In 1864 Ellen Boyt, 26, of Christchurch, Hampshire married John Ward of Islington, London, a blacksmith. He, Ellen and her illegitimate daughter Charlotte set up house in Islington.
Ellen had been a single parent in Christchurch, living with Charlotte and her impoverished family. She managed to eke out a living as a watch chain maker, the most common occupation for a young woman in that part of the world. She and Charlotte however decided to join the diaspora of regional working class women who moved to London in search of a better life.
With no other skills apart from domestic ones, and not being able to read or write, Ellen became a needlewoman. By 1871 she and John had two children of their own, Alice aged 5 and Ellen, aged 10 months. Charlotte, now aged 14, still lived with them, although employed as a domestic servant.
But John was no longer a blacksmith. He was blind, living on charity and an allowance from the parish. The address given in the 1871 census for the family states, "5 (otherwise No.2) Caroline Court, Islington."
"Courts" at this time were where the impoverished lived. They had their roots in the courtyard construction and communal way of living of medieval London. But by the time Ellen, John and their family came to live in this style of housing, courts were narrow, dead end streets of small terrace houses where many people shared each dwelling. Lacking piped water, the houses in Caroline Court would have been reliant upon a communal well and pump on the street. These became increasingly polluted over time, promoting the spread of waterborne diseases. That the Ward family lived in one of these houses attests to their straitened circumstances. In spite of severe overcrowding and unsanitary conditions, it was not until 1936 that Caroline Court and the adjacent Hope Place were finally designated as a slum clearance area and demolished.
In 1881, John ceased to be dependent upon the parish. His occupation was now "seller of music in street". As such, he would sing (or shout) ballads down the street until a crowd was drawn. He would not expect to be paid for his voice, but instead would sell copies of his songs for a halfpenny a sheet. He and Ellen, together with their six children were now living at 1 Paradise Court, Islington. By 1891 John had become a "street musician" with five of his children living at home with him, including Ellen, a glass bottle stop maker and Rhoda, a trim bead worker. Still resident in Paradise Court, they now lived at number 4.
John, a fiddler in his occupation as street musician, had stiff competition as such, as the streets of London had for many a year hosted an unco-ordinated, discordant symphony of sounds made by street vendors, beggars and various types of musicians and singers. Horses' hooves clattered over cobblestones, cab drivers shouted to each other as they passed, whole brass bands played on the street, drunken patrons tumbled out of pub doors, yelling all the while. Paper boys shouted out the news and costermongers advertised their wares at the tops of their voices. Not to mention dustmen going about their work and the children who danced and sang along with the organ grinders or laughed at Punch and Judy shows. London's streets played host to a never-ending din and cacophony of noises, day and night. It was no wonder John did not earn sufficient money to pay rent on a more desirable residence; just getting his tunes heard on the street would have been no mean feat. There were also many other street musicians about: Hector Berlioz, the French Romantic composer after visiting London in the mid-nineteenth century wrote that "no city in the world" was so consumed by music. He noted barrel-organists, barrel-pianists, bagpipers and drummers who filled the streets. And once one of these musicians stood on a corner and started up a tune, girls who may be walking past and children sitting in the gutter "begin to foot it merrily."* Some men would also join in, usually two together, while an appreciative crowd watched the dancing.
Ellen's tale is one of desperate poverty and a hard life lived in difficult circumstances. Yet, she and John appear to have lived a happy and for the times, long life together. Raising a large family with scant money, they appear to have given them a stable home. Part of a community, they remained living in the same suburb for many a year. Even when John lost his sight and ability to work as a blacksmith they accepted their plight and adjusted to their lot, their children growing to adulthood and eventually raising families of their own.
The writer is a descendant of Ellen and Charlotte Boyt.
*Charles Booth, in his survey of the East End
Reference: London: The Biography Peter Ackroyd Anchor Books 2000
