Granny Stock’s Family

Hannah Offley [BOU E] was the youngest daughter of Joseph (junior) of Bourn in Cambridgeshire, coming into this world on 22nd October 1841, being baptised four months later and ‘received into the Church’ in 1844. She had eight brothers and one sister. Her childhood was not without its traumatic moments. In the early 1850s her father was twice committed to Cambridge Town Gaol, while, soon after, even more heart-breaking was the death, in child birth, of her elder sister Eliza Ann. Given the parlous situation of the agricultural labourer at this time, it was not surprising that the family ‘upped sticks’ and moved to the Hudson Town estate in the rapidly developing area of Stratford, east of London. It is not known the precise date they made the move, but Joseph died there early in 1859.

By 1861 Hannah was in service at the home of a rate collector in the village of West Ham, a short distance down the road. Just how much she enjoyed her semi-urban existence is not known, but at one moment she enjoyed herself too much for Victorian morals, as, on 13th October 1863 at Leytonstone Union Workhouse, she gave birth to Charles William Duffield Offley (there were Duffields living in nearby Plaistow). Our heroine was no doubt banished from the rate collector’s household, but, by 1871, she was a servant at Christ Hospital (Bluecoat School) in the City, while Charles was being looked after by her brother, Alexander.

However, Hannah was soon on the move again, this time to the west of London. We know this because, late in 1872, she gave birth to George Conrad Offley in Paddington (although he later claimed it was Harrow). I can find no record of a Mr. Conrad in the vicinity to point the finger at this time. Hannah was still living in the area at the 1881 Census, acting as a monthly nurse in the household in the household of Henry Ehlert. Where George was is anybody’s guess.

We know that, in 1883, Hannah was living at 13 Ranelagh Road, half-way between the Paddington Canal and the Great Western Railway. How do we know this? Well, it is on Charles William Duffield Offley’s attestation papers when he enlisted in the 4th Battalion of the Essex Regiment at Warley Barracks on 23rd July of that year. This is the first time we get any idea of Charles’ appearance, his medical examination showing him to be 5ft.5¾in. (1.67 metres) in height and weighing in at 122lbs. (55kg.). He had a florid complexion, grey eyes and brown hair, and displayed small pox marks on his left side. He obviously had problems adjusting to army discipline, as, after less than a year, he was convicted by a court martial for desertion and sentenced to eighty-four days imprisonment; then four months after his release he was back in gaol for breaking out of barracks. A few moths later he was posted to the Mediterranean area, first to Egypt, then to Malta and Cyprus, and back to Malta.

Meanwhile, things were happening on the home front. At the age of forty-five, Hannah at last got hitched - to widower George Stock, seven years her elder, and the happy couple were found in 1891 living in Angle Street, Leyton, hard by the workhouse.

Charles managed to keep his nose clean while abroad, so much so that he was promoted to Lance Corporal in February 1891, only to be demoted two months later for misconduct! A year after that he was back in England, spending the last four years of his service on reserve and living at Angle Street. He lost no time in courting his cousin Rosina Mary Offley and the couple were married late in 1892.

Now George was getting restless and, after two years in the militia, he joined the Bedfordshire Regiment on 5th of December 1894. But he appears to have been a born loser, for on 27th December he was back home, after being discharged as being “unfit for service”. At least we have a description of him: 5ft. 7in. (1.70 metres) tall and 119lbs. (54kg.) in weight. He was fresh-faced and, like his brother, had grey eyes and brown hair, and a star tattoo on his right fore-arm.

It was obviously getting quite crowded in 4 Angle Street, especially as Charles and Rosina were starting a family, so they moved the short distance to 5 Ashlin Road. Charles was working in Savill Brothers’ Brewery, later to become a cooper, and they went on to have a family of eight children - three boys and five girls, although the eldest of the latter died young.

Hannah became a widow when George Stock died in 1902, and it is probable, at this juncture, that she and her younger son moved in with the Ashlin Road crowd, where she was known as “Granny Stock”. Sometime before 1911 they were joined by Hannah’s brother and Rosina’s father, Edwin.

Was the situation getting too awkward for George? Perhaps, because on 16th May 1907 he sailed from Liverpool on the Canada bound for that country and a new life. It is maybe indicative of his intentions that his occupation was shown as “farmhand”, yet by the 1911 Canadian Census he was living in East Hamilton, Ontario as a labourer. He came back to England for a month in 1916, presumably for work relating to the War - his occupation then was shown as “ammunition work”. In the end, however, he decided that colonial life was not for him, and on the 6th October 1920 he returned to the bosom of his family in Ashlin Road.

In less than a year Hannah had died at the age of eighty. Both Charles and Rosina passed away within two months of each other in 1935, whereas George survived another nine years.

John M. Offley

The Offley Family Society DNA Project

As stated in the report in the link below a DNA project was considered at the 2007 AGM and all the initial goals have now been reached. Anyone who believes that they have a family connection is welcome to join the project. They will benefit from lower prices than being tested alone. The link below provides full details of the project and the progress to date.

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/offley/

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Other News

For Sale

Souvenir brochure - The Offley Family in Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire. 1994.  £1.50.

Souvenir brochure - The Offilers of Nottingham . 1998. £1.50.

The Offley Family Society Millennium Cookbook  £2.50.

Wychnor Park, by Roger Hailwood. (Home of Crewe Offley and his descendants).  £5.25.

The Offley Family Society Pens  £1.00 each - buy two get one free!

Membership list 25p.

The Offley Family Society Handbook, £1.00.

The Offley Pedigrees, 3rd edition.  Special Anniversary Price.  Printed edition £10.00.  CD-ROM £2.00.

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