Smoking was huge in London at the turn of the 20th century. Small factories had sprung up all over the city during Victorian times. It has been suggested that the industry accounted for a quarter of all business in London. Cigars were a big favourite, particularly in coffee houses. And, it seems, tobacco leaves were sorted and dried then, sometimes, rolled in homes by children.
I was researching a dead soldier today and discovered two kids whose ‘occupation’ was listed as ‘cigar maker’. One of them was Thomas Maltravers Linnell, and it was his son I was researching. When he died, he was a Cigar Merchant, so I guess he did quite well out of it.
In 1861, alongside Thomas (13), was his sister, Esther (9) and his mother, also Esther, making cigars too. His father, James, doesn’t appear to have had anything to do with cigars. In 1871, for instance, he was something ‘in public office’. The census return is hard to decipher. By 1881, he was a Messenger for an insurance company. He then died in 1888.
But, back to Thomas. When he married Emma Matthews in 1873, his occupation was ‘cigar sorter’ so he hadn’t progressed much in the 12 years since the 1861 census. Emma, incidentally, was a widow. Her maiden name was Sanby. Most of her life, including her first marriage, is, unfortunately, a mystery.
That’s all I could find out about them. Their son is only a little more clear.
Thomas Maltravers Linnell junior, was born in 1874, a year after his parents married. He subsequently married Annie Louisa Apthorpe (1876-1945) on 14 April 1900.
In 1901, the couple were living with her parents at 151 Ethelred Street, Lambeth and Thomas was working as a Theatre Attendant. They had one child, Ernest who was born on 4 April 1906.
In 1911, the family were living in their own home at 75 Monkton Street, Kennington, and Thomas was working as an engineer’s clerk.
His military record is sadly non-existent except for his pension card. This, obviously, only came to light after his death in 1917. Written on the card is the advice that his son, Ernest, be put into the guardianship of his ‘sister’ Emma SA Mitchell owing to his wife’s ‘immoral and intemperate life.’
The thing is, I couldn’t find a sister called Emma or anything else for that matter. Thomas’s mother was Emma, but I haven’t been able to find anything about when she died. According to the 1861 census, she was 35 which would make her 91 by 1917. I think that’s a bit unlikely. And Annie Louisa only had one sister, and she was called Julia, after their mother.
Interestingly, Emma SA Mitchell lived in New Malden and that’s where Thomas was living when he died. I have had no luck tracking her down.
Anyway, Thomas went to Europe not long after the declaration of war. He left England on 29 October 1914. He was a Sergeant in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps when he was gassed, serving at the Front and was, subsequently, discharged from the army on 8 June 1916 as no longer fit for service. Thomas died on 5 February 1917, as a direct result of being gassed and was buried in Kingston upon Thames cemetery.
Despite her drunken sexcapades, Annie Louisa Linnell lived until 1945, having never remarried, and their son, Ernest Maltravers Linnell, died in 1967, surviving the Second World War when he served in the Royal Navy.
As for the progress on the current house painting…
Harald and Roger slaved away again today, while the sky changed from cloudy to sunny and back again. The yellow looked fantastic in the morning sun and the pinkish colour in the hallway is looking very good.
Harald was worried they’d not be finished in two weeks but, given this isn’t even halfway, I reckon they’ll finish, easily.
While I rather like the blue edging, it’s actually just masking tape to protect the white.
