The Allens of Greenwich.
An ancestor search, the story so far, written 2000 by Alf Allen
Part one: who is the real William George Allen?…
The search for my ancestors really began when I saw an advert in a heraldry magazine in about 1982. A firm in Canterbury specialised in carrying out family history research, so I wrote to them to enquire.My interest in Coats of Arms took a back seat while I exchanged correspondence with my researcher: I passed to him what little detail I had about my father and in return I received periodical reports of what the researcher found in the London record offices.In a remarkably short time I received copies of my father’s (John Alfred Allen) and grandfather’s (John Stephen Allen) birth certificates, followed by a transcript of the 1881 census return for No. 3 Crooms Hill, Greenwich, showing my great-grandfather’s (William George Allen) whole family in residence.
After this, the pace slowed down; we discovered that my great-grandfather (a master Lighterman on the river Thames) had been one of two boys (both of them named William George Allen) who had served their apprenticeships together.
My researcher made several trips to London in an endeavour to find which of the two boys became my great-grandfather, but the task became more complicated when he discovered there were at a given time several Allen families living in the same part of Greenwich, some in the same road and even in the same house, who were not apparently related to one another. Most of them had Lighterman or Waterman connections.
At this stage, when the exercise was becoming too costly to continue, I decided to do my own researching. Over the next few years I joined four different family history societies and corresponded with many of my fellow members. I also made trips to some record centres in London and bought several books on family history and genealogy. My main task was to trace the families of the two William George Allen boys. I did this with the help of Lightermen and Watermen apprenticeship records; baptism records; birth, marriage and death certificates and various census returns, etc.
Further complications arose when I discovered that the two boys in question were born only eight months apart and were baptised in the same church within four months of each other, both of the boys fathers were named William Allen and both fathers were Lightermen or Watermen. To add to this confusion, their apprenticeship records show that each boy served his time under his master, named as William Allen, and there was no indication as to whether the master was the boy’s father or not!
Apprenticed William George Allen was a master Lighterman and a member of the Watermen’s and Lightermen’s Guild. The apprentices affidavit books and apprentice binding books are today held at the London Guildhall library. Searches of these books show that one of the boys (a) born 7th July 1827, served his time from 14 July 1842 until 9th August 1849. His freedom certificate was signed by his master William Allen, whom I now assume was his father. The other boy (b) born 2nd March 1828, served his apprenticeship from 9th June 1842 until 11th April 1850. His freedom certificate was signed by Sarah Allen, widow of his master, William Allen. It would therefore appear that boy (b) was my great-grandfather. To confirm this, I obtained a copy of the death certificate of the William Allen who was married to Sarah and found the following:
William Allen of 2 Woodland Street, Greenwich died on 18th March 1850, aged 61, occupation pilot. His daughter, Adelaide Augusta Allen was present. A further search of baptismal records at St. Alfege church, Greenwich, found the family of William & Sarah Allen.
They had seven children:
- Eliza born April 1816, baptised 31 July 1816
- Benjamin born 25 April 1818, baptised 22 March 1818
- William George* born 7 July 1827, baptised 4 November 1827
- Adelaide Augusta born 20 May 1830, baptised 6 January 1832
- Edward John born 1 April 1833, baptised 17 September 1834
- James George born 15 December 1835, baptised 8 April 1836
- Henry Whittingham born 6 March 1839, baptised 10 April 1839
This shows that *boy (a) William George Allen, was the son of William Allen, Waterman, who later became a river pilot and was NOT my great-grandfather. The same William Allen was almost certainly the master of both boys when serving their apprenticeships.
It therefore follows that my ancestral family is William Allen and Martha Allen (née Cole).
According to the baptismal records at St. Alfege church they had 3 children:
- William George born 2 March 1828, baptised 30 March 1828
- Martha Ann born 31 May 1830, baptised 27 June 1830
- John Cole born 3 July 1839, baptised 28 July 1839
THIS William George Allen was my great-grandfather.
Further into my investigations I was able to obtain a copy of the 1901 will of my great-grandfather, and to my surprise I discovered, when I compared it to the 1881 census return, that a name was missing from the will. It was that of my grandfather, John Stephen Allen. On the 1881 census he was shown as a Lighterman’s apprentice, aged 19, but in 1901 when his father died he was not mentioned in the will. I subsequently discovered that he had died in 1895 at the age of 33.
Mike says: subsequent to this information about the Allens of Greenwich written by Alf, I found out that William & Ann's eldest daughter, Mary Ann Jane Allen, also did not feature in her father's will, having pre-deceased her father by some sixteen years. My dad was not aware of her, and I wasn't until very recently - my thanks to Ron Brasington, whose wife is the great-grand daughter of Mary Ann Jane Allen.
(Alf continues) I will thus start the story with William George Allen because he has been the key figure in my research.
Part two:
William George Allen, my great-grandfather, 1828 – 1901
At this stage (written 2000) I still have to search into the early childhood of William George, but I do know that his parents were William Allen, a Lighterman, and Martha Cole and his grandparents were William Allen, a labourer, and Mary Reed.
William George Allen was born in Greenwich, south London, on 2nd March 1828 and baptised at St. Alfege church on 30th March 1828.
His family lived at Roan Street, Greenwich. He was aged fourteen when he took his Lighterman’s apprenticeship and bound to his master, William Allen on 7th June 1842; remember, this was not his father. He was freed from his apprenticeship on 11th April 1850, aged 22, and the freedom certificate was signed by Sarah Allen, widow of William Allen.
William George had a sister, Martha Ann Allen, born 31st May 1830 at Bridge Street, Greenwich and a brother, John Cole Allen, born 3rd July 1839 at Thames Street, Greenwich.
William George Allen was married on 12th March 1849 at the parish church of St. Paul in Deptford to Ann Blackmore, who was the daughter of Arthur Blackmore, a Waterman.
The marriage certificate gave their details as William George Allen, (full age) bachelor, Lighterman, and Ann Blackmore (minor) spinster.
At the time of the 1881 census, William George was living with his wife and family at 3 Crooms Hill, Greenwich. They were listed as follows:
- William George Allen, Master Lighterman, aged 53
- Ann Allen (née Blackmore), wife, aged 50
- Fanny Emma Allen, daughter, unmarried, aged 26
- William Thomas Allen, son, Apprentice Lighterman, aged 20
- John Stephen Allen, son, Apprentice Lighterman, aged 19
- Catherine Allen, daughter, unmarried, aged 17
- Thomas William Allen, son, Apprentice Lighterman, aged 15
- Helena Maud Allen, daughter, scholar, aged 14
- Blanche Madeline Allen, daughter, scholar, aged 12
- Mabel Grace Allen, daughter, scholar, aged 11
- Frederick George Allen, son, scholar, aged 10
- Beatrice C. Allen, daughter, scholar, aged 5
Mike says: As stated earlier, William and Ann also had an elder daughter, Mary Ann Jane Allen, born 18/04/1851.
By the time of this Census, she was married and living at 21 Guilford Road, Greenwich with her husband, children, a servant and a boarder; hence why she is not on the list above. She died in 1885, aged 34, before her father and was thus not mentioned in his Will (see below).
My thanks for this information go to Ron Brasington, as mentioned above.
In 1992, a friend kindly took some photographs for me of some buildings in Greenwich with which this family would have been associated (these pictures unfortunately now lost).
On the 22nd January 1897, my great-grandmother, Ann Allen (née Blackmore), died at the family home at 128 Greenwich Road, Greenwich. She was aged 65, and her husband, William George Allen, was present at her death. She had had eleven children between 1855 and 1881, the last one, Annie, being born after the 1881 census was taken.
On the 4th January 1898, William George, now aged 69, married for a second time. His new wife was Agnes Pembridge, aged 36 and a spinster, daughter of Charles Pembridge, plumber. Her home had been 39 Northbrook Road, Lee. She had a sister, Clara Pembridge and later gave birth to William Allen Pembridge outside of marriage.
Mike says: This paragraph amended 2009 to take into account information about Clara, who my father thought was Agnes' daughter, but was corrected by Janette Price, the great-granddaughter of W. P. Allen. Thanks!
On the 4th July 1901 William George Allen made his will and appointed his son, Frederick George Allen, his wife, Agnes Allen and a Mr William Fletcher as executors to the will.
William George Allen died an the 8th July 1901 at his home at 128 Greenwich Road, Greenwich, aged 73. His death certificate stated that he was a barge owner.
He bequeathed his house at 128 Greenwich Road and the residue of his property to his wife Agnes, along with 500 £1 shares in his business known as William George Allen and Sons Ltd., Lightermen.
- To his eldest surviving daughter, Fanny Emma Allen, he left 400 shares
- To his eldest son, William Thomas Allen, he left 400 shares
- To his daughter Kate, now Mrs Catherine Finnis, he left 400 shares
- To his son, Thomas William Allen, he left 400 shares
- To his daughter, Mrs Helena Maud Milne, he left 400 shares
- To his daughter, Mabel Grace Allen, he left 400 shares
- To his daughter, Mrs Blanche Madeline Marrott, he left 400 shares
- To his son, Frederick George Allen, he left 800 shares
- To his daughter, Mrs Beatrice Clement Furner, he left 400 shares
- To his daughter, Mrs Annie Alworth, he left 400 shares
- To his step daughter, Clara Pembridge, he left 100 shares
- To his son born before marriage, William Allen Pembridge, he left 3,000 shares
In a codicil to the will, dated 5th July 1901, it was directed that the 3,000 shares for William Allen Pembridge should be held in trust and the interest go to his wife towards the maintenance and education of the boy while he was under 21.
Mike says: I make this a total of 8,000 £1 shares in the business of William George Allen & Sons Ltd., which seems to me to be a substantial amount in 1901. There are many conflicting sources of calculation of what £8,000 in 1901 would be worth in 2026, but these seem to generally range from £1.2m (Retail Price Index calculation) up to £7m (GDP per capita). Whatever calculation used, the 1901 sum, albeit in share value of the Lighterman Company, seems very significant.
In the will, William George also stated that he desired to be buried in the grave of his first wife, Ann, at Shooters Hill cemetery.
In June 1992 1 received the following information from the Docklands Museum in London:
- William George Allen & Sons Ltd, Lightermen, were registered barge owners No. 546.
The company address was 16 Great Tower Street, London, EC4, later Billingsgate Wharf, Greenwich. The eldest son, William Thomas Allen, was a director of the company and there were no other directors. The company operated a fleet of over seventy open and decked lighters and barges between 1898 and 1910, many of which were sold to other owners from 1900 to 1910.
- William Pembridge Allen, trading as W P Allen, was registered barge owner No. 117. His address was 68 Royal Hill, Greenwich. He owned only one barge between October 1908 and March 1909, when it was sold. This man was the youngest son of William George Allen, mentioned in his will as being born before marriage, his “real” name being William Allen Pembridge.
- Agnes Allen, barge owner no. 1647. Her address was 128 Greenwich Road, Greenwich and she owned three barges between 1899 and 1903, when they were all sold.
There were no other Allen barge owners on the Thames after 1910.
Since the discovery of the will of William George Allen, a search was made for his grave, and this was found in Shooters Hill cemetery, Greenwich. The inscriptions on the gravestone proved to be very helpful. As we suspected, my grandfather, John Stephen Allen, died before his father’s will was made out. He was the first person to be buried in the family grave. The inscription reads:
“In loving memory of John Stephen, the beloved son of William George and Ann Allen of Greenwich, who died 6th October 1895, aged 33 years.
Also of the above, Ann Allen, the devoted wife of William George Allen, who died 22nd January 1897, aged 66 years. Gone but in heart and memory ever present.
Also of the above, William George Allen, the devoted husband of Agnes Allen, who entered into rest the 8th July 1901, aged 73 years. Peace, perfect peace. Gone but not forgotten.
Also in loving memory of Agnes Allen, the beloved wife of the above, who died 2nd September 1904 in her forty-first year. Weep not for me, dear sister, nor sorrow take, but love my child for my sake”.
The inscription on the kerb at the foot of the grave reads: “W G Allen of Greenwich, barge owner”.
A second plot at the side of the grave has just a flat slab bearing the inscription: “The family grave of W G Allen”. The grave is apparently empty.
Mike says: Having found the above information, my dad asked me to use the internet to post the following and to receive emails on his behalf. Unfortunately, I never received any responses before his death in 2001.
The amendments to this page largely have come about by people seeing its 2003 and later versions, then contacting me. Feel free to continue that - contact details here.
“I am seeking information on, and any descendants of, William George Allen & Sons Ltd., Lightermen of Greenwich, circa 1850-1900”.
He added the note to me:
Dear Mike,
I think the above few words will be enough to get things started for the “Kent list”. By all means reshuffle it if necessary.
I’ve decided not to pursue the search for the “Sun” public house for the moment; I’m pretty certain of its location anyway and I was more concerned with its occupants, i.e. when and why my grandfather became licensee! I shall resume my research on that at a later date. Thanks a lot for your help.
Alf Allen (the reluctant Luddite)*
11th February 2000
* A reference to my chiding him about his inability to grasp using the internet to research his family history. But I bet, if he'd lived longer, he would have jumped at the opportunity once he'd understood it, and realised that 'Luddite' isn't properly a term for not being up-to-date. Ah, well...
So where is the Sun Public House, Greenwich?
Mike says: I wish my dad had written down more about his search for the Sun public house in Greenwich, where his grandfather, John Stephen Allen, was publican/licensee, probably until his death in 1895, aged 33. I do know he believed it to be close to the site where the restored "Cutty Sark" now sits in Greenwich, but he was never quite sure.
picture from Google.
picture from Google.
However, I know he wrote to the Greenwich Industrial History Society in 1999 about the Sun PH, and subsequently he came to think it had been in Wood Wharf, Greenwich, which is quite close to the Cutty Sark. His letter and later responses was available on their website in 2006, but has long since disappeared.