Gladden family of Bethnal Green

[HowardS]

Many thanks to Peter for another most interesting newsletter! Having a little time on my hands today, I decided to take up his suggestion to look further into the fortunes of this family, so typical of the decent and proudly working-class families of the era. I was much taken with the ubiquitous uniform of suit and tie, whether hauling fish, collecting old rags or going down to the pub!
I was able to determine that Arthur Gladden (born on 2nd January 1891) lived until 1975, and Nellie (in fact born on 18th November 1894) until 1977. Nellie's maiden name was Godier; I think it would be interesting to investigate her family further...
Their six daughters (of whom only four apparently consented to appear in the BBC film, but mother Nellie definitely mentions six when discussing their lodgings) were: Nellie Lilian (18th April 1916 - December 1989), Lillian Florence (23rd February 1920 - possibly still living!), Violet Elizabeth (27th May 1921 - spring 2015), Elsie Rosina (29th May 1923 - summer 2011), Joyce Ethel (18th October 1926 - January 2004) and Eileen Emily (18th July 1928 - 19th May 2008). Only Eileen (so far) ended her life with enough property to warrant a grant of probate...
All of the girls married and five of them had children of their own. We see four of the grandchildren in the film. Marie (who liked to be taken dancing in the West End by her not-particularly-steady boyfriend) married just over 12 months later, and married a second time in 1991. Carol married less than two years after the film (I wonder if she married her "steady" boyfriend?) but she didn't have any children with him, and married a second time in 1966. Carol is, apart from one infant death in 1947, the only one of the eleven grandchildren who is not still alive: she died on 26th July 2019, in Essex. She never made it to Australia.
All of the grandchildren married in their late teens or early twenties. They all remained in Essex except for the older brother (Stephen) of the little boy (Eileen's 2 1/2 -year old son Christopher) that we see in the film. Stephen married a girl from Sunderland and settled there, and Eileen and her husband Bill ended their lives up there.
I have found 17 great-grandchildren, almost all of whom still live in East London or Essex, and some of whom were already married by the end of 2005, and by 2006 there were already seven great-great-grandchildren!

 

[peter]

Thanks, Howard - and I hope you enjoyed the documentary. You mention that you thought it might be worth investigating Nellie Godier (perhaps because of the surname) - as it happens I did a little digging after the newsletter went out yesterday.

This is her birth entry from the GRO site:

GODIER, NELLIE WADE
GRO Reference: 1894 D Quarter in BETHNAL GREEN Volume 01C Page 185

Her parents were Henry Godier, an iron safe maker, and Emily Wade: this is a link to their marriage at Ancestry.

It shows Henry's father as Thomas Godier deceased, a weaver and his age as 26, but when he died in 1903 the newspaper report said he was 53.

I think this is his birth register entry:



If so, then this is probably his parents' 1842 marriage (also at Ancestry). Thomas Godier and his father, also Thomas, are both shown as carvers - but as everyone made their mark, including the witnesses, there could be some confusion there. I had a quick look for Thomas in the 1841 Census but ran out of time....

 

[HowardS]

This is great Peter! What does your dictionary of family names say about Godier (looks French to me...!)

 

[HowardS]

The images of the 1841 returns for Bethnal Green that I can access on FMP are incredibly faint.... maybe Ancestry have better ones? In 1851 the family appears as Godiers.

 

[Stuart]

This is great Peter! What does your dictionary of family names say about Godier (looks French to me...!)

The Oxford dictionary doesn't have it - presumably it's too French, or at least not British. (It's the Oxford Dictionary of family names in Britain and Ireland.) It does have Goodier, as a variant of Goodyear, but does not suggest it is related to Godier.

Geneanet lists Godier (plus some variants) as a moderately common French family name. It is described as Germanic, and its region of occurrence in their records is northern France and eastward into Belgium. That would fit with Frankish as an origin. However, there are other suggestions around, notably for a noble family in Normandy.

 

[peter]

The Oxford dictionary doesn't have it - presumably it's too French, or at least not British. (It's the Oxford Dictionary of family names in Britain and Ireland.) It does have Goodier, as a variant of Goodyear, but does not suggest it is related to Godier.

Geneanet lists Godier (plus some variants) as a moderately common French family name. It is described as Germanic, and its region of occurrence in their records is northern France and eastward into Belgium. That would fit with Frankish as an origin. However, there are other suggestions around, notably for a noble family in Normandy.

The location, and the fact that one of the ancestors was a weaver suggests the Godiers are of Huguenot origin.

 

[HowardS]

There is a baptism in Stepney of Thomas Claudius Godier, son of Thomas and Amy, on 4th November 1821, and a marriage in Finsbury of Thomas Godier and Amey Parker on 21st April 1806. Thomas and Amy baptized 10 children in Stepney, Shoreditch and Bethnal Green.

 

[Kate]

This was a really interesting documentary. It amused me that the grand mother was saying that children get too much of their own way, in 1958! She said her daughter asked her children what they wanted to eat instead of just giving it to them. More than 50 years later, nothing has changed. The same thing is being said now!

 

[peter]

She said her daughter asked her children what they wanted to eat instead of just giving it to them.

I don't remember having a choice when I was young, we had to eat what we were given, including the fat and gristle (ugh). The exception was when it was a cold meal with salad, in which case I could usually choose from spam, liver sausage and my grandmother's home-brawn. I avoided the pickles - that was allowed.

Perhaps the difference was that my maternal grandmother lived with us (though after we moved in late 1958 she had a sort of granny flat next door - we rarely ate together after that).

 

[Kate]

I didn't give my children things they didn't like and my mum didn't give me meat or fish because I didn't like it. Unless I had an egg or some cheese there wasn't an alternative.