By Christine Swan

My great grandfather was illegitimate. I was aware of this for as far back as I can remember. His paternal grandmother was rather fond of baby George but when she died, his father wanted little to do with him. His mother had been a servant girl and she, presumably, had returned to Ireland or was sent to work somewhere else. She couldn’t possibly have cared for him on or own in Victorian England, and there was no hope of marriage and legitimising his birth. I suspect that his father was already married as he was the master of the house.

George Betts could have suffered the same fate as my other paternal great grandfather, and been shuffled from precarious, casual work, and the workhouse. However, George had a more stable future. At some point, before he was five years old, he went to live with William and Charlotte Betts in Hackney. His adoptive father had been born in Stoke Holy Cross, Norfolk in about 1826. This is a tiny town on the outskirts of Norwich and would have been even smaller when William was born. It became well-known as the original production site for Colman’s mustard. The son of a weaver, William did not follow his father’s profession but, at fourteen years of age, he left home and went to work as an agricultural labourer, which was probably the most likely career of most young lads in the area.  

William Betts’ baptism record at St Julian’s church, Norwich, Norfolk, in 1827

As so many people did, William travelled south to London. I cannot be certain when he arrived , but he married Charlotte in about 1847 and their son, Samuel Thomas was born in 1849.

William and Charlotte were living in Drummond Street, Camden by 1851 and William was working as a cellarman. The site of their former home has been swept away by the development of HS2 but it would have been located directly behind the original Euston station. You can walk along that part of Drummond Street, bordered by colourful hoardings, disguising the building works going on behind them. Camden would have been a dramatic contrast to the relative peace and quiet of the Norfolk countryside. Samuel wasn’t residing with them on the day when the census was taken in 1851 but, by 1861, the complete family had moved to Palace Road, Well Street, Hackney. This was on the same side as Frampton Park Road but you require a very vivid imagination to visualise the crowded streets that have been swallowed up by the modern housing estate. William was still working as a cellarman in 1861 although in the census record, he does not specify the public house or wine merchant where he was employed.

William’s wife, Charlotte, also had her employment listed but simply as “tripe shop”, probably meaning that she worked in one. Tripe, or cow stomach, was a food of the poor. Tripe dressers washed and prepared the meat for sale. In preparing this piece, I read several descriptions of tripe as being “rubbery and hard to chew, let alone swallow”. Quite frankly, it sounds a hideous food and I think I would rather have eaten the leaves off the trees in Victoria Park than to chew on a rubbery cow’s stomach!

In 1871, Hackney was expanding rapidly, with a population of over 115 000. New estates were being built and, perhaps the Betts moved to find more competitive rents or a larger property. Although Samuel was married by this time, and had flown the family nest, the Betts had a five year old visitor in the form of my great grandfather, George Mead.

The Betts family in 1871

The Betts moved from Palace Road in about 1875 to Orchard Street.  The Betts moved to Milborne Street in 1890, although, the term “moved” when in reality, Orchard Street became Milborne Street, so perhaps the move, wasn’t a move at all. When I visited Milborne Street quite recently, I was pleased to see that some of the original dwellings had survived along with the cobbled road. It is still possible to trace the location of some of the original narrow side streets and buildings.

Rather beautiful Victorian buildings in Milborne Street, Hackney

George spoke fondly of his adoptive parents who gave him a family and fulfilled more than his basic needs. I get the impression that William Betts was a good man. When researching family history, we have to make a decision about who belongs in our tree. Boarders, visitors and friends, may all have been living under the same roof as a family. There were no legal adoptions in the nineteenth century, only informal arrangements. Perhaps the Betts knew Mary Mead and, in her desperation, she entrusted George to them? Maybe George’s biological father knew the family? Perhaps they were paid to take him as his biological father was the employer of his teenage mother, and was clearly a man of more means than the Betts. Whatever the circumstances, William became George’s father. In family trees, DNA verified relationships are emphasised, but this is only a small part of the picture. William and Charlotte Betts have every right to be in my family tree, even though I am not biologically related to either of them. They made George who he was and instilled in him the values of honest, hard work and the constant belief that one can always do better and improve your station in life. Nobody in my family remembered William so I only have the hearsay passed on by George to my father.

In 1871, William was no longer working as a cellarman, but had joined wife Charlotte in the trade of tripe dressing. A decade later, William, Charlotte and George were all selling cats’ meat. I have no doubt that George would have been a useful contributor to the family income, and, with all three of them working, they could cover a wider range of pitches. In 1881, George was described as William’s son which I find a charming insight into how the family relationship came together and included George beginning to use the surname Betts.

The Betts family in 1881 – moving into the cats’ meat trade

Shadows of the past in Milborne Street

William Betts in 1891 – a pensioner and cats’ meat vendor

The move, or perhaps, not move, in 1890, to Milborne Street took place when young George was twenty three, one year before he married. William was sixty nine years old at the point of the 1891 census, and described as a pensioner, but also a cats’ meat vendor. George was working as a fishmonger, a profession which he continued with throughout his adult life, along with selling other products. Surprisingly, George was listed as a stepson and with the surname Mead. However, just a few months later, George was married in St Luke’s church with the name of Betts. Whatever their relationship was – father and son, stepfather and stepson or adoptive father and adopted son, William shaped George.

William Betts was an active voter

I was able to track William’s residence every year that he lived in London from the 1870s onwards. The reason for this was that William was on the electoral register every year until his death. In the 1870s, he would have been one of only a couple of million eligible male voters. More were enfranchised after the 1884 Third Reform Act but even then, it still only represented eighteen percent of the entire population. It feels particularly pertinent at the current time when we almost take our voting rights for granted, and some choose not to exercise theirs at all. But here it is, William’s name listed, year after year and one hundred and thirty years later, mine is too.

All original photographs taken by the author