George and Flora Wolff

George/Gerard Wolff (b. 1858, d. 1927)

m. 1889 to Sarah Fresco (b. 1855, d. 1895)

|--- Louisa (b. 1891)
|--- Alec (b. 1894)

m. 1899 to Flora (Bloomah) Sugarman (1865-1943)

After 2 marriages George/Gerard had 8 children. The years shown above might be one out depending on whether a birthday was before or after census day. Louise, Alec, Hettie and the twins never married and had no children.

Sidney Wolff married Naomi C. Marshall

Sidney seems to have started using the forenames Ernest S. not Sidney Samuel judging from 1920’S electoral rolls and on his marriage certificate. Why was this important to him? They had 3 children:

Christine
Phyliss
Margaret

Elizabeth Rose (Bessie) married Joe (Joseph) Levenspiel

They changed surname in June 1943 to Leigh although Bessie probably used the surname Leigh some time earlier than Joe. They had three children:

George Jeffrey (known as Jeff), born 4 September 1934
Ralph David (known as David)
Martin John (known as Martin)

The Levenspiel family tree has been extensively researched and documented by Mary-Jo Levenspiel (see https://levenspiel.com/family-trees.)

Leslie Wolff married Agnes Gillett.

They too had 3 children

Jenepher
Christopher
Gerard

Martin's notes on the Wolff family ancestors

In 2008 I (Martin Leigh) looked at the census records from 1881 onwards and looked again in 2022/3. This is the 2023/4 version.

The census took place every 10 years. So, you can trace families in 1881, 1891, 1901... The last census which can be searched on-line is 1921, which became available in 2021. The census of 1931 was destroyed in a fire, there was no 1941 census, and the next census was 1951.

My search was made difficult because names are often misspelt (misspelled) and over the years people change name. My daughter Lisa is Elizabeth on her birth certificate, but we always call her Lisa and so does everyone else. In addition to the census, you can search the index of Births Marriages and Deaths (BMD) and if you’re lucky find when and where they were born or died or married and the maiden name of the woman. BMD is an index and not the actual certificate, but you can often get enough information from the index.

Include in this note are scans of the documents I’ve found, and pictures of the places people lived.

Actually, I worked backwards in time, but I’ll start at the beginning with what I learned from the 1881 census.

Before 1911 a census enumerator took notes, and these were written up neatly later. This was of course subject to spelling/transcription errors. From 1911, the “Head of family” had to fill in a form. You can see the difficulty heads had with filling it in with lots of alterations, but it is their original handwriting on the form.

1881 Census

This shows a Woolf (sic) family living at 12 Crispin Street, Spitalfields (in Middlesex, London). The county of “Middlesex” no longer exists, although it still has a cricket team. The Crispin Street area like much of the City and the East End of London, has been redeveloped. Crispin Street is right next to Spitalfields Market. Below is a 2021 picture of the only un-redeveloped corner of the street and an entrance to the market. Spitalfields was a wholesale fruit and vegetable market serving the East end of London, (rather less well known than Covent Garden).

For hundreds of years Spitalfields was an immigrant area. Wikipedia says:

“After the 1820s, Spitalfields fell into decline, gaining a reputation as a cheap area in which to live, proving a magnet to numerous waves of immigrants. Jewish refugees filled the area, mainly fleeing Pogroms in the Russian Empire, while some were entrepreneurs from the Netherlands. Between the 1880s and 1970s, Spitalfields was one of the largest Jewish communities in England, having more than forty synagogues”.

The fruit and veg market has moved out to Leyton and today the Spitalfields building holds a trendy fashion and artists market. These photos of Spitalfields market stalls date from around November 1928.

In 1881 the Woolfs at 12 Crispin Street are:

Henry (50 born in Holland) a cigar maker.
Louisa his wife (48 born in Holland) and 9 children
Elias 25 b. Holland, unemployed clerk
Gerard 23 b. Holland, a fruit dealer (I assume in the nearby market)
Harriet 21 b. Holland, a tailoress
Elizabeth 19 b. Holland, a tailoress
Louis 16 b. Holland, another cigar maker
Rosetta 12 b. Holland, a scholar
William 9 b. Holland, a scholar
Nathan 6 b. Middlesex Goodman’s Fields (also in the East end of London, Aldgate)
Solomon 3 b. Spitalfields (Louisa was then 45-ish, quite old for having a baby?)

Now, this tells us:

1) That Henry and his family moved to England between the arrivals of William and Nathan
i.e. between 1872 and 1875, so there is no point in looking for Woolfs in the 1871 census. Further backward exploration would have to be in Holland. Sidney said Amsterdam.

2) My grandfather George’s first name was then Gerard (and even this may be an anglicisation) and must be why my aunt Louise chose Gerard for her professional name, and why I have a cousin Gerard. I originally thought that Gerard was the name of Louise’s brother Alec who died, but it was her Dad’s.

3) With all those 1881 siblings, there must be dozens of cousin Woolfs in England

4) Holland was famous for “Dutch cigars”, so they probably came with that trade from Holland.

Crispin Street The home of the Woolfs who lived here in 1881. The last remaining un redeveloped bit of Crispin Street No 46 on the left (with the graffiti) advertises “florists packing tissue”. At the street end with a “City of London” shield at the top, is an entrance to Spitalfields Market. Now a fashion market, but previously a fruit and veg market, (before it moved to Hertfordshire to be out of the centre of London, as Covent Garden Market moved to Battersea).

Grandpa George/Gerard Woolf married twice. His first wife was called Sarah and they married between the 1881 and 1891 censuses, because we can find them living together in the 1891 census.

I found that a Sarah Fresco married a Gerard Wolff (not Woolf) some time in Jan/Feb/Mar 1889 in the City of London… BMD 1889 vol 1c p133 (Spitalfields is in the City, or just outside near Aldgate)

Going back to the 1881 census to look for the still single Sarah Fresco, I found (in 2022)
another large family at 9 Crispin Street (almost next door to the Woolf’s at number 12). These are the census entries for the Keesings and the Frescos:

Joseph Keesing, a general dealer aged 32, and his wife Hannah 30 both born in Holland, together with:

A married sister-in-law Elizabeth Werner 29 b. Holland a Tailoress

Unmarried Sister- in law Sarah Fresco 26 b. Holland a Tailoress

Unmarried Sister-in-law Amelia Fresco 24 b. Holland a Tailoress

Unmarried Bro.-in -law David S. Fresco 22 b. Holland a Cigar Bundler

Unmarried Sister-in-law Margaret Fresco 20 b. Holland a Tailoress

Unmarried Sister-in-law Leah Fresco 17 b. Holland a Tailoress

Unmarried Bro.-in -law Lewis Fresco 15 b. Holland an Apprentice Diamond Ctg (?cutting)

Unmarried Sister-in-law Jane Fresco 13 b. Holland an Apprentice Cigar Making

Nephew Eliazn(?) Werner 1 b.Spitalfields.

Unmarried Maggy Collins 18 b. Spitalfields a Domestic Servant

Unmarried Herman de Lange 23 b. Holland a visitor, a Cigar Maker.

Joe Keesing would seem to have married a Hannah Fresco and moved to London with her married sister Elizabeth Werner and her son Eliaza and 7 other unmarried siblings. They had a servant. And a visitor from Holland.

We don’t know where Mr. Werner (Eliaza’s dad) was that night. We see a Dutch family involved in the cigar and diamond trades both centred in Amsterdam.

About the Fresco surname: It’s a Jewish name with traces of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Dutch heritage. There are other Fresco’s in London in the fruit trade at this time around Spitalfields. Fresco would be a very appropriate brand name for a fruit and veg trader! Today we have another Amelia with Spanish ancestry in our family. Having a live-in servant would again suggest a comfortably off middle class family.

There are other Sarah Fresco’s recorded in London, but I think this 1881 family above is the right one.

With Gerard/George marrying Sarah in 1889 we would expect to find them in the 1891 census. And that’s next…

The 1891 Census

George Woolf (33) Fruit salesman, and his wife Sarah (32) both born in the Netherlands living in 3 rooms at 15 Elder Street in Spitalfields/Whitechapel. Sarah Fresco would be 36 by now if the 1881 age of 26 was right and it was the girl next door that George married. On Page 2 they have a servant Martha Gibbons living there too but no children. A live-in maid would again indicate a more prosperous household. And depending on exactly when the census was made, my Auntie Louise is about to be born. So in 1891 children are still a twinkle in their father’s eye, and we won’t find the children now until the 1901 census…

15 -17 Elder Street, London, E1 (15 is on the left) George and Sarah Woolf lived here in 1891 in 3 rooms… It’s very near Spitalfields. The house has a rather grand porticoed doorway, but no place to store bicycles. The Street is still cobbled. The whole street of Georgian buildings was built in the 1720’s for wealthy Huguenot silk-weavers. It is now listed and preserved. 15-17 are from 1727. This was a very run-down slummy area until the 1950’s but is now one of the oldest streets in London

For more history and floor plans See The St. John and Tillard estate: Elder Street | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk/survey-London/vol27/pp81-87))

The 1891 census entries for the Woolfs, across two pages:

1891-1901

We know George married twice, so what happened to first wife Sarah in the ten intervening years to 1901?

I met my unmarried Aunties Louise and Hettie. We know Hettie and all the 6 younger Wolves were Louise’s half-sisters and brothers.

1895. I couldn’t find the records of Sarah dying (2008) but in (2022) found a Sarah Woolf died in Mar 1895 BMD. Vol 1b p438 in “Hackney” aged 40. This lady would have been 36 in 1891 and 26 in 1881. Not the 32-year-old of the 1891 census. Apparently, people could be economical with their age. Perhaps in 1891 she wanted to appear younger than George, but 26 matches the 1881 Census.

Sarah died and the widower George has 2 children to care for. He remarries in 1899 and the new wife and family should appear in the 1901 census….

1899 BMD has a record of a Bloomah Sugarman marrying April /May/June in Paddington. Other names on the page are Gerard Wolff (sic), Dora Lewis and Julius Weil.

So I surmise this is George/Gerard Woolf/Wolff remarrying, and the other 2 are witnesses.

The 1891 Census for the Sugarmans shows a widow Rosa Sugarman born in Amsterdam and living with her family of 7 children at 1, Dudley Terrace in the Mile End Road…Her oldest son (aged 25) was born in Spitalfields, and then Flora (Gerald's second wife, not yet married, aged 23) and other children were born in New York, and then more children born in London Aldgate …14-year old Eva (A school teacher ??) and 11-year-old Jane (a scholar) born in Spitalfields (so they were living in London in 1881). Rosa’s age is shown as 59 (so she was 48!! when Jane was born?). The widow Rosa is living “on her own means”, and they have a domestic servant living in, so again not an unprosperous household. There is also a son Maurice aged 17 who wasn’t there in the 1881 Census. BMD shows Jane Sugarman born in Oct 1879 in Whitechapel and would be 11 or 12 in 1891

In the 1881 Census the Sugarmans are living in Yoakley Buildings in Raven Row.. Rose is 50,+ 9 children amongst whom are Flora 13 a dress maker and Jane 3 And 3 older daughters Amelia, 24 a cap maker, and Sarah 21 a Tailoress, and Rachel a teacher. These 3 don’t appear in the 1891 household so had left home/ married I guess.

From the “Survey of London | East London Mail Centre and E1 Delivery Office”:

“Michael Yoakley (1631-1708) was a Margate mariner, shipowner and Friend (Quaker). He founded a charity which built (circa 1804) a court of 10 alms houses for elderly female servants on what came to be called Raven Place off Raven Row. In 1839 these Yoakley’s Buildings were leased to the National Guardians Institution for Families and Servants, a charity set up by Elizabeth Fry (also a Friend and philanthropist). They were rebuilt on a two-storey scale in 1884-6. (So the 1881 tenants had to move out?) . In 1899 ground to the west of Cavell Street was sold to the Royal Mail for a sorting office, replacing shops at 198–204 Whitechapel Road, 15–19 Raven Row and Raven Place, an alley lined with alms-houses known as Yoakley’s Buildings and finally, cleared around 1900 for the building of the E1 Post Office and later the terminus of the Royal Mail’s private underground railway”.

Raven Row is now part of the London Hospital. My brother Jeffery was born there and claimed to be a Cockney as allegedly it is within the sound of Bow Bells.

There is still a Yoakley’s charity and buildings in Margate.

But no pictures…and I think the post office building has been demolished too… although you can still ride on a small section of the underground railway in Mount Pleasant (or rather, beneath Mount Pleasant…It’s good fun)

Returning to the family story…if George/Gerard Woolf re-married Sarah Fresco in 1899 they should appear in the 1901 census…

The 1901 Census

George Wolfo, a fruit salesman, is living at 46 Bayston Rd. This is in Stoke Newington, a very Jewish area then and still so.

He is 43 and born in Holland… but now it’s Wolfo clearly a mistake…(or a misunderstanding about where to insert a missing letter)

The family are:

Flora - wife 33 - born in America
Louisa - daughter (10)
Ebeazer - son (7)
Henrietta - (1)

I think Flora is an Anglicised version of Bloomah (aYiddish name meaning “flower/blossom” in English?)

Eleazer (l not b) is a Hebrew name, (god is our helper or god helped). Eleazer’s mum died in March 1895, he was still a very small baby then, so this was very soon after he was born. (He turns up later as Eleazer Alec)

This Wolfo has just got to be grandpa, George Woolf, with his wife Flora, my 2 aunties, who I called Louise, and Hettie and a son Alec.

My mum (Elizabeth/Bessie) and quite a few other children, (Sidney, Leslie and the twins Arthur and Henry) have not been born yet.

Eb/Eleazer I think was known as Alec and he (according to notes written by Sidney) went to live in Gibraltar and died there, or at any rate abroad, (2021—I found his birth certificate. It shows Eleazer Alec Wolff)

I understand that at this time that there weren’t immigration rules. If you lived in Britain, you became a “British Subject” just by living/working here. Possibly there was a time or residential qualification then. I don’t know really, but George and Flora were now shown as British Subjects (and not Dutch). Lucky old them.

15/12/2008 Cousin Christine (Aunt Naomi’s daughter) e-mails me to say this ….

“Why now? In short, my grandson is trying to do a sort of research about his family's roots, and there are lots of questions about our mutual grandparents, Gerard and Flora Wolff, that he would like to know. He is 11 years old so we are not talking about anything terribly advanced!!!
1. Like where did they come from and how did they meet? (I understand that Gerard came from Stuttgart, and reached England after the family had emigrated to USA. And Flora...what was her family name?....came from Holland. Is this correct ?
2. And that they lived in the East End of London. And our grandfather worked in Covent Garden Market...

Please answer me as soon as you can, so that I know that I have got through to you this time!!

All the best to you and all your family, Christine.(daughter of Sidney Wolff!!!)”

All I’d say about this is that I think:

The Flora /Gerard origins are the wrong way round.
Is right, There are some reminiscences from Sidney, which were typed up by my aunt Naomi, and I think confirm this. and gives other details. --- I’ll try and scan this. It tells you a bit more about Flora too. But I now (2022) think he worked /traded in Spitalfields market as he lived nearby.

I no longer know how to spell Wolf. Woolf, Wolff, Wolfo. I rather like the symmetry of Woollff, (pronounced double-U, double-O, double-L, double-F) but nobody uses this one.

46 Bayston Road, Stoke Newington N16 (blue door) picture from “Microsoft Bing”. This is the 1901 home of “George and Flora Wolfo and 3 children”. This area was, and still is, a very Jewish neighbourhood. My mum Bessie grew up around here. No 50 sold for £1.2 Million in 2020, but they’ve built a large extension at the back.

The 1911 Census

On this census form (below) you can see George Wolff’s own florid handwriting.

The family are living at 214 Evering Road, N16 in Upper Clapton. That’s still in the Stoke Newington area.

George Wolff, is a fruit Salesman and an employer aged 53. He says he and Flora are Dutch.
Bloomah (Flora) Wolff 43
Louise Wolff, 19 student
Eleazer Wolff (Alec), 17 Boy clerk in a Provisions store
Henrietta Wolff 11
Samuel Sydney Wolff 9
Elizabeth Rose Wolff 6
Henry Hyman and Alfred Abraham Wolff , twins aged 4
Florence Good (not being a son or daughter) she’s 20 he calls her (Servant ) and Maid servant

He signs the form with “George Wolff ”.

They have 7 rooms, not counting kitchen, bathroom, scullery, WC etc.

The house is still there but is possibly now split into flats.

Leslie isn’t born in 1911 …he is 8 in 1921. Flora would have been 45 ish when he arrived.

214 Evering Road, N16. 214 is on the left. (and includes the 2 just visible setback windows in the picture?)
George is now a Fruit Salesman and an “Employer” (And they have a bit bigger house and family than they had round the corner from Bayston Rd, the 1901 home) …. they had a domestic servant named Florence Good.

1921 Census

George Wolff (now 63) and his wife Bloomah and Family of 7 children (but no maid) are living at 5 Melrose Gardens, Hammersmith. This street is on the left as you go from Hammersmith towards Shepherd’s Bush.

But No. 5 is now a block of flats between what are obviously much older Victorian terraced houses. This street was bombed during the 2nd World War so presumably the house they lived in was like the remaining ones along the rest of the road.

This map shows where bombs fell in the 2nd World War. The darker the colour the more damage.
Blue and black homes were destroyed/ totally destroyed

George had to fill in the census form. Judging by the number of alterations, he found the instructions difficult to follow. It looks like 2 people filled in the form, George writes a capital letter S in italic script (see Sydney's name on page 2 of the form below) whereas corrections elsewhere use a plan capital S.

In 1921 George is still a fruit salesman and an employer. His workplace is 74 Brushfield Street which is across the street from Spitalfields Market Hall

He signs the form George Wolff whereas the Enumerator spells his name Woolf.

His wife in this record is called Bloomah, (53). In 1901 his wife is called Flora, and she was 33. 1911 she is referred to as Bloomah (Flora). Lots of the children had 2 given names in 1911. Alec has gone. And there is no live in maid.

The three daughters are Louise, now 30 teaching in Acton, at the Central Senior School, Hettie 21. and Elizabeth Rose (16) /aka Bessie. And I think the entries got a bit muddled.

London Day Training College (LDTC) and Bedford College are mentioned. LDTC was founded in 1902 as a joint venture of University of London and the LCC to improve teacher training. Unlike Bedford College, I don’t think it was ever in Regents Park. In 1909 it transferred wholly to the University of London, and in 1932 was renamed the Institute of Education, and is now just “IOE” when it became part of University College.
I think Louise was the teacher in Acton. She was also a singer and taught music privately when I knew her.

I think Hettie was a teacher too and about to graduate from Bedford College, she taught German, and spent holidays in East Germany,

I think it’s Bessie who was “student for Arts degree with a view to teaching” because she told me she began Arts training but had to give up when parental support failed because of the difficult business situation (and they moved to Hammersmith).

There are numerous alterations in a different handwriting. The 3 daughters are Louise now 30 teaching in Acton , at the Central Senior School (?) Hettie 21 , and Elizabeth Rose (16) /aka Bessie. London Day Training College. This was founded in 1902 as a joint venture of University of London and the LCC to improve teacher training. I don’t think that unlike Bedford College it was in Regents Park. In 1909 it transferred wholly to the University f London, and in 1932 was renamed the Institute of Education, now just “IOE” and became part of University college.

The 1921 Census Form
This is a scan of the actual Census form, across 2 pages. This was filled in by the head of the family so you can see the real handwriting. There is a separate instruction sheet too.

Page 1:

Page 2:

On the subject of bananas

Another story that I got from my mother (Bessie/Elizabeth). George was a wholesale fruit salesman specializing in bananas or may have been a commission buyer, buying bananas for others, a sort of broker. Sometimes the business was good, and sometimes bad. The family’s fortunes were always pretty up and down and seem to have ended on a down…

Now you might like to check this. Sometime around the start of the century (1910/20 ish), the banana market in England changed substantially, with the introduction of refrigerated/temperature-controlled cargo ships. This meant bananas could be imported from the West Indies, rather than from the Canary Islands. Canary bananas, George said, were smaller and sweeter than the West Indian ones, which he called “plantains”. In England nowadays “plantain” means a different type of banana which you also get in the West Indies (and can also now buy in London). They are used as a vegetable (not as a fruit) and are very big, and not sweet. George was offered the franchise (?) to market the bigger new-fangled West Indian fruit in London, but he dismissed them as a nine-day wonder. I think he was just being rude about the rival imports. And thereby passed up a business opportunity to make the family fortune.

My mother Bessie told me that… She was at Art School and had to leave when the family fortunes changed, and she had to go out and get a job… As an assistant /designer in a jewellers. She was born in 1904 and would be at Art school in say 1921 at the age of 16/17? … she said that Leslie the youngest in the family was supported later through college by Louise.

In support of this story I can tell you this……..

1) Nearly all bananas now sold in London, come from W. Indies or S. America. In fact the W. Indian trade wrecked the Canary Island banana trade. More recently(2005ish) the W. Indian trade (Windward Islands) is being / was nearly wrecked by cheaper Costa Rican, etc. imports.

2) From holidays we’ve had in the Canary Islands, and St. Lucia I can confirm that …
a) Canary bananas are often smaller and maybe a bit sweeter than West Indian ones.
b) The economies of St. Lucia and Dominica are/were heavily dependent on banana exports.

3) The production of bananas by cheap(er) labour, has caused all sorts of diplomatic / trade problems between Spain (the Canary Islands are “Spanish”) and Europe and the EU, the U.K. (W. Indies were UK colonies), and the USA (with Central/South American interests). You can still buy Canary bananas in Spain, I think they are the ones usually sold there (or were until recently) The Spanish for bananas is platanos.

4) Fair Trade bananas are now widely available in England and now (2021) usually come from Dominica in the Windward Islands. I always buy Fairtrade Windward Island bananas on principle.

5) the West Indian exports to the UK did develop rapidly around the 1920’s.

6) Beryl is my wife. I once met one of her colleagues. The colleague was Jewish and her family did get the banana distribution franchise and although a nice business it did not seem eventually to have made them into multi-millionaires.

After 1921

Now we’ve run out of censuses online so what happens next….

I’m not sure but a Gompertz G. Wolff aged 69 died in Hammersmith in 1927. I surmise this is Gerard /George Wolff Gompertz is either a mistake or was Anglicised to George many many years before, (The family seems to prefer to be known by English names not by more traditional Jewish/biblical ones.)

A vague memory of mine says that Alfred and Henry were upholsterers, who gave my Mum and Dad (Elizabeth/Bessie and Joe) 2 green (Rexine artificial leather?) armchairs as a wedding gift. (maybe not)

Alfred Abraham died in spring of 1931 in Lambeth and Henry Hyman at the end of 1944 in Hackney.
My mother said they both committed suicide this being a terrible family secret, and as a child the twins were never mentioned to me, although my brother Jeffery remembered meeting Henry. I didn’t know about either of the twins, until a neighbour mentioned my Uncle Henry to me… and I didn’t know who he was talking about as I didn’t know I’d ever had an Uncle Henry.

To follow families after 1921 you need to follow local government /electoral registers. In 1918 women over the age of 30 who were householders, or the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5, and graduates of British universities were given the right to vote. So at this time and unlike the census, electoral registers do not record children or many women. In 1928 all adults over 21 were given equal voting rights for the first time.
.
The 1931 census records were destroyed by a fire during WW2. When war was declared on 3rd September 1939 some children and mothers of under 5’s had already moved or volunteered to be relocated out of cities in case of possible future bombing or gas attacks. This was “the first evacuation” but not a lot of military activity happened in mainland UK until the bombing of the “Blitz” in 1940. Until then all the fighting was in Europe and in the meanwhile some families drifted back to the cities.

On 29th September 1939 there was also a paper “register of the population” compiled. It was updated until 1951 and used amongst other things for the issue of ID cards and ration books during the war and subsequently for the founding of the NHS in 1948. The on-line scan of this register only shows people who are now (2023) thought to be dead. The living are “blanked out” … These lists are periodically updated and some names are unblanked because they show the person’s birthday and either that person has become over 100 years old, or because by cross referencing the BMD register they have been officially recorded as dead..

Between 1940 and 1948 there were no electoral registers, so the lists go 1921,1939 (maybe) 1948(electoral) 1951 (census)… by which time we are within living memory.

The family of George and Flora Wolff... seems to have been radical and not religious,
politicised by events in the 1920’s and 30’s. My Mum and Dad (Bessie and Joe Leigh) were stalwarts of the Communist Party and were so until they died.

Some of Mum’s siblings were members too at various times. Hettie taught German and spent her summer holidays in East Germany (running English classes?) … but was rather distant from us. I did meet her once or twice in Edgware(?).

These photos of Bessie and Joe are from a 1973 BBC Panorama documentary on British Communists, in which they featured, along with their son David and his wife Ludmilla Leigh (nee Bell, later known as Jane Bell). You can watch this documentary on YouTube.

When the second world war came, Bessie (with her husband Joe and her family), Sidney and his family moved out of London to live in Amersham with my Uncle Leslie and his family and so avoid the bombing. And also Lily Charles (Joe’s niece and so my(Martin’s) cousin) came to live there too. Lily lost a leg in an air-raid on 9 Sept 1940 when her mother (my aunt) Rachel and her sister Rene were killed, … The families all lived in the one house-- 51, Woodside Road, Amersham (now re-numbered 119). This wasn’t a happy arrangement, 3+ families in one house, and I think many many hearts were broken and the families soon went their own ways.
???Leslie’s family moved away from Amersham to Oxford, near Agnes’s family??? Flora went to live in Aylesbury ???? But the Leighs stayed in the same house until the late 1950’s or early 1960’s .

Bloomah Flora Wolff died in Aylesbury sometime around Jan 1943 aged 75
I (Martin) was born in Amersham on 31st July 1943 (and grew up there and later in nearby Little Chalfont) .

Of course, I am too young to remember the war and I don’t want to know about the parting of the family ways. In the end I think the siblings and their families were reconciled much later on and whatever it was in the war years was forgotten.

Like my 2 older brothers I went to Chenies Primary School (as did my cousin Jenepher Wolff), and to Dr. Challoner’s Grammar school where uncle Leslie taught ?biology? at some time.(during the war?).

I remember Louise as an Auntie who visited us sometimes and with whom I occasionally stayed in London. We went to a museum or a concert and I think Lyons for tea. She was a singer, and taught piano in her home at 57 Primrose Gardens in Hampstead. We have a scratchy record of an older Louise singing. She moved to Hastings with her much loved cat, ?Penny?.

And much later I met Uncle Sidney at Mum’s house after she moved to Felden Lane, Boxmoor (Hemel Hempstead) just a few doors down from the house Leslie and Agnes had built for themselves, when Leslie was ???teaching???at Hemel Hempstead Grammar??.

1981 Census

I think you will find that the censuses before 1911 were transcribed by a collector from notes,
And so had lots of opportunities for transcription errors …
From the 1911 and onwards census, householders had their own form to fill in and sign, but with quite difficult instructions and the handwritten form is what you can see.

In 1981 my daughter Elizabeth/ Lisa was born on April 5th which was census day. She was included in the “newly born” at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Roehampton, and also as an infant living at our home with us in Southfields. So, the statistics for London will for ever be biased towards her.

2001 Census

2001 Census. Lisa earned a few shillings as a census collector in Putney

And that’s where my trail ends.

LM Blog

Wolff (Leigh) family tree