Catherine Boyd

Clandestinely married, and charged 7/3 (7 shillings 3 pence) a few weeks later on 21st September 1789 - see marriage document.

Married Phillis Eve 14.2.1813, Saint Bride Fleet St

Christined 31.5.1818 Old church, St Pancras

Probate, Personal Estate £255 1s. 9d. Eliza of 10 Tudor Road, Hackney was proved by Nathaniel Kevan, collector of Rates the Son the sole Executor.

Probate records show Nathaniel leaving effects under £600. He lived at 147 Great-Cambridge Street Hackney Road but late of 31 Shrubland Grove Dalston., proved by Eliza Kevan of 31 Shrubland Grove, Widow the Relict the sole Executrix.

Birth record in non-conformist records at ancestry.

Nathaniel Kevan of 38 Blenheim Road, Deal, Probate London 31 December to Caroline Parsons (wife of Robert Henry Parsons). Effects £2777 8s 8d.

“Ebenezer, Nathaniel, Phoebe and Phyllis Kevan were all cousins of Thomas Bearman 111 on his mother's side and Nathaniel, in particular, was a life-long friend of his. In 1881 the Kevanfamily was living at 10, Tudor Road, Hackney, London next door to the Bearmans, where 20 years later, the Middlemiss family were living.

“Nathaniel Kevan (1844/45 - ?) settled at Deal, where he had a house in Blenheim Road. He became a well-known f igure in the town and can be seen on many old photographs taken on the beach, the pier or the Parade. He married his cook , Elizabeth (1841/42 - ?) who, I understand, was a shy person and always kept very much in the background. They had just one daughter, Caroline, generally known as Doris, who married but I never heard whether she had any children. The sisters Phoebe and Phyllis lived in the Blenheim Road house for many years after Nathaniel died.

“They also were a well-known sight in Deal - two old ladies in black, always together. The interior of their house was, in the 30s, still a cosy Victoriana museum, with big aspidistras and knick-knacks. Phoebe (1852/53- 1939) was an upright lady with a strong, somewhat gaunt face, a deep voice and a precise way of speaking. She appeared to be the dominant sister; Phyllis(1857/58- ?) was a round-faced, more compliant sort of person.”

Dr Frank Middlemiss’s online notes

Probate for Phebe Kevan of 38 Blenheim-road, Deal, spinster died 19 January 1939 Probate London 6 March to Phillis Catherine Kevan spinster. Effects £257 1s 11d

“Ebenezer, Nathaniel, Phoebe and Phyllis Kevan were all cousins of Thomas Bearman 111 on his mother's side and Nathaniel, in particular, was a life-long friend of his. In 1881 the Kevanfamily was living at 10, Tudor Road, Hackney, London next door to the Bearmans, where 20 years later, the Middlemiss family were living.

“Nathaniel Kevan (1844/45 - ?) settled at Deal, where he had a house in Blenheim Road. He became a well-known f igure in the town and can be seen on many old photographs taken on the beach, the pier or the Parade. He married his cook , Elizabeth (1841/42 - ?) who, I understand, was a shy person and always kept very much in the background. They had just one daughter, Caroline, generally known as Doris, who married but I never heard whether she had any children. The sisters Phoebe and Phyllis lived in the Blenheim Road house for many years after Nathaniel died.

“They also were a well-known sight in Deal - two old ladies in black, always together. The interior of their house was, in the 30s, still a cosy Victoriana museum, with big aspidistras and knick-knacks. Phoebe (1852/53- 1939) was an upright lady with a strong, somewhat gaunt face, a deep voice and a precise way of speaking. She appeared to be the dominant sister; Phyllis(1857/58- ?) was a round-faced, more compliant sort of person.”

Dr Frank Middlemiss’s online notes 

“Ebenezer, Nathaniel, Phoebe and Phyllis Kevan were all cousins of Thomas Bearman 111 on his mother's side and Nathaniel, in particular, was a life-long friend of his. In 1881 the Kevanfamily was living at 10, Tudor Road, Hackney, London next door to the Bearmans, where 20 years later, the Middlemiss family were living.

“Nathaniel Kevan (1844/45 - ?) settled at Deal, where he had a house in Blenheim Road. He became a well-known figure in the town and can be seen on many old photographs taken on the beach, the pier or the Parade. He married his cook, Elizabeth (1841/42 - ?) who, I understand, was a shy person and always kept very much in the background. They had just one daughter, Caroline, generally known as Doris, who married but I never heard whether she had any children. The sisters Phoebe and Phyllis lived in the Blenheim Road house for many years after Nathaniel died.

“They also were a well-known sight in Deal - two old ladies in black, always together. The interior of their house was, in the 30s, still a cosy Victoriana museum, with big aspidistras and knick-knacks. Phoebe (1852/53- 1939) was an upright lady with a strong, somewhat gaunt face, a deep voice and a precise way of speaking. She appeared to be the dominant sister; Phyllis(1857/58- ?) was a round-faced, more compliant sort of person.”

Dr Frank Middlemiss’s online notes

Ebenezer of 32 Sellons-avenue Willesden, probate London 25 October to Elizabeth Mary Kevan widow. Effects £1987 11s 10d

<p>“Ebenezer, Nathaniel, Phoebe and Phyllis Kevan were all cousins of Thomas Bearman 111 on his mother's side and Nathaniel, in particular, was a life-long friend of his. In 1881 the Kevanfamily was living at 10, Tudor Road, Hackney, London next door to the Bearmans, where 20 years later, the Middlemiss family were living.</p>

<p>“Nathaniel Kevan (1844/45 - ?) settled at Deal, where he had a house in Blenheim Road. He became a well-known f igure in the town and can be seen on many old photographs taken on the beach, the pier or the Parade. He married his cook , Elizabeth (1841/42 - ?) who, I understand, was a shy person and always kept very much in the background. They had just one daughter, Caroline, generally known as Doris, who married but I never heard whether she had any children. The sisters Phoebe and Phyllis lived in the Blenheim Road house for many years after Nathaniel died.</p>

<p>“They also were a well-known sight in Deal - two old ladies in black, always together. The interior of their house was, in the 30s, still a cosy Victoriana museum, with big aspidistras and knick-knacks. Phoebe (1852/53- 1939) was an upright lady with a strong, somewhat gaunt face, a deep voice and a precise way of speaking. She appeared to be the dominant sister; Phyllis(1857/58- ?) was a round-faced, more compliant sort of person.”</p>

<p><a href="http://www.sredburn.free-online.co.uk/bearman/bearman02_2008.html" target="_blank">Dr Frank Middlemiss’s online notes</a></p>

Christened 15.7.1821 Saint luke, Old Street, Finsbury

Died, leaving £145 19s 2d to sister Catherine Bearman as next of kin

See also Bedwin tree at awt.ancestry.co.uk

Married Rebecca Baldwin 1867 Father James Bedwin c: 12 Nov 1780 in North Leigh, Oxon Mother Ann ??? b: 1787 in Oxford Oxon Lived in 1854 2 John Street Islington 1855 7 Prospect Place South Hackney 1857 24 Great Cambridge Street Haggerstone East 1860 10 Helmsley Street South Hackney In 1871 Census living 328 Hackney? Road Shoreditch with wife Rebecca & 2 children In 1881 Census living 49 &50 Lichfield Road Mile End Old Town London with wife Rebecca & 1 daughter In 1891 Census living 29 Colville Terrace, Grove? Road Leyton Essex with wife & Niece See Bedwin tree at ancestry.co.uk

Burial Abney Park Cemetery, 14 Apr 1906, 78y, ref 110752, section G03, index 5S06

Burial Abney Park Cemetery, ref 049541 section G03, index 2S05

Below words and information from Paul Hammond:

In 1843, Essex Place was on the fringe of the countryside. The vicinity contained some small buildings and plenty of gardens and open spaces. Sarah lived about a mile to the north, with her parents in the village of Homerton.

On 21st December that year, Sarah Barclay Boyd was just fourteen years old. She was in Essex Place, where her sister (presumably Catherine) kept a confectionary shop.

Sarah served a female customer who bought 4¾d of bread and biscuits, for which she was paid with a counterfeit shilling. Consequently, on Wednesday, the 3rd of January, 1844, Sarah was required to appear as a witness in the New Court, at the Old Bailey; I imagine rather an intimidating experience for a fourteen year old Homerton girl.

Sarah’s words that January day were recorded; see attached images, from http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?path=sessionsPapers%2F18440101.xml. The great recoinage of 1816 determined that shillings be minted from 92.5% silver (Sterling silver).

A half-quartern loaf would weigh 2 lb (800g), (it would be made from 1 ¾ lb of flour). Such a loaf features in Oliver Twist.

Thomas was a baker, who ended life quite wealthy. He married Catherine Boyd in 1845 and the record of this shows his father to be Thomas, a coach builder.

The censuses show him as born 1812-13 Chelmsford but his death record shows he was born 1811-12. However, no birth or baptism record has so far been found for him. The person most likely to be his mother died in October 1811 and his father was buried with her 16 years later - so it must be presumed that she died in child-birth or soon after, and that Thomas was born on or before October 9th 1811

There is record of a coachbuilding business with substantial 'genteel' residence in Springfield, near Chelsmsford Essex run by a Thomas Bearman (see attached images and the comments attached to Thomas his father), who married Sarah Elizabeth Balls in Cheltenham and had several children in Springfield.

FMP have his death as 6th May 1868, at St Thomas’s, Hackney citing National Burial Index.

Probate record dated 9 June 1868 showed Thomas leaving Effects under £4,000 to wife Catherine Bearman of 101 Mare Street as sole Executrix.

Thomas “was brought up as heir to his father’s business and took it over when he was only 22. His father had taken a lot of care over his education and used to take him travelling, including a tour of Ireland during which he actually kissed the Blarney Stone. Under Thomas Bearman III the shop prospered as a high class bakery and confectionary. Hackney had many wealthy inhabitants at that time and Bearmans catered for what was called "the carriage trade". It was also his practice to serve lunch daily to a select group of customers in the back room of the shop. Some blue-rimmed Wedgwood soup plates from this room have been passed down in both my family and Kate’s family.

“He married Keturah Sandell on 3rd June 1873 and for the first five years of their married life they lived in rooms at Fremont Street, Hackney. By 1878 he was able to buy a fine big house, Melbourne House, 8, Tudor Road, Hackney. His mother continued to live over the shop until her death in 1888. By about 1894 he was able to sell the shop and retire and during the next few years came to acquire property all over London, as well as "Beach Crest" (bought in 1897) and "The Moorings" both at Deal and a house in Sandwich Market Place. A photograph of Beach Crest, as it is now, is at the top of the Contents page of this website.

“He was a noted numismatist, specialising in mediaeval English and Scottish coins. Bernard Roth's book "Ancient Gaulish Coins" was dedicated to him. When he died, his collection was sold for £600, a considerable sum in those days. His whole estate was left to a family trust, the Bearman Trust. The original trustees were his sons-in-law, Tom Stutchbury, Charlie Carrington and Edward Middlemiss, with Tom as Secretary. On Tom's death in 1941 his son Tom became Secretary. Among many other things, the Trust administered Beach Crest as a holiday home for the family until 1975, when they sold it to Frank and Florence Middlemiss. Also in 1975 Donald Bearman, the last Tenant for Life of the Trust, died and the Trust was then broken up and the assets distributed among the family.”

Frank Middlemiss’s online notes

Probate records show Thomas left £16,079 14s 1d.

Keturah “was an energetic, determined woman of incisive personality. After her husband’s death she remained at 8, Tudor Road for two years until Donald was married, but in 1923 moved to 17, Sandringham Road, Leyton, immediately opposite Kate and Tom. I stayed with her there for some time in 1926 while my mother was in hospital. She later paid for my music lessons at the Metropolitan Academy of Music in Leytonstone.

She continued right up to 1928 to spend most of the summer at Beach Crest, as she and her husband had done. During 1929 she was too ill to travel and Beach Crest was hardly used by anybody that year. She usually had a maid at Beach Crest. A notable one during the 20s was Hilda Spicer, who also came back with her to Leyton. The Spicers were a big family of fisher folk who lived at 11, Golden Street, Deal. Hilda's elder sister Irma Spicer was at one time a particular friend of Edward Thomas Middlemiss.”

Frank Middlemiss’s online notes

On her death she was living at 17 Sandringham Road and left £1838 7s to Donald Boyd Bearman according to probate records.

Thomas “died shortly after the move from Fremont Street to Tudor Road and on the very day of the birth of his sister Edith, who was said to have been born "sobbing and sighing" as a result.”

Frank Middlemiss’s online notes

Kate “was in many ways a daintier version of her mother, from whom she inherited her flaming red hair. As a child she hated her red hair because the rude urchins used to shout "carrots" after her, but her husband later particularly admired it. Kate was educated at Lady Eleanor Holles' School, which was at that time situated in Mare Street, Hackney. She loved music and played both piano and violin. Her husband Tom bought her a piano when they married (8th October 1904) and this same piano was still very much in use by Kate's Merkin great-grandchildren ninety-four years later. She also loved animals, especially cats, of which she nearly always had one. In 1934 the family got a Chow dog called Ruff, which can be seen in many photos taken in the 1930s. Ruff was a splendid big dog, very strong; unfortunately he pulled Kate over, causing her to break her hip in 1938.

Like her mother, Kate was a woman of strong opinions and precise and proper ways. She lived all her life after her marriage at 16, Sandringham Road, Leyton even though this involved sleeping in the coal cellar during the Blitz of the 2nd World War. Before her marriage she had been a rather reserved person; afterwards, when she was stuck out at Leyton with nobody to talk to, her sisters were astonished at her flood of conversation when she visited the family home in Hackney. However, in 1911 her sister Hilda also moved to Leyton.”

Frank Middlemiss’s online notes

Edith “was the intellectual one among the Bearman girls. She was an impressive person to meet with her level gaze, deep well-modulated voice and beautiful articulation. Charles Carrington (12th Dec. 1877-30th April 1946) was an accountant. Charles and Edith married on the 22nd August, 1903 and from about 1911 they lived in an elegant house at 11, Willifield Way, Hampstead Garden Suburb, Golders Green. London.

They had been medically advised to move there from Clapton for the sake of Edith's health, which had never been very good. Charles lost his job early in the great depression (about 1929) and they invested in a book shop, The Temple Fortune Book Shop, 1071, Finchley Road, Golders Green, London, which they ran successfully until Edith died. Several of the books in our collection were bought there. They had to leave Willifield Way for two months, September-November 1940, as there was an unexploded German bomb in the ground just behind the house. The very day after they had arrived back home the house in which they had been staying temporarily was flattened by a bomb. When Elsie Bearman was admitted to a mental hospital in 1922 Charlie took on the thankless job of Receiver of her property under the Court of Protection. When Charlie died I took on this job until Elsie died in 1970. Edith died in November 1945, of pneumonia after getting soaked in a rain storm. I met Charlie that Christmas, when he seemed quite lost without his wife, and he died only four months later.”

Frank Middlemiss’s online notes

Hilda “was educated at the Misses Pitman’s school in Hackney until 1890, then at Lady Eleanor Holles’ School, which she left in 1895. In 1894, 1895 and 1896 the family went on holiday to Margate (by "Eagle" steamer from Tower Bridge). These were the first family holidays they had had, which suggests that Thomas Bearman probably retired from the shop in 1894.

About 1900 Hilda met Edward Middlemiss, as the Middlemiss family was at that time living next door at 10. Tudor Road. They became engaged in 1901 and married in 1907. Hilda, having a clear soprano voice, was in the choir at Mare Street Baptist Church, took part regularly in the Nonconformist Union Choir Festivals at the Crystal Palace, and sang in several Handel and other oratorios. This was with her fiance, who had a good baritone voice. In addition she was a fairly competent pianist. She was also an excellent draughtswoman and was often employed by her father to make detailed drawings of his coins. She was a keen tennis player and, in the winter, a skater on the lake in Victoria Park.

After their marriage, Hilda and Edward lived for 3½ years in rooms at 32, Poole Road, Hackney, London, and here their first child, Edward Thomas Middlemiss, was born. They moved to 38, Canterbury Road, Leyton on the 11th March 1911. Here Edward was able to indulge his interests in gardening, carpentry, photography and in having a dog - the Airedale Bob was the first.

Hilda was a less assertive person than her sisters Kate and Edith but was a woman of strong principles and knew her own mind. She was more concerned with fundamentals than with more trivial matters; she was not worried if the house was a bit untidy or about such details as the precise time of meals as long as her children grew up with the right principles in life. Like her husband and like her sister Kate, she was very fond of animals and we grew up in close contact with dogs, cats, tortoises, etc. Many of her letters from the time of the second World War have been preserved and shed a vivid light on what housekeeping, shopping and travelling were like in the dark days of the Blitz. On reading them, the word "indomitable" comes to mind as descriptive of her.”

Frank Middlemiss’s online notes

Elsie was “educated at Lady Holles’ School. She was the artistic one among the Bearman girls. She had a thorough training, including a painting tour of Holland, and was excellent at both drawing and painting. Several of her pictures have been handed down through the family, although one of the best, a still life with oranges, was destroyed when 38, Canterbury Road was bombed in 1940. When the Middlemiss family were living next door, about 1900, and Hilda and Edward became engaged, Elsie and Edward's younger brother, Alec , were very interested in each other; this was during 1900 - there was no mention of it in 1901. It is said that an engagement was vetoed by Mrs. Bearman. Elsie never did marry, but continued to live at Tudor Road. In 1921 she suffered the unpleasant shock of finding her father dead. About that time she was becoming progressively more withdrawn and peculiar and at the beginning of 1922 she was diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia and committed to Horton Hospital, Epsom. She remained in hospital for the rest of her life, for many years in Garden Villa 3, Horton Hospital, but during the 2nd World War she was transferred to West Park Hospital, where she eventually died. She was not an unreasonable patient; she was always helping with the chores at the hospital and in the 1940s took up drawing and painting again quite successfully. Under modern ideas she would never have been kept in hospital all her life.”

Frank Middlemiss’s online notes

Donald “was educated at the Parmiters' School, Bethnal Green, and became a Chartered Accountant, although he once said that he would rather have done something literary with his life, like Charlie Carrington in his latter years (and cf. Tom Stutchbury Jnr.). Don was a keen Quaker and, like Tom Stutchbury Snr., a Fabian socialist.

During the 1st World War he was an absolute conscientious objector and spent much time in prison. In prison (1916-1919) the regime was very tough and he disliked recalling such unhappy memories in later life. He was severely restricted in how often he could write home, what he could write and how much. The letters survive and are written in minute writing to get more on a page. They say nothing about life in prison and consist entirely of his own philosophical thoughts.

Quakers hold meetings rather than services, so on a Sunday he was always off to meeting, where he would take his little notebook to remind him of the thoughts that had come to him during the week, which he would then share with others at the meeting. He was a colourful figure - six feet five inches tall and slim, quite a health fanatic and a strong believer in homeopathy. Most days, right up until his late seventies, he could be seen high up on his specially designed two-barred bicycle cycling down to the River Lea at Broxbourne, summer and winter, to swim. (It is only fair to add that the water was warmed by discharge from the power station upstream). He was keen on nudism - perhaps as a reaction against Victorian stuffiness towards sexual matters. The large extended garden and pool at Noonsun enabled him and his children (not his wife) to swim and sunbathe in the nude, and later in life he liked to visit nudist camps.

He had a tendency to have his head in the clouds - a trait which could be infuriating when practical family matters needed attention. His wife was the extreme opposite in this respect - very down-to-earth. As a young man after the War he travelled much in Europe and met Ethel Webb in Paris.”

Frank Middlemiss’s online notes

Lived at 25 Churchfields, Broxbourne - Ancestry have phone records from 1941-1960. At death was living at 52 Hertford Road, Hoddesdon according to probate records.