Francis Cable

CHAPTER V

The Cable Family – 1877 to 1811 

ANOTHER MARRIAGE FOR FRANK’S FATHER HENRY
Towards the end of 1877, between October and December, Frank’s father, HENRY ISAAC CABLE marries for a third time (or technically possible the second time). On this occasion in Southwark, London, his bride is ESTHER HOWARD.

Update: 23rd January 2023

The records and details of the third wedding of Frank’s father, HENRY ISAAC CABLE, have been found. The parish registry entry below confirms the wedding was towards the end of 1877, the date was 11th November of that year. The ceremony took place at St Peters Church, Walworth, Southwark. This was the same church where, on 2nd September 1860, Henry’s son Francis Cable (aka Frank Brown) was baptised 17 years prior to this wedding.

The confirms his occupation as ‘Glass Cutter’ and his residence as Camden Street, as it was in the 1871 Census. His father is confirmed as JOHN CABLE (deceased), however I cannot make out his father’s occupation – any suggestions anyone?

The ages of both Henry Isaac and Esther, his Spinster bride as ‘Full age’. At this time Henry would have been 62 years of age and likey Esther was of a similar age.

The surnames of the witnesses, ‘Starkey‘ and Sharpe‘ do not readily add anything to the story.

END OF UPDATE

1880 – FRANK’S FIRST MARRIAGE
On Tuesday 17th August 1880 Frank Cable, who 12 years later was to marry Polly Shellaker in Grantham, married CATHERINE SARAH FREDERICK FELTHAM at St. Mary Magdalene Church, Peckham, Surrey.

At the time of his wedding, Frank’s occupation was recorded ‘Dairyman’ and he was living at 25 Evelina Road. A copy of the wedding certificate of Frank Cable & Catherine Sarah Frederick Feltham is below

Evelina Road is located in Nunhead, near New Cross gate between Peckham and Camberwell. However the actual house, in which Frank Cable was living at the time of his first marriage in 1880, no longer remains.

Neither is the original parish church of St. Mary Magdalene, Peckham, still standing; it was built in 1841 but destroyed by German bombing during World War II on 21st September 1941, however a picture of this church is shown on the right.

Frank Cable & Catherine Sarah Frederick Feltham – Wedding Certificate 1880

On this wedding certificate Frank’s surname is recorded as ‘Cable’ and his age was given as 25 years old – this is a false declaration. Being born in July 1860 Frank’s correct age in August 1880 was 20 years (and about three weeks) and not 25 years. It is possible he falsified his age in order to reduce the age difference between himself and his bride. Catherine Feltham, whose age appears from this certificate as being 39 years is also incorrect – Catherine’s 40th birthday was two months prior to this wedding.

FRANK’S WIFE – CATHERINE SARAH FREDERICK FELTHAM
Catherine Sarah Frederick Feltham was born on 13th June 1840 as Catherine Sarah Frederick BATH. The birth is recorded at St John, Westminster, Middlesex. When she was born, her father was 39 years old, her mother 37 years. At the time of her marriage to Frank in 1880, nether of Catherine’s parents were alive; Catherine’s father was HENRY FREDERICK BATH, born around 1801 but he died at the age of 66 years on 25th April 1867 in South Norwood, Surrey. Her mother SARAH (née PAGE) was born around 1803 and died at the age of 49 years on 18th June 1852 at 7 Bury Street, Chelsea.

Her marriage to Frank Cable was Catherine’s second marriage. Her first marriage, 19 years previously, was on the 21st October 1861 when she married WILLIAM FELTHAM at Hampstead Parish Church when she was 21 years of age .

Her husband William Feltham was 24 years old, having been born of 5th November 1836. Catherine and William Feltham had at least four children together; WILLIAM HENRY born in September 1862, FREDERICK CHARLES born in 1865, EMILY ELLEN EMMA born in 1868 and JAMES S, born in 1872. Unsubstantiated records on the internet also indicate a FREDERICK ALBERT, date of birth unknown but possibly their first child, a JAMES D born in 1964, there may also have been an EDWARD, born in 1870. Catherine’s first husband, William Feltham died on 9th January 1878 at the age of 41 whilst residing at 7 North Hatcham*, London, leaving Catherine a widow. This was her status when she married Frank Cable around two and a half years later in August 1880.

In the 1861 Census a Catherine Bath is recorded as an unmarried servant, aged 21 years, at the home of a 43 year old widow, Mary Hutchinson at 14, Chester Villa, Thistle Grove, Kensington. Also residing in the house are Mary’s children; Stepney, a 19 year old Solicitors Clerk and a girl also named Mary aged 17 years old. This may be a record of Frank’s first wife.

[*Hatcham was the former name of New Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham, 4 miles south east of Charing Cross. New Cross is near St John’s, New Cross Gate, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich.]

One additional and important fact – on her wedding day to Frank Cable in August 1880 – Catherine Feltham was around four months pregnant.

1881 – FRANK & CATHERINE CABLE
However less than 7 months after his wedding to Catherine, on the night of the 1881 Census on 3rd April, Frank is not in the same house as his wife Catherine.  She is living at 75 Culmore Road and is recorded as being 39 years old.

The house at 75 Culmore Road was split into four separate households one of which was a Mr. Cooke, a carpenter living with his wife, another household contained a Mrs. Skyern from Wales with her eleven year old son, and lastly Mr. Jackson, a widower from Bourne in Lincolnshire, with his two young daughters, both recorded as “scholars”.

With Catherine Cable are children – four of whom have the surname ‘Feltham’ and self-evidently are the product of Catherine’s first marriage to the late Mr. Feltham; William, aged 18 years a carpenter born in Hampstead Middlesex, Frederick aged 15 years who is a Venetian Blind fitter, born in Lewisham in Kent, a daughters Emily aged 12 and a son James 7 years old, the latter two children are both recorded as ‘scholars’ born in Battersea in Surrey.

Her fifth child, a three-month-old boy, is named as FRANCIS H CABLE,  Frank’s son, and was presumably the explanation for her marriage to Frank. As the Census was recorded at the beginning of April, the birth of young Francis H. Cable must have occurred around January of that year, the child being born around four/five months after the marriage of his parents.  He is recorded as being born in Peckham, Surrey.

[Culmore Road in Southwark/Peckham is re-developed but a Public House,  Asylum Tavern, contemporary to 1881, is still standing at the end of the street. This area of London is south of the river Thames, quite some distance from Frank’s residence in Islington – see below. Camberwell is the district in which Frank was originally born and is east of neighbouring Peckham where Frank & Catherine married in 1880.]

Also worth noting is Catherine’s son, William, being born in between April 3rd 1862 and April 4th 1863, was, at most, only two years and eight months older than his step-father, Frank. Frank’s age could have actually been within twenty months of his eldest stepson, William Feltham.

  1881 Census – Catherine Cable, her children including Francis H. Cable, the son of Frank Cable (‘Brown’)

1881 – FRANK CABLE 
While Catherine is living in Culmore Road, Frank is recorded as being in Islington, North London at the home of Walter Odams, a 30 year old Carpenter at 15, Durham Road, Islington, also in the house are Walter Odam’s wife, Mary and their four young sons, Francis, Walter, Harry and Ernest. Frank is one of two ‘Boarders’ in the house, the other being George Malings, unmarried, a 28 years old Farmer’s Son. Frank Cable is recorded as being a married man, born in Camberwell, Surrey and aged 24 years – this is incorrect, as at this time Frank would be 20 years old. His 21st Birthday would be in July of that year.

Also the fact Frank is listed as a ‘Boarder’ would suggest a degree of permanency in this arrangement; people who, on the night of the Census, are only staying in a property a few days would probably be recorded as a ‘Visitor’.

[Durham Road, Islington is near Finsbury Park tube station but the road is now all new development]

   1881 Census – Frank Cable is a Boarder in the home of Walter Odams, not with his wife and son

1881 – FRANK’S FATHER
Three and a half years after his marriage towards the end of 1877, HENRY (Frank’s father) and his wife (née HOWARD) are recorded on the 1881 Census. In this Census Henry is again described as a ‘Glass Cutter’ from Surrey.

It states he is aged 66 years old and originates from Surrey. His wife Esther is 54 years old and from Middlesex. They are living together at 52 Camden Street, Walworth, the same address in which Henry was living with Sarah (née Collinson / Husband) in the Census 1871. No children are recorded as being with them in the house at this time.

[Camden Street, Walworth was renamed Morecambe Street and is in the Borough of Southwark, London]

1881 – FRANK’S MOTHER
As mentioned, Frank’s parents are no longer together, Henry having has since married Esther Howard. However Frank’s mother Sarah (née Collinson / Husband) is now living in Hatcham, Greenwich with her unmarried son Harry Cable (Frank’s full brother) who is now aged 18 years – his occupation is indistinct but some of it appears to be ‘tester’. His mother Sarah is an ‘upholsterer‘.

Interesting Sarah Cable’s status is recorded a ‘widow’. This may give credence to the belief that she and Henry may not have been legally married and that she is, in 1881, officially the widow of John Collinson. But she still kept the surname ‘Cable’ possibly to give her son Henry a degree of legitimacy.

1881 – FRANK’S HALF-BROTHER SAMUEL
At this Census, Samuel J Cable, Frank’s half-Brother, now aged 30 is recorded as living at 143, Camden Grove N, Camberwell. His occupation is listed as a ‘Bootmaker’. He is living his wife Sarah, Aged 33 and 5 children; William aged 7, Lillian aged 6, Minnie aged 4, Beatrice aged 2 and one year old son, Samuel.

Also living in the house is a ‘George Cable’ aged 16, born c.1865, recorded as a ‘Bootmakers’ Apprentice’ and with a birth place of Bermondsey, Surrey. I believe this ‘George Cable’ maybe the son of George & Jane Cable of Buttress Gardens, Stepney as recorded on the 1871 Census but I’m unsure how George Cable senior (born 1838 in Essex) fits into this story.

1881 – FRANK’S HALF-BROTHER EDWIN
Also record in this Census was EDWIN, Frank’s paternal half-brother. As in 1871 he still lives in the Corporation Buildings in the St James area of Clerkenwell but he has moved from number 79 and now resides at number 162. In 1871 he lived with his wife HARRIET and two children but ten years on, the number of their children has grown to five. Their sons EDWIN & WILLIAM who featured in the Census of 1871, now have three siblings, MINNIE, FREDERIC and SIDNEY who are 9, 5 and 2 years respectively.

The Census record was split over two pages which I have joined into the one image below.

FRANK’S FATHER, HENRY ISAAC CABLE DIES
On 25th September of1881, HENRY ISAAC CABLE, the father of Frank Brown/Cable dies at the age of 66 years, in the district of St Saviours, Southwark in London. His address at the time of his death was 52 Camden Street, Walworth.

UPDATE: 24th January 2023

The following year, on May 22nd 1882 Probate was granted on Henry’s Will, with his third wife, ESTER CABLE (née HOWARD) being the sole executor.

The value of his personal estate in 1881 was £135 which would apparently be equivalent in purchasing power to about £21,000 in 2023.

Sometime later his widow Esther marries a man called Charles Walker Soar, who himself had been previously married on two occasions.

END OF UPDATE

Next Page: Frank Cable appears in court

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