 6 Jessica Street, Bootle (1939); 2 Iris Street, Liverpool (1945-1970)
Deaths: John died in Liverpool on 18 May 1993 when aged 77, with Nora following seven years later on 16 November 2000, when aged 85.
G3: John Alfred Jones (1916-1967)
Birth: John Alfred Jones was born in Liverpool on 4 November 1916. He was the third child of Alfred and Madeline.
Marriage: to Bridget Cunningham in Liverpool during 1943. He was aged 26 and she was 25.
Spouse history: Bridget, who was commonly known as Delia, had been born on 7 April 1917 to Joseph Cunningham and Bridget Walsh. The family of six lived on Ben Johnson Street, a row of poor-quality terraced houses that ran off Scotland Road. Her father was a ‘motor man steam wagon’ for Macfie & Sons sugar refiners. Delia was educated at nearby Bishop Goss School on Grosvenor Street.
Children: two boys and two girls born between 1946 and 1953.
Occupations: by 1939, John worked as a ship’s assistant cook. Delia was a brush machinist.
Residences: John lived with his parents until he was married, whereas Delia had her own flat in Downe House, part of the brand-new Gerard Gardens complex built to replace slum housing in the area. The newlyweds initially lived there together, moving into presumably a larger flat as their children were born. Delia later moved to Breck Road in Everton.
- John: 2 Exe Street, Liverpool (1916); 40 Lambert Street, Liverpool (1918-1933); 58 Islington, Liverpool (1933-1939); 78B Downe House, Liverpool (1949-1952); 82 Downe House, Liverpool (1955-1968)
- Bridget: 22 Ben Johnson Street, Liverpool (1921); 78B Downe House, Liverpool (1939-1953); 82 Downe House, Liverpool (1955-1970); Breck Road, Liverpool (1983)
Deaths: John died during 1967 when aged just 50. Delia died on 15 May 1989 at the age of 72.
G3: Joseph Jones (1920-?)
Birth: Joseph Jones was born in Liverpool during 1920. He was the fourth child of Alfred and Madeline.
Residences: 40 Lambert Street, Liverpool (1920-1933); 58 Islington, Liverpool (1933-1939)
G3: Herbert Jones (1923-1984) and Rose Florence Copus (1922-1996)
Birth: Herbert Jones was born in Liverpool on 10 February 1923. He was the fifth child of Alfred and Madeline.
Marriage: to Rose Florence Copus in West Ham during 1944. He was aged 20 and she was 21.
Spouse history: Rose was born in West Ham on 12 November 1922, the third child of dock labourer Albert and his wife Mary. The family initially lived on King George Avenue in the east of Canning Town, squeezing several adults and children into the small terraced house. They moved a mile to a semi-detached house on Barclay Road by 1939.
As the prospect of war became increasingly likely, the government wanted to increase the amount of food grown within Britain, which in turn required more help on the farms. Rose joined the newly established Women’s Land Army in June 1942. Although most of the Land Girls already lived in the countryside, more than a third came from London and the industrial cities of the north of England. Rose worked in Buckinghamshire as a syrup operator but resigned in August 1944 after refusing to ‘obey orders’.
Occupations: on the outbreak of war in 1939, 16-year-old Bert was a factory labourer while Rose worked in a sugar factory.
Children: (1) Carol in 1945, (3) Mary in 1949, (6) Christine in 1957, plus two more girls and two boys.
Residences: in 1945 pregnant Rose lived with Bert’s mother on Rendal Street near Anfield Cemetery. By 1955 the family moved out to the new suburb of Speke, where they lived in a town house on Little Heath Road until at least 1970.
- Herbert: 40 Lambert Street, Liverpool (1923-1933); 58 Islington, Liverpool (1933-1939); 48 Rendal Street, Liverpool (1948-1949); 10 Little Heath Road, Liverpool (1955-1970)
- Rose: 42 King George Avenue, Canning Town (1922); 18 Barclay Road, Plaistow (1939); 48 Rendal Street, Liverpool (1945-1949); 10 Little Heath Road, Liverpool (1955-1970)
Bert died of asthma on 20 January 1984 in Runcorn when aged 60. Rose survived him by 12 years and died in the Halton Haven Hospice in Runcorn on 19 July 1996, aged 73.
G3: Mary Madeline Jones (1925-2019)
Birth: Mary Madeline Jones was born in Liverpool on 24 May 1925. She was the sixth child of Alfred and Madeline.
Marriage: to John Cregg Fennell in Liverpool during 1951. She was aged 25 and she was 26.
Spouse history: John was born in 1924 to John Entwistle Fennell and Agnes Cregg, and they lived on a new housing estate in West Derby. 15-year-old John is not recorded at home on the 1939 Register and could possibly have been evacuated. His father was a clerk for the Ministry of Labour.
Children: four boys and two girls born between 1953 and 1964.
Occupations: Despite being only aged 14 on the outbreak of war in 1939, Mary worked as an apprentice book binder.
Residences: the newlyweds quickly moved into a semi-detached house on an estate in the new suburb of Hunt’s Cross. In 1964 they moved to a larger house on nearby Stuart Avenue where they lived for the rest of their lives.
- Mary: 40 Lambert Street, Liverpool (1925-1932); 58 Islington, Liverpool (1933-1939); 48 Rendal Street, Liverpool (1945-1951); 7 Greenacre Road, Liverpool (1952-1963); 16 Stuart Avenue, Liverpool (1964-2012)
- John: 8 Browning Road, Liverpool (1924-1950); 48 Rendal Street, Liverpool (1951); 7 Greenacre Road, Liverpool (1952-1963); 16 Stuart Avenue, Liverpool (1964-2010)
Deaths: John died on 9 May 2014 when aged 90. Mary survived him for five years and died on 10 November 2019 when aged 94.
G3: Francis Jones (1928-1933)
Birth: Francis Jones was born in Liverpool during 1928. He was the seventh child of Alfred and Madeline.
Residences: 48 Rendal Street, Liverpool (1928-1933)
Death: sadly, Francis died during 1933 when aged just 5 and was buried in Ford Cemetery on 7 November.
G4: Herbert Henry Jones (1893-?)
Birth: Herbert Henry Jones was born in Liverpool during 1893. He was the eighth child of Henry and Mary and commonly known by his middle name.
Occupations: in 1911, 18-year-old Henry was a clerk for a paint manufacturer. He later became a ship’s steward and in 1921 worked for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, which was a shipping company that operated along the Pacific coast of South America. The routes from Liverpool included to Callao in Peru, Buenos Aires in Argentina, and Valparaíso in Chile. None were direct, and involved stops at glamorous ports along the way.
For example, after leaving Liverpool the ship would first sail to La Pallice in France, then on to A Coruña and Vigo in Spain; and Lisbon in Portugal before crossing the Atlantic to stop at Recife, Salvador and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; Montevideo in Uruguay; Buenos Aires in Argentina; Port Stanley in the Falklands; and then Punta Arenas, Coronel, Talcahuano and eventually Valparaíso in Chile. This must have been a fabulous experience for a working-class boy from Liverpool.
Residences: Henry lived with his mother until her death in 1933, and thereafter continued to share the house with his sister Emily and niece Doris until 1936. We then lose track of him.
- 2 Exe Street, Liverpool (1896-1936)
G4: Emily Jones (1896-?)
Birth: Emily Jones was born in Liverpool during 1896. She was the ninth child of Henry and Mary.
Residences: Emily continued to live in the family home after the death of her mother in 1933 (although she is not recorded there on the 1921 census), sharing it with her brother Herbert until 1936 and then with her niece Doris until at least 1969.
- 2 Exe Street, Liverpool (1896-1969)
