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Brentford Families - Clements

Rebecca Norris writes

Clements references on the High Street from censuses and trade directories

• George Clements, fishmonger at numbers 159 & 160 High Street (next to the bridge) (1920, 1928, 1933 & 1940 trade directories)
• As above but just at no. 159 (1913 trade directory)
• James Clements, tug owner, heading a household of 9 including himself, aged 38 born Brentford, living at no. 63 High Street (1901 census)
• James Clements, publican, heading a household of 4 including himself, aged 27 born Brentford, living at no. 273 High Street (the Kings Arms Public House) (1891 census)
• Charles Clement, clerk to a silver merchant, heading a household of 4 including himself, living at no. 396 High Street (1851 census)

James Clements - mystery of his birth

I have not found the father of James Clements (born 1862). James's obituary gives his birth date as February 1862 and his place of birth as Orchard Road, Brentford. His birth should therefore have been registered in Brentford in either the January - March quarter or the following April - June quarter, 1862.

His obituary also mentions his father dying as James was born: so the death of a male Clements is expected in the same quarter as James's birth. There is no birth or death registration of a male Clements in the first two quarters of 1862.

James's half-brother Mr H Payne attended James's funeral, according to the obituary. A Henry T Payne was a tug captain in 1901, aged 29. In 1881 a 9 year old Henry Payne was living with his parents John & Ellen Payne, on the Half Acre. John Payne was a lighterman. A 10 year old daughter Ellen Payne recorded in 1881 is presumably the sister-in-law living in James Clements household, aged 21, in the 1891 census.

So James's father remains a mystery - for the time being.

James's mother is also difficult to pin down. James's obituary suggests his mother was alive when James was 9, both being employed at Penningtons. However there are no obvious Jamess living in Brentford in 1871 that match. His mother may have remarried by 1871 and James may be recorded in the census under his step father's surname.

Clements family tree

James Clements (1862 - 1934): born in Brentford; his father died as he was born; he married Sarah Jones (1863/4 - 1934+, see below) in 1886, Brentford; in 1891 he was a publican at the Kings Arms, 273 High Street; his sister-in-law Ellen Payne was living with the family; in 1901 he was a tug owner living at 63 High Street; he lived at Thames Bank House Brentford in 1915 when his son Sidney signed up and at 'Caerleon', Boston Road in 1919; he was the Charter Mayor (ie first mayor) for Brentford & Chiswick 1932; children included:

• May Florence Clements (1889 - 1934+): living with her grandmother Sarah Maddox or Jones in 1891; married Thomas W Pennington in Brentford in 1914
• Mary Ellen Clements (1890 - 1934+): married William Charles Norris (born Daventry, Northants) in Brentford in 1911 (her middle name was Helen at marriage rather than Ellen); the list of close family mourners at Mary Ellen's fathers funeral (1934) includes a Mr & Mrs C W Norris; William Charles Norris is thought to have died in Whitstable, Kent in the late 1960s / early 1970s; children include (all born Brentford)
  • James C Norris (1914 - ): deceased by 2007
  • Daphne C Norris (1917 - )
  • Mary Norris: deceased by 2007
  • Robert Norris: father of Rebecca Norris
  • John Norris
• James Henry Clements (1891 - 1934+): only surviving son by 1934, known as Jim; was living at 44 Adelaide Road Brentford in 1919
• Lydia Lilly Clements (1893 - ): married Arthur S Parr-Head in Brentford in 1917
• Sidney Hadley Clements (1894 - ): his WWI service records (Ancestry web site) show he was an unmarried waterman when he signed up in March 1915; he was a lance corporal in the British Expeditionary Force in France when he died in action in September 1915
• Sarah Clements (1898/9 - ): married Edgar W Wallis in Brentford in 1926; known as Cis
• Beatrice Hadlow Clements (1900 - ): married Henry E Myatt in Brentford in 1922; children included
  • Paul A Myatt (1926 - )

Jones/Maddox family tree

• John Maddox/Jones (1852/3 - ): hawker in 1871
• Samuel Maddox/Jones (1855 - ): pot boy in 1871; traveller in 1881
• William D Maddox/Jones (1861/2 - ); labourer in 1881; potman in public house in 1891
• Sarah Maddox/Jones (1983/4 - 1934+): married James Clements in 1886, see above