Helen Edgington. From Oxford to Sussex.

[benny1982]

Hi

My great grandmother was Helen Edgington born on the 17th July 1895 at 4 Castle Place, Castle Street in Oxford, the youngest child of James and Thirza Edgington.

In the 1901 census she is aged 5 and living at the same address that she was born at in Oxford. Her father is a timber yard merchant.

In February 1902, her mother Thirza dies of a carcinoma of the uterus at Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford. Helen is aged only 6 years.

Helen leaves school in around 1906 or 1907 aged 11 or 12 in Oxford. Helen probably gets a job as a servant locally.

On the 2nd April 1911, she has left Oxford and is residing 100 miles away at Cresswell House, Bexhill On Sea in East Sussex. She is a 15 year old servant.

Helen eventually leaves Sussex and marries George Stock in Essex in 1917.

Something attracted her from the bustling, brisk Midlands city of Oxford to the sunny fresh Sussex coast in around 1907 or 1908 ish. She was willing to move the 100 miles which is amazing as I love Sussex and I have a Sussex resided ancestor on my fathers side.

Ben

 

[p.risboy]

Hi

My great grandmother was Helen Edgington born on the 17th July 1895 at 4 Castle Place, Castle Street in Oxford, the youngest child of James and Thirza Edgington.

In the 1901 census she is aged 5 and living at the same address that she was born at in Oxford. Her father is a timber yard merchant.

In February 1902, her mother Thirza dies of a carcinoma of the uterus at Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford. Helen is aged only 6 years.

Helen leaves school in around 1906 or 1907 aged 11 or 12 in Oxford. Helen probably gets a job as a servant locally.

On the 2nd April 1911, she has left Oxford and is residing 100 miles away at Cresswell House, Bexhill On Sea in East Sussex. She is a 15 year old servant.

Helen eventually leaves Sussex and marries George Stock in Essex in 1917.

Something attracted her from the bustling, brisk Midlands city of Oxford to the sunny fresh Sussex coast in around 1907 or 1908 ish. She was willing to move the 100 miles which is amazing as I love Sussex and I have a Sussex resided ancestor on my fathers side.

Ben

As we've said in other posts Benny, train links were really coming on strong, especially around the time GG granny was born and more so when she moved away.

Steve.

 

[benny1982]

Hi Steve

Maybe Helen heard of the job while up in Oxford. I do know that there was a rail link from Oxford to Brighton so she may have packed her belongings, waved goodbye to her father at his tenement in Oxford and got the train from Oxford City to Brighton. She may have stayed the night in Brighton then travelled 20 or so miles probably by horse and cart or was picked up and taken to Bexhill and arrived at her new employers house in Hastings Road.

Ben

 

[juliejtp]

My grandad apparently walked from Wales to London 1929/1930. My grans family said "you wont see him again". They did, the family settled in Dagenham on the Becontree estate, which was in the early stages of being built, as it was surrounded by fields, totally different today. Gran died in 1937 leaving 5 children, grandad remarried and he lived there until his death in 1978. He really didnt go very far from his childhood,(though I'm quite sure he spent some of his childhood in Cardif, where his mother was born) as he was born in the London area and also lived in Leytonstone, so he more or less done an about turn.

 

[benny1982]

Hi

So he moved from London to Wales then back to the London area again?

I just studied the route that Helen may have took on her journey from Oxford to Bexhill through 1890s and early 1900s maps of English counties.

She may have embarked at Oxford Station, travelled down past Abingdon to Reading on the train, then through to Farnborough, through Guildford, then through St Leonards Forest in North Sussex, then across the county past the Downs to Brighton Station. Once she disembarked at Brighton she probably got the train eastwards along the South Coast Railway through Eastbourne to her destination at Bexhill, East Sussex, 20 miles east of Brighton.

That seems to be the likeliest route that she took.

Ben

 

[juliejtp]

Ben you really have got that sussed out. I've never thought of finding out what route my grandad took, he must have hitched a ride somewhere along the line.

My 3xgt grandad was born Islington took the wife and kids down to Bath in Somerset b/4 1841, some of the children born there, then after 1851 was around the Maidstone Kent area, couple more children born there, then back to Islington, where he died in 1866.

 

[p.risboy]

Hi

So he moved from London to Wales then back to the London area again?

I just studied the route that Helen may have took on her journey from Oxford to Bexhill through 1890s and early 1900s maps of English counties.

She may have embarked at Oxford Station, travelled down past Abingdon to Reading on the train, then through to Farnborough, through Guildford, then through St Leonards Forest in North Sussex, then across the county past the Downs to Brighton Station. Once she disembarked at Brighton she probably got the train eastwards along the South Coast Railway through Eastbourne to her destination at Bexhill, East Sussex, 20 miles east of Brighton.

That seems to be the likeliest route that she took.

Ben

How about this. Oxford to Princes Risborough to Paddington or Marylebone, to Kings Cross to Brighton, then a walk along the beach for 20 miles.

Steve.

 

[benny1982]

Hi

Yes, she may have taken the route via London but the other route that I studied seems to be more direct and I did hear that you could get a train from Oxford to Brighton although I am not sure if you may have had to change at London or Guildford or not.

There are several rail lines but that route seems to be the quicket route that she took, then took a train 20 miles east to Brighton. I doubt she would have walked. She may have had her new boss meet her at Brighton and take her to his house in a carriage.

Ben

 

[p.risboy]

Ben you really have got that sussed out. I've never thought of finding out what route my grandad took, he must have hitched a ride somewhere along the line.

My 3xgt grandad was born Islington took the wife and kids down to Bath in Somerset b/4 1841, some of the children born there, then after 1851 was around the Maidstone Kent area, couple more children born there, then back to Islington, where he died in 1866.

From Wales to London. A5 or A40. Both roman roads and in good use even then.
What part of Wales did he leave from.

Steve.

 

[juliejtp]

Ebbw Vale.

 

[benny1982]

Hi

He must have wanted work.

I know the family that Helen Edgington was living with in 1911 and her employer was a Henry Moysey of Cresswell House, Bexhill. It may be a good idea to see if he has any estate papers.

Ben

 

[juliejtp]

Cant imagine there being much work in Ebbw Vale, think from mums birth certiicate his was a bread person, and he delivered bread etc where he lived in Dagenham, using horse and cart, horses name Bess? mum remembers Bess, might be thats why she has a love of horses.

 

[p.risboy]

Ebbw Vale.

A4 if he caught the ferry. A40 if he carried on walking. Don't ya just love them Romans.

Steve.

 

[benny1982]

Hi

It would have been nice to find out how long Helen lived in Sussex as 6 years after the 1911 census, she married in Essex.

Ben