If you have any comments on this web site please email me by clicking here
Ninth Generation
Family of Henry BRIGDEN (B14) and Lizzie Mary BRAND (D5)
B16 Henry James BRIGDEN
Born on 5 April 1886. He was baptised a month after his parents’ marriage.
Henry James is recorded as residing at 9 Purley Road, South Croydon, Surrey in 1887; at 9 Beatrice Avenue, South Norwood in 1924; and at 18 St Peters Street, South Croydon, Surrey in 1925.
Henry James died at 18 St Peters Street, South Croydon, Surrey on 27 August 1962, at the age of 76. Cause of death: Thrombophlebites of the leg.
Occupation: Cattle Drover, Farm Labourer, and Cattle Dealer.
For almost the whole of his life Henry worked on the Ballard’s Farm in South Croydon.
The farm no longer exists and is now a substantial housing estate.
At the age of 9, about 1895, Henry was involved in accident and broke his elbow. The surgeons decided to amputate. In spite of having only one arm, Henry never allowed it to effect him and had a normal working life. He was a cattle drover and dealer and worked almost to the end of his life.
On 20 May 1918 when Henry James was 32, he married Edith Georgina CHAPMAN (C7), in St Augustines Church South Croydon.
Edith was the daughter of Henry William CHAPMAN (1870-1927) and Mary Ellen GREEN (1869-April 1937). She was born on 19 November 1897 in 22 Purley Road South Croydon.
Edith Georgina died in St Christopher's Hospice Sydenham on 5 September 1969, at the age of 71.
Witnesses on marriage certificate: Henry Chapman, Mary Ellen Chapman
They had the following children:
B17 Henry James (1919-) (Twin)
B18 Edward Thomas (1919-1971) (Twin)
B19 Cecil Leonard (Cyril) (1922-2000)
Henry and Edith BRIGDEN, in 1950 on Brighton Pier
B16A Stephen Frederick BRIGDEN
Stephen Frederick was born on 4 August 1890 in Horley. He died in September 1961 in Croydon, aged 71.
He started work as a telegraph boy with the Southern Railway and later became a signalman. He retired some years after reaching 65 while working at the South Croydon box.
Stephen married, at the age of 24, on 13 April 1914 at All Saints church Swanscombe Kent to Annie Elizabeth Smith (30 November 1891 Dartford – March 1967 Croydon)
For most of their married lives they lived in Sutherland Road West Croydon. It would appear that Stephen and his brother Henry fell out and did not speak for many years. It is believed that Henry argued with Annie over a cigarette end cast on to a fire. The brothers did meet up again shortly before Stephen's death. Henry's son Leslie remembers Stephen calling at the house and the two brothers going for a drink at the Croham Arms.
Annie died in a fire caused by a faulty electric blanket.
Stephen and Annie had one son
Reginald Stephen BRIGDEN (17 January 1918 Croydon – 2 February 1999 Croydon)
He left Archbishop Tennison’s School at 14 and initially worked for Allsop & Wagner. In 1934 he joined the South Suburban Coop as a clerk for 18 shillings per week and retired in 1983. During WWII he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps; was captured in France June 1940 and released from a prisoner of war camp in Poland March 1945.
He was married on 12 May 1945 at All Saints Church Hawkhurst Kent to Lucy Katherine Cole (10 November 1921 Hackney – 3 November 2001 Reading) and lived in Waddon, New Addington and West Croydon before settling in Shirley in 1968.
Reginald probably never met his cousins Henry and Leslie, who owned a shoe shop in South Croydon. However it is said that he worked as a shoe salesman at the London Road Co-Op in West Croydon, and sent customers requiring special fitting shoes to Harry and Leslie's shop
They had two sons
John Stephen (10 November 1947 Croydon -)Land surveyor, Married Janet Elizabeth Moffatt (17 March 1953 Kilburn -) at West Croydon Methodist Church 26 July 1975. John as lived in Calgary, Canada since 1975. They have two sons: Ian Michael (26 June 1978 Calgary -) and Neil Stephen (21 June 1980 Calgary -)John is now researching this branch of the family. Roy David (4 September 1951 Croydon -)Museum curator. Married Patricia Rose Thunder (16 January 1952 Kilkenny -) at St. Mary of Padua RC Church, Rye E. Sussex 9 September 1972. Have lived in Reading since 1979. They have two sons: James Michael (24 November 1982 Reading) and Thomas Geoffrey (12 November 1985 Reading)
.
My Family Tree is a 60 minute documentary that I have made with my digital camcorder and edited into a video production.
This documentary is the story of four families. It is the story of my father's parents, Brigden and Chapman, and my mother's parents, Crowhurst and Plowman.
The video can be purchased for £5 plus £2 postage and packaging. To order a copy click here