Guy Singer
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Here are the family stories I have collected so far.
Son of a John Murphy, a post office porter, and his wife Johanna Jeffers, a tailoress, Cornelius James Murphy was born into relative poverty at 150 Blackwall Buildings on 11 June 1894. In spite of his under-privileged early childhood, he became a highly-regarded Reuters journalist and foreign correspondent who was witness to and reported on some of the most momentous occasions of the 20th. century.
The following obituary for C.J. Murphy appeared in the Journal of the The Institute of Journalists in 1960:
"Mr.Cornelius James Murphy, noted over many years for his distinguished handling of Continental assignments in Reuter’s foreign news service, died recently in his early sixties at his London home. He had been a member of the Institute since 1929.
Educated in Belgium and Switzerland, Mr. Murphy was an accomplished linguist and, with his studies interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War, served with the British Military Intelligence in France and Italy, and also became a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps.
He joined Reuter’s in 1919, worked with them until 1936, first as a sub-editor on the Overseas Desk, and then as night chief sub-editor. During this home-based period he carried out a number of special journalistic missions abroad, including the Gialdini trial in Milan in 1933; the hazardous 1936 flight of the airship "Hindenburg" to America; and frontier reporting of the Spanish civil war the same year.
In September 1936 he went to Paris as Reuter’s chief correspondent and in October, 1938, he was transferred to Rome as chief Reuter man there for the critical events leading up to Mussolini’s break with this country and France. After the Fascist declaration of war in the summer of 1940, Mr. Murphy left Italy in an Anglo-Italian exchange of their respective London-Rome foreign correspondents; and after a short assignment with the Atlantic Fleet, he took over Reuter’s office in Lisbon. But in 1941 he left his long association with Reuter’s to engage in a journalistic-cum-special service mission in South America, on completion of which he served with the Intelligence Corps in the West of England.
On creation of the Brussels Treaty Organisation, Mr. Murphy was appointed their P.R.O., but left when work was confined to Cultural relations, and afterwards became P.R.O. to British-South American Airways, taking part in the first "week-end" south trans-atlantic flight. After a spell as leader-writer on foreign affairs at Kemsley House, Mr.Murphy switched to Australian news services and at the time of his death was still in harness, working with his perennial youthful verve at the London headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Commission."
My family lived in Blackwall Bldgs. from about 1949 until 1954-5. I remember that the top of the blocks had very low iron railings and the top area was used to hang washing, iron poles were fitted for the lines. In about early 1954 a lad of about 7years old fell from the top and died. There were also pigeon coops on the tops of some blocks.
Opposite the blocks, alongside the railway there was rough ground only - I think the houses there were bombed. On the rough ground was the only shop, a grocers cum sweetshop. Tea was sold loose from the tea chests, in fact most of the goods were sold loose even the biscuits - which were mainly broken bits. You took a milk bottle to get it filled with bleach.
Inside the flats it was tiny, quite dark and dismal. Tin baths hung outside the doors, these would be set in front of the cast iron range and a sheet was hung over a line to give privacy - if you were old enough to warrant it. Bath water was generally used first by the mum then dad, the kids would then take their turn, all in the same water with the occasional fresh kettleful of hot to warm it up. Water was boiled on the primitive gas cooker in the four biggest pots you had and a large blackened cast iron kettle would be boiled over the range if a fire was going.
On the subject of the shared laundry, as I remember there was not a laundry on each floor, there was only one laundry on the third floor at the end of the building. If you look at the picture of the block with the short wall - the one with the kids in front, you will clearly see the water stains which ran down the front of the buildings. This was a grey smelly persistent leak from the old drainpipes.
The laundry had a long row of large rectangular zinc coated steel sinks facing the windows at the front, each with a single large brass cold water tap connected to a long lead water pipe bracketed to the wall. There were also some of the same iron poles for hanging lines as was on the roof. As you entered the laundry there was a huge hand operated mangle. All was communal but women tended to have a 'favoured' sink they would use. primacy was determined by proximity to the mangle or a window. Turbans and aprons were de rigeur for all the women in the laundry.
I am not quite sure but I think we lived at number 28, which was on the same landing as George Cornell - who was later shot dead in The Blind Beggar pub by Reggie Kray (who then still lived in Valance Road) in the 1960's (note this number 28 was the same flat occupied by the Singer family in the early 1900s)
Jim Leach(top)
My cousin Rachel told me of your interest in Blackwall Buildings. I lived there from 1942/7 before moving with the family to Dagenham. If the following is of any interest, you are welcome. The buildings were built for the railway workers in the 19th century. You can obtain photos of the buildings from the local family history society in Whitechapel before they were pulled down.The society resided in old house near one of the hospitals.(Not the London Hospital) My memory of individuals who lived there were; All young people, Charlie Clayton, Alan Piper they lived with their families in the first two blocks nearest the gates.There were 8 blocks of buildings separated into 4x2 if you can understand. We lived in the 3rd block on the 3rd floor at number 105. On our floor was a Mrs Litten,an old duck that lived on her own.Opposite us directly was Harry & Esther Meacher and their two children. I cant remember the fourth flat people. In the last block nearest the stoneyard was a Lilian Churchman, a young woman of 17 or so. A very attractive blonde.
The local pigeons used to sit on the roofs edge and one day, Lilian received a message from the said pigeons and it landed on her beautiful hair! The stoneyard was (I believe) owned by the local council. The foreman there was a Ted Roast, who became a friend of my Mum & Dad when we moved to Dagenham. They lived in Becontree Ave and we lived off there at Grafton Road.
There was another family in the buildings named Young, because one of the older teenagers used to take me to the pictures(movies) when there was any westerns on.I remember Lionel Barrymore. I hope this is of some help
Hope to hear from you. (top)
Yes I knew Shirley (Shepherd) very well we all grew up together. We used to go Hop-picking in the school summer holidays, her mother and my mum where great friends and she had a large family.
I know she said that the flats had two & three bedrooms but that was a slight exaggeration, actually the flats where either two or three rooms, so your living room was also your kitchen and dining room and sometimes a bedroom and in that room was also a coal cupboard because don't forget we had coal fires. In the early days the coal fires where black cooking ranges that when they where cleaned they had to be Black Leaded and on bath night that was where you had a bath, in a tin bath in front of the fire. There was no inside water or toilet they where outside in what we called the Washouse, where there were three large sinks and a large tub (what we called a Copper) that you put wood under for a fire to boil the water in the tub so they could do the washing, there was also one toilet for two families to share. There was a second toilet on the landing for the other two families to share and you had to keep the toilets locked to stop vagrants sleeping in them over night.
The Buildings had flat roofs with large chimney stacks so when the weather was fine the women used to hang the washing up there to dry, and also a great place for us kids to play.
Growing up in the Buildings compared to nowadays was I supposed hard but we didn't notice that as everyone was the same no one really had more than anyone else, I mean as kids we used make our own amusements, things like if we wanted to go to the pictures we would go down to Whitechapel market collect the old wooden fruit boxes etc. break them up and sell them to the residents of the Buildings for fire wood for there coal fires, and when we had enough for the pictures (6d old money) we would go.
Talking of St. Peters Hospital, as you are aware the hospital was right next to
the Buildings. In fact although what we used to do was very dangerous. We would
go up onto our roof and jump across the gap between the Buildings roof and the
roof of the hospital, (I won't say what we went over there for but at
the time Lead was in great demand) but as I said it was very dangerous
and unfortunately one year I can't remember what year one young boy feel and
died, his name was Lenny Shepherd who was a relative of Shirley (her nephew I
think) but you can check this out with her. Needless to say we never went over
the roofs again.
(I told this to Shirley and she replied "yes derek is correct in what he says lennie was my oldest brothers son he died
on his 8th birthday what we used to do was play on a friends roof and climb
over and walk across to our own roof and go down the stairs to our flat there
was a german woman who lived around about the buildings not sure where derek
might know she came to our door a week later to ask if the boy she took a photo
of was lennie and it was i might still have that photo somewhere." Guy)
I was born in number 41 where my mum & dad had a three room flat, but previously lived at number 40 which was only two rooms where my older brother(Tommy) was born in 1936. (top)
Shirley was born in number 89 in 1944. She has many stories to tell but here are just a few of them. When she was born her mother had a three room flat in the second block. It had a cast iron range which her mother kept black leaded. They used to play as children on the street outside the gates (Fulboune Street) under the caretaker's window. The caretaker (Mr Stevens) had two 2-room flats knocked into one just for himself and his wife. They also used to play on the bomb site between Blackwall Buildings and the railway line. This is just to the right of the gates on the way in. Here they built tents and made camps. It is even possible that Shirley and her husband-to-be Peter are in the photo of the children playing outside the block on the website photo page.
In 1953 they had a big party for the Coronation. When they weren't having parties, the women used to gather around the gates. - especially in the Summer. They used to bring their tea and talk and tell stories and laugh. Usually it was Shirley's mother who was telling the jokes! There was a terrific community spirit in the blocks. There were also many Irish people there. In one corner of the bomb site was a shop run by Annie Bullen. This was frequented by all the ladies. Annie sold everything from groceries, sweets, household good, meths - everything a family could want from her tiny shop. In the outbuilding next to it she sold paraffin for the heaters. Even though it was a tiny shop, the women crammed in it to swap chat. Annie used to sell on tick so she was a popular resource for the women of the Buildings. They would pop in and get 1/4 of marge for the old man's tea.
On Saturday morning an old boy used to come round with his horse and cart and sell fruit and veg. He used to park just inside the Building's gates, which at this time were still there but never locked. When Shirley and Peter got married they moved into number 96. This was very small and had a gas cooker (the cast iron ranges had been removed), a larder cupboard with a roll down front, a small Formica table with flaps, a small 3-piece suite, a tv and a coffee table in the front room. There was also the bedroom. The only problem was the toilets which were still outside. At night you had to be careful as there were sometimes dossers sleeping there. Often there were no outside lights. However bad the outsides looked with rubbish overflowing the chutes, the insides were palaces. Shirley was very proud of her flat and when in 1968 they had to move out to make way for the flats to be demolished, it broke her heart.
During the war there as an air-raid shelter in the middle of the blocks. The workhouse had gone by then and was derelict. However part of it still remained and it was used for animal experiments. Shirley thinks it was with guinea pigs. She remembers the smell that came out of the place in the Summer.
In conclusion, although shabby on the outside and not without its problems, Blackwall Buildings were Shirley's home and she was very proud to live there. Their flat when they married was a palace and she loved the home. (top)
"My grandfather James Newland married Blanch Squibb in 1909 and they then lived
in the buildings. I'm not sure of the number think it was 112. They had 9
children Winifred (1910), Blanch (1911), Ivy (1912), Jimmy (1914), Bertie and
Lily (1916), Billy (1918), Stanley (1922) and my Mum Maureen (1936). They all
lived in 2 rooms. My Grandmother took in other peoples' washing so she could
have use of the washroom on their landing. She was usually paid in kind by the
butchers and bakers etc. I also know that James Newland (1863) - his sibling
Jessie married Fred Soaper and they lived there as well as Margaret Newland
(1903) not on the 1901 census obviously."
Rachel (top)
Mary ('May') Hughes
(1860-1941)
Mary Hughes was born at Park Street, Mayfair, London on 29th February 1860. She was the youngest daughter of Thomas Hughes (1822-1896), author of 'Tom Brown's Schooldays. Educated at home she then moved to Longcot, Berkshire in 1883 to keep house for her uncle, John Hughes, who was a local parson. At Longcot she became a poor law guardian and district councilor and this is where her social conscience was awakened. She was also influenced by her father and aunt, Jane Elizabeth Senior (nee Hughes), (1828–1877), a workhouse and school inspector and philanthropist.
In 1896 she moved to the East End of London and joined her sister, Lillian who was married to the vicar (Henry Carter) of St Jude's Commercial Road, Whitechapel. Tragically in 1912 both her sister Lily and her husband-in-law died in the sinking of the titanic. Mary became a voluntary parish worker. This work took her into slums, workhouses, doss houses and infirmaries (including ones for people with venereal disease, known as lock wards), in order to try and better the state of these places and share the troubles of the lower classes. From her letters one can see that she often became personally involved in cases. Mary increasingly lived as one of the poor, keeping her diet simple (bread, margarine, little pieces of cheese and rudimentary vegetables), not buying goods such as new clothes that she saw as luxuries, not holidaying or sleeping on mattressed beds and in 1915 moving into the community settlement of Kingsley Hall, Bow. The Hall was an old chapel that was re-decorated and fitted by local volunteers in 1915. It was a 'people's house', where locals including, workmen, factory girls and children came together for worship, study, fun and friendship in order to better their lives.
In 1917 Mary was made a Justice of the Peace for Shoreditch, she specialised in rates and educational cases and was commonly known to cry at the evidence and pay fines for the poor.
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Mary referred to herself as a Christian and a communist. She took part in marches of London's unemployed, even when mounted police were in attendance. She was also a pacifist for example, after the German blitz on London (1940) she was appalled by people, especially Christians, who called for retaliation. Christianity was an important factor in Mary's life and what drove her social work. In 1918 she joined the Quakers (Society of Friends) and moved to Blackwall Buildings, Whitechapel in order to become a poor law guardian and volunteer visitor to the local poor law infirmary and children"s home. Locally she was known as a benefactor of the poor and local unemployed people would knock on her door seeing if she knew of work. In 1928 Mary moved to a converted pub on Vallance Road, Whitechapel and renamed it the Dew Drop Inn. The purpose of the Inn was to act as a social centre and refuge for the local homeless. Through the 20's and 30's she was passionately involved with the problems of the unemployed and she took part in a number of marches and rallies. In 1931 when Gandhi was visiting Britain for the Commonwealth conference, he insisted on meeting Mary. When they met, they clasped hands, looked at each other and burst out laughing. Hardly a word was said but 'each had recognised the quality of the other's life'.
At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Mary refused to move from the Dewdrop Inn though that area of London was a prime target for bombing. By now she was frail and weak. In early 1941 she began to fail and was taken to St. Peter's Hospital nearby, where she died on 2nd April. In her will she wrote 'You may recall the longing of we Hughes (who feel rather like the receivers of stolen goods) that this effort may ever be for education and joy at the least noticed, the least well-off people's comfort.' For 30 years she had had no new clothes, no holiday and no proper bed.
Courtesy of Graham Senior-Milne www.peerage.org and this is the work of Karyn Stuckey, National Co-operative Archive. http://archive.co-op.ac.uk/ (top)
A REAL WAR HERO - PC ALFRED ARTHUR MARTIN
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PC MARTIN was born on 12th March 1886, the son of James and Eliza MARTIN of Orpington, Kent. He was married to Caroline MARTIN and lived at 51, Blackwall Buildings, Fulbourne Street, Whitechapel, London.
The officer joined the Railway Police in June 1914 having transferred from the Engineers Department of the Great Eastern Railway.. A Sergeant, number 5918 in the 10th Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry, he was killed in action on Friday 12th November 1915 aged 31 years. He is buried at Ypres reservoir Cemetery in Belgium.
reproduced courtesy of Kevin Gordon, British transport Police History Society http://www.btp.police.uk/ (top)
"Now on to the question of second names; of the two remaining Kellys, Edward
and George, I've only managed to trace Edward who appears on the 1901 Census
as Head of Household but still as only Edward Kelly. He was living at
Blackwall Buildings, Whitechapel employed as a brewer's drayman - this must
have been Charringtons Brewery on the Whitechapel Road which I remember as a
schoolboy when I was at the Coopers' Company School just off the Mile End
road. It does seem a coincidence that in that same census my Grandfather was
living in Romford in Essex employed as a brewer's clerk - at Inde Coope and
Alsopp Breweries."
(all as per quoted on http://www.powditch.plus.com/Connections/a_kelly_powditch_marriage.htm)
(top)
I was 3 years old when WW2 started. My family lived in Selby Street in the East End. My dad, mum. Sister Doreen, Brother Peter and myself Joy. We had a small house in a row of houses, with an outside loo, and I remember people always sat outside on a sunny day on the low front window sill.
Everyone was so friendly and children always played outside —Tin can copper, Hopscotch, Wooden Tops, Skipping, everyone looked out for one another. The east end people would give you their last penny if you needed it, no one needed to lock up their doors people were honest then.
My dad was a corporal in the Air Force and I always remember when he came home on leave he would save up his rations and bring us chocolate and would spend hours making us dolls house furniture out of matches and match boxes.
My first memory of the war was when the air raid warning would sound and then there was great activity Mum would get us together and rush us to the Anderson Shelter, where we would all pack in as many as we could. Our neighbours were lovely people and some could play the accordion or the spoons and they would get us all to sing at the top of our voices to drown out the sound of the bombs. Then when all clear came we would all come out praying that our house was still standing there.
My worst memory was when the last rocket dropped. I had been to a birthday party at my friends who lived in the Blackwall Buildings opposite our houses. It was a wonderful day her dog had had puppies and although things were on ration they had managed to make a lovely spread of sandwiches and jelly. Oh what a lovely day.
That day my sister Doreen had decided to change her bed around in her room it saved her life. That night I remember waking up to the sound of things, the ceiling plaster falling all around me, I heard my dear Mum calling out for me, then finding me and then pushing through the rubble and screaming “Peter Oh Peter, wake up”. My brother had a wooden beam over him, but miracles happen he was still alive although very frightened. Then grasping Peter, with me holding on to Mum’s back we went to find Doreen, the wall where her bed had been that morning had fallen onto the bottom of her bed. But she was alive too. We all rushed outside to see the buildings where I had been to the party were alight and all I could see were, people screaming running along balconies trying to escape the flames, parts of the balconies were falling as they ran, I will never forget my friends family who had all gone. It was horrible.
The German plane had tried to get the railway which was at the bottom of the road but got the buildings instead.
We were dazed and shocked but my sister went back into the house to get our cat which had found shelter under a table. We then all walked through the rubble, smoke, fumes, and screams, ARP men directing us with torches to the safety of the W.V.S. Vans. I remember a kind person putting a blanket around my shoulders and giving me a doll. Then someone talking to Mum and giving us a drink of chocolate, it was warm and sweet and the blanket made me feel safe. I must have slept then.
'WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The archive can be found at bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar' Childhood by Essex Action Desk originally publised hon http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/02/a3958202.shtml (top)
I can add some thoughts from my own family story. "My great grandparents were from Germany. My great grandmother (Sophie Jungling) originally lived in Lewisham and they married there. The whole family moved over to Whitechapel in 1894. It would appear that Whitechapel had a large thriving German community. There are many reasons why the Germans collected in East London, but these stories are mainly not for this page. However one notable reason is a number of people used to be sugar bakers (a trade that largely died out in the 1880s) and I'll write something up on that soon. Several of my ancestors in other branches of my family were sugar bakers. Hence they all collected in the East End of London - St Georges East and Whitechapel. However on the 1901 census my great grandfather (Fritz Singer) was a journeyman baker. One story I have relates to their first child. Frederick was born in 1893. In 1894 he died suddenly. His death certificate says he died of "violent shock caused from burns caused by the deceased putting a lighted candle off the table during
the temporary absence of his mother". In those days lighting was by candle and obviously there was no electricity. At least they had indoor toilets! Both my grandfather and grandmother were born in Blackwall buildings and obviously spent their childhood there. I'll write more up as I get time."
Guy Singer http://www.guy-singer.com/family/singer.html (top)
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Lets keep adding stories and details to this page.
Please
Thanks
Guy Singer (top)
