I think my search engine is faulty, or at least, poorly designed. It thinks that I want to visit West Ham because of football! Even when I added in the word ‘history’, I was told all about the history of the team. Fortunately I know about improving online searches, so I added ‘-united’ to my search terms and the results were much better! I’ll have to write a blog post about that one day.
West Ham, and the areas around it such as Manor Park, East Ham and Forest Gate, are associated with my most recent family history – that of my father’s biological father and his parents and grandparents. They arrived in the area in about 1881, from other parts of Essex (Aveley, Brentwood, South Weald).
West Ham is in East London. I am staying in the west, so getting there was a bit more of a challenge than most of my outings.
West Ham was originally a hamlet on the western border of the ancient parish of West Ham and the county of Essex. West Ham and East Ham were both absorbed into the London Borough of Newham in 1965. This kind of information is important when researching family history. It helps you locate records but it also helps you decide whether or not you are looking at the same person in two different records. For example, records state that my great grandfather was born in Essex and buried in Newham, but they were in fact the same place.
Another important thing to know is exactly what area a name refers to. West Ham, for example, is a hamlet/village, parish, sub-district and a district!
I have not researched the early history of the area, given that my family only arrived there in 1880s. However, I did read that it was an area where some wealthy Londoners built country houses and that there was quite a lot of damage taken to buildings during World War II, resulting in major reconstruction and redevelopment. Despite this, it seems most of the houses of my family are still there. I did not actually get to see them, unfortunately, as I my foot is sore and I had to limit my walking today.
West Ham Cemetery
First stop was West Ham Cemetery, at the end of Tower Hamlets Road.
The cemetery opened in 1857 as one of London’s first publicly-owned cemeteries. It is spread over 22 hectares, with the Jewish Cemetery adjacent.
I downloaded a plan of the cemetery before visiting, so I was able to find the sections where my family members were buried.
My father’s biological grandfather, James H Everett, died 1930. His parents James Everett died 1896 and Sarah E H Everett (nee Redknap) died 1885. I did not really expect to find their graves and I was right. I did brave the long grass, but either they had no headstone or it has been lost or fallen.
I did manage to find a headstone for an Everett family – they are probably related in some way.
One of the reasons I had difficulty is that there are only index records of burials available as the full burial register records were irrecoverably damaged by flooding. The indexed records are available on Deceased Online.
Finding James’ wife, Anne Everett, my father’s biological grandmother, was also a challenge. She died in 1896 and was buried with her father George Thomas Seaborn in section SE. Presumably her mother Emma Seaborn (nee Cook), who died 1914 West Ham, was also buried there but I did not find her record in Deceased Online. This section of the cemetery is quite large and a large number of the headstones are so weathered that they are illegible.
Bow Street Church
In 1804, my 4x great grandparents (on my father’s biological line), Reuben Pressman and Hannah Argent, were married in Bow Street Church. Hannah had been baptised there in 1779 and it is likely that Reuben was also baptised there.
Bow Church is the parish church of St Mary and Holy Trinity, in Stratford, Bow. Not to be confused by the similarly named St Mary le Bow (I was!). It is now located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies squeezed between two roads and seems to be bravely trying to resist them pressing in on each side. Double decker buses were constantly parading past – I had to patiently wait for a break in the traffic to get a decent photo!
The church is the oldest building in Bow. It was originally built as a chapel of ease in the 14th century and it is believed to still contain some structures from this period. It was included in the 1711 plan by Hawkesmoor to construct and expand fifty London churches. [4, 5] It was consecrated as a parish church in 1719.
There are a few headstones in the grounds of the church and a couple of sarcophagi. The gardens are small but gorgeous, I can imagine the church is still popular for weddings.
I am glad that I made the trip to West Ham and I am not disappointed that I did not find their actual graves. I still feel like I have come closer to them.
Wikitree game of connections
No famous connections to check for this location, but if you want to check your connection to my family, here are a few:
- James Herne Everett – Everett-4935
- Sarah Redknap – Redknap-8
- Reuben Pressman – Pressman-53 and his wife Hannah Argent – Argent-233
Sources and more information
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/West_Ham,_Essex_Genealogy
- Newham Council, ‘West Ham Cemetery burial records’, https://www.newham.gov.uk/births-deaths-marriages/burial-records
- Deceased Online, West Ham Cemetery
- Findagrave Cemetery ID 658435
- Anon, ‘Bow Church’, Wikipedia
- “Stratford-le-Bow | The Environs of London: volume 3 (pp. 489-502)”. British-history.ac.uk. 22 June 2003, accessed 12 April 2024.
- Bow Church website, https://www.bow.church/heritage
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