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Brentford Families - Dear

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Dad, grandad and great grandad

When dad married mum, Julia (nee Farndon ) first home after war was 17 Brentwick Gdns then 3 Plum Garth. Dads home was always 22 Boston Manor Road mums home, Netly Rd. with sisters Ena, Kath, brothers Bert, Eddie, Dougie later to move to 35 Chestnut Ave and adddition of Michael & Maureen (8 kids)

The Inverness Lodge connection

Dad's pastime in my youth was secretary to British Legion Club in Boston Manor Rd (Inverness Lodge). After years of decline in members he pioneered the purchase of that club from the British Legion, with the help of finance from Fuller Smith Turner & Watney Mann and run the club as trustees which is still known as Inverness Lodge. (Did you know that property has lots of history connected to royals and Lily Langtree?)

Cycles, cars and a charabanc

Thomas Dear the cycle maker later ventured in autos, we have a b/w photo of him in a motorized carriage ,it may be an early Daimler or de Deion reg no P 1279 which is a Surrey registration.

We also have a photo of another venture he dabbled in, a 30 seater charabanc with him and his father standing by it outside the Duke of York on the Gt West Rd with a full load of people, all male, probably off to "Sowfend"" for the day.

Now this next bit has also been verified by my 2 cousins of Ivy, dads sister. Dad was born in 1929 and when he was a boy sunday afternoon was spent at Thomas's house behind the cycle shop for family tea.

His wife used to hold court always dressed in black like Queen Victoria , children never spoke unless spoken to. The men would gather in the yard at the side in their bowler hats, long coats, starched collars and smoke pipes or cigars, and talk mens stuff of that time.

The USA connection

One of Thomas's brothers, went to USA to seek his fortune this bit confirmed by Ivy] got in with the wrong crowd, started bootlegging booze !!! ,got chased to other states by [F B I ?] got caught, sent back here, and at some point, either before or on arrival home ordered a car called a Graham Paige [I'm a petrol head and these cars were the Rolls of America ] he had it shipped home to Brentford.

Dad said when it was driven along the High St people would think royalty had arrived, when it was parked in the yard, kids would peer thru the cracks in the wood at this local marvel. Dad said the mens bragging point would be " the first American car to be shipped to England " and homed in Brentford.

Dear family tree

As an example of circumstantial evidence, the family includes a Hugh Dear born in 1870. He is the only person of this name whose birth was registered in the 1869 - 1872 period. The only Hugh Dear I could find in the 1901 census of the right age was a patient in an infirmary on the Isle of Wight, he was born in Brentford, so fits perfectly. The census shows he was married and an omnibus conductor. There is a marriage in Fulham of a Hugh Dear in 1896 in Fulham - not far from Brentford. His wife was either Phoebe Gulliver or Rose Mary Gulliver (sisters?).

The 1901 census shows a Phoebe Dear living in Fulham with a two year old son Hugh - Hugh senior's wife? Her marital status was originally written 'Widow' but this was crossed out and changed to 'M'arried - perhaps she was not sure if he would survive his hospitalisation.

Phoebe had a visitors, an Edith Smith and three children; Edith is possibly a sister to Phoebe as they are both Wiltshire born. Perhaps Edith was there to support her sister?

The final piece in the puzzle is the death of a Hugh Dear in Fulham in 1908 aged 30. So it looks as if he recovered sufficiently to return home from the Isle of Wight but died seven years later. TB?

John Dear (c 1837/8 - 1901+): born in Brentford; married Elizabeth from Crayford in Kent around 1861; labourer living in Eatons Buildings, in 1861; Elizabeth appears to have died between 1891 and 1901 as he was living with his wife 'Jane', born Brentford in 1901; he was a punnet maker at 355 High Street in 1881 & 1891 and 354 High Street in 1901 (which could be the same property, renumbered); children included:

• Thomas Dear (c 1861/2 - ): married Ellen Joyce Ward in 1879; he was a punnet maker living on Pottery Road in 1891; a lamplighter & cycle maker in 1901; children, all born in Brentford, included
  • Elias W Dear (1879/80): there is a marriage of an Elias Dear in Brentford in 1898 to either Emily Bowles or Lydia Gunnell
  • Reginald Dear (1880/1): these trade directory entries may be relevant: Reginald Dear, cycle dealer at no. 212 in 1928; Reginald Thomas Dear, motor engineer at no. 143 in 1933; Reginald Dear, cycle dealer at 143 in 1940; there is a marriage of a Reginald Dear in Brentford, 1901 to either Annie Martin or Nellie Elizabeth Angel and the birth of a Reginald Thomas Dear in Brentford, 1905
  • Nelly Dear (1882): birth registered as Ellen
  • Sarah Dear (c 1885/6)
  • Mabel Dear (1889)
  • Kathleen Dear (c 1890/1)
  • Horace Dear (1893 ): of 22 Boston Manor Road; 'cycle manufacturer' recorded in a 1913 trade directory at no. 272 High Street; married Elizabeth M Harman in Brentford in 1914; children included:
    • Edna A Dear (1915 ): married Frank Snelling; Alan adds they were "both living at 22 Boston Manor Rd from late 50s to their deaths. I don't know his d o b or if he was Brentford born. He did play football for Brentford F C for a short time,and then he was a builder for a co called Frank Tuck,who were based Brentford / Northfield border."
    • Cyril Horace Dear (1925 ): married Julia Farndon; father to Alan Dear (1946)
  • Peter Nichols Dear (1895)
  • Harry Dear (c 1897): possible marriage at Brentford to Rose E Cripps in 1917; cycle dealer at no. 312 in 1928 & 1933; children included:
    • William H Dear (1917 - )
• Ann Dear (1866/7): scholar in 1881
• Elizabeth Dear (1868/9): punnet maker in 1891
• Hugh Dear (1870 - 1908): punnet maker in 1891; married Phoebe Dear from Wiltshire in 1896, Fulham; omnibus conductor but a patient in the Isle of Wight Infirmary at Ryde in 1901; there is a death registration in Fulham of Hugh Dear in 1908 aged 38; children included:
  • Hugh Dear (1898/9): born in Hammersmith
• Betsey Dear (1872/3): punnet maker in 1891
• John Elias Dear (1875/6): punnet maker in 1891; married Alice Burgess or Alice Still in 1895 (Brentford)
• Sarah Maria Dear (1877/8): punnet maker in 1891; married John Henry Bates in Brentford in 1895; he was a butcher and they were living at 39 Windmill Road, Brentford in 1901; children included:
  • Sarah Bates (1896/7)
  • Violet Bates (1900)
• Albert Dear (1880 ): married Annie; lamplighter sharing 354 High Street with his parents in 1901; children included:
  • Albert Dear (1900)