By Christine Swan

My father was exceedingly fond of his grandfather, George Betts. He advised him during his formative years and, while my grandfather worked long hours as a nurse. Dad travelled around with George, to the markets both to buy and to sell whatever it was that people needed at that point in the year. He sold meat, for human or feline consumption, fish, coal, kindling and firewood, but not year-round. He would wheel his barrow past the London Stock Exchange, stop and remark to my father: “Do you know what that place is?” Of course, as a child, my father had no idea, and probably said so. George would reply: “That place is madness my boy!”

The London Stock Exchange trading floor in 1955 “There lies madness!” By Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20593030

As far as I am aware, George never possessed sufficient funds to chance any at the Stock Exchange although he had the airs and graces of one living on a faded fortune. He used to terrify my grandmother by turning up at her house, dressed in black, with a hat to match. She told me that she thought that her visitor was the undertaker, until she realised that it was her own father.

George was born in 1866 in Homerton. My father told me that his grandfather was illegitimate and the product of a liaison between his mother, a servant girl, and her employer. All I know of George’s mother, I have deduced from my own research and what little my father and grandmother were able to tell me. I know that his birth surname was Mead and I believe that his mother’s name was Mary. Every St Patrick’s Day, George would put on his best funereal attire, pin a bunch of shamrock leaves to his coat lapel and demonstrate his pride in his Irish heritage. My father told me that George’s surname was later Betts and that this was his preferred name. George fiercely rejected any association with his unnamed paternal link, but sadly, also his maternal surname.

George Mead baptism record 1866

My grandmother and father told me various facts and remembrances, but it was up to me to fill in the gaps. While my father was alive, and before his brain was addled by dementia, I was able to double-check possible facts, but when that became impossible, I tried to triangulate small details to verify accuracy as best I could.

George was born on 29^th April 1866 and baptised in December at St Barnabas Church, Homerton. His father was listed as “The Union” which labelled him illegitimate and that his mother, Mary had been an inmate of the workhouse. George was always “George” so it was unusual to see him listed as “Walter George”. Walter is never a name that my father knew him to use so he obviously dropped this at some point. My father told me that in George’s earliest years, he was accepted by his paternal grandmother as an heir but when she died, he was disowned by his father. I have no way of verifying if this was the case or not, but my father recalled a photograph of a young George, dressed in a miniature sailor suit, with a slate board around his neck to practice his writing.

George Mead, a visitor staying with William and Charlotte Betts in 1871

From George’s inauspicious beginning, his fortune turned. By 1871, he is recorded as being a visitor at the home of William and Charlotte Betts of Palace Road, Hackney. In 1881, the Betts had moved to nearby Orchard St, and George is recorded as their son. As there were no legal adoption processes in the nineteenth century, he was probably placed in the care of the Betts by his mother or possibly by the Hackney Union, but it appeared that George was well provided for. William Betts was a listed as a tripe dresser in 1871. My own stomach took a turn when I investigated what this work involved but it seems that tripe was a popular food among working-class people and William was probably kept busy by demand. By 1881, the entire family of three were recorded as cats’ meat vendors with young George, aged just fourteen years, engaged in catering for Hackney’s feline population. The Betts remained in the Wells Street area of Hackney, although road names changed, and Orchard Street became Milborne Street, named after a wealthy family from the eighteenth century. George shifted his profession to selling fish and by 1891, William declares himself to be a pensioner, but also still a cats’ meat vendor. George was twenty five and still living at home at that time and, oddly listed as a stepson. The 1891 census was taken in April, and in October of the same year, George married Rebecca Bull who was, by all accounts, a wonderfully kind person. George and Rebecca were perfect grandparents to my father and he often spoke fondly of both of them.

George Mead in 1891, stepson of the Betts family, working as a fishmonger

Rosina Eliza Betts was born in August 1892, named after Rebecca’s mother. George was living with his in-laws in Ada Street, Hackney and working as a carman to support his little family. In 1894, along came Helena Rebecca, George in 1895, Elizabeth in 1899, Ethel in 1903, Daisy Rebecca in 1904, Rachel Louisa in 1906 and lastly Emily in 1910. Sadly Helena died at just one year old but all of the other children survived to adulthood.

The Betts family in 1911

The family were not wealthy. George’s work was casual and seasonal. In 1900, George and his family moved from Hackney to Walthamstow. George described himself as a costermonger, a wood chopper, coalman, dustman and fishmonger. It was the latter occupation that my father remembered best. He would accompany his grandfather to the market at Billingsgate and then go with his grandfather and his barrow to sell the fish. Rebecca was good natured and would cook large pots of stew to share with neighbours who found it difficult to manage during the years of the Great Depression. George would express concern that she would give away everything and leave them on the streets although I suspect that he was also proud of her generosity and kindness. The Betts lived next door to their daughter Daisy after she married my grandfather. My father was often to be found in the Betts cottage with Rebecca looking after him.

Dad, on the far right of the photo, next to his beloved gran, Rebecca Betts

George was proud of his children but he is absent from a family wedding photograph dating from 1923. When Ethel married, she was already expecting her first child, although this is hidden by a huge wedding bouquet. Her father didn’t attend because allegedly, he wanted to express his disapproval of his daughter’s condition. George knew all too well the shame of illegitimacy and wanted better for his own children.

Betts family wedding 1923

Tragedy struck in 1937 when George’s beloved wife Rebecca died aged 67. George was looked after by his daughters but when he applied for his old age pension and disability benefit, his early, unofficial adoption meant that his surname of Betts was not recognised. Eventually this was rectified but by this time, George was almost blind from cataracts. At some point in his later years, George’s biological father died. As an heir, the remaining family placed an advertisement asking for George Mead to make contact with them. Although the family were very keen for him to claim what he was entitled to, George refused and did not want any contact with those who had that had cast him aside as a small child. My dad told me that George was stubborn but a man of principles, and that meant more to him than money, even though he probably needed it.

George died in 1953, aged eighty seven. He demonstrated that you can make the best of your lot. He valued hard work and was honest and principled. Although he died before I was born, I feel that I have come to know George. I definitely share some of his characteristics. In my family history forays into the City, I often walk past the London Stock Exchange and imagine George pushing his barrow. He would look up at the modern glass and steel structure and remark: “There is madness!” Quite right George!

Stock Exchange Tower, City of London By Christine Matthews, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14249354