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Born in the Workhouse Edward Bates and James Thomas Luetchford Edward Bates Edward Bates was born to Mary Lutchford (sic) in Princes Road Workhouse, Lambeth, in 1858. He was baptised at Renfrew Road Workhouse, Lambeth 21 December 1858 – an Edward Bates was listed as a witness too. In 1861 young Edward was living as nephew to Thomas and Harriet Luetchford in Croydon, and described as Edward Bates; in 1871 he was shown on the census as Edward Luetchford, son of Thomas and Harriett. There are a number of candidate Mary Luetchfords to be his mother, the favourite being the first daughter of Thomas and Harriett – not least because, if this was the case, he was being brought up by his grandparents (who only three years previously had lost their youngest son aged 5). Edward lived a fascinating and eventful life. He married Jane Coppin in Croydon, and joined the army in December 1881, eventually serving in India; at the time of the 1881 census he was an insurance salesman, and I have been told that he might also have been a drinks tester for R Whites! He and Jane had seven children – the last of whom, Percy, was born only months before Jane died in Sialkot, India, of enteric fever. His surviving children with Jane then appear to have been packed off to England – three of them were living with Coppin Aunts at the time of the 1901 census. Edward then married Nelly Devine, Indian-born daughter of an Irish-born army canteen steward, and they had a further six children born in the Manchester area (by then Edward was in the Manchester Regiment – known as the Bloodsuckers). He also saw 6 months service in South Africa in 1902. He left the Army, as a colour sergeant, in 1906 and died in Manchester in 1911. I believe that Mary Ann Luetchford married a James Walker in 1861 and had five children with James, in Caterham, Surrey, and she died in 1901. No further trace can be made of Edward Bates, the suspected father of Edward Bates/Luetchford. James Thomas Luetchford James was born on 22 March 1870, at Croydon Workhouse Infirmary. His birth certificate shows the mother as Patience Luetchford, Workhouse Infirmary Croydon, who also reported the birth. No father was shown. I am pretty confident that Patience is another daughter of Thomas and Harriet Luetchford. By 1871, Patience and James were living on what appears to be the margins of Lingfield, Surrey – in a dwelling described as Out Building, Lower Stonehouse. While other occupants - Robert C Parfitt (age 30) and Henry Porash (age 57) – were recorded, there was no occupation information for any of them; it was the last but one dwelling on the enumerator's round, so perhaps he had run out of time. I assumed the occupants worked at one of the large houses in the vicinity - I did manage to trace Robert Parfitt to a domestic role over the county border in Kent in 1881. It is my understanding that both Patience and James died later in 1871.
General Workhouse Links |
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Last updated 12 December 2008 |
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