Smithers Genealogy

13 March 2007

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Dr G.M.W.Mann.      Baytrees

Burnhams Rd,    Lt.Bookham

Surrey, U.K.           KT23 3AU

geoff.mann@btinternet.com

 

 

 

 

 

2A Elizabeth Mary Ann SMITHERS 1859->1901

 

 

1m Francis McGLADRIGAN 1879; 2m Joseph FOSTER 1880

 

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth Mary Ann was born in 1859 at her grandparent’s home in Stepney.  Her mother was 20 years old and unmarried and the father’s name is not known.  Two years later, mother and daughter were living in Charles St Stepney, close to her grandparents.  She was baptised at the age of 4 in the nearby St Peter’s Church.

 

Elizabeth’s mother had a second illegitimate daughter in 1864, born in the Mile End Workhouse, but in 1871, the family of Elizabeth, her mother and her younger sister, were in Brentford.  12 year-old Elizabeth was listed as a dressmaker, a trade she may have learnt from her mother or possibly at the nearby well-regarded British School in Brentford, set up mainly for poor children.

 

Later that year, Elizabeth’s mother married an Irish soldier, Timothy NOONAN who was a student at the nearby School of Military Music.  He left the army in 1876 and the whole family moved to Shoebury in Essex.  Shoebury was a garrison town, which suggests the move was associated with Timothy’s army connection. 

 

At Shoebury parish church in 1879, Elizabeth married a soldier stationed in the garrison, but he died of pneumonia just 9 days after the marriage.  Possibly Elizabeth was pregnant and the marriage was undertaken to legitimise her child but no such birth was registered in the following 9 months.  Just over one year later, Elizabeth married the soldier who had witnessed her first marriage – Joseph FOSTER.

 

Joseph was a corporal in the Royal Engineers at the time of his marriage, but was promoted eventually to Sergeant Major.  He moved with his regiment from Shoebury to Woolwich (c1885) and then to Brighton (c1892).  Elizabeth and her growing family moved with him.  Three children were born in Shoebury, two more in Woolwich where they lived in the Royal Artillery Barracks, and three more in Brighton. 

 

All her children survived childhood, but little is known of the family after 1901 when they were living in a house in D’Aubigny Rd, Brighton.  In 1912, Ethel FOSTER was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Herbert H Mann in Shoeburyness, while “Mr Foster and family” gave a wedding present. 

 

 

 

 

 

EVENTS

 

 

           age

   DATE   ES JF

 

                       EVENT

14Mar1859     

 7Apr1861  2

 1Apr1863  4

17Dec1864  5

 2Apr1871 12  

  Aug1871 12

28Mar1876 17

        ?     

 1Jny1879 20

10Jny1879 20

29Mar1880 21

     1880 21

 4Apr1881 22

     1882 23

25Jny1884 25

     1884 25

     1887 28

     1889 30

 5Apr1891 32

     1894 35

     1897 38

31Nar1901 42       

22Apr1901 42

born in grandparent’s house in Devonshire St, Stepney

living with her mother in Charles St, which backs on to Devonshire St.

baptised at St Peter, Cephas St, Stepney

sister Lavinia born in the Mile End Workhouse

at Brentford with her mother and sister

mother married Timothy NOONAN at Brentford

Timothy discharged from the army with a pension

became a domestic servant in Shoebury,

married Francis McGLADRIGAN, soldier, at Shoebury; witness Joseph FOSTER

husband Francis died of pneumonia

married Joseph FOSTER, soldier, at Brompton in Kent

dau Lizzie Lavinia born at Shoebury

at Shoebury living with husband and daughter, mother and step-father

son Joseph James b at Shoebury

mother died at Shoebury

dau Jessie b at Shoebury

son Charles William b at Woolwich Kent

dau Ethel M b at Woolwich

living in Barracks at Woolwich with 5 children; husband (Sergeant Major) not at home on census night

son Cecil Albert b at Brighton

dau Elsie Beatrice b at Brighton

living in Brighton with her 7 children;  husband not at home on census night

son Arthur Harold b at Brighton

 

 

 

 

PRINCIPAL RECORDS

 

 

b=born  m=married  d=died

C=Christened      B=Buried

 

BIRTH

certificate

b 14Mar1859 Elizabeth Mary Ann  female at 2 Devonshire St East.  m: Elizabeth SMITHERS; [father:  blank]

r  7May1859 at Mile End Old Town, Eastern, MDX by Elizabeth SMITHERS of Mile End Workhouse

from register of St Peter, Cephas St, Stepney

C  1Apr1863 b 14Mar1859 Elizabeth Mary Ann d Elizabeth SMITHERS, 64 Lincoln St, domestic servant

MARRIAGE

certificates:

m 1[?]Jan1879 at S.Shoebury parish church after banns:

Francis McGLADRIGAN bch 34 Royal Artillery, South Shoebury & Elizabeth SMITHERS spr 20 of S Shoebury

f: Francis McGLADRIGAN carpenter, Timothy SMITHERS soldier; wit: Joseph FOSTER, Jessie SMITHERS

 

Francis died just 9 days after this marriage:

 

d 10Jan1879 Francis McGLADRIGAN male 36, gunner Royal Artillery, of pneumonia at Shoeburyness

r 11Jan1879 at Gt.Wakering, Rochford, by G.A.BROMLEY hospital orderly of Shoeburyness pad

 

[Can pneumonia strike within 9 days, or was Elizabeth pregnant, so Francis married her before his death to legitimise the baby?  However I found no McGladrigan (McGlad, McLad, MaGlad, MacGlad, etc) birth registered within the next few years]

 

 

Elizabeth later re-married the witness at her first marriage:

 

m 29Mar1880 at Brompton Parish Church in county of Kent after banns

Joseph FOSTER 28 bch Corporal R.E. of Brompton & Elizabeth NOONAN 21 spr of Brompton

f: William FOSTER, farm bailiff; Timothy NOONAN, soldier

 

[Elizabeth’s mother married Timothy Noonan, a soldier, in 1871 when Elizabeth was 12 years old.   It is unlikely that he was Elizabeth’s father, so it is not surprising that she gave her name as Smithers at her first marriage, and invented her father’s name as Timothy Smithers.  By the time of her second marriage however, she seems to have accepted Timothy at least as a stepfather and changed her surname to Noonan.  It is puzzling however that she called herself a spinster and not a widow].

DESCENDANTS

 

from 1901 census and BMD indexes:

 

Lizzie Lavinia  FOSTER b4Q1880 Shoebury ESS (r Rochford v4a p346)  m2Q1905 Thomas BACK or James Alfred M NEWSTEAD at Brighton vol2b p433

Joseph James    FOSTER b4Q1882 Shoebury ESS (r Rochford v4a p368)

Jessie          FOSTER b3Q1884 Shoebury ESS (r Rochford v4a p411) ?m3Q1902 William BARNDEN(BARMDEN)/William CLEVETT Brighton vol2b p446

Charles William FOSTER b1Q1887 Woolwich KEN v1d p1254             ?m1Q1915 Florence E RADFORD at Brighton vol2b p327

                                                                  ?b19Jny1916 at Leeds Harehills Cemetery aged 28 (b1888)

Ethel M         FOSTER b1889   Woolwich KEN                                                       

[Ethel FOSTER was a bridesmaid at the marriage of Herbert Henry MANN at Shoeburyness in June 1912; “Mr Foster and family” gave a cutlery set as a wedding present [report og wedding in the Southend Standard]

Cecil Albert    FOSTER b1Q1894 Brighton SSX

Elsie Beatrice  FOSTER b1Q1897 Brighton SSX v2b p252) ?m3Q1915 Harold T B Barnard at Hollingbourne KEN [5m E of Maidstone] vol2a p2609

certificate

Arthur Harold   FOSTER b22Apr1901 at 5 D’Aubigny Rd r31May1901 by E.M.A.Foster mother, of 5 D’Aubigny Rd Brighton

f:Joseph FOSTER, Quarter Master Sergeant, Royal Engineers; m:Elizabeth Mary Ann FOSTER, late McGLADRIGAN formerly SMITHERS

 

As a child c1935/40, I remember a man named Arthur FOSTER who came round every week or so to my parent’s home in Shoebury to do small jobs like cleaning knives.  It seems almost certain that he was this Arthur Foster, and thus my father’s cousin, though this was never mentioned.  At what time and why he moved from Brighton to Shoebury, or whether any other of this family also moved to Shoebury is not known.

DEATH

 

No information.  There was a burial of Elizabeth FOSTER 24Jun1932 aged 73 [b1859] at Whatlington (near Hastings) but no evidence that this refers to EMA Foster. 

CENSUS

1861 Stepney, Mile End Old Town, 19 Charles St   RG9/298 f76 p37

 

Elizab’th SMITHERS he wid 22 1839 stay maker    Maidenhead Berks

Elizab’th SMITHERS         2 1859               Mile End Old Town

 

1871 Brentford MDX Alley British School   RG10/1318 f164

 

Elizabeth      SMITHERS he wid 32 dress maker                Hounslow MDX

Eliza Mary Ann SMITHERS da     12 dress maker                Mile End MDX

Jese Leine(sic)SMITHERS da      6                            Mile End MDX

 

 

1881 South Shoebury, 3 John St   RG11/1772 f62 p15.

 

Timothy   NOONAN he mar 44  1837 laborer (Chelsea Pensioner)    Tiperary Ireland

Elizabeth NOONAN wi mar 42  1839                                Hounslow MDX

\\

Joseph    FOSTER he mar 29  1852 Corporal Royal Engineers       Sheffield YKS

Elizabeth FOSTER wi mar 22  1859                                London MDX

Elizabeth FOSTER da unm  6m 1880                                Shoeburyness

 

1891 Woolwich, Kent, Royal Artillery Barracks   RG12/532 f86

                                     

Elizabeth Mary Ann FOSTER wi mar 32 1859        London MDX

Lizzie Livinia     FOSTER da     10 1881        Shoeburyness ESS

Joseph James       FOSTER so      8 1883        Shoeburyness ESS

Jessie             FOSTER da      6 1885        Shoeburyness ESS

Charles William    FOSTER so      4 1887        Woolwich KEN

Ethel Mary         FOSTER da      2 1889        Woolwich KEN

 

All were bracketed together and listed as “Family of Company Sergeant Major FOSTER, Royal Engineers”

 

1901 West Brighton, Sussex, 5 D’Aubigny Rd, RG13/928 f42

 

Elizabeth FOSTER wi mar 41 1860                                London MDX

Lizzie L  Foster da sin 20 1881 Civil Service Telegraph Clerk  Shoebury ESS

Joseph J  FOSTER so sin 18 1883                                Shoebury ESS

Jessie    FOSTER da sin 16 1885                                Shoebury ESS

Charles W FOSTER so sin 14 1887                                Woolwoch KEN

Ethel M   FOSTER da     12 1889                                Woolwich KEN

Cecil A   FOSTER so      7 1894                                Brighton SSX

Elsie B   FOSTER da      4 1897                                Brighton SSX

 

 

OTHER

 

Southend Standard, July 1912

 

Report of wedding of Herbert H Mann to Elsie Florence WHENT named Ethel FOSTER as one of the bridesmaids.  A long list of those who gave wedding presents included “Mr FOSTER and family” who gave a cutlery set and case

 

 

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