52 Ancestors: #5 Alfred Lewis Heron (1869-1952) (London, England)

This post is part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks series.

Alfred Lewis Heron is the Great Great Great Grandfather of my children. His daughter Ada Mary married Charles William Tillin in 1917.

Alfred Lewis Heron was born in 1869. He was baptised on 24th October 1869 in the Holy Trinity church in Newington, Surrey. He was the son of Alfred Heron and Caroline Boxall.

He appeared on the 1871 census at 55 Great Bland Street in Newington.

In 1881 he was shown on the census in Walworth at 2 Webb Street.

On 12th June 1890 Alfred married Mary Ann Eagles in Esher, Surrey. Shortly after this the couple baptised their son, Alfred, at St Peter's church in Streatham. Unfortunately Alfred died shortly afterwards. His birth and death were registered in the same quarter in 1890.

In the 1891 census Alfred was shown living in Streatham at 29 Madeira Road.  He was working as a valet and I think he was staying the night at his place of work. Mary was in rooms at 178 Sunny Hill, Streatham. 

By the 1901 census Alfred and Mary had 2 daughters, Ada and Violet, and Alfred was working as a gardener.

In 1911, the family were found at 30 Hambro Road in Streatham. Alfred was still a gardener. According to the census the couple had had 4 children but I only have records of 3 so that is a mystery I will add to my list.

On the marriage certificate of Ada and Charles Tillin his occupation was given as a chemical worker - so I'm not sure where this came from? Possibly this was something to do with the war as it was 1917. He would have been about 47 so maybe that would make him too old for military service?

He continued to appear on the Electoral Rolls in London on Hambro Road.

Alfred died in 1952 at the age of 82.

I've attempted to recreate Alfred's life using a timeline. I got the idea after finding this video on Family Search via a pin on my "Genealogy - Education & Tips" Pinterest board.

This analysis shows that the probable time for the mystery 4th child was between 1891 and 1897. I'm going to tinker with timelines more as it helped me look at Alfred's life in a new way. I'll let you know how I get on but my immediate thought is that I need to add some ages to the facts.