The Filkins family lived in number 1, Whittaker’s Cottages from at least
1891 until at least 1914. It is probable that Henry and Harriet Filkins
moved there after their marriage since their first son, Henry, was born in
Ashtead in 1887.
Henry and Harriet Filkins
Henry Filkins was born in Egham (Surrey) in 1864 and his wife, Harriet,
was born in Mortlake (Surrey) in 1863.
The 1891 census describes Filkins as a railway porter. By 1901 he had
become a railway signalman.
In 1914 Henry Filkins paid an annual rent for the cottage of £13. This is
5s a week. As a railway signalman, Filkins would have earned approximately
£1 a week which meant that he had 15s a week left after paying the rent. His
15s would not have gone far. In 1893 a weekly budget for a labourer’s family
(excluding rent), comprising two adults and three children, was as follows:
| |
£ |
s |
d |
| 7 gallons bread & flour |
|
6 |
5 |
| 1½ lb butcher’s meat |
|
1 |
0 |
| 4 lbs bacon or pork |
|
3 |
0 |
| 4 lbs cheese |
|
2 |
6 |
| ½ lb butter |
|
0 |
6 |
| 1 lb tea |
|
1 |
10 |
| 4 lbs sugar |
|
1 |
0 |
| Firing, average of winter & summer |
|
2 |
0 |
| Lights |
|
0 |
5 |
| Soap & soda |
|
1 |
0 |
| Clothing & boots |
|
1 |
0 |
| Benefit club |
|
0 |
7 |
| |
|
|
|
| Total |
1 |
1 |
3 |
The Filkins children
| Henry George |
1887 |
| Frank |
1888 |
| David |
1889 |
| Sidney Alfred |
1893 |
| Mabel Rosa Mary |
1894 |
| Edith |
1895 |
| Gertrude |
1898 |
| Herbert |
1899 |
There are a number of references to the Filkins’ children and to the
family in the school log books for Ashtead boys’ school and Ashtead infants’
school. On 5 June 1895 the school mistress of the infants’ school, Miss
Thrush, recorded that ‘David Filkins returned to school this morning after
being absent for several months through illness’. At that date David would
have been six. On June 12 1896 the schoolmaster of the boys’ school, Alfred
Boyd, recorded that he had sent the names of several truanting boys to the
school attendance officer, one of whom was Harry (Henry) Filkins, who had
missed nine out of twenty sessions (a session is either the morning or
afternoon session of the school day). On 19 November 1897 Boyd recorded that
‘Mrs Filkins came in yesterday and took David away as she said the others
had scarlet fever’. On 3 May 1898 Boyd recorded,
| ‘The teachers are earnestly endeavouring to maintain discipline
&c without resorting to corporal punishment. There are frequent cases
of disobedience, dishonesty and idleness which have been severely
reprimanded verbally and moral persuasion emphasised. The lads C
Haynes (idleness), Filkins’ family (disorderly), Edwards’ family
(generally unruly) are the chief offenders’. |
On 24 June 1898 Boyd recorded that ‘H Filkins was examined for a
certificate of proficiency’. Also known as a ‘labour certificate’, this
granted children exemption on grounds of educational attainment from the
requirement imposed by the 1880 Education Act that children attend school
until the age of 14 (see below). In 1898 Henry would have been 11 or 12. The
outcome of his examination was not recorded although we know from the 1901
census that at aged 14 he was working as a gardener. On 3 March 1899 Boyd
recorded that he had ‘received a letter from Mrs Filkins stating that the
younger children of her large family were attacked with whooping cough and
asking if it was necessary to keep the older boys, who have had the
complaint, away from school’. Despite the threat posed to the family by
scarlet fever, whooping cough and other childhood illnesses all the Filkins’
children survived to adulthood. Although the family would not have known it,
the children were part of the first generation to benefit from the reduced
mortality rates of the late nineteenth century. Extract from the Ashtead
Census of 1901
Images courtesy of the National Archives, ref RG 13/582 pp15/16
These extracts were taken from two census pages, to see the complete pages
click on the top or bottom part of the above image. |
