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Brentford Families - Pearce

The master spreadsheet used as the backbone for this site has 40 references to the name Pearce. Two descendants of one branch of the family are Joanne Tansley & Trevor Mitchell: both descended from Richard Pearce. But are the other High Street Pearces related? Taking the information from Joanne & Trevor and adding details from censuses and other sources it is possible to build up Pearce family units which shared the same location and / or occupation.

Below are some suggestions as to ways in which the units may be linked. To prove the links will require the purchase of certificates and, not surprisingly as it is a common surname, some of the Pearces appear to be unrelated.

Two Richard Pearces associated with the Royal Tar, no. 3

Richard Pearce (c 1792 - ): born Norwood; married Elizabeth (born c 1794 Chiswick, d 1861/71 - there is a death in 1866 of an Elizabeth Pearce in Brentford, aged 70); waterman at no. 3 High Street in 1841 (it is not clear whether no. 3 was a beer house at this stage); waterman and beer seller at no. 3 in 1851; beer shop keeper at no, 3 in 1861; still at the Royal Tar in 1871 'retired waterman'; children included:

• Richard Pearce (c 1818 - 1895): born in Brentford; married Elizabeth Earle in Norwood in 1839: the marriage certificate provided by Joanne Tansley names Richard's father as Richard Pearce, waterman and it is assumed he is the son of the above RP - there is a 14 year gap between Richard and the next known child Sophia, born 1832, but other children may have been born between 1818 and 1832 who were no longer at home in 1841; Richard Pearce junior was a waterman at Burgess Wharf, Brentford in 1841; lighterman just off the High Street in 1851; lighterman at 13 Caroline Place Old Brentford in 1861; living with his daughter & son in law (Brooks) at 4 Lateward Road in 1891; children (all born in Brentford) include:
  • George Pearce (c 1838): at home in 1851; may be George Clifford Pearce
  • Richard Pearce (1841): at home in 1851
  • Charles Pearce (c 1845 - ): possibly married Priscilla Sellers, see below
  • Elizabeth Pearce (c 1847 - ): married William Brooks, a lighterman; lived at 21 Catherine Street, Bromley in 1871, returned to Brentford by 1881; William Brooks was running the Royal Tar in 1881
  • Sarah Pearce (c 1849): not at home in the 1851 census
  • Lucy Pearce (c 1850)
  • Priscilla Pearce (c 1853): married John Mitchell in 1870, Poplar registration district; John was born in Marlow, Bucks c 1845; the couple settled in Bromley and were living there with Priscilla's elder sister, Elizabeth Brooks, in 1871; both husbands were lightermen; by 1881 the Mitchells had returned to Brentford and were living at 2 Eaton Place; in 1891 at Retort Alley; John Mitchell was a lighterman in 1881 & 1891; children included:
    • Ellen Mitchell (c 1873): born in Bromley
    • George W Mitchell (c 1875): born in Bromley
    • John Clifford Mitchell (1877): born in Bromley: Trevor Mitchell notes that John named his son John Clifford Mitchell, so the name Clifford was handed down the family
    • Bertie Mitchell (1888): born in Brentford
  • Jane Pearce (c 1859): was living at the Royal Tar in 1881
• Sophia Pearce (c 1832): not found in the 1851 census
• Mary Ann Pearce (c 1834 - 1866): married Edward Marriner, a waterman, in Kensington in 1851; children include Elizabeth & Mary Ann Marriner, who appear in the 1871 censuses as nieces of Isaac & Priscilla Beese (nee Pearce)
• James Pearce (c 1837): at home in 1851 and 1861 - a waterman
• Priscilla Pearce (1840): married Isaac Beese in the Kensington registration district in 1864; by 1871 they had moved into the Royal Tar and Isaac was a 'beer seller' and a small note 'boiler...'; two nieces of Isaac were living at the Royal Tar in 1871: Elizabeth & Mary Ann Marriner, aged 14 & 11; children of Isaac & Priscilla included:
  • Priscilla Beese (c 1869)

Other Pearces who ran pubs/beer houses

Sarah Pearce (c 1790) was the publican at the Red Lion at no. 197 in 1839, 1841 and 1845: gone by 1851. She was 50 in 1841 (ie aged 50 to 54 as ages were rounded down). Isaac Pearce was the publican of the Red Lion in 1826 and he left a PCC will in 1835, presumably Sarah was his widow. Sarah was not born in Middlesex.

Robert Pearce (c 1803/4): born Brentford, married Mary (), licenced victualler & waterman who ran the Half Moon and Seven Stars at no. 25 until 1861; a Robert Pearce death was registered in Brentford in 1862; children included:

• William Clark Pearce (c 1833/4): pupil teacher in 1851
• Robert Pearce (c 1836/7)
• Sarah Pearce (C 1838/9): at home in 1861
• Mary Ann Amelia Pearce (C 1843/4): at home in 1861
• Edwin John Pearce (C 1846/7)

George Clifford Pearce has a middle name which may provide a clue as to his ancestry: Clifford may be his mother's or grandmother's maiden name. George may be the son of Richard Pearce born c 1818: like Richard Pearce he was a lighterman and ran a beerhouse.

George Clifford Pearce (c 1839 - 1895): born Brentford; married Ann Maria Littleboy (c 1841 Brentford) in Brentford, 1862; beerhouse keeper at no. 307 in 1871, lighterman at 307 in 1881, beerhouse keeper at 307 in 1891; his wife was running the Alexandra Inn at this address in 1901; children (all born in Brentford) included:

• George Pearce (c 1863)
• Elizabeth Pearce (c 1865)
• John Pearce (c 1866)
• Richard Pearce (c 1868)
• Annie Pearce (1870)
• William Pearce (c 1872)
• Alfred Pearce (c 1873): the 1901 census shows an Alfred Pearce, 'waterman on the river', aged 27, living at 10 Albany Road, Brentford with his wife Mary Ann & children; this could be the Alfred Pearce who was 'a lighterman who worked as a foreman in the Brentford Dock and was a known entertainer' (Q60); see (Q61) for a photo of Alfred Pearce the entertainer
• Ada Pearce (c 1878)
• Henry Pearce (1880)
• Thomas Pearce (c 1882): waterman in 1901, living with his widowed mother at no. 307
• Albert Pearce (c 1885)

Pearces who were lightermen/watermen

Charles Pearce (c 1845/6 Brentford) lived at Paradise Row in 1871 (waterman), 2 High Street near the Royal Tar, home of other Pearces, in 1881, 62 Distillery Road in 1891 and 37 Lateward Road in 1901 (lighterman); there are five deaths of Charles Pearces born 1845/7 in Brentford in the 1890s / early 1900s. Possibly a son of Richard Pearce born c 1818 and linked to George Clifford Pearce by the name 'Clifford', which Charles gave to his third son. He married Priscilla Sellers (c 1848/9, Brentford) in Brentford, 1868, children included:

• Priscilla Pearce (c 1869/70): married Thomas John Greenrod at Kensington in 1889; the Greenrods were potters in Brentford
• Samuel Pearce (c 1874/5): potter in 1891
• William Pearce (c 1876/7): potter in 1891 and 1901
• John Clifford Pearce (1880): recorded as 'Clifford' in 1891 & 1901; labourer in barge yard in 1901; married in Brentford in 1904
• Robert Pearce (c 1883/4): recorded as 'Albert' in 1891; labourer in barge yard in 1901
• Elizabeth Pearce (c 1886/7): at home in 1901

Pearces who were fruiterers

• Caroline Pearce (c 1817/20)
• Robert (? not clear in 1841) Pearce (c 1825/6)
• Sarah Pearce (c 1827 Chiswick): at home in 1851
• Emma Pearce (c 1829/30)
• James Edward Pearce (ca 1830/1): not at home in 1841; born Brentford, father's assistant in 1851; running the fruiterer's business in 1871; married Sarah Russell Berrie in Brentford, 1859; reference on the A2A web site of the conveyance of a messuage and 2 cottages (built by Wm. Carter) at "Three Households" Chalfont St. Giles. and 10p of land in 1863 to James Edward Pearce of New Brentford, Middx., orange merchant; had moved away by 1881; children born in New Brentford included:
  • Mary Mount Pearce (c 1860/1): married in St Giles, London, 1882
  • James Pearce (c 1862/3)
  • Florence Berrie Pearce (c 1863/4): married in Fulham in 1887
• William Pearce (c 1837/8): born Brentford; brother to head in 1861
• Amelia Pearce (1840/1): 6 months old in the 1841 census; aged '8' in 1851; aged
• Selina Pearce (c 1844/5)

Thomas Pearce, watchmaker from Cornwall

Pearces who were confectioners

John Pearce born about 1814/5 in Ealing (as Old Brentford was part of Ealing parish he may have been born in Old Brentford) married Ann (from Gloucestershire) and was a confectioner at no. 237 in 1839, 1841 and 1851. He had moved away to Marylebone by 1861. Catherine Pearce, sister of John, born about 1813/4 was living with the family in 1851. The name varied between Pearse and Pearce. No children recorded in the censuses.