Robert
William Lockwood was the son of William Lockwood and his first wife
Mary Ann
Elizabeth
Hills. His birth was registered in January-March 1871 in the then registration
district of Mile End Old Town (West Ward), and his first Census entry, aged two
months, saw him residing with his parents at Turner Street in the same parish.
Mile
End Old
Town, however, is not, as the name might imply, a region to the east of
Cambridge Heath Road
- the intersection at which point the
Whitechapel Road ended and the
Mile End Road began - stretching beyond Stepney Green to Mile End itself. The
registration district, in fact, commenced as far west as what is now known as
Aldgate East – bounded by
Commercial Road to the south and below
Whitechapel Road
to the north. The northern boundary was the
London Hospital
and eastern limit extended to St Dunstan’s Church.
Turner Street runs parallel with
New Road, both streets leading from
Commercial Road
towards
Whitechapel Road.
The
next recorded entry for Robert’s family was the tragic death of his 25 years
old mother in the spring of 1876. Robert was just five years old at the time.
An
1881 Census Record exists for a Robert Lockwood, similarly born in 1871, but
with Limehouse given as the registration district. While at one time the area
from Aldgate East stretching along the
Commercial Road towards Poplar was referred to as Stepney, the same cannot be
said for Limehouse which was distinctly east of
Turner Street. This Robert Lockwood was the 10 years old nephew of the Head of the
61 Teviot Street, Bromley by Bow Household, Robert Snell. Mr Snell was a builder, whose
household included another nephew and niece named Leach, and a second niece with
the surname Hills – matching the maiden name of Robert William Lockwood’s
mother, Mary Ann. Of subsequent interest, too, was that Snell’s Leach
relatives hailed from
Suffolk.
While on Census night Robert was recorded as staying with his uncle Robert Snell at Teviot
Street, his father, William, was registered as being a lodger at 30 Tudor
Street, West Derby, Liverpool.
Research into the Hills and Snell
relationships reveals that a George Hills (born cir 1793) married a Mary Ann ~~~
(born cir 1789). They had two children:
George Hills [2] (born cir 1825) and
Mary Ann Elizabeth Hills (born cir 1828). A George Hills, with matching 1824/5
date of birth, married Mary Elizabeth Burrell with whom he had a daughter born
in 1851. A strong indication that this was George Hills [2] lies in the fact
that he named this daughter Mary Ann Elizabeth Hills - all four names identical
to that of his sister. (NB: His wife's name was Mary Elizabeth and not Mary Ann
Elizabeth.) George [2]'s sister, the elder M A E Hills, married Robert Snell in
the West Ham registration district in 1847. Four years later, Robert Snell would
have become the uncle, through marriage, to the younger Mary Ann Elizabeth
Hills, who subsequently became the wife of William Lockwood and mother of Robert
W Lockwood.
The
1891 Census once again provided an entry for a Robert Lockwood born in 1871 –
on this occasion with Stepney given as the registration district. He was once
again described as the nephew of the Head of Household – the now retired
Robert Snell. On the Census night in question, residents at the house also
included Snell’s wife Mary and two visitors from
London. Of special interest was that this Census was conducted in Claydon,
Suffolk
to where Robert Snell had retired. A question which appears to remain unanswered
is why did Robert and his father live apart following the death of his mother?
Four
years later, in the October-December quarter of 1895, the marriage was recorded
of Robert William Lockwood, 24, to 39 years old widow Kate
Mary Ann Snow in the Ipswich registration district in
Suffolk. The entry of his middle name William provided confirmation of his identity.
Mrs
Snow, born Kate Mary Ann Levett, had been the widow of medical
practitioner William Clement White Snow, born c1850 in
Aden. The couple had three children: William Stephen Snow (born 1883), Edward Ladell
Snow (1887), and John R White Snow (1891). They and their mother had all been
born in Ipswich
.
The
Census of 1901 confirmed Robert W Lockwood as having been born in Stepney and
listed him as the 30 years old Head of Household at the family home in The
Street, Claydon,
Suffolk. His profession was entered as “Living on own means”. The three Snow boys,
now aged 18, 14 and 10, were listed as Stepson.
NOTE: At the time of her marriage to William Lockwood, 21 years old
Lydia Nathalie Neale became the step-mother-in-law to the then 44 years
old Kate Mary Ann Levett Snow.
