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Street View: 45
Address: 13 Wellington Street
Alderson’s shop was just a bit further on from that of Charles Snelling, perfumer and hair dresser, at number 13. The houses were very similar, but Alderson’s did not have the columns and architrave that Snelling’s property had. For the position of the house in what is now Borough High Street, see the post on Snelling. The Aldersons had not always been at number 13, as Kent’s Directory of 1823 testifies. In that year, William Alderson, tailor and draper, can be found at 313 Borough and 5 Piccadilly. 313 Borough is, according to Horwood’s 1799 map, closer to London Bridge than 13 Wellington Street. Although the name of William Alderson is mentioned in Kent’s Directory, it was no longer William himself who ran the business as he had died in July 1816.(1) The Alderson’s shop had been at number 313 since at least 1808 when William’s name can be found in the land tax records. The land on which the house stood was the property of St. Thomas’s Hospital.
In his will(2), William leaves various sums of money to his widow Martha and his sons George, John, Robert, William and Thomas and his daughter Martha, but George and John are singled out to continue the business if they so wish; if not, the shops were to be sold and the proceeds divided. George and John were the two eldest sons, so it is perhaps logical that they were assumed to be the ones to carry on the tailor’s business. The younger sons and daughter were well provided for financially, but were not considered as the heirs to the business. At what point George and John sold the shops is not exactly clear, but it must have been between 1825 (Pigot’s Directory) and 1829 as in the Post Office Directory of 1829, George could be found at 47 Tooley Street as tailor and John at 110 Blackman Street as linen-draper [Update: no, wrong, that is another John, see comment by David Williams] Also in 1829, St. Thomas’s Hospital released the houses at 312 and 313 High Street to the Major of London, most likely in connection with the widening of the street and the building of Rennie’s new London Bridge.(3)
George must have moved again as he was later to be found at 13 Wellington Street, not just in the Tallis Street View, but also in Pigot’s Directory of 1839. In this directory he is listed as a tailor but with a * in front of his name to indicate that he was also a draper. His father’s will did not only give George a share in the business, but also three freehold houses at Barnard Castle, Durham. And this is were this story links to an email I had about an Edmund Alderson who died at Queen’s Row, Pentonville, and left bequests to his two brothers in the Yorkshire Dales. Unfortunately, I cannot link the Alderson tailors on the south side of the Thames to an Edmund, but according to my correspondent, there is a group of family history people looking into the Aldersons from the north of England with links to London, so perhaps one day ….
George Alderson, the tailor, was baptised at Barnard Castle on 20 October 1780 as the son of William and Martha. From the 1841 census we know that George married an Ann, and a possible candidate is Ann Horker (or Harkes). That marriage was conducted in April 1807 at St. Giles, Cripplegate. One of the witnesses was Martha Alderson which could either be George’s mother or his sister. In 1810, a daughter Ann is baptised at St. Saviour’s and father George is clearly given the occupation of tailor, so we know that he is the correct George. The next child, William Aeneas, is baptised at St. James, Piccadilly on 8 March 1813 which suggests that George was running his father’s shop at Piccadilly at that time, but in 1817, when son George junior is baptised, he is back in Southwark, apparently never to leave it again.

Top part of George’s will as recorded in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury; probate was granted to Ann in April 1851
William Aeneas dies in February 1850 and father George in December 1850, 71 years old. In his very short will he leaves everything to his wife whom he also names as the sole executor.(4) It is a pity that he did not specify a few bequests as we might have found out whether he still had property in Barnard Castle, but alas. The 1851 Post Office Directory still mentions George & Son at 13 Wellington Street, but the 1851 census shows widow Ann there as woollen draper with daughter Eliza. The 1851 census also tells us that Ann was born in Barnard Castle, just as her husband had been. Mother and daughter must have kept the shop going throughout the 1850s as the name of G. Alderson can be found in the land tax records until 1862, but in 1863, the tax records suddenly show a big cross drawn across the page. The record for 1864 explains why; the Charing Cross Railway Company had bought up all the land in the area in order to be able to build the viaduct over the High Street which was to take their railway from London Bridge to Charing Cross and Cannon Street. And that is as far as I can take the history of the shop as the building disappeared under the viaduct and I have not been able to trace Ann and Eliza to their new home.
(1) He was buried at St. Saviour’s, Southwark, on 19 July 1816.
(2) PROB 11/1582/468.
(3) Corporation of London Records, CLA/022/04/038/9acd.
(4) PROB 11/2130/79.
You may also like to read about Todd & Procter, cheesemongers, who also came from the Barnard Castle area (see comment below).
Neighbours:
<– 14 Wellington Street | 12 Wellington Street –> |
Hi,
There’s a baptism of Ann Harker in Barnard Castle daughter of Enos and Ann Harker on 16 Nov 1781 (Source:FreeReg, search on Gainford Parish as Barnard Castle was a Chapelry of Gainford Church).
There is also a reference in Durham County Record Office online catalogue as follows:-
Ref: D/HH 3/1/14/11
9 November 1813
(1) Thomas Monkhouse, gingerbread baker; Richard Steele, currier and Anthony Wetherill, weaver, all of Barnard Castle; and William Alderson of Southwark, Surrey, tailor
(3) Isaac Nicholson, bookseller, Joseph Proctor, druggist and William Dixon, linen draper, all of Barnard Castle and several others (trustees)
Draft release by (1) to (3) of a preaching house and premises in Barnard Castle in trust for the Society of Methodists
This reference ties the Alderson family into the same social sphere as the Cheesemongers of your earlier post (Todd and Proctor of St Paul’s Churchyard) as Robert and Joseph Proctor are brothers.
Members of the Monkhouse families of Barnard Castle married into the Proctors and were also partners in a carpet manufacturing business with William Dixon the linen draper & preacher and John Whitfield, a cheesemonger of Lamb’s Conduit Street.
Regards
Catherine Ryan
Hi Catherine,
Wonderful! Thanks for that. I am still surprised every time I find a link between the various shopkeepers, but maybe I should not be. It is logical that they kept in contact with their relations “up north” and if they came from the same area, they probably knew of each other’s existence in London.
There are lots of Dixons in the Street Views, so will probably find more links there. I look forward to the investigation. There was a Whitfield in Bishopsgate Street dealing in carpets, but I don’t yet know anything about him.
Regards,
Baldwin
Hi Baldwin,
The Whitfield carpet dealer was probably related to the cheesemongers – when I have time I will look into this. Some of the Barnard Castle area Dixons were well-to-do & well travelled. One of our most famous Teesdale Dixons (Jeremiah) surveyed the Mason-Dixon Line in the USA! This family of Dixons were Quakers & so have links with other noted families of the Society of Friends.
Regards
Catherine
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Had a look and in April 1841 bankruptcy proceedings are started against Jeremiah Whitfield of 38 Bishopsgate Street Without. It would be nice to link this Jeremiah with John the cheesemonger.
I’ll see what I can do!
🙂 grateful thanks!
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I have read with great interest the information regarding William, George and John Alderson, tailors at 313 Borough High Street, for which many thanks. My wife is descended from William Alderson (1754 – 1816) through John Alderson who jointly inherited the business with his elder brother, George and have therefore done a lot of research into the family history.
I hope you do not mind, but I have some further information and corrections to the piece:
George Alderson (son of William 1780 – 1850) married Ann Harker in 1807 at St. Giles Cripplegate, she was baptised 16/11/1781 in Barnard Castle, the daughter of Enos Harker and Ann Wetherill – Georges second daughter was named Jane Wetherill Alderson.
When William died in 1816, he left the tailoring business to his two eldest sons George and John who, according to trade directories ran the business jointly from 313 Borough and 5 Piccadilly under the name William Alderson until 1823. George appears on his own at 47 Tooley Street in 1824, then from 1825 George and John are listed together again from 1825 – 1827. From 1828 George is listed again at 47 Tooley Street.
The John Alderson at 110 Blackman Street is not George’s brother – further explanation to follow.
George’s brother John married Eleanor Plummer (daughter of Joel Plummer, timber merchant) with whom he had 5 children (Martha, 1811, Eleanor Sarah, 1813, Maria Louisa, 1815, John William Robert, 1819, Thomas Charles Napoleon, 1821). Sadly, Eleanor died of cancer in June 1822. John remarried in 1825 to Harriet Barker but died in West Norwood in 1829, so far I have not managed to find his will or what happened to Harriet after his death.
Following John’s death, we do know that his eldest son John William Robert (JWR) was apprenticed in 1833 to a James Anderson in Banbury, Oxon. (my mother in law has the original indenture). He is listed as an orphan aged 14 years and is apprenticed with the consent of his Uncle Michael Longstaff (husband of his aunt, Martha). According to census returns and trade directories, Michael Longstaff was in the same line of business and the family name also shows links to the County Durham/ North Yorks area.
After finishing his apprenticeship, JWR worked as a tailor in the Holborn area and married Fanny Grainger in 1841 with whom he had 5 children. Unfortunately, Fanny died in 1852, leaving JWR a single father, obviously struggling to make a living as he was in and out of St. George’s workhouse in 1854 where his youngest son George died. By 1859, JWR had met my wife’s 2 x great grandmother Emma Snelling with whom he had a further 5 children between 1859 – 1870, eventually marrying Emma in 1872. We do not know what happened to his wife after that as we can find no death or re-marriage of her but JWR was admitted to St. George’s workhouse as a widower on 12 August 1875 with his two youngest children from his union with Emma and sadly died on 3 September 1875.
JWR’s 2 eldest sons from his marriage with Fanny went on to be tailors as well and seemed to fare better than their father. According to the census returns, his sisters and brother Thomas managed a better life than he did.
JWR’s cousins who descended from his uncle George appeared to live well and the properties in Barnard Castle that George left to his wife Ann, who in her will left them and all her household and personal effects to be held in trust for her daughter Eliza Alderson by her son in law, William Boatwright Brown and Edward Eneas Harker (either her younger brother or a nephew), the rents and profits to go to Eliza until her marriage or decease upon which time they are to be sold and the proceeds split 2 or 3 ways. I have not followed tis any further at this point.
It seems that the Aldersons and Harkers all moved from Barnard Castle at the same time in the late 1790s.
Finally, with regard to John Alderson at 110 Blackman Street, I originally obtained a copy of his will assuming it to be our JWR Alderson but some research proved that this John married a Margaret Loy in 1823 and died after our JWR in 1833, after his death, the business passed on to Margaret’s new husband John Askew.
Interestingly, although I have not found a direct link between the two Alderson families, I believe there must be some connection in previous generations as this John was born in Great Musgrave, Westmorland, about 15-20 miles from Barnard Castle. His father is Richard Alderson (possibly the same Richard Alderson in the trade directories trading as a linen draper at 82 Crawford Dtreet between 1825 – 1832), John’s mother interestingly is Margaret Loy – did John marry a cousin?
As I say, I have not had time to join all the dots yet but along with their trade, there are common Christian names in both the families, in particular, Roger which is quite uncommon at the time.
Regards
David Williams
Dear David,
Thank you very much for your lengthy comment and for putting me right as regards the non-existent brotherhood of George and John. It certainly explains why I could not match the age of the deceased John of Blackman Street with the year of birth of the son of William and Martha (see footnote 1 in the Askew post). As you can imagine, I cannot spend too much time on any one shopkeeper and can hence not go into a family’s history the way people who research their own family can do. It is impossible in the time frame that I have for each post to visit all the archives that may have some snippets of information. All I can do is try and paint as comprehensive a picture as I can, which sometimes is a family history, but sometimes the history of a building or profession. It all depends on what I can dig up. That is not to say that I should be mixing people up, I certainly should not, but apart from that, I do not think I have done too badly with George Alderson and the Askews. I am glad you could confirm that Ann Harker was indeed the wife of George as I thought. If Barnard Castle and surrounding area is where your research leads you, you could contact Catherine Ryan who is located in the area and always happy to help. Or do you know her already? If not, I can put you in contact with her.
Baldwin