d.29/03/1914
Tea dealer from Woolwich, London; ran a grocer’s shop on Berkhamsted High Street
Relatives
Research:
William Cheeld’s birth in 1827 is recorded in the register of Woolwich Baptist Chapel, Queen Street.
William Cheeld’s birth in 1827 is recorded in the register of Woolwich Baptist Chapel, Queen Street.
His father, also called William Cheeld, was also Woolwich born and bred, and was a Grocer in Wellington Street, Woolwich. Wellington Street, part of a wider programme of military road building during the Napoleonic Wars – the east end of a route that linked Greenwich to the Royal Arsenal and it, was built in 1811–12, under the supervision of Lt. Col. Robert Pilkington, CRE. Properties were built along the road in a piecemeal way throughout the 1820’s and 30’s, so William Cheeld’s grocery business which was already there in 1841 was probably amongst the first wave of businesses in the area. The Royal Artillery in Woolwich was a significant influence in the area and would have touched the lives of many pf the locals, including the Cheeld family. On the 14th January 1835 the will of “John Cheeld of Woolwich in the County of Kent late a smith in the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich” left money and property to “my son William Cheeld of No.10 Wellington Street, Woolwich aforesaid Grocer”. John lived in Powis Street and in the 1841 census was described as “Ind”, that is having an independent income. He died in Powis Street in 1851.
1841 census: the will of “John Cheeld of Woolwich in the County of Kent late a smith in the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich” left money and property to “my son William Cheeld of No.10 Wellington Street, Woolwich aforesaid Grocer” – 14th January 1835
William Cheeld senior had previously married Mary Ann McDonald on 17th January 1819 at Lee in Kent. It can be seen that Mary Ann’s father was Peter McDonald, carpenter of Woolwich. The fact that he was mentioned at the time of his grandson’s entry in the Baptist register implies that he held a significant role within the congregation. Like William junior’s other Grandfather, he too lived in Powis Street.
Looking at young William’s extended family, they appear to have been well-off and well educated. In addition to the business and money in the Cheeld family, his mother’s brother, John McDonald, who lived at 42 Powis Street in 1851, was a General Practitioner, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) and Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries (LSA).
After William, William Cheeld senior and Mary Ann (nee McDonald) had:-
- John, born the 3rd June 1828 and his birth also recorded in the registers of Queens Street Baptist Chapel, Woolwich.
- Matilda, born 17th April 1831 (birth recorded in the registers of Queens Street Baptist Chapel) and married Henry North at Bethnal Green on 26th August 1856.
- James, born 14th March 1834 (birth recorded in the registers of Queens Street Baptist Chapel)
- Thomas, born 1838 and buried at St Nicholas’, Plumstead on 19th September 1841
- Sarah, born 1840. She attended an all-girl school in Blackheath during the 1850’s.
In 1851 William senior was able to employ three people to work in his business. Melville’s 1858 Directory of Kent lists William as Cheeld, William, grocer and cheesemonger, Wellington street, Woolwich.
The end of the business was announced in the London Gazette in 1875, three years before William senior’s death in 1878.
London Gazette, 6 July 1875 documents the end of William Cheeld’s business
By 1851 the younger William had left home and was living at Oxford Place, Bethnal Green with his brother John and sister, Matilda. Both William and John followed their father’s trade, being described as Grocer’s Shopmen.
The move to Bethnal Green obviously gave rise to him meeting his future wife, as William Cheeld married Frances Pizzey in 1852 in Hackney and within a year their first child, Frances Mary was baptised on 1st June 1853 at St Mary’s Whitechapel.
The baptismal register states that the family were living on the Whitechapel Road and William was described as being a Tea Dealer. Frances Mary was followed in quick succession by:-
- William Samuel, born in 1855
- Clara, born 1857 in Dalston
- John, born on 17th February 1859 in Hoxton
- Emily, born 1860 in Bethnal Green.
1861 census shows William Cheeld as a “Tea and Sugar Grocer and Wine Dealer” employing a shopman, a shopwoman, a porter and a domestic servant.
The 1861 census below shows that William now styled himself as a “Tea and Sugar Grocer and Wine Dealer” and that his business now enabled him to employ a shopman, a shopwoman and a porter as well as a domestic to help Frances.
William appears to have been an astute businessman. A newspaper notice from The London Gazette of 2nd August 1853 is evidence of him jointly administering a fellow grocer’s estate.
Notice in The London Gazette 2 August 1853 shows William Cheeld Jnr administering a fellow grocer’s estate
At this point it is worth considering where William was living at the time his business was expanding. An article appeared in The Penny Illustrated Paper on 10th October 1868. It stated “For the third time within a fortnight, we have to report a Coroner’s inquest on children poisoned on impure air in Bethnal Green”. It gave evidence from numerous individuals complaining of “reeking cesspools” and gutters and “dustholes, in which every denomination of filth was suffered to stagnate under the nostrils of human beings”. At that time, Bethnal Green was home to one of the most notorious slums in London, known as Old Nichol. A quarter of all children born in the Old Nichol district died before their first birthday and Old Nichol Street itself was described by the local medical officer, Dr Bate, as being unfit for human habitation.
An 1848 map of the parish of Bethnal Green shows clearly the sewers and open sewers, and photographs of this period show people living in the slum areas of Bethnal Green.
1848 map of the Bethnal Green parish showing the open sewers
One of the slum areas of Bethnal Green (c.1848)
Is it any wonder that William Cheeld, grocer, tea and sugar dealer and dealer in wine decided to move his young and expanding family to the cleaner environs of Berkhamsted, with a clientele more likely to appreciate his goods and services?
So, between the census of 1861 and the birth of his second son, Sydney in 1863, William moved his family and his business to Berkhamsted, setting up at 142-144 High Street.
William Cheeld’s grocery shop listed in the trade directory
William and Frances had two more children born in Berkhamsted, Henry born in 1866 and Alice born in 1869, and the family appear to have settled down well in Berkhamsted, becoming an established business in the High Street. This stability, and probably the affluence of the area when compared to Bethnal Green, drew Frances’ family to Berkhamsted as well. In 1871 her mother, Frances Applebee and her brother George William Pizzey were also living in the High Street. They must have felt very much at home in the more genteel environs of the town, with Frances stating in the census that she was a “Railway and House Proprietor”, whilst her son was a “Proprietor in a Bank”. Frances died on 25th July 1877 at Berkhamsted and her will was proved by her nephew Frederick Seear, a Tea Dealer of Hackney Common.
Death notice of Frances Applebee, 1877
By 1881 William Cheeld was able to employ 5 men and a boy at his Grocer’s shop in the High Street, which was situated next-door to “The One Bell”.
By 1881 William Cheeld was able to employ 5 men and a boy at his Grocer’s shop in the High Street, which was situated next-door to The One Bell
William and Frances could now think of living more comfortably, as the business was doing well and they had their eldest son to help in the running of it. So, they moved to Charles Street where William was listed as a Private Resident in Kelly’s Directory of 1890. The directory also lists him as a wholesale and retail grocer in the High Street. In 1891 the house in Charles Street was home to William and Frances, their son Henry, daughter Emily and a grandson Harry aged 11, who had been born in Sydney, Australia. The premises in the High Street were now occupied by his eldest son William Samuel and his wife, Mary.
And so life continued, William Samuel’s first wife sadly died and he married again in 1899 Elizabeth Swaby from Northchurch.
1899 marriage certificate of William Samuel Cheeld and Elizabeth Swaby
John, William and Frances’ second son, shows that the families links to the Bethnal Green/Hackney area were not completely cut when they relocated to Berkhamsted. John and his wife, Louisa, were living in Stoke Newington, where John was working as a bricklayer. Their eldest son was the Henry who had been born in Adelaide, South Australia.
William and Frances’s third son, Sydney, left Berkhamsted, moving just over the county border to Chesham where he setup his own business as a Mechanical Engineer. Engineering appears to have been his trade from an early age as shown from his marriage certificate.
1885 marriage certificate of Sydney Cheeld
Sydney has the distinction of being the first person in Chesham to own a motor car. Mr Cheeld built his motor car at Lord’s Mill between 1900 and 1902, from a kit and using instructions in a magazine. It was called ‘Emma’ and apparently still does the London to Brighton run.
Henry, the youngest son, set up his own Grocery shop in Edgware High Street, which was still in existence in the 1850’s.
In 1901 William and Frances were living in Doctors Commons Road with their 25 year-old daughter Emily and a domestic servant to help them. Frances died on 18th January 1907 at Milton House. Her will was proved on 29th April 1907, by William, and her effects were valued at £91 19s 6d.
William and Frances Cheeld were living at at Milton House on Doctors Commons Road 1901
In 1911 William had retired from his Grocery business and was living with his unmarried daughter, Emily and one domestic servant.
William died on 29th March 1914 at Milton House. His effects were valued at £12,626 16. In today’s money that would have a value of approximately £1.46 million.
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