23/08/1875 –19/01/1951
Coachman to Sheriff of City of London
Relatives
Research:
Plot 1084 Edward (Ted) Charles Merrick (1875-1951)
Edward, known as Ted, was born 23 August 1875 at 33, Hyde Park Gardens Mews, just north of Hyde Park, London, to George H and Emily Eunice (née Hook) Merrick. His father was a coachman in private employment and both his parents were originally from Bodenham in Herefordshire.
He was baptised at St John’s, Paddington January 30 1876.
Ted was their third child and the family eventually comprised four girls and three boys.
By 1881 they had moved to Bathurst Mews, just a few hundred yards north of Hyde Park Gardens.
Ten years later they had moved again, to 28, Eden Road in Norwood. His father was still a coachman in a private household and young Ted was a stable lad.
In the March 1901 census Ted is recorded at 23, Clarendon Road, Reigate, one of the five grooms and stablemen employed by single man Richard Glover, a printer’s reader who clearly enjoyed his horses!
In 1904 Ted married (Ellen) Nellie Dungate in Reigate, her home town. However, the 1911 census record shows Mabel Merrick, daughter of Charles, born in Bexhill in 1901. It has not been possible to locate her birth records, but as the census record incorrectly states that they have been married since 1900, it looks as though Nellie was her mother and that this was being disguised.
George Edward was born in Reigate in 1906 and John Charles in Norwood in December 1907. By the time of the 1911 census Ted had become a coachman and the family’s address was 26, Durban Road, West Norwood. His widowed father was living with them and as it was a four roomed house, including the kitchen, it must have been a tight squeeze.
Sadly George Edward died in October 1912, aged only 6, and was buried in Norwood cemetery.
Their last child, Frank, was born in Camberwell in 1919 and the 1921 census in June records
Ted, Nellie, Mabel (who was in domestic service), John and Frank at 30, Colby Road, Camberwell. Ted was a coachman for a road transport company in Peckham – aged 45 he was either facing a precarious future as a horse driver in the face of motorised transport, or he had learned to drive a lorry.
However, it seems that Ted’s long experience as a coachman brought him a new and rather glamorous role. In 1932 Hendon became a municipal borough of London and a newspaper photo shows Ted driving the Lord Mayor of London’s carriage in the celebration parade.
The 1939 Register recorded Ted and Nellie living at Trinity Rise, Lambeth and stated that he was “Coachman to Sheriff of City of London”.
“Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery companies. Today’s sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the justices at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, since its original role as the court for the City and Middlesex…,As elected officers from the 7th century (excepting 1067 to 1132), the sheriffs’ jurisdiction covers the square mile of the City of London…” (Wikipedia).
Nellie died 19 August 1944.
Ted survived her until 19 January 1951 when he died in West Herts Hospital.
The North London Observer 25 January 1951 recorded the death of “Edward C Merrick, a man who took part in the Lord Mayor’s show day processions as a sheriff’s coachman. Mr Edward C Merrick, 2, Hawarden Ave, Herne Hill, a widower, died at West Hertfordshire hospital on Friday. He was 73. Mr Merrick formerly lived at 30, Colby Road, Upper Norwood, but he was well known in the Herne Hill district. A former driver at Thomas Tillings, Peckham, he retired during the war. He leaves two sons and a daughter. The funeral is at Berkhamsted cemetery.”
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