We family historians, enjoy stories of the ‘Black Sheep of the family’ and unquestionably, within the Shellaker family, Frank Brown is well deserving of that title. One of the aims of writing this story is an attempt to make contact with those who may be researching the ancestry of the Cable family, with whom some of us may share a common ancestry and who could well be speculating upon the whereabouts of FRANCIS JAMES CABLE after c.1892. This narrative attempts to chronologically detail the information we, from the ‘Shellaker side’ of Frank’s life, have unearthed concerning Frank’s forebears on ‘the Cable side’.
HENRY ISAAC CABLE
Francis Cable’s father, as identified on the second wedding certificate from 1934, was HENRY ISAAC CABLE, a Plumber, so I will commence this part of the story with him. He was born on 21st January 1815 (end column as shown below) , a few months before The Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.
1815 – The Baptism of Henry Isaac Cable – 26th February
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Henry Isaac Cable was baptized on Sunday 26th February of the same year, 1815, St. Saviour in Southwark, an area on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge. At this time the family were living at Winchester Street.
On this record the parents of Henry Isaac were JOHN and ANN MARIA CABLE. He was their first child. Further information on Henry’s parents to follow.
1816 – BIRTH: WILLIAM HENRY CABLE
Henry was the first of a very large number of children born to John and Ann Maria Cable. Their second child, also a son, was born on 11th March 1816 and was baptised the following year, on 25th May 1817. He was named WILLIAM HENRY CABLE. John Cable’s occupation was recorded as ‘Plumber‘. At this time the family lived at North Street, East Lane. The baptism took place at St Mary Church in Newington.
The Baptism of William Henry Cable – 1817
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1817 – BIRTH: ANN MARIA CABLE
Almost one year after the birth of William Henry Cable, a third child is born, a daughter named ANN MARIA CABLE. She was born on 24th March 1817. She was baptised on 23rd May 1817, the same day as her brother William Henry.
It was not usual for the children of a family to be baptised on the same day, as often the local priest would ask if all children in the family had been baptised and if not, he would insist all should be baptised.
The Baptism of Ann Maria Cable – 1817
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1817 – DEATH: ANN MARIA CABLE
However, the newborn daughter, Ann Maria, died at the age of 5 months. She was buried on 24th August 1817 in the churchyard at St. Mary, Newington, Her abobe is recorded as Locksfields.
‘Locksfields’ is likely a misspelling of Lockfields, an area near the docks in Victorian London that was known for being a notorious slum called Spitalfields. Spitalfields was characterized by extreme poverty, overcrowding, and poor housing conditions, as well as criminal and a variety of immigrant populations. It was a hub for poor labourers, including dockworkers, costermongers (street sellers), and prostitutes. The area, known as a “rookery,” was filled with dark, dangerous courts and alleys. Housing was low-quality, often dilapidated, and overcrowded, with whole families living in just one or two rooms.
Ann Maria Cable is Buried – 1817
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Saint Mary’s Church Newington.
Old Saint Mary’s Church, in which the burial of five month old Ann Maria Cable, was the only surviving Elizabethan Church in London and one of the earliest not to have been converted from a place of Roman Catholic worship.
It was built in 1563. It was said to contain a pew on which the Princess Elizabeth sat and prayed during the reign of her sister Mary.
At this time the church was located near Elephant and Castle.
The old burial ground still exists. It is now an open park with remnants of its past, including a clock tower and boundary railings. The original church was demolished in 1876 to widen a road, but the burial ground was retained and turned into a community space.
Archaeological investigations have uncovered 25 burial vaults, and some headstones remain.
1818 – BIRTH: MARY ELIZABETH CABLE
A second daughter, and a fourth child for John and Ann Cable, was born on 30th January 1818 and baptised, one month later, on 20th February 1818. As with the baptism records of William Henry and Ann Maria, John Cable’s occupation is that of a ‘Plumber‘.
On this record her abode is recorded as ‘Newington’ with no street name shown. The church in which this baptism took place is not St Mary Church in Newington, it is now St. Saviour, Southwark. This is the same church in which the firstborn, Henry Isaac Cable was baptised.
The Baptism of Mary Elizabeth Cable – 1818
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The Family of John & Ann Maria Cable in 1818
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1820 – BIRTHS: JOHN RICHARD & JAMES EDWARD CABLE
These two boys, the fifth and sixth children of John and Ann Maria were possibly twins. They were both baptised on the same day, 2nd June 1820. Two years have passed since the birth of their fourth child, Mary Elizabeth, in January 1818, so it is possible these two boys were not twins.
Based on relevant ages on latter document suggests that JOHN RICHARD CABLE may have been born in 1919, with JAMES EDWARD CABLE born in 1820.
Their father’s occupation is no longer that of a ‘Plumber’ but is now that of ‘Painter and Glazier’. The family’s address is 4, Chapel Street, Tottenham Court Road, St Pancras. Chapel Street no longer exists in name. It is now Tottenham Street, with the section between Whitfield Street and Tottenham Court Road, was formerly known as Chapel Street.
The baptisms took place in the church of St Giles in the Fields, Holborn.
The Baptisms of John Richard and James Edward Cable – 1820
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St Giles in the Fields, Holborn – ‘The synonym of filth and squalor’
As people flocked into London in the 18th and 19th centuries, the population of the parish grew rapidly, exceeding 30,000 by 1831. Such rapid change was accompanied by chronic social problems. The area to the north side of St Giles High Street as far as Great Russell Street became one of the poorest parts of London, known as St Giles Rookery, notorious in art and literature of the time for its drunkenness and licentiousness. In the 1740s St Giles was described as full of common lodging houses and gin shops. A survey of the area in 1849 revealed that in some four-roomed houses between fifty and ninety people found nightly lodgings.
In 1851 the population of the parish had risen to 37,407. There continued to be a very high death rate in the parish, with 190 burials in July 1840, and 1,856 during the course of the year. The increasing population of the parish and the lack of drainage led to major outbreaks disease, and a very high death rate. The first appearance of Cholera in 1848 led to the area being regarded as a focus of infection.
In 1850 there were 1,213 burials of residents of St Giles’s parish in the Burial Ground at St Pancras. The most burials on one day in 1750 were twenty-five, on 15th December 1850. In 1851 107 people were reported to be living in an eight-roomed house.
This area was featured in one of the novels of Charles Dickens…
“How many people may there be in London who, if we had brought them deviously and blindfold to this street fifty paces from the Station House [This I believe refers to St Pancras] and within call of Saint Giles’s church, would know it for a not remote part of the city in which their lives are passed? How many who, amidst this compound of sickening smells, these heaps of filth, these tumbling houses with all their vile contents, animate and inanimate, slimily overflowing into the black road, would believe that they breathe this air?”
The Old Curiosity Shop, Charles Dickens. Written between 1840 and 1841
St Giles in the Fields, Holborn
Chapel Street, home to the Cable Family in 1820, at the east end of Tottenham Street, is identified by the red circle above left.
St Giles in the Fields in circled bottom right with an image of the church. The church is around a walk of 15 minutes from Chapel Street.
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1822 – BIRTH: ANN MARIA CABLE
On the 5th of November 1822, a seventh child for John and Ann Maria Cable, was born. A baby girl who was given the same name, ANN MARIA CABLE, as their third child, and first daughter, who was born in 1817 but died 5 months later. However, she would not be baptised until 22nd February 1824, when she was joined in the ceremony by her newborn baby sister.
1824 – BIRTH: FRANCES CABLE
Fourteen months after the birth of Ann Maria, another daughter was born, their eight child. She was born on the 14th of January 1824. As mentioned, she was baptised on the same day as her older sister. The baptism took place on 22nd of February 1824 in the church of St Mary, Newington. The record states the occupation of John Cable is a ‘Painter‘ and the family were living in Nelson’s Place, Locksfield. I have not been able to identify the location, in 1824, of Nelson’s Place
The baptism records of Ann Maria and Frances Cable – 1824
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1824 – DEATH: FRANCES CABLE
Six months after her birth, Frances Cable, the youngest daughter of John and Ann Maria, dies and was buried on 30th July 1824 in the churchyard of St Mary’ church in Newington. The same church in which she was baptised in February of that same year. This was the second daughter of John and Ann to have died in infancy. At this time, the family were living in Pitt Street, Locksfield. I have not been able to identify the location, in 1824, of Pitt Street.
The burial record of Frances Cable – 1824
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1826 – BIRTH: THOMAS CABLE
On the 15th of May 1826 Ann Maria gave birth to the couple’s ninth child and their fifth son. He was named Thomas. He was baptised three months later on the 20th of August of that year in the church of St. Saviour in Southwark, London
As on previous records, the occupation of John Cable is a ‘Painter‘ and the family were living in Bermondsey, but no street name is mentioned.
At time family consisted of the father John, age 45 years and his wife Ann Maria, around 30 years old. The ages of their children were Henry Isaac, 11 years old, William Henry, age 10 years, Mary Elizabeth, 8 years, Richard Charles, approaching the age of 7 years old, James Edward, 6 years old and Ann Maria, approaching 4 years of age.
The baptism records of Thomas Cable – 1826
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1829 – DEATH: THOMAS CABLE
Sadly, Thomas Cable was to live for less than two years. His burial is recorded in a Register of Burial in New Ground, New Street, in the Parish of Horselydown, in the County of Surrey. The burial takes place on February 5th, 1829. (See the fifth entry below in the section of that register). His age is recorded as one year and nine months.
Although the parents of this child are not recorded, he is from ‘Bermondsey’ which is where the family were living at this time. However, it is the child age that confirm this young boy is the son of John and Ann Maria Cable who was born on 15th of May 1826. On the day of his burial, his actual age would have been 1 year, 8 months and 3 weeks, which, in the record, the entry is rounded up by one week to ‘1 year and 9 months.’
The Burial records of Thomas Cable – 1829
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The Family of John & Ann Maria Cable in 1829
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1830 – BIRTH: FANNY CABLE
Around three and a half years after the birth of Thomas in 1826, their tenth child and their 5th daughter. She was born 11th of January 1830 and was named FANNY CABLE. She was baptised the following month on 14th February 1830 at the church of St. Saviour in Southwark.
Her father’s occupation continues to be recorded as a ‘Painter‘ and the family were still living in Bermondsey.
The Baptism Record of Fanny Cable – 1830
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1831 – BIRTH: THOMAS CABLE
The following year another child was born, their eleventh child. On 26th of February 1831. A son who was named THOMAS CABLE. This is the second child given the name ‘Thomas’.
The first was born on 15th May 1826 but he died in 1829 and was buried on 5th the February of that year.
The baptism of this second Thomas took place in the church of St. Saviour in Southwark on 20th March 1831. Thomas’ father’s occupation is again recorded as a ‘Painter‘ and the family living in Bermondsey Street.
Bermondsey Street runs diagonally from London Bridge to Tower Bridge Road station (The station as built in 1836, contemporary to the time the Cable family lived in the area).
Bermondsey became famous for its leather and tanning industries, which produced unsanitary conditions and noxious smells, which is why the industry was banned inside the City of London walls. Charles Dickens, (or his son), noted that “the air reeks with evil smells” in the area.
The Baptism Record of Thomas Cable – 1831
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NB: There are family trees on Ancestry.com which have the Thomas who was born in 1826 in the 1841 Census. This is clearly incorrect as the Thomas on the 1841 Census is recorded as ‘10 years‘, this clearly shows the birth year as 1831 NOT 1826.
1834 – BIRTH: MARTHA CABLE
Their twelfth, and final child, was born on 27th April 1934 and was named MARTHA CABLE. She was baptised at St. John’s church in Horselydown on 29th March 1834. Her father’s occupation, is as it has been since 1820, is a ”Painter’. The family’s location is recorded on this census as Magdeline Street
The Baptism Record of Martha Cable – 1834
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The Family of John & Ann Maria Cable in 1834
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With the birth of the twelfth child, the family now has nine surving children; Henry Isaac was reached the age of 19 years, William Henry 18 years, Mary Elizabeth 16 years, Richard Charles approaching 15 years, James Edward 13 years, Ann Maria 12 years old, her sister Fanny 4 years, Thomas 3 years and Martha a newborn baby.
Next Page: Henry’s Parents