WELCOME TO OUR OWN WEBSITE
ABOUT US
It has to be about keeping in touch and meeting up occasionally!
Sadly it was on the loss of our eldest cousin, Carol in 2021, that we realised that we were getting on in age and not seeing each other. Whenever we are together, it is as if no time has passed and we reminisce about our childhoods and the great family parties we had at 11 Spanby Road, E3.
And so it was that we got together at Stratford upon Avon in 2022, over 40 of us just enjoying each other's company. The excitement was just like being children again.
Speaking of children there are now two new generations of the George Family and they should know that they have a great group of people around them and always a place to sleep, in every corner of the country and elsewhere in the world, should they need to do so.
It's also these generations who are growing up in a world somewhat different to the oldies, and who are making their way with successes and stories that we can all celebrate here on this site.
Let's all contribute to keeping everyone in touch.
The family all got together when Grandad George's brother, Alf and niece, Peggy, visited from Canada.
L-R Joan, Alf George, Edie. Doris, Grandad William, Peggy, Iris, Billy, Nanny Edith and Lilian.
ORIGINS
HOW WE CAME ABOUT
For our purposes, we start with Nanny, Edith Ann George (Nee Sutling) and Grandad, William George. the current eldest generation of the Georges, were their grandchildren. Iris, Kim and Karen have been working on the family tree so we would hope to publish that at sometime in the future. It turns out that "George", while sounding like a good old fashioned British name, was, in fact French as the Georges were Huguenots.
Nanny and Grandad George, having fun in a photo booth.
11 Spanby Road, Bow. E3 where they lived and brought up their 6 Children.
11 SPANBY ROAD, BOW. E3
The house had a history to tell of it's own. It was probably build in the early part of the 20C and it was William's parent's home, he moved in when he was 10 years old. William and Edith moved in after they were married and it became their first home together, just after WW1 when William came back from the "Front". All six children, Edith, Doris, Lilian, Billy, Joan and Iris, were brought up here.
It was large, even by today's standards but it had no hot water and the toilet was outside, though William build a covered, and enclosed way around to the coal shed and toilet. There was also a chicken run where they produced their own eggs and meat. The kitchen was very small with a "Ascott" water heater to provide instant hot water. There was barely any work space and most of the food prep was done in the Scullery, the small back room off the kitchen. We all lived and ate there as the large front and back rooms were for best, for parties and in latter years for sleeping.
The house was badly damaged during the Blitz. it was not hit directly but a number of houses and the pub, around No11, were destroyed. Most of the cousins played in the ruins of the bombed houses. As we went out to play, our mums or aunties would always shout "Don't play on the debris!". That is exactly where we played! There was a fascination with climbing into windowless openings and seeing hanging fireplaces and flower patterned wall paper above a floorless ceiling.
The event that damaged the house was a direct hit on the "Gas Works", in the next street. The pressure wave blew out the windows and because the internal walls weren't tied in to the external walls, they just fell over.
It was obviously well repaired as, you can see from this "Google Earth" image, it is still standing. The house on the right corner was one of the bomb sites. (clearly rebuilt).
In the early sixties, the house was condemned by the GLC in an effort to clear, what they described as slums. Despite this, Iris, George, Kevin and Kim moved out in the early seventies and so did William and Edith, all to Blackheath. Edie, Bill and family moved to Herne Bay while Joan, Arthur and family moved to Plaistow. Doris and Bob went to Harold Hill. They had all lived in 11 Spanby Road or in the next street, Fairfoot Road.
The George's presence was no longer in the East End, the closest being Joan and Arthur ...... but Bow is where the heart is!
Edie on her wedding day
Doris and Bob's wedding with Iris on the left and Joan and Lilian on the right.
Tom (Val) and Lilian.
Joan and Arthur's wedding, also featuring, Iris, Carol, Keith and Clive.
Iris and George's wedding. Most of the cousins are here.
Billy and Shirley's wedding and once again, many of the cousins are in this picture.
The Second Generation
Their memory lives on.
Five sisters and one brother were born at around 2 years intervals, Edie 1918, Doris 1920, Lilian 1922, Billy 1924, Joan 1931 and Iris 1933.
They weren't flush with cash but they had a happy home. There were also a lot of relatives around, many with the same name like Aunt Lil and Aunt Dot. Billy and Edie were obviously named after their parents.
The girls all got married in or around Bow but Billy married Shirley (nee Duke) in 1958 close to Shirley's home, as was the East End tradition. Billy was the last sibling to marry.
If you want to read about life in the East End in the post-war period, read this book "Family and Kinship in East London" - Wilmott and Young. Click Here
The siblings went to local schools and churches and, one by one, they flew the nest.
When Lilian was 18 she was given a choice of working in munitions or joining the Army. She chose the latter as she always said that she was a coward and it was the safer option. This decision led to the first of the siblings to leave home and Bow, never to return.
In the immediate period following WW2, Doris and Bob married and Lilian and Tom (Val) married once they had demobbed.
The remaining 3 met and married their partners in the 1950s, Joan and Arthur at All Saints, Poplar, Iris and George at All Hallows, Bow and finally Billy and Shirley in 1958.
Edie and Bill lived on Fairfoot Road on the next street, Doris and Bob first lived at Spanby Road before they moved to a flat, Currie House, Poplar, and then they moved into a "Pre-fab" on Fairfoot Road in 1956 until 1958 when they moved to Harold Hill (the third sibling to leave Bow), Joan and Arthur also lived in a house on Fairfoot Road, while Iris and George lived on the first floor of Spanby Road.
Lilian married Tom (*Val) who was from the Midlands and they moved to Derby where Tom worked and Billy and Shirly lived with Shirley's mum so he became the second sibling to leave Bow.
Each of the siblings had two children with the exception of Lilian, who had four, making a total of 14 cousins.
* - Tom Dicken. By the mid 50s Tom was beginning to be know as Val. Since there were a number of Toms at his work place, they differentiated by calling each other by their second names, hence Valentine (birthday 14/02/22) became Val.
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