James and Winifred Bedford

My maternal great-grandparents

James Burgess Bedford, known as Jim, was my Grandpa’s father (my Mum’s father). He was born on 17 June 1902 at 6 Mossbury Road in Battersea, London. His parent’s were James and Eleanor Bedford, née Burgess. His father’s occupation was a railway ticket examiner.

Winifred Jenn, known as Win, was my Grandpa’s mother. She was born on 28 June 1898 at 200 East Street in Walworth, London. Her parent’s were Arthur Edward and Emma Louise Jenn, née Lewis. Her father’s occupation was a silk warehouseman.

As Win was born four years prior to her future husband, she was listed on the 1901 Census. Win, aged 2, was living with her family at 30 Eastbourne Buildings, Bermondsey, London. Her father Arthur was 29 years old and was working as a “railway passenger lift man”. Her mother Emma was 26. Winifred had one younger sibling, called Alice Emily, who was 4 months old. She had been born in St. Saviour Southwark. Arthur and Emma had had a son, named Arthur Edward (junior), in 1896. Sadly, he died weeks after birth, and was buried in Southwark on 23 November.

At the time of the 1911 Census, Jim was living with his family at 1 Shamrock Villa, Beaconsfield Road in New Malden, Surrey. His father James was 39 years old and was working as a railway official. James’ mother Eleanor was 40 years old. His parents had been married for 17 years and had had four children, all of whom were living at the time of the Census. The eldest of the children was Ethel Winifred who had been born in 1898 in Wandsworth; then Nellie Louise who was born in 1899 in Wandsworth; then Jim who was 9 when the Census was taken; and the youngest was George Edgar who was born in 1909 in Kingston, Surrey. The eldest three children were recorded as being at school.

Win and her family had moved to 32 Brighton Buildings on Tower Bridge Road, London. She was 12 and at school. Her father Arthur was 39 years old and his occupation was a railway signalman. Her mother Emma was 36. Arthur and Emma had been married for 16 years and had four children together, one of whom had died (Arthur junior). Win’s sister Alice was 10 and also at school. She also now had a younger brother, Francis Arthur (known as Frank), who had been born in 1910 in Bermondsey. He was one year old when the Census was recorded.

When the 1921 Census was recorded, Jim was living with his family at 30 Beaconsfield Road in New Malden (pictured below).

The handwriting (sorry 2x great-grandfather James!) is not easy to decipher. Jim was 19 years old and working as a clerk for Gabriel, Wade & English, a timber works on Commercial Road in Lambeth. Jim’s father was 49 years old, and I believe a railway ticket collector. His mother, listed as Jane (her middle name) was 50. His two older siblings were also working: Ethel, aged 26, was working as a clerk for Glyn or Glenn Mills; and Nellie, aged 21, was also a clerk but I cannot decipher the name of the company she worked for. Jim’s younger sibling George was 12 and at school.

Win was still living at 32 Brighton Buildings on Tower Bridge Road, Bermondsey. However, her parents Arthur and Emma, and her brother Francis, had moved to 28 Brighton Buildings. Win, aged 23, was living with her sister Alice, aged 20. Alice was recorded as being out of work; her previous employer was Thomas Scott & Co, an iron and steel merchants. Their father Arthur worked for the same company as a warehouseman.

Win’s job was as a shorthand typist for Gabriel, Wade & English, which is where Jim was also working. A safe bet to assume that this is where they met.

Jim, aged 23, and Win, aged 27, married at Christ Church, New Malden on 19 September 1925. Reverend Alvan Birkett, the third vicar of Christ Church, presided at the ceremony. He was vicar at the church between 1921 and 1935. Jim and Win’s occupations and addresses were the same as they had been at the time of the 1921 Census. Jim’s father James was a railway collector and bore witness to the marriage, as did Win’s father Arthur, who was a warehouseman. Win’s sister Alice was also a witness.

Jim and Win had two sons; my great uncle Kenneth James (known as Ken) was born in 1927 in Lambeth, and my beloved Grandpa Bernard Arthur, born on 6 May 1929 in Kingston, Surrey.

At the time of the 1939 Register, Jim and Win were living at 24 Bodley Road in New Malden, where they remained for many years.

Jim was working as a wharf manager in the timber trade, and Win was a housewife. Grandpa was at school, as presumably was Uncle Ken. Ken’s record remains closed as he only passed away recently in 2020, and I would need a copy of his death certificate to show to Ancestry for them to open the record.

Also living with Jim and Win is Win’s sister Alice and Alice’s daughter Vera. Alice had married Frederick William Sams on 19 September 1928 at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Bermondsey. They had their daughter Vera Muriel on 19 June 1929 in Lambeth. Frederick, listed as Fred, is recorded as the sole occupier of 64 Dassett Road in Lambeth. His occupation was listed as a police constable in the Metropolitan Police. It’s possible that Alice and Vera were either visiting Jim and Win (though I am not sure if visitors were recorded on the Register as it was to be used for the issuing of ration books and ID cards), or they had gone to live there to be away from the centre of London where bombing was more likely. That said, New Malden was one of the first places in London to be bombed on 16 August 1940.

Here is an excerpt from an archived BBC article entitled WW2 People’s War, an archive of WW2 memories written by the public and gathered by the BBC. This excerpt was written by Daphne Martin (a New Malden’s schoolgirl’s memories): “The raid occurred on a Friday afternoon and my mother had cycled to a grocer’s a mile away to get the week’s food rations. She was on her way back when the bombs started to fall, getting nearer and nearer to her. Eventually, although she was almost home, she decided that the last one was ‘too close for comfort’ so she jumped off her bicycle and laid face down in the gutter as, fortunately, our father had instructed us. As she did so, she shouted at a woman who was standing at her garden gate, to do likewise. A bomb then hit the road ten feet from my mother. When all was quiet again she got up, entirely uninjured. The woman at the gate was still there, but she was dead – killed by the blast. After dropping his bombs, the German pilot flew low over the railway station, where a train had just come in, and machine-gunned the passengers as they came down the open steps, killing several of them and wounding others.”

A brief search shows that New Malden was bombed numerous times during WW2, including next door to family friends on Alric Avenue, and the road where my Grandma and Grandpa lived for 40+ years, Groveland Way. It appears that Bodley Road may have been spared.

My great-grandfather died when I was 18 months old on 2 January 1983, aged 80, at Tolworth Hospital. His occupation was recorded as a retired company director of a timber merchant. The cause of death was bronchopneumonia.

My great-grandmother died seven years later on 10 July 1990, aged 92. She passed away at a nursing home on Thetford Road in New Malden of a cerebrovascular accident (loss of blood flow to part of the brain), coronary ischaemic disease, cerebral arteriosclerosis (a hardening of the arteries in the brain), and senility.