Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
63 Pemberton Road - Tracking Down My Family History
I'm not sure of the best place to post this so I'm kinda putting it out there. It's also on my blog.
I have a copy of the 1911 Census which shows that my maternal great-grandparents lived at the above address at the time the Census was taken. My grandmother was 9 yrs old at the time.
In 1929 she was living in Blandford in Dorset and in 1929 my mother was born in Blandford and lived there until she joined the WRAF in the early fifties. My grandmother was still living in Dorset when she died some time in the sixties.
In 1955 my parents moved into 37C Grand Parade, two roads up and across the road from Pemberton Road. I had no idea my great-grandparents lived in Harringay. The other curious thing is that my great-grandfather and all his children were born in Islington - so was I. I was born in the City of London Maternity Hospital, which is likely where they were all born.
This is all too much of a coincidence and has sparked my curiosity.
My great-grandfather worked as an Electrical Instrument Examiner for the Post Office in 1911 and I wondered whether anyone knows if I can find PO records that go back that far and how I would make contact to ask?
Does anyone know who lives in 63 Pemberton Road now?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
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Chris. Hi. Are you local? I live in Pemberton, down from 63. Not sure who is there now but I know that a chap called Fitz lived at 61 for many years, he is my age and lived there from birth until recently. He has now moved away.
I am happy to knock on 63’s door if you are not local and see if I can get some contacts for you. Let me know.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Smith on
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Hi Justin.
Many thanks for your offer. I really appreciate you contacting me. I live out in deepest Essex now so not local.
It would depend on how long the current residents have lived there as to how much they may know. I'm just so intrigued by this and can't help wondering how much is coincidence or design.
If you're happy to knock and ask then please have a go when you're next passing. I would be really grateful.
Chris
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I will do that Chris. I will let you know if I get anything. Not sure they will remember as far back as 1911 though. I will see if they are willing to email you and you chat directly with them. You never know they may have the old deeds. We bought a house some time back and with the move by the land registry to electronic deeds the originals were now surplus and we were given them. I have a stack for the house upstairs and they are a real fascinating archive.
Have you got any other census data? I know there are one or two folks around here that do if you have not any other census data.
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You're a star Justin. Thank you so much. It's very kind of you.
I don't have any other census information and I'm not sure I need any for Harringay. I only lived in Grand Parade between about 1955 - 1965 then moved out to Essex.
And yes, deeds can be very interesting. I moved into a house some years that was built around 1795 and we got the original deeds that showed the plot of land and a jumbled assortment of building materials was given to the man who built the house as a reward for getting stolen equipment back for the land owner. He built a basic one-up one-down and it still forms part of the house today. Somehow makes it more human
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Permalink Reply by Alyson on
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Postal Museum at Mount Pleasant near Kings Cross https://www.postalmuseum.org/discover/collections/ and the archive at our own Bruce Castle Museum https://www.haringey.gov.uk/libraries-sport-and-leisure/culture-and...
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Hello Alyson
Thank you very much for supplying those links. I really appreciate it. The kindness and thoughtfulness of everyone on this site amazes me. It's very heartwarming.
The postal museum looks a bit difficult to navigate and find what you need but I have made contact with them to see if they can give some guidance. I'm also in the process of looking at the haringey.gov.uk website to see what I can find.
Thank you once again.
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Permalink Reply by Angela on
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Ancestry.co.uk has a collection called British Postal Service Appointment Books 1737 - 1969 so you may be able to find your ancestor there. I have a sub to the site and am happy to have a quick search for you, or I think it's still possible to sign up for a limited free trial.
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Hi Angela
That's very kind of you to make that offer. If you don't mind having a quick search I'd really very much appreciate it. I've been meaning to go to the local library as you can access Ancestry there but haven't quite got round to it yet.
I'm particularly interested in when the family might have left Harringay and where they went.
Again, thank you so much for offering to help. I'm getting a bit overwhelmed with the responses here - but then I shouldn't be that surprised given the responses to other posts I've made. You Harringay-ers are a pretty nice bunch :)
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No problem. I will need your great grandfather's name and DOB though - I'll send you a connection request.
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Hi Chris. I've found two entries for your ancestor in the appointment books from 1905 and 1907 but there's almost no additional information apart from his name. I have found his WW1 papers, again not a lot of information and a couple of other bits and bobs but I know seeing copies of such documents can mean a lot in other ways. PM me your email and I'll send the images to you.
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Permalink Reply by Bethany Burrow Atherton on
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As the 1911 census wasn't too long before the First World War, if any of the people involved were about the right age to have served it might be worth looking at war records to see if you can find out more about them. I'm currently writing a book about the people of St Paul's Church, Harringay who served during the First World War - I've just checked my records and none of "my" soldiers lived at 63 Pemberton, but that just means I don't have information about that address, not that the people who lived there didn't serve - there are a lot of information gaps from that time because of general confused communications during the war and the subsequent loss of records. I've made a note, so if I do come across anything, I'll let you know.
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My great-great-grandfather was 34 at the time of the census so may not have served. His occupation was Electrical Instrument Examiner for the Post Office so he may well have been kept back to continue in his trade.
Thank you very much for keeping an eye out. It's very kind of you.
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