James George Hubert

  General Notes:

Battersea Painting (above) The painting shows a Thames waterman and the church of Jame's children's baptisms. "Battersea Bridge, St Mary's Church and the curious old Windmill, from a print of about 1840, first published in "Curiosities of Great Britain, England and Wales Delineated", by Thomas Dugdale. The colouring is modern. Battersea wooden bridge was constructed 1771-1772 to Henry Holland's original design and made famous by Whistler's Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge , 1872-77 now in the Tate Britain. It was black spot for river transport with cargo boats regularly colliding with the bridge at night or in fog. Replaced 1886-1890 with the current Battersea Bridge to Sir Joseph Bazalgette's design of cast-iron arches" - http://www.milsom.info/Battersea/

  Chronology:

He worked as a Barge Builder opposite the Nine Elms Public House 1817 to 1834 and resided at Nine Elms Lane, Battersea, Surrey. ⁸

In the 1822 Pigott's London Directory an entry appears for "Hubert Jas, Nine Elms, Battersea" under the Boat and Barge Builders section.This is almost certainly either our James George (then about 28) or possibly his father James about whom we know very little. From the 1827 Greenwood map of this area we can see that the area consisted of only a few buildings along Nine Elms Lane running just south of the river between Battersea and Vauxhaull.

We could safely assume that James' business was one of the buildings shown on the 1827 map. Considering the type of business, it was probably on the river side and from the 1841 census it seems to have been towards the middle of the lane.

The following is from the Vauxhall Society web site - "Nine Elms got its name, around 1645, from a row of trees bordering the road. This area was a low swampy district, which was prone to flooding and had some windmills and some willow beds. Despite this the area soon became an industrial area with docks for wood and timber companies lining the riverbanks and brewing, lime kilns, potteries lining the road. The Southampton and London Railway Company opened its London Terminus at Nine Elms in 1838. The line was extended to Waterloo in 1848, by means of 290 brick arches, and the Nine Elms station was closed but the site became a huge railway yard. Gasworks were established in 1853, close to some existing waterworks (South Lambeth Waterworks Co - see Vauxhall Water Co) which later became the site of Battersea Power Station. In 1974 the New Covent Garden Market opened, and other derelict land became part of the current industrial park.".
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He worked as a Barge Builder in 1826 and resided at Nine Elms, Surrey. ¹¹

In 1841 he was still at Nine Elms Lane, Battersea, Surrey with his wife and seven of their children. His eldest son, also James, had married and was now a Shipwright in Ipswich where the rest of the family was to move in the 1850s. Son Charles was recorded as an Engineer. ^{12 13}

In 1851 he was still in Nine Elms, Surrey. At home was his daughter Elizabeth, 30 and a School Mistress, William, a Lighterman, Samuel, an Instrument Maker and Ann still at school. Next door was son George, also a Barge Builder, with his wife and daughter (it is worth noting that George's wife Leonora was born in Ipswich).

James' wife Elizabeth died in 1856 at Wyck's Bishop Road, Ipswich so it likely that the family moved there from Battersea sometime after the 1851 census. By the mid-1850s he would have been over 60 so this may have been some form of retirement, possibly encouraged by the massive changes in the Nine Elms area since the arrival of the railway. ¹⁴

In 1861 he was living at Trinity Street, Ipswich with daughter Elizabeth.Elizabeth was 42 and unmarried and had possibly given up her job as School Mistress to care for her widower father. His name on this census is incorrectly shown as "George J". His occupation is Barge Builder. During the 1850s various certificates had given his occupation as Shipwright.

The 1887 map shows Trinity Street and Duke Strret where his son James lived in 1841. Other addresses associated with the family have been a bit more difficult to locate especially as most streets in the area have disappeared as a result of the recent docklands development. All the same, by referring to the descriptions of various census districts and noting the proximity to known streets it seems that Wycks Bishop Street and New Street were in this same area. ^{15 16}

In 1871 he was living at 4 New St "in yard", Ipswich with daughter Elizabeth and widowed daughter Ann Lucas. He described himself as a Shipwright ¹⁷

James married Elizabeth Head, daughter of Charles Head and Sarah Fowler, on 22 Apr 1815 in St Mary, Battersea.¹ (Elizabeth Head was born Cal 1797 in Lingfield, Surrey ^{18 19 20}, christened on 3 Jan 1797 in Lingfield, Surrey ²¹ and died on 20 Oct 1856 in Wycks Bishop St, St Clements, Ipswich ^{22 23 24}.)

  Marriage Notes:

Witnessess: James Head and Joseph Abberley Poh(?) - Clerk