Here's something that I've been keeping secret!  It is a companion blog to THE BAYLISS LINE. It is not directly about people in our family but they will be mentioned frequently. Called DOWN THESE STREETS the new blog is about the places they lived, about the actual streets and the city of London itself.  I will be using my own words and quoting the words of others and there will be lots of pictures.
You will find there a list of recommended books about London and London life and as more things are added there will be a list of films that best illustrate the metropolis. The blog is still under construction but if you would like to read a longer introduction to what it is about the please click on this link to go there : DOWN THESE STREETS.  I would appreciate hearing any reactions you may have, either here, of Facebook or by e-mail.

THE CRIMINAL ELEMENT

The Notorious NED KELLY.  Are we related ?

My very first home was just across the road from the house where the murderer Frederick Seddons had lived and I went to school just around the corner from Dr.Crippen's house. From my school playground I could see the tower of Holloway Prison. As a teenager I remember going to a pub in Hampstead where you could still see, on the outside wall, the marks made by the bullets when Ruth Ellis (the last woman to hang in England) gunned down her lover. During my post office years I knew the brother of a well known armed robber and several times I encountered the notorious "Mad" Frankie Fraser. I recently wrote about my mother's husband's connections with infamous characters like Alf Solomons, Darby Sabini and Billy Hill and my late partner, Terry, had family connections with the Jack the Ripper case. Murderers and other criminal types are part of history and as unfortunate as that may be a lot of people find them interesting - and I count myself among them.

Thankfully our close family seems to have been relatively (excuse the pun) speaking free from serious crime. If we go a bit further afield things get slightly different and there are a couple of interesting connections which it is worth mentioning here. I do not claim to have researched these connections myself because. as I hope you appreciate, I am trying to concentrate a bit closer to home.  One of the best Family history websites on the internet is devoted to The Ennever Family (click the name to go there) and we arerelated to the Essex branch of that family by Harriet Emma Curtis (who was my 1st cousin twice removed).  Harriet married Frederick Ennever in  1886 and through him the Bayliss family are very distantly related by marriage to those famous East Enders, the Kray Twins.

Reggie and Ronnie at home.

Read about them HERE

If that wasn't surprising enough, my last visit to the Ennever website revealed that there is a connection as well to the famous Australian bushranger Ned Kelly!!!!  The Ennevers have had quite a few links with criminals over the years - one of the most interesting being Joseph Ennever who led a gang of counterfeiters and was hanged for his crimes at Ilchester in 1807.  You can read about Joseph and other Ennever related criminals by clicking this LINK

Dr. Bill writes:

Welcome to the Geneabloggers family. I hope you find the association fruitful. May you keep sharing your ancestors stories.

Many thanks Bill, I'm sure I'll find Geneabloggers most useful.

OH DEAR.......

I was surfing the internet when I wandered into a website devoted to various areas of London....among them was the Archway area where many of the family lived and grew up (including me).  I took a look at their community forum where people leave messages, leave comments etc.  Here's a sample of some I found :


 There is a nasty bunch of Portuguese criminals called the Regos who make pub landlords pay them money to avoid being burned down.......


..........Even Adams Family members and the IRA pay them protection money! Or so that's what's being said in the Irish pubs in the areaI wouldn't advise anyone nice to live in Archway.


I live in Archway and a lot of people are being bullied by Portuguese psychopaths in the are, called the Regos. The police don't care! I would move out but can't afford to.......


....... We are thinking of moving to Pemberton Gardens in Archway - what's it like living in the area? Is it as rough as some say?


Avoid it like a RASH......... if you want a normal life free from Drug dealers...... Alchoholic's and teenage thugs then what ever you do don't move round there......


Glad I moved !!!!!

CHARLES HENRY BAYLISS : Conclusion

Nellie, Charlie, Treena and a friend.

This post about Charles Henry Bayliss will be based mainly on my own recollections of him.  When I began to write this piece I realised that I didn't really know Charlie that well during his marriage to Nellie. Although I lived in the same street as him for much of my early life I never got to know him as I did some of my other uncles. I have memories of my mother taking me to visit his flat at St.John's Park Mansions but it is my Aunt Nellie I remember the most from those visits. Of course Charlie and Nellie were always  at my grandmother's parties, singing along with everybody else and there is a  wonderful video of them enjoying themselves along with everybody else. I was very fond of  Nellie although as with Charlie I didn't see as much of her as I might have liked to. The reason for this is probably because his children, my cousins Peter and Treena, were a few years older than me and when you are young a difference of three or four years seems greater than it does in later life.

Charlie with Splogett

Peter I was very fond of (as everybody was) and I would see him often in the street and with his faithful dog Splogett but we never hung out together. It was cousin Alvin who, being three years older than me, was closer to Peter and he has told me of the great times that had together visiting the Trad Jazz clubs. To be honest (and I know she's reading this) I don't remember ever having an actual conversation with cousin Treena whren I was young - it was only many years later that I got to know Treena better when we corresponded for a while in the late 1980s. 

Happy Days : Charlie and Nellie on a caravan
holiday with Treena and Peter

I believe Uncle Charlie (as I called him) made his living as a house decorator and, of course, in later years he took over the business of selling paraffin that had been started by Bernard Dell (husband of cousin Cecilia) and he became a familiar figure up and down Pemberton Gardens. In an early part of Charlie's story I touched on the tragedy that struck Charlie during his first marriage and, sadly, it was to strike again. The memory of those days is still painful for the family and I do not intend to dwell on them in any detail.  Charlie lost his son to asthma on 24 January 1970 and his  wife Nellie to cancer on 11 June 1970.  One can hardly imagine how this hit poor Charlie an Treena (who was married by this time) and the shock waves it sent through the rest of the family. It must be remembered that only a few months before, Charlie's mother,Esther, had died. I don't think Charlie ever fully recovered from that awful time.

Charlie and his brother Arthur enjoy a snooze on the beach.

Sometime earlier (and here I may be getting the timeline a bit confused) Charlie had been contacted by his older son, Derek, who now had his own family in Somerset. I had met Derek only once at that stage when he had paid a surprise visit to my mother. After the sad events of 1970 there was a sort of reconciliation between Charlie and Derek -  the two sides of the family did get together and Derek's daughter Sally has very fond memories of Charlie and going for walks with him.

Charlie and Treena (centre) with Derek and his family.

It was during this time that I got to know Charlie best. My mother, his sister Ethel, had been helping Charlie in his flat and doing some shopping for him. We were living at Tufnell Park at the time and each Sunday Charlie used to come to Sunday Dinner with his mate George Abbott - brother of Cis's husband Fred. Things went on like this for a while and I remember that Charlie, always a dog lover, was very fond of my dog, Oddy.  Then, as if Charlie had not had enough tragedy, he had a stroke. I clearly remember getting a late night phone call from Whittington Hospital and rushing there by taxi with my mother.


After this things didn't really improve much. Charlie did recover from the stroke and got his speech back but he was diagnosed with diabetes and eventually was admitted to a care home in Durham Road N.7.  My mother used to visit him every week and I would go when I could  (and take my dog) and I am sure that other members of the family also visited.  Charlie passed away on 15 May 1978
at Mount Vernon Hospital, Hillingdon after an accident at Durham Road.

Charlie, Me and Oddy at Durham Road

I kept in contact with Charlie's son Derek for a while as I tried (not to successfully at that time) to find out details about his mother's family. I was able to renew contact with his family late in 2009 only to find that he had passed away in the summer of that year. I remain in contact with his daugher Sally. I lost contact with Treena when she moved to Spain but happily we are reunited again, thanks to cousin Alvin who found her through the internet.




Treena Hall writes : 

• Hello Ernest, I have just finished reading the article and thought you wrote it with great sensitivity,it bought back so many memories and the photos are wonderful to see,thankyou so much.
  
  Thank you Treena, I am pleased that you and your family are enjoying the blog and thanks
  for pointing out my silly error in one of the picture captions - I've now corrected it. 

Sally Bayliss writes

          Hi Ernest, the latest blog is amazing. Thank you so much


           Thanks for the feedback and the lovely photos which I shall hopefully be using soon. It
           really means a lot to know people are enjoying the blog.

CHARLES HENRY BAYLISS Part 2

After the death of Marjorie, Charlie did not stay long at 42 Pemberton Gardens and within a year he was renting rooms nearby at 53 Hargrave Park. As a widower with a young son of pre-school age things were obviously not easy for Charlie who had to work.  Exactly what arrangement were made for young Derek I am not sure. What is certain is that the boy spent a lot of time with his grandmother Esther who was at that time living on Canvey Island, Essex; there are several photos of Derek happily playing on the beach at Canvey.

Derek Bayliss plays happily on the beach at Canvey Island
with his cousin Iris Bayliss, daughter of his dad's brother Bert.

An important development of the move to Hargrave Park (where his sister Florence was living just across the road with her husband Fred) was that he made the acquaintance of the other tenants of the house - the Hyde family.  Ada Elizabeth Hyde was a widow (it is believed that her husband Alfred Henry Hyde, a former policeman had died in the trenches during the First World War although I have not been able to trace his death with any certainty) sharing the accommodation with her son, Harry George and, more importantly for this story, with her daughter Nellie Eva. As a child, after the death of her father, Nellie was placed in The Royal Soldier's Daughters Home at Primrose Hill by her mother who felt unable to look after her four children. Nellie stayed there until she left school but was desperately unhappy. Her mother rarely visited her  although her elder sister somewhat made up for it. On the one day a week when she was allowed to leave the home Nellie, who was always hungry at the home, was often visited by her elder sister who used to bring her food. The elder sister was probably Ada Caroline, born in West Ham in 1908 and who died young in 1932. Nellie's brother was Harry George. He married Irene Mabel Rayner in 1937 and they moved to 30 Tremlett Grove N.19. Sadly, Harry would die a year later. I've not been able to trace what happened to Irene.

Charlie and Nellie on holiday in Ramsgate 1938

Charlie did not rush into a second marriage but he and Nellie started dating and enjoyed evenings at the dog racing stadiums and trips to the seaside. By 1938 Charlie had moved a short distance away to 56 Chester Road, St. Pancras and the electoral roll shows him still there a year later with Ada Hyde and her daughter Nelly living at the same address. The following year the war with Germany broke out on 3 September.  One day before, on 2 September, the three Bayliss brothers, Bert, Charlie and Arthur volunteered for the Police Reserve in which Bert and Charlie would serve for the duration of hostilities - Arthur, as we shall see in a later post, resigned from the Police to join the Royal Navy.

Police Constable Charles Henry Bayliss

On 12 April 1941 Charles Henry Bayliss and Nellie Eva Hyde were married at St.Anne's Church, Highgate. The service was conducted by the Rev. Wallace Johnstone and the best man was Charlie's youngest brother, Stanley, looking resplendant in his Irish Guard's uniform. The witnesses were Stanley and Charlie's friend, Edward South.

Wedding Photo : Sons and daughters - Ada, Nellie, Charlie and Esther

Guests at the wedding :  Sadly, I am unfamiliar with more distant relatives of the Hyde family. The lady in the centre of the picture is Nellie's mother, Ada Hyde. Behind her (in uniform) is Best Man Stanley Bayliss, then Left to Right are :Charlie's mother Esther, his brother Arthur, his sister Esther, Arthur's wife Phyllis and Florence Bayliss (Abbott).

Nellie Eva Hyde had been born in West Ham on 16 April 1911 and at the time of her wedding she was living with her mother at 70 Raydon Street, St.Pancras.  On the wedding certificate Charlie's address is also shown at the same address.  Nellie was doing her part in the war effort as her occupation is listed as "Munitions Worker".  At sometime between the wedding and 1945 Charlie and Nellie moved into a flat at St.John's Park Mansions, Pemberton Gardens. These flats were, at the time, considered to be rather "up market". Charlie and Nellie would spend the rest of their lives there. Nellie's mother Ada eventually moved to 4 Bertram Street N19 where she lived until her death in 1952. She is buried in Highgate Cemetery.

At the beginning of the war, Charlie's son Derek, had been evacuated to Somerset and knew nothing of his father's remarriage. For whatever reason the relationship between Derek and his father and step mother deteriorated and eventually Derek returned to Somerset where he lived for the rest of his life becoming a successful business man - there will be more about Derek in a future post.

Charlie and Nellie's son, Christened Peter Melvyn, was born at St.John's Park Mansion on 15 January 1942 and a daughter, Treena Diana, followed on 11 October 1943.

Peter and Treena Bayliss

(My thanks to Treena Bayliss for information included in this post.)

TO BE CONCLUDED SOON.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADRIENNE!

NEW FEATURE

Highgate Hill

I'm pleased to announce a new feature on the blog.  If you look in the right hand column you will see: RESIDENTS OF UPPER HOLLOWAY.  Click on those words and it will take you to a list of streets and flats in Upper Holloway together with the names of known relatives who lived in them. For the sake of completeness I have added a few important streets from adjacent postal areas. The list is, of course, nowhere near complete and will be added to when I get the time or when new information becomes available.  This feature will probably be temporary on THE BAYLISS LINE as I intend it to be the basis of a new family project which will have its own blog, but more of that in the future.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Actor Tim Healy helps Evan  celebrate his 1st Birthay

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVAN!

CHARLES HENRY BAYLISS

Charles Henry Bayliss 1931

Charles Henry Bayliss was born on 3rd October 1909, almost certainly at 149 Fairbridge Road, Upper Holloway.  He appears at that address on the 1911 census as "Chalie" aged one and a half years. Obviously his father, Herbert, who filled out the census form was better at mathematics than he was a spelling his offsprings' names as daughter Ethel appears on the same form as "Heffel".  Pictures of the young Charlie show that he bore a strong resemblance to hisr father. A picture of him as a teenage shows him in fancy dress as a cowboy along with younger brother Arthur (as a Chinaman) and their close friend Mark as a Pearly King.

Arthur Bayliss, friend Mark, Charlie Bayliss

 Mark is worth mentioning here as my mother referred to him as being a sort of "adopted brother" which certainly indicates a certain closeness. He may or not have been the same Mark who was responsible for introducing the young Ernest Harris to Alf Solomons and thus to the Sabini gang as mentioned in previous posts.

• 

  Marjorie Rose Preston

Charlie grew, like his older and younger brothers, to be a good looking young man with a liking for Greyhound racing which he often attended with his siblings at Harringay (later Haringey) Stadium. In 1931, at the age of twenty-two he married Marjorie Rose Preston.  Known as "Madge", Marjorie was born at 116 Tufnell Park Road on 1 November 1911. Her father, Thomas Preston, was a bricklayer whose father had come to London from Hertfordshire, settling first in Chelsea where Thomas and some of his siblings had been born and then moving to Cottenham Road (now Sussex Way) in Islington (where the family may have first met the Bayliss clan) and briefly to 24 Tavistick Terrace before coming to rest in Tufnell Park Road. His wife Rose Preston (formerly Peppitt)is listed  on the 1911 census as a "cigarette maker". Either Thomas died or possibly separated (as I cannot find a death registration for him) before his daughter's marriage to Charlie as just prior to the wedding we find Rose and her mother living at 12 Tavistock Terrace. It is there that the newly weds had their first home. In 1931 they had their first child, a boy whom they named Donald Charles.  Sadly he would only live for a year - the first of many tragedies to befall Charlie during his life. The funeral took place on 15 November 1933 and baby Donald was buried at Islington Cemetery at Finchley.

Tufnell Park Road about the time of Marjorie Rose Preston's birth.

12 Tavistock Terrace, Charlie and Rose's first home and where their sons
Donald and Derek were born.

On 10 November 1934 a second child was born at 12 Tavistock Terrace, another boy whom the couple named Derek Tony.  All seemed well and the family seemed set for a happy life. With a young child they decided it was time to move away from Tavistock Terrace where they shared with Marjorie's mother, Rose and find a home of their own. Like so many of our relatives over the years they gravitated to Pemberton Gardens and in 1936 we find them living at number 42, one of three adjoining houses that seemed to have a special attraction to our family.  Then tragedy struck a second time.  Marjorie was with child again but all did not go well and in mid-October 1936 Marjorie died from complications caused by the pregnancy.  She was buried at Finchley on 26 October.

Derek Tony Bayliss

Obviously I did not know Marjorie, or Madge as she was always referred to in the family, but as I grew up I often heard members of the family talk about her and how popular she was. My mother always said that she had a great sense of humour and, like Charlie, was a very smart dresser. I really don't know much more about Madge but I have recently written to a member of the Peppitts, Madge's mother's family and, hopefully, if they respond (which is not always the case, sadly) we may learn more. I hope also, that now I have a funeral date I may be able to trace Madge's grave.


Coming soon : Part two of this story plus a photo album of pictures!


If you have personal memories of Charles Henry Bayliss that you would like to have included in this story please get them to me ASAP.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO COUSIN TAMAR!

UPDATE

Sorry for the delay in posting a new article. I'm just about to start one on Charles Henry Bayliss - Uncle Charlie  to most of my generation. Hopefully this will appear within the week.

In the articles about my mother I mentioned that her husband - my namesake - had been involved with the fringes of London gangland.  According to my mother he had been a "runner" for a Jewish gangster named Alf Solomons who was a confederate of the notorious Darby Sabini. Often called Charles Sabini, Darby (a nickname that probably referred to him being left-handed) was actually Otavio Sabini and the leader of a gang based in Clerkenwell who preyed on the racetracks in the south of England.  I had only just finished reading a biography of Sabini (a very poorly researched and written one full of silly mistakes and a minimum of good research) when I became aware of the book illustrated above. Brian McDonald's GANGS OF LONDON superbly chronicles the story of London gangland during the first fifty years of the last century and will tell you more about Sabini in a few pages than the earlier book I'd read. The book features some fascinating pictures including one of Sabini as part of a group photo featured on the cover of the book).  Pictures of Darby are scarce although one of my correspondents recently sent me a (I believe) a hitherto unpublishe picture of Darby taken in Brighton towards the end of his life (see below). McDonald's book does have a picture of Alf Solomon as well as more notorious gangsters like Jack Spot, Billy Hill and Albert Dimes. My biggest surprise came in a section on a character called Ruby Sparks where it mentions a new recruit to his gang called...Ernie Harris!  Given Ernest's acknowledged involvement with characters like Solomons, Sabini and Billy Hill, it seems likely that this was indeed my namesake. I can recommend GANGS OF LONDON as a first class piece of research and a very entertaining read.

Darby Sabini, probably in his garden in Brighton, taken in the late 1940's.

Finally, I can now offer photocopies of many of the family documents I possess. More on this soon.