Histories

EDMUND PIERCE was born at Southgate, Middlesex.

    MARIA WARD was born at Southwark, London. The only Maria Ward recorded as born in Southwark between 1790 and 1810, from St Saviours and Christ Church parish registers, was the daughter of John and Ann Ward (see 43).

    Edmund and Maria were married at St George, Hanover Square, both being described as "of this parish". The witnesses were Richard and Jane Johns. All except Jane could sign their names. 4 other weddings were held there on that day.

    They then appear to have moved to Isleworth, their eldest daughter Anna being baptised at All Saints on 8 Apr 1827; then to Southgate where James was baptised at Weld Chapel on 11 Jan 1829; then around 1830 to Charlton, Kent, probably to a cottage in Old Charlton where the family were recorded as living in 1851. The younger children were baptised at St Luke's, Charlton, Agnes Julia on 23 Jan 1831, the same day as Julia Britannia Weeks (see 20). For the 3 next children only the baptismal date is recorded.

    On 29 May 1836 Edmund and Maria went back to St George, Hanover Square, to witness the wedding of Edmund's sister Ann Rose (see 42).

    Edmund appears to have started out as a bricklayer like his father, being so described in 1827 and on several occasions till 1840. However in 1833 he was a postman, perhaps during a period of unemployment as a bricklayer, and in 1841 and again in 1851 he described himself as a letter carrier. In 1860 and 1862 he appears from Post Office Directories to have been running a confectionery shop in Old Charlton. By 1866 he appears to have become a toy dealer as well, and in a Street Directory of 1868 was described as a tobacconist.

    Edmund died before 1871, probably "aged 64" at Woolwich in the third quarter of 1869. In the 1870 Directory and again in 1874 the toyshop was run by "Mrs Maria Pierce". In the 1871 census she was listed as a confectioner. By the time of the 1878 Directory there is no record of her or the shop.

    ANNA MARIA was not living at home in 1841. She married ... Eve before 1851 but at the time of the 1851 census was living with her parents.

    JAMES HENRY was a carpenter journeyman in 1851, living at home.

    ELIZA EMMA was a schoolmistress in 1851, living at home. In 1871 she was still living with her widowed mother, but no longer described as a schoolmistress.

    SABINA JANE was buried at St Luke's, Charlton, "aged 2 years".

    SOPHIA SABINA (spelt Sabrina, probably mistakenly, in the parish baptismal record) married Henry Bance (b c 1840). The Bances were living quite close to the Pierces in 1851, and in 1860 Henry's father William was recorded as trading as a stationer about 2 doors away from Edmund Pierce, so the couple had probably known each other since childhood. In 1871 Henry was a bookseller. He and Sophia had 5 children by 1881, Harry Ambrose (b c 1868), William Edward (b c 1870), Sophia Sabina (b 1871), Edwin Charles (b c 1878), and George Ralph (b 1880). By then they were living at 1 Bull Pit Cottages, Park Lane, Charlton, close to William and Agnes Weeks (see 10), and William Edward was a school friend of their son James. He later lived in Plumstead and was a member of the Exclusive Brethren. He married but had no children. In the 1891 census Mr W E Bance was the enumerator for Charlton District 6, where William Weeks still lived, though the Bances themselves had moved away.

    EDMUND JOHN was a scholar in 1851.