Table of Contents
G8: John Stevens
Nothing is known about John other than what was cited on his son Benjamin’s marriage certificate – that he was a maltster. This was someone who selected cereals, mainly barley, from the growing fields for malting. The barley could also be grown on a brewer’s premise. The maltster would then modify the barley to allow the brewer to be able to make beer from it. The barley was malted to the brewer’s specification, to ensure he could produce the beer flavour, and alcohol content desired.
G8: John Taylor
Nothing is known about John Taylor other than what was cited on his daughter Susan’s marriage certificate – which is a fairly illegible occupation that was possibly a quartermaster.
G7: Benjamin Stevens (1819-?) and Susan Taylor (1823-?)
Birth: Benjamin Stevens was born in around 1819. Nothing is known of his early life.
Marriage: on 20 June 1842 to Susan Ann Taylor in the ancient St Dunstan and All Saints Church in Stepney. He was aged about 23 and she was 19. The marriage was witnessed by James and Mary Stevens.
Spouse history: Susan was born in around 1823. Nothing is known of her early life.
Children: (1) Susan in 1843, (2) John in 1844, (3) Benjamin in 1846, (4) Sarah in 1849, (5) James in 1851, (6) Fanny in 1852, (7) Walter in 1855. John and Walter both died before their third birthdays.
Residences: at the time of their marriage the couple lived on Union Street on what was then the eastern edge of London. Seeking a change, they crossed the River Thames to Peckham in Surrey. This bustling village boasted thriving market gardens, perfectly positioned to cater to London’s growing population. It also served as a final stop for weary cattle drovers, offering secure holding pens while they enjoyed a respite in local taverns. The area’s rich clay deposits fuelled a flourishing brick industry, supplying the ever-expanding capital. Despite this economic activity, life for many was harsh, and poverty a constant threat.
Peckham’s idyllic charm wouldn’t last. The arrival of the railway spelled the end of the market gardens, replaced by a sprawl of new housing developments. By 1847, the Stevens family had moved to Esther Place, and a few years later, to Britannia Place – one of several blocks lining Kent Road, roughly a mile north.
Widowed Benjamin moved east to Plumstead by 1861 where they lived in a terraced house on Ann Street opposite the walls of the Royal Arsenal.
- Benjamin: 9 Union Street, London Borough of Tower Hamlets (1842); 2 Ann’s Place, Peckham (1846); Esther Place, Peckham (1848); 2 Britannia Place, Peckham (1851-1852); 2 Ann Street, Woolwich (1861)
- Susan: 9 Union Street, London (1842); 2 Ann’s Place, Peckham (1846); Esther Place, Peckham (1848); 2 Britannia Place, Peckham (1851-1852)
Occupations: Benjamin was a labourer, and from at least 1861 worked as a machinist within the walls of the Royal Arsenal.
Deaths: Susan died before the 1861 census, most probably in Camberwell during 1855. It’s possible that Benjamin died in Guy’s Hospital in May 1862.
G6: Susan Elizabeth Stevens (1843-?)
Birth: Susan Elizabeth Stevens was born in Camberwell on 19 March 1843. She was the first child of Benjamin and Susan.
Christening: on 22 February 1846 at St Mary Magdalene Church in Southwark. She was christened alongside her brother John.
Residences: 2 Ann’s Place, Peckham (1846); Esther Place, London Borough of Southwark (1848); 2 Britannia Place, Peckham (1851-1852); 2 Ann Street, Woolwich (1861)
Occupations: in 1861 Susan worked as a housekeeper.
G6: John Benjamin Stevens (1844-1846)
Birth: John Benjamin Stevens was born in Camberwell on 25 October 1844. He was the second child of Benjamin and Susan.
Christening: on 22 February 1846 at St Mary Magdalene Church in Southwark. He was christened alongside his elder sister Susan.
Residences: 2 Ann’s Place, Peckham (1846)
Deaths: John died just a few months later and was buried at St George’s on 20 July 1846.
G6: Benjamin Stevens (1846-?) and Mary Seaman (1843-?)
Birth: Benjamin John Stevens was born in the family home at 2 Ann’s Place in Peckham on 1 August 1846. He was the third child of Benjamin and Susan.
Christening: on 19 March 1848 at St Peter’s Church in Walworth.
Marriage: on 22 December 1867 to Mary Ann Seaman in Great Yarmouth. He was aged 21 and she 24.
Spouse history: Mary was a couple of years older than Benjamin and had been born in Great Yarmouth on 15 September 1843 to James and Matilda. She was christened five days later, although was likely commonly known as Polly.
Children: (1) Susan in 1866. Unusually for the time she was born a year before her parents married.
Occupations: Benjamin can’t be found on the 1861 census, but if he had not already done so, would soon move to Great Yarmouth to become a fisherman. Mary had by then entered service as a house servant. In 1911 the now 64-year-old Benjamin was a caretaker.
Residences: the young family moved across a couple of houses in the unique Great Yarmouth Rows over the next few years.
At some between 1871 and 1881 they moved to London and settled in Woolwich on the south bank of the Thames – still quite separate to London at this point.
In 1881 they lived on Spray Street to the immediate south of the Royal Arsenal and in what the locals termed ‘The Dust Hole’. The actual house number is not known, and the enumerator noted that he had some difficulty due to duplicate and disputed numbers. By 1891 Benjamin lived with his daughter and family, plus his niece Matilda, in a cramped terraced house on Paget Road in the south of Woolwich. It is not known why Mary was not counted in the census but was certainly still alive.
Between 1896 and 1901 they moved across the Thames to Canning Town, a rapidly expanding area of West Ham around the Victoria Docks complex. Although there was employment and the area had improved since being one of London’s most notorious slums, it was still very deprived. It’s not known whether they followed their children here, or vice-versa, but they lived just a few doors up from daughter Susan on Janet Road. It is not known why Benjamin was not counted in the census.
The 1911 census was the first one for 30 years in which the couple were counted together. They lived in another terraced house on Hudson’s Road in the north of Canning Town.
- Benjamin: 2 Ann’s Place, Peckham (1846); Esther Place, London Borough of Southwark (1848); 2 Britannia Place, Peckham (1851-1852); Row 139, Great Yarmouth (1867); 7, Row 132, Great Yarmouth (1871); Spray Street, Woolwich (1881); 21 Paget Road, Woolwich (1891-1896); 60 Hudson’s Road, Canning Town (1911)
- Mary: South Denes Road, Great Yarmouth (1851); 5 Whitesides Building, Great Yarmouth (1861); Row 139, Great Yarmouth (1867); 7, Row 132, Great Yarmouth (1871); Spray Street, Woolwich (1881); 55 Janet Road, Canning Town (1901); 60 Hudson’s Road, Canning Town (1911)
Deaths: Benjamin possibly died in Newham in June 1914.
G5: Susan Elizabeth Stevens (1866-1949) and George Walter Copus (1858-1930)
The story of George and Susan is picked up in the Copus line.
G6: Sarah Ann Stevens (1849-?)
Birth: Sarah Ann Stevens was born in Camberwell during 1849. She was the fourth child of Benjamin and Susan.
Occupation: despite being only 12 years old in 1861, Sarah worked in the Royal Arsenal as a cartridge maker.
Residences: 2 Britannia Place, Peckham (1851-1852); 2 Ann Street, Woolwich (1861)
G6: James William Stevens (1851-?)
Birth: James William Stevens was born in Camberwell on 5 February 1851. He was the fifth child of Benjamin and Susan.
Christening: on 2 March 1851 at St Mary Magdalene Church on Massinger Street in Southwark.
Residences: 2 Britannia Place, Peckham (1851-1852); 2 Ann Street, Woolwich (1861)
Notes: for some reason he was recorded on the 1851 census as ‘John’ – perhaps an error by the enumerator. There are possible matches in the 1901 and 1911 census for a James W. Stevens married to a Mary Ann (second marriage). This was probably Mary Ann Holt, and they were married in 1889. He was born on Old Kent Road, and she was from Great Yarmouth (like James’ mother).
G6: Fanny Mary Ann Stevens (1852-?)
Birth: Fanny Mary Ann Stevens was born in Camberwell during 1852. She was the sixth child of Benjamin and Susan.
Christening: on 5 December 1852 at St Mary Magdalene Church on Massinger Street in Southwark.
Residences: 2 Britannia Place, Peckham (1852); 2 Ann Street, Woolwich (1861)
Notes: it’s possible that she married Frederick Foster on 27 May 1871, but the father on the marriage certificate is cited as James.
G6: Walter Charles Stevens (1855-1857)
Birth: Walter Charles Stevens was born in Camberwell during 1855. He was the seventh child of Benjamin and Susan.
Deaths: Walter died aged two and was buried on 7 July 1857 in the churchyard of St Nicholas in Plumstead.
