The Marriotts Part I

Cards on the table from the start. I am not related to the Marriotts. They are a total distraction. But they are so, so interesting.

How is there at least a connection?

My 3 x paternal Great Grandfather, Herbert Ball, married twice. He is the Father of Herbert Cannon Ball, the subject of my Blog post last October (2020).

But my blood line runs through from Herbert and his first wife who died when she was fairly young. Herbert married again. this time to a much younger woman (sighs …).

Herbert’s second wife was called Mary Whale and she and Herbert went on to have another family. I was looking for Mary’s death when I lighted upon her siblings. One of whom was her brother, William Whale.

William and his wife, Elizabeth, are buried in Nunhead Cemetery in South London, one of London’s “Big Seven” Victorian cemeteries (the seven include Highgate which most people have heard of but not many have heard of Nunhead which is just as lovely).

William Whale had married an Elizabeth Rose. William and Elizabeth died in 1867 and 1880 respectively. The grave also contains three of their children who died young or in infancy from about 1857 to 1874. So far, so normal (sadly, at least for the mid 19th Century).

Weirdly though, there were two other burials in 1941 and 1943, some 60 years later, of apparently unconnected people also in the same grave.

The names of these people were Arthur Weatherley Trevanon Marriott and Madeleine Delano Marriott. Gosh I thought, what grand names. Who could these people be? And so started a 6 month distraction with people to whom I am entirely unrelated.

There is an official term for this behaviour. It is documented in a recent Newsletter of the Society of Genalogists. It is known as “Genealogical Attention Deficit Disorder”. Or the freedom to pursue whatever looks interesting. So here we go.

I started with William, to see if I could link the Marriott burials with him.

William Whale (1827 – 1867) was the publican of this pub, The Crown in Southwark from at least 1851 until his death in 1867. The photo below was taken in 1851, so William and his family may well be seen standing proudly outside.

William and Elizabeth had five children. Only one, Elizabeth Louisa Whale, survived beyond 16.

Elizabeth Louisa Whale was born in the pub in 1853. She lived with her family until she married in 1878.

Elizabeth’s marriage was to the very grandly named Sidney Randolph Ronald Allies Marriott who was a Clerk to the Admiralty. This turn of events is very unusual for a girl from Southwark in the mid 19th Century. Most married Labourers or Dock workers. But not for Elizabeth. A high ranking senior Civil Servant working in Whitehall no less.

But more importantly for this post. Aha. There it is. The connection to the name of the people buried with William Whale and Elizabeth Rose. Marriott. I was sucked in. Hope you are too.

Elizabeth and Sidney lived their life in very grand houses in Brixton or Streatham, both of which were wealthy, green and leafy suburbs of London in those times. They go on to have ten children. Yes, ten. None die in infancy. There are servants and Nurses. Elizabeth has her first child at 24 and her last at 44.

It is though, the children’s names that are quite extraordinary (there’s even a boy called Shirley …and Delano appears a couple of times. Delano was Sidney’s mother’s maiden name).

Arthur Weatherley Trevenon Marriott (1879 – 1943)

Madeleine Delano Marriott (1880 – 1941)

Claude Randolph Marriott (1882 – 1963)

Ethel Clara Marriott (1883 – 1982)

Kathleen Mabel Marriott (1884 – 1964)

Weatherley Sidney Mortimer Marriott (1887 – 1969)

Shirley Verdon William Marriott (1891 – 1918)

Roy Dudley Marriott (1893 – 1916)

Osborne Delano Marriott (1894 – 1917)

Kenneth Melbourne Hugh Marriott (1897 – 1918)

And here they are … at Claude’s wedding in 1908.

They’re a handsome bunch. And they look very well to do. Look at those hats the women are wearing. The height of Edwardian sophistication.

And it is the two eldest children, Arthur and Madeleine who were buried in the family grave in Nunhead with grandparents and Aunts they had never met.

But if you’re observant, you will have seen there was a cloud looming for not only for Britain but particularly the Marriotts whose four youngest children all died fighting in World War I.

I hope you can hang on for my next instalment about the Marriotts. coming very soon. If you “like” my Blog, you’ll get notified when the next post comes. Promise to be more regular with my stories than I have been recently.

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