ENG-SURREY-L Archives

Archiver > ENG-SURREY > 2006-07 > 1151807244


From: "Tim McGinnis" <>
Subject: 2 Kemerton Rd, Brixton
Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2006 22:28:27 -0400


Since I suggested the topic, I'd better make a contribution to the list.

This is rather complicated, so bear with me. 2 Kemerton Road, Brixton was home base, if there was one, of my maternal great-grandmother Priscilla Prudence Anna Hopkins, nee Holland. I say home base because much of the time she travelled with her soldier (sergeant & band sergeant) husband Nicholas Hopkins and his regiment. About half of their children were born overseas. It would appear that when they periodically returned to England, they would leave some of the older children in the care of Priscilla's widowed father, Joseph Richard Holland, and her twin sister Matilda Lucy, who was unmarried.

The first recorded instance of the family at 2 Kemerton was the birth of a child on 31 Oct 1877. The 1881 census shows various Hopkins children living with Joseph at 2 Kemerton Rd. Nicholas died at 2 Kemerton Rd in Nov 1888 and Priscilla and children are still there in the 1891 census. By 1901 Priscilla and her younger children have moved to 21 Somerleyton (or Lowerleyton writing is unclear), Herne Hill.
When Nicholas died his Administration showed that the total value of his estate, approx. 340 GBP, was left to his wife Priscilla. Nicholas has a fairly large headstone in Nunhead Cemetery (the inscription on it is unfortunately no longer legible). Priscilla's father Joseph was a saddler/harness maker & carriage trimmer. I've included this information because it may help answer some of the questions that I list below. The family seemed to have some money as Priscilla "lived on own means" for many years after Nicholas's death.

I would like to know more about 2 Kemerton Rd. Is it possible that the family owned this property or more likely that it was 'rented', if so from whom & at what cost? What school(s) would the children likely have attended while living there? What was this neighbourhood like in the 1880's?

How does someone like myself who cannot visit local records offices obtain such information?

Tim
Ontario, Canada

This thread: