Kentish Town & camden Town
George Stephen Favell (my Great, Great Grandfather) was born in Hemingford Grey in 1859. He worked as a Farm Labourer from at least the age of 12 and by the age of 22 was a Groom. At the age of 27 he married Ellen Coulson (28 years old and also from Hemingford) at the parish church of St Pancras in Middlesex. The couple set up home in Lancing Street close by Euston Station, but by the birth of their first son in 1886 (also named George Stephen) they were living in Hartland Road, Kentish Town. Hartland Road was about equidistant from the centres of Kentish Town, Camden Town and Chalk Farm, just North of Camden Lock and opposite the Camden Roundhouse. In 1888, a daughter Lucy Caroline was born. Later followed two more sons, Frederick Herbert in 1889 and John Harold in 1892, but both died in infancy.
George was working as a Carman and would have been working horse drawn delivery ‘cars’ or ‘vans’, most probably for one of the Railway Companies. Kentish and Camden Towns were the terminus for The Great Northern Railway, The Midland Railway and the London & North Eastern Railway. The lines into King’s Cross, St Pancras and Euston cut through the area, which was also criss-crossed with lines for the great railway goods yards and local passenger traffic. A railway viaduct actually cut across Hartland Road.
There were large warehouses, markets and stabling for thousands of horses used for shunting and onward delivery of goods by vans. The railway yards connected to the Regents Canal running through the area so that goods could transfer between the two forms of transport. Large coal drops, gas works to produce Town Gas and gas holders were also a feature of the large ‘Railway Lands’ area. The whole locality must have been alive with the sound of steam trains and the constant clatter and clanging of the shunting yards. The air would have been full of smoke and coal dust. A far cry from village life in Huntingdonshire.
By 1891, George & Ellen were living in King’s Yard, Bayham Place in Camden Town. Bayham Place was off Bayham Street that ran parallel behind the main High Street. The younger George was then 4 years old, Lucy 3 and Frederick about 18 months. When the census was taken that year it showed that 23 year old Hannah Coulson was visiting (probably a niece) and James Coulson (probably a nephew) was renting another room in the cottage.. James had his own lodger, William Benstead, and yet another room was rented to a mother and son. Even such a small cottage was rented out on a room by room basis with shared amenities. The yard also provided access to the Mornington Piano Works. Camden Town was a large manufacturing centre for the piano and furniture manufacturing industries, with many local factories and smaller family businesses making piano keys, metalware and fittings.
The family remained in King’s Yard for 3 generations until the late 1930s. The younger George married Hannah Pugh and moved out of the cottage to live in Bayham Street, just a stone’s throw away. Young George was by then working as a Sweep. Lucy remained living with her parents and worked locally in Camden Town as a ‘layer on’ (usually referring to gold leaf or similar) in a playing card factory, presumably Charles Goodall & Sons who had large premises on Great College Street nearby. The company was reputed to have made 3/4 of all the playing cards in Britain. Lucy, who was known by the younger members of the family as Aunt Sis, never married. It was said that her boyfriend was killed in the First World War.
There was still much contact and interaction with the family from Hemingford Grey with visitors staying and other members of the family lodging on an almost permanent basis. George senior’s cousin Henry Favell lived with the family for many years after his return from the Boer War. He had married and settled in Hampstead before he was recalled for service in 1901, but on his return his wife had left him and he chose to stay with his cousin. George senior’s Brother Albert also came to live in King’s Yard when he left his home in Ipswich under a cloud regarding a large sum of money that he had lost, either through gambling or an ill advised loan. He left his wife and his daughters just as his son was about to take part in the Gallipoli Landings in WW1. He had lead a relatively comfortable life style as an Insurance Salesman, able to employ a domestic servant for his family. He left his family in financial straits, something for which he was never forgiven. By the 1920s he had started a small business dealing in rabbit skins with another lodger, Frank Hawkins. My Grandfather recalled Albert as very tall, well spoken and well dressed, with a fur collar. The space under his bed was full of rolled up insurance policies! One of my Great Uncles said that he was once told by Albert that he used to be the Mayor of Huntingdon so it seems there were some tall stories going around! One of George senior’s sisters, Lucy Jane, had also moved away from Hemingford and lived close by in Bayham Street. Lucy had married Frederick Read who was from Fenstanton in Huntingdonshire. By 1891 Lucy Jane had 5 children, all cousins to George and Lucy Caroline. And at that time, brother Herbert Favell was also living with them as a lodger. So, there was quite a family clan gathered in the area. To complicate things for historians, Lucy Jane’s daughter, May Read, went on to marry Thomas Pugh, brother of Hannah Favell (nee Pugh).
This photograph on the right was taken in 1916 / 1917. George Senior and Ellen are seated front. Standing behind is George and his wife Hannah holding the baby. Standing beside George is his sister Lucy. My Grandfather George Stephen Lewis Favell is the little boy in the sailor suit. His sister May beside him. Being held on his Grandfather’s knee is Leonard and the Baby is Sidney. Yet to join the family is Reginald who would be born in 1919. Presumably taken on the same day, the photo below shows the 3 Georges messing around with a small cart. Father, Son and Grandson. I strongly suspect that Albert was behind the camera and that he was the only one with sufficient funds to actually own one! Just a year later George was to die of TB, leaving young Hannah a widow with 5 children. The presence of uncle Albert, cousin Henry and Aunt Sis would help to pay the bills and raise the family as everyone mucked in at King’s Yard
The children grew though the 1920s, attending the local school just behind King’s Yard. My Grandfather used to tell stories of their many scrapes. Such as the Sunday morning in Church when he tried to attract the attention of one of his pals by flicking one of the prayer cushions across the pews. Unfortunately he got the trajectory wrong and managed to knock the bible from the preachers hands mid-sermon, resulting in a good clip around the ear when he got home. The local kids formed little gangs with strict territories. Grandad said that if they captured any strangers on Bayham Street they were given the option of a beating or running the Race of the Golden Knobs. If they won, they would not only get off scot free, but also win the golden prize. Basically a straight running race over a set distance which the stranger was always allowed to win! They would then be congratulated and subject to an award ceremony where they closed their eyes and held out their hands to receive the prize. A shovel full of fresh golden horse manure.
Some streets had reputations for being either very rough or very poor. He told of a friend who lived on a poor street whose parents used to keep a horse in the house. Surprisingly not that unusual, except that this family lived in upstairs rooms! His first paid job was helping Henry Favell, who worked at the Baths just down the street, to clean out the large boilers and getting smothered in soot. He was also paid a shilling on Sunday’s for collecting a cooked dinner from his Gran and taking it to Henry to eat in the local pub. Another money earner was helping his mother Hannah to deliver advertising samples, door to door. Similar I guess to today’s junk mail. They were given samples to distribute in Colindale and took the Northern Line tube from Camden Town station. Grandad failed to understand that the samples of Exlax they were delivering was not ordinary chocolate and the temptation to scoff down several had dire consequences. In his words, he was glad he had some bicycle clips in his pocket!
Grandad’s first full time job was again up the Northern line in Colindale where he worked for a firm stamping out car number plates. He later got himself a job at the Standard Telephones & Cables in New Southgate and daily would catch the tube to Euston and change to the Piccadilly Line for Arnos Grove station where he would then catch the 251 bus, or walk the couple of miles to work.
By the late 1930s the older family members had passed away. The older George, Henry and Albert had all gone, leaving just Ellen who lived on in the cottage in King’s yard until her death in 1936. A large vine grew in the front garden of the cottage and their was a family legend attached. Ellen had acted as unofficial local mid-wife and was also on call to assist with laying out the local dead. The many still born children that she had experienced through the years were thought to be buried in the front garden and the vine to be a form of memorial. Hannah and Aunt Sis headed the family as the children, who were now all young adults, started to find partners and marry. George married Violet Anne Oxley (always known simply as Annie) and to avoid any confusion in the family, their first son was named George! George Leonard was followed a few years later by a brother Maurice. Then came the Second World War and its after effects which was to see the family start to leave Camden for good.
