High Street, Ware, 1911 (Part 3)

This is the third of four articles, each of which looks at who was living in Ware High Street in 1911. This one covers the first half of the even-numbered buildings on the north side, from No. 2 to No. 56. 

View of the High Street looking east, c. 1908 (credit: Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies)

No. 2, a 5-room house, was occupied by William George Clark, 37, a local man from Ware, who worked in the malt-making business. He was married to Sarah Amelia, 27, who was originally from the City of London, and they had two young children, Horace William, 4, and Hilda Florance Mary, 2, both of whom had been born in Ware.

No. 4, a spacious property with 8 rooms, was the home of another man who worked in the malting industry ‒ Thomas Cass, 60, also from Ware, who was employed as a carman. His daughter Crissy, 24, lived with him and worked as a soap packer for a manufacturing chemist.

There was a public house, the Barge Inn (now the Waterside Inn), at No. 6, the licensed victualler being Robert Henry Gilbert, 62, from Deptford in Kent. He was assisted in the business by his wife Martha, 56, also from Deptford. They had had three children, one of whom had died, but only one grand-daughter, Elsie, 8, still lived with them. Also living here at the time of the census was George Whiting, 53, from Deptford, who was a general labourer, and two visitors ‒ Fredrick Henry North, 53,  a licensed victualler from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, and his wife Alice, 52. Interestingly, Kelly’s Directory of Hertfordshire (1912 edition) lists Fredrick North under its entry for the Barge public house, so it looks as though he took over from Robert Gilbert a year after his visit.

Little information exists about the occupant of No. 8, other than that he was a beer retailer called William Bateman. Perhaps he supplied the pub next door?

No. 10 was the home of William George Lambert, 66, a local retired bargeman who had worked in the malting industry. He lived in this 7-room house with his wife Martha Ann, 63, also from Ware, and their step-grandson Dudley William Coptcoat, aged 7. According to Kelly’s Directory of Hertfordshire (1910 and 1912 editions), however, a Mrs James Frederick Endersby, a saddler, is also listed at this address, although there is no mention of her in the 1911 census.

Advertisement in ‘Ware & District Almanack 1916’ (credit: Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies)

No. 12, an 8-room house (now a Grade II listed building), was occupied by Edward Samuel Harvey, 57, originally from Plymouth in Devon, who was described as a shopkeeper, a hardware dealer, and an oil and colour merchant. He lived with his two sisters, Elizabeth S., 56, and Sarah M., 51, both of whom assisted him in the business.

There was another public house at No. 14, the Star Inn (now a Grade II listed building). The licensed victualler was Emma Phillips, a 59-year-old widow from Woodham Ferrers in Essex. Her son, Charles Sidney, 32, who had been born in Ware and was employed as a tobacconist, lived with her, and they had one servant, Florence Mary Smith, 22, from Hull in Yorkshire.

No. 16 as it appears today – an attractive 16th-century building (credit: Caroline Churton)

 

 

The census enumerator lists a lock-up shop at No. 16 under the name of Charles Phillips, who was a tobacconist and cigar dealer, as well as a musical instrument dealer. It is now a Grade II listed building.

Next door at No. 18 was a boot-maker’s shop. William John Smith, 34, from Hertford, was assisted in the business by his wife Lizzie, 34, from Ware. They had two children, Mina, 8, and John William, 3, both born in Ware, and a general domestic servant, Alice Prior, 18, lived with the family in the 7-room house (now a Grade II listed building).

There was a letterpress printing works at No. 20, run by printer and stationer Alfred Henry Rogers, 45, from Ware. He lived there with his wife Laura Rose Maria, from Dalston in Middlesex, with their two children ‒ Douglas George, 19, also worked in the printing business, while Gwenneth, 12, was still at school. A servant, Ellen Chalkley, 22, from Wareside, lived with them, and on the night of the census the family had two visitors ‒ Alexander Douglas Butler, 27, a congregational minister, and his wife Emily Maria, 26, both from Brighton in Sussex.

The Old Bell Inn was at No. 22 (now a Grade II listed building).  Living in this 8-room building was Alfred Cain, 56, from Codicote, Hertfordshire, who described himself in the census as a beer seller. He was married to Susannah, 50, originally from Clent in Worcestershire, and one of their five surviving children (a sixth had died) still lived with them ‒ William Albert, 18, born in Mottingham in Kent, who worked as a clerk.

No. 24 was the home of a retired butcher, Leonard Hall, 81, from St Ives in Hampshire, and his much younger wife Maria, 39, from St Albans, Hertfordshire.

Ware High Street was certainly well provided for when it came to public houses ‒ there was another one at No. 26, the Old Bay Horse Inn. The publican was local man Henry Brazier, 50, and he lived on the premises with his wife Rose H., 38, from Wareside. and their two children, Henry, 10, and Helena, 16, who was employed as a milliner’s apprentice. Also living with the family were Henry’s sister, Mary A., 58, who worked as a domestic, and his two brothers, William, 53, a waiter, and Frederick, a bricklayer, all of whom had been born in Ware.

Advertisement in ‘Ware and District Almanack 1916’ (credit: Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies)

Hannah Grover, a 79-year-old widow from Ware, was a linen draper and clothier, with a shop at No. 28. She lived on the premises, which had eight rooms, with her four children and two grandchildren. Both her two sons, Charles, 43, and Frederick, 42, were draper dealers, and her younger daughter, Alice, 40, was employed as a shop assistant, although it is not clear whether this was in her mother’s drapery shop. Her eldest daughter, Elise Malin, 45, was married and her two children were Ivy, 17, who worked as a clerk, and Madeline, 14, who was still at school. No. 26 and No. 28 are both now Grade II listed buildings.

Advertisement in ‘Ware & District Almanack 1916’ (credit: Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was an uninhabited lock-up shop at No. 30 (now a Grade II listed building), from which James Chapman, a nurseryman and florist, carried out his business. According to Kelly’s Directory of Hertfordshire (1910 and 1912 editions) he had two nurseries ‒ the Blue Coat Nursery and another one in Watton Road.

Herbert Crawley, 40, from Ware, was a hairdresser and his shop was at No. 32 (now a Grade II listed building). Living with him there were his sister Alice, 42, who was employed as a domestic housekeeper, and his nephew, Ralph Ernest, 11, born in Hoxton in London.

There was a tobacconist at No. 34, which supplied a large and varied stock of tobaccos, cigars and cigarettes, and the ‘finest assortment of briar and other pipes in the district’, according to the Ware & District Almanack, 1916. George Cooper, 40, from Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, was married to Sarah Ann, 40, originally from Moreton in Marsh in Gloucestershire, and they lived on the premises. Their five surviving children (a sixth had died) were Ernest, 9, and Elsie, 6, both born in Stansted Mountfichet in Essex, Nellie, 5,  Kate, 3, and Muriel, 1. The three youngest had all been born in Ware.

Sophia Bradley, a 64-year-old single lady, originally from Weston in Herefordshire, lived at No. 36. She describes herself in the census as having no occupation, but in the enumerator’s list this property is described as a drapery establishment. The trade directories of the time confirm this as they list a Miss Emily Hicks, ladies’ outfitter, milliner, and registrar of births and deaths for Ware sub-district, at this address.

Next door there were two lock-up shops. Edmund Albert Blackburn, a cycle agent, carried out his business from No. 38 and William Langley Randall, a saddler and harness maker, operated from No. 40.

Looking east, with Frederick Cooper’s shop in the centre, early 20th century (credit: Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies)

A branch of the International Tea Stores Limited could be found at No. 42 and at No. 44 there was Cooper’s confectionery shop, established in 1839. Bennett’s Business Directory  (1911-12 edition) tells us that local man Frederick Cooper, 43, was a ‘baker, British and foreign pastry-cook and confectioner’, and that he catered for ‘balls, suppers and picnics, etc.’. He lived on the premises with his wife Constance L., 39, from Haverfordwest in South Wales, who assisted him in the business. Living with them were Lucy Darnell, 24, from Stanstead Abbotts, Hertfordshire, an assistant in the shop, schoolgirl Helen F. Mansell, 12, from Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, who was boarding with them, and Jessie Phillips, 21, from Barnes in Surrey, who was employed as a general domestic servant.

There was a printing factory at No. 46, the location of Jennings & Bewley, printers and bookbinders.

The offices of William Henry Lee & Co., house and estate agents, surveyors and valuers, and collector to Ware Urban District Council, were at No. 48. The large 7-room building was also home to George Henry Addy, 38, from Barton in Norfolk, who worked as a grocer’s porter. His wife was Eliza Ann, 36, from Henham in Essex, and they had three children ‒ Dorothy May, 12, Herbert George, 10, and Millicent, 7, all of whom had been born in Ware.

Nos. 34 to 48 (even numbers only) are all now Grade II listed buildings.

The next building on this side of the road, at what would have been No. 50 and where Leaside Church is today, was a Congregational chapel.

There was a grocer’s shop at No. 52 (Nat. Tel. No. 191). Charles Cook was a family grocer and provision merchant, a glass and china warehouseman, and an agent for W. & A. Gilbey Limited. wine and spirit merchants.

Charles Forbes had a draper’s shop at No. 54, but he lived elsewhere. The building is now Grade II listed.

Next door, at No. 56, was the French Horn public house, a large building of eleven rooms (now a Grade II* listed building), The licensed victualler, who lived on the premises, was William Henry Howard, 60, from Headington in Oxfordshire. He was married to Ellen Elizabeth, 46, from St Pancras in London, and they had had five children, although two of them had died. Their daughter, Evelyn Doris, 10, who had been born in London, lived with them. Kelly’s Directory of Hertfordshire (1912 edition) lists a Granville Sharpe, who was employed as a jobmaster (a person who supplied horses and carriages, and their drivers, for hire) in the stables at the French Horn. The census enumerator also lists an assembly room at the pub.

Click on each picture to enlarge.

See also separate articles on the High Street, Ware, 1911: Part 1 (Nos. 1-53), Part 2 (Nos. 55-111) and Part 4 (Nos. 58-120).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This page was added on 05/02/2020.

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