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Alfred George Woodhurst was born on October 2nd 1884 to parents Walter Charles Woodhurst and his wife Julia Caroline (nee) Perry. His GRO birth reference is [Birth Index: Hackney 1b 602, 1884 (Dec)]. He was christened at St. John's Church in Hackney on October 26th, and his parents were then living at 4, London Place, London Fields in Hackney [LMA: Film X043 / 005, Baptism Record 2509].
In 1891 he was living at age 6 with his parents and siblings at 1, Annie's Cottages, Crescent Road in Leyton [UK Census 1891].
The 1901 Census finds him living with his parents at 34A, Ringwood in Walthamstow, misspelling their surname as "Willis". He was occupied as a "leather clicker", probably pertaining to the boot-making trade.
He married Lilian Maud Joyce in 1907. The marriage certificate [Marriage Index: W. Ham 4a 147, 1907 (Dec)] states that they married at All Saints Church in Leyton on October 27th 1907; their address was 87, Beaumont Road in Leyton; Alfred George is described as a bachelor and labourer aged 23, and Lilian Maud as a spinster aged 21. His father was a bootmaker and hers, Thomas Joyce, a deceased labourer. The witnesses were Walter Charles, Lilian's youngest sister Eva W. Joyce and Lilian's older brother Albert E. Joyce.
Lilian Maud was born in Bromley (Bromley-by-Bow in Poplar) around 1886. Her mother, Clara Matilda (nee) Hewson, was born in Deptford around 1864 and married Thomas Joyce around early 1884 [Marriage Index: Mile End 1c 774, 1884 (March)]. The 1881 Census finds Clara, with her younger sister Florence, as a visitor at 31, Bushberry Road, Hackney in the household of a Walter H. Oliver and described as an unemployed domestic servant aged 17. The 1891 Census finds Clara at age 27 with her four children - including Lilian - living at 113, Bridge Street, Mile End Old Town, living in the household of an unmarried labourer Henry W. Shepherd, also aged 27. The record describes her as married but omits her status in relation to Henry. It is not yet known what had become of her husband Thomas. The 1901 Census finds Clara and Henry with several children at 42, Wansbeck Road in Bow, he being occupied as a bricklayer's labourer. Lilian Maud was not among them - instead she was working as a servant at 68-70, Mildmay Park in Islington, giving her surname as Shepherd. This property is annotated "Pennefather's Home" on the census schedule, a reference to Rev. William Pennefather - former Rector of St. Jude's in Mildmay Park - who had been a major social reformer in the East End and had lived at Mildmay Park, possibly in this same house.
A descendant reports the following. Clara continued living with Henry W. Shepherd and produced by him a son Sidney Christopher Shepherd [Birth Index: West Ham 4a 410, 1908 (June)], born on April 19th 1908. This son married Mabel Rebecca Hicks on February 9th 1946 at Christ Church, St. Mary's Wanstead [Marriage Index: Essex SW 4a 463, 1946 (March)]. Seven years after Sidney's birth, Clara and Henry married [Marriage Index: W. Ham 4a 983, 1915 (Sept)]. Alfred George and Lilian Maud lived at Oakdale Road in Leytonstone and produced three children, but separated in the early 1930s. Alfred George then took a new partner in Oakdale Road, but it is not known whether he produced any further children.
In 1933, when his son Christopher Frederick married, Alfred George was occupied as a stone-mason's labourer.
He died in 1952, following the discovery at Whipps Cross Hospital that he had inoperable cancer. The death certificate [Death Index: Essex S.W. 5a 197, 1952 (March)] describes him as aged 67 and occupied as a furniture remover's warehouseman. He died at 1, Brewster Road in Leyton, Essex on February 25th 1952. The cause of death was certified as "1(a) carcinoma of stomach". The informant, present at the death, was his sister-in-law M.E. Woodhurst of the same address, that is, the wife Maud Edna of his brother Sydney Arthur. She registered the death on February 26th.
Lilian Maud died in 1960 aged 74 [Death Index: Essex S.W. 5a 169, 1960 (Dec)].