Mary Ann Nelson TRENDALL (1846-1914 ) had an interesting
life and an interesting name. It is not
clear where the name Nelson came from. I
cannot see any earlier uses of the name, although it was inherited by at least one
of her descendants (1). Perhaps her father,
William TRENDALL (1820-?) was a fan of the long dead Admiral. Nelson’s Column had just been completed when
Mary was born.
Mary was brought up in Cromer Street, St Pancras where her father
(and her grandmother, Mary BARTLETT c1795-1859) ran a pawnbrokers. She was one of at least three children. Her sister never married and in her final
years lived with Mary’s children (see connected blog). Her brother ended up as a fisherman in
Aberdeen (see blog dated August 2020).
Her father was the twin brother of Thomas TRENDALL (1820-1878) and the
families lived in close proximity. She
was baptised at St Pancras 4th October 1846 having been born 14th
September in the same year.
When she was 12 her mother, Elizabeth TRENDALL (JOHNSON)
(c1823-1858) died at home. The following
year her Grandmother, who it seems lived with the family rather than with her
husband, also died at Cromer Street.
Five years later in 1863 she had a child out of wedlock. She was 17.
Her son was born in Stroud Green, near Finsbury Park London. The name of the father is not recorded and
the entry in the baptism register makes it very clear that the child was
illegitimate. The birth was registered
by Thomas TRENDALL, probably her uncle, my great great grandfather,
(1820-1878). She named the boy Thomas
Johnson TRENDALL, the middle name being the maiden name of her mother. We do not know who the father was, but there
is a chance that it was a neighbour who was, a couple of years later, to become
her husband. An alternative explanation
for the choice of middle name would be that she named him after his father –
there were several JOHNSON families living within a five minute walk of the
TRENDALL household
In the 1871 census Thomas Johnson TRENDALL was living with,
or visiting, his grandfather, William JOHNSON (c1794-1874) in Northaw,
Herts. William JOHNSON had remarried
shortly after the death of his first wife Mary BARTLETT. His new wife was a widow 26 years younger
than he was.
Mary Ann Nelson TRENDALL married Charles Osborne RICE (1844-1911)
in March 1866. He was an ‘Engine Smith’
and an engineer. He lived in Brighton
Street St Pancras which no longer exists.
Brighton Street was adjacent to Cromer Street making the couple very
close neighbours. It appears that Charles adopted Thomas Johnson TRENDALL (2)
shortly after the marriage, as the latter is described on his death certificate
as Thomas Johnson RICE, aged 11, in 1875.
The cause of death was given as “Acute Rheumatism (10 days) and Bronchitis
(3 days)”. Shortly after getting
married the couple had moved to the new City of London Lunatic Asylum at Stone
in Kent. Charles worked on the heating and
other mechanical systems. Mary may have also
have worked there in addition to her childcare duties. It was a good place to work, quite well paid
and with accommodation.
The loss of her son was a tragedy. One that was familiar to many parents in the
nineteenth century. Familiarity did not
lighten the loss.
In around 1871 Mary’s father, William TRENDALL, emigrated to
Canada to join his older brother, Robert TRENDALL (1809- ).
Charles and Mary had
several more children.
Emily Elizabeth RICE (1866-1870) was born seven months after
her parent’s marriage and just before the move to the Asylum. She died, aged 3, of congestion of the lungs
and throat (3 days) in 1870.
Mary’s third child, Edward Osborne RICE (1868-1953) had a
long life, dying, aged 85, in the Mile End Hospital. He never married and appears in the connected
blog: ‘A Pub in East London’. His death
certificate describes him as a ‘retired Licensed Victualler’ of 33 Queensbridge
Road. This was the address of the
Victory public house.
Mary’s second daughter, Edith Helen RICE (1871- ) lived into
adulthood and was married in 1891 in Marylebone to a widower, Alfred HOBLEY
(c1863 - ) who was a clerk at the Asylum and who was the son of the Clerk of
Works at that institution. One of the witnesses to the marriage was a TRENDALL
but it is not clear which one. It may
well have been Mary’s sister, Ann Eliizabeth TRENDALL (see connected blog). The City of London Asylum was a large place
with many staff. It is not surprising
that it functioned as a village like community.
Two years later another child arrived. William RICE (1873-1873) was named after his grandfather,
William TRENDALL. The baby only lived
for a few hours. The cause of death
being recorded as ‘premature birth’.
Mary herself registered both the birth and the death two days later.
In February 1877 Florence Lillian RICE was born. She lived until April in the same year. She died of intussusception (5 days). This a serious problem with the bowel that
effects infants. Before the development
of modern diagnostic and treatment techniques (including antibiotics) it was normally
fatal.
Mary and Charles had one further child. Albert Osborne Stanley RICE was born at the Asylum
in 1878. Albert lived until 1921 having
married in 1902. He had four
children. He joined the army at the age
of 36. During his service he contracted
TB and was discharged as ‘70% disabled’.
His youngest daughter was born a few weeks after his death. For a large part of his life he worked as a
barman and a publican. He is buried in
the same grave at Kensal Green Cemetery as his aunt; Ann Elizabeth TRENDALL
(1853-1944).
Mary and Charles spent around 20 years working at the
Asylum. In the 1891 census Charles is
shown as Clerk of Works. A very good job,
but for reasons that are not known (staff records are very limited in this
period) the family left Stone in 1892 and returned to London. In 1893 Charles was running the Gladstone
beer house in South Norwood. It was a
lowly establishment and he applied (unsuccessfully) to the Magistrates to upgrade
the licence to allow the sale of all types of alcohol rather than just
beer. The police confirmed that the
place had been better since Charles had been running it but clearly there were
challenges.
The Gladstone in 2007 shortly before being converted into flats
In 1901 the family were living at 96 York Road Battersea and
Charles is described as a Beer House ?? (for fear of throwing stones in glass
houses I will not make comment on the hand writing on this census!). Earlier, in 1896, Charles appears on the electoral
roll at 96 Usk Road. This is probably
the same address. It was the site of the
Somers Arms until 2000 when it was demolished.
The family stayed at the Somers Arms until 1905.
Although the records mainly record Charles’s name we must
remember that Mary was the landlady of these establishments. Her name was not on the licence or on the electoral
register because she was a woman, not because she was not involved in the
business.
By 1911 Mary had Charles had retired and were lodging at an
address in Wandsworth. Also at the same
address was their son, Albert, and his wife and child. Charles died at the same address in December
1911 of a cerebral haemorrhage.
Mary lived on until she was 67, dying on 20 February 1914. This was a couple of days before her 1st
cousin, once removed, celebrated the birth of a son, my Father. Mary died of breast cancer.
We do not know how the extended Trendall family
interacted. We have no letters,
documents or personal memories to tell us about the everyday life of our
ancestors. All we have is bare facts and
interesting co-incidences. We do know
that Mary Ann Nelson TRENDALL lost four of her seven children when they were young
and it is hard to imagine the pain that this must have caused her. But even here there is a mystery. On the 1911 census quoted above it is
recorded that Mary and Charles had 8 children, six of whom had died. I cannot trace these additional children and
we know that Thomas Johnson TRENDALL was not born within the marriage. Perhaps this is a recording error but
possibly I have missed something and the tragedy that surrounded the life of
Mary and Charles was even greater than I have described it.
Philip Trendall
May 2026
Very good Philip,well researched, Chris
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