Joseph Whiting 1862-1912

Parents: David Whiting and Elizabeth Buttle (1,2)
Born: 7th September 1862 in Burton End, Haverhill. (1,2)
Baptised: 17th June 1866 at St Mary's Parish Church, Haverhill.(1)
Married: Alice Lucy Moore, 20, spinster of Withersfield, in the 4th quarter of 1882 in the Risbridge district.(3)
Children: Frederick James Whiting b.1883, Herbert William Whiting b.1885, John Arthur Whiting b.1886, Reginald Joseph Whiting b.1890 and Ernest Sydney Whiting b.1893
Died: 1st quarter 1912 at 12 Hurstway Street, Kensington.(7)

Bio: Joseph was baptised on the same day as his siblings James and Edith Whiting, and was the youngest son of a large family. The 1871 census finds him living in Burton End, Haverhill, with his parents and brother and sisters. The 1881 census sees Joseph still living at home with parents David and Elizabeth with his sister Edith. His age has been written down wrongly, given as '9' instead of 19. He is working as a farm labourer.

Next year, he married Alice Lucy Moore, of Withersfield and this mostly likely took place in Withersfield itself. After this, they must have stayed put in Withersfield for a while as their first son Frederick was baptised there on 16th September 1883.(4) After this they moved back to Burton End, and second son Herbert is born here in April 1885,(4) and they must have moved down to London before December 1890 as son Reginald is born at 21 Hurstway Street, Kensington.(7)

As many of his brothers and sisters had done previously, Joseph gravitated towards the capital - his sister Esther and her husband Frederick Squire had done this successfully. Joseph ends up moving to live closer to his sister Frances and her husband James Ewin. This move to the city must have taken place sometime after 1886 when son John was born in Burton End, Haverhill.(4) At this time, Joseph's profession is listed as 'collector'.

So, on the 1891 census Joseph and Alice are living at 22 Hurstway Street, Kensington, with their four sons. Joseph is working as a general labourer. Their eldest son, Frederick, is listed as 'blind' on this census. When their last son Ernest is baptised at Notting Hill All Saints in 1893, Joseph's occupation has changed to horse-keeper.(8)

The next census in 1901 sees the family still living in Kensington, at 12 Hurstway Street. Joseph is now a horse keeper, and his sons Herbert and John are working as van guards. Eldest son Frederick is confirmed here as being blind.

On the 1911 census Joseph and Alice are still at 12 Hurstway Street, where Joseph is a carman. Son Fred is a newsagent, John a general dealer, and Ernest is a van guard. Two of their children are listed as dead and four living, so the implication is that Reginald has died and maybe another child died in infancy as only five have been accounted for so far.

Joseph and Alice are living at the next number down from Joseph's sister Frances, now a widow. Some of Frances' children live nearby too.

It looks like Joseph died the year after this census at the same address, as we see he is present here for the last time on the Electoral Registers(9) and there is a GRO death entry for a Joseph Whiting of the correct age to within a year in Kensington in 1912.(5)

Alice is present at 12 Hurstway Street on the 1924 Electoral Register(9), and an Alice L Whiting, of the correct age, dies in the Kensington district in 1926.(6)

Sources:

(1) Suffolk Records Office, Bury St Edmunds, Parish Registers of St Mary's Church, Haverhill. Fiche 578/4/p13 of 37
(2) Birth Register. 4th Quarter 1862, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 365
(3) Marriage Register. 4th Quarter 1882, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 927
(4) Suffolk Baptism Index, SFHS, Clare Deanery 1812-1900
(5) Death Register. 1st Quarter 1912, Kensington District, Volume 1a Page 253
(6) Death Register. 1st Quarter 1926, Kensington District, Volume 1a Page 200
(7) London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Clement, Notting Hill, Register of baptisms, P84/CLE, Item 005
(8) London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Clement, Notting Hill, Register of baptisms, P84/CLE, Item 006
(9) Ancestry.com, London Electoral Registers, 1835-1965