Neighbours

This post is inspired by the 52 Ancestors prompt “Courting”.  It is the story of a couple who were neighbours in London before they married, Samuel Joseph George Elliston and Elfrida Mary Buss.  Yes, they both had names that are a bit of a mouthful, but appear to have been more commonly known as George and Ella or Ellen.

Samuel Joseph George Elliston was born around 1821 in Shoreditch, London.  He was the only known child of Thomas Abbot Elliston and Harriet Bisgood.  Thomas was an accountant and surveyor.  Samuel Joseph George Elliston was baptised at St Leonard’s, Shoreditch, on 22 April 1821, with the spelling “Alliston”.  At the time, the family lived in Union Walk, which is now mostly a railway underpass.

Elfrida Mary Buss was born about ten years later, around 1832 in the Bishopsgate or Shoreditch area in East London.  Elfrida’s parents, Ethelbert John Buss, a bookbinder, and Elizabeth Austin Bell did not have most of their children baptised in infancy, so records are lacking.  As far as I know, Elfrida was the fifth child and fourth daughter of Elizabeth and Ethelbert, their other children were: Elizabeth Austin Buss, Letitia Buss, Ann Sarah Buss (or Sarah Ann…) Ethelbert John Buss, Charlotte Mathilda Buss and Clara Julia Buss.  Elizabeth also had a son, William James Hart, from a previous marriage.

In the 1841 Census, the Buss family were living in Halfmoon Street, Bishopsgate, which is now under the platforms of Liverpool Street Station. The Elliston family had moved across Kingsland Road from Union Walk to Wellington Street, a bit further out of central London to the Buss family, possibly a sign that they were better off.

Sadly, “George” lost his mother in 1841 and his father four years later in 1845, leaving him on his own.  He did have Aunts, Uncles and cousins on his mother’s side, but no close relatives that I know of on his father’s side.

In the 1851 Census, taken on Sunday 30 March, John (father Ethelbert), Elizabeth, Elfrida and Clara Buss, and grandson/nephew Thomas West, were living in rooms at 27 Skinner Street, also now under Liverpool Street station.  I counted ten households in the building, including one consisting of John Buss (son Ethelbert) and George Elliston, both described as lodgers.  George Buss’s occupation was a labourer, while John was a Smith.  So, George and Elfrida were neighbours.  Perhaps George was a friend of Elfrida’s brother John.  If young bachelors from the Victorian era were anything like modern young men, I am sure that George and John regularly visited John’s family for meals.  In any case, they all lived in close proximity, which would have helped with George and Elfrida’s courting.

On 20 April 1851, only weeks after the census was taken, Samuel Joseph George Elliston and Elfrida Mary Buss were married at St John the Baptist Church, Hoxton.  The witness included Clara Buss and Ethelbert John Buss (not sure whether the father or the son). George signed the register with his full name, so was literate to at least some extent.  Elfrida and her sister Clara marked rather than signed the register, so may not have been literate.  Ethelbert John Buss signed the register.

As far as I know, George and Elfrida had nine children: George (my ancestor), Harriet, Clara, Charlotte, James, Thomas Alfred, Letitia, Elizabeth and Richard.  Sometime between Harriet’s birth in 1854 and Charlotte’s birth around 1857, the family moved out of the East End of London to Canning Town, near West Ham, which at the time was in Essex but is now Greater London.

In the 1861 census, George, Elfrida and their children were living in New Road, West Ham.  George was working as a Dock Labourer.

In the 1871 Census, the Elliston family were still living in the Canning Twon/West Ham area, with George still working as a Dock Labourer.  Elfrida’s widowed mother, Elizabeth, was also living in the household.

By 1881, not much had changed for George and Elfrida, other than that only their two youngest sons were still at home.

On 1 January 1884, Samuel Joseph George Elliston died from a lung haemorrhage, leaving Elfrida a widow after nearly 34 years of marriage.

Elifrida Mary Buss lived for over twenty years more, dying on 5 January 1908 from “Seneclus Syncope”, which was apparently a fancy term for old age.  She was in the Leytonstone workhouse, so may have been unwell for a while.

Often it is difficult to find any clues about how an ancestral couple might have met and gotten to know each other, so it is nice to find some kind of prior connection.

 

Notes on lineage: Me > Dad > John Edward Blake > Alice Mary Elliston > George Elliston > Samuel Joseph George Elliston and Elfrida Mary Buss