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Bevington Family, Wandsworth Common

Geoffrey Bevington Album: Samuel [brother], Geoffrey, James Buckingham Bevington [father] and grandson [Robert, born c.1862?] , Mrs James Bevington [nee Mary Knox].

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Burke's [?]: Bevington Family

[Burke's ? ]

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The Irish Connection

James Buckingham Bevington, son of Samuel Bevington, married Mary Knox, daughter of John Knox Esq. JP of Rushbrooke, Co Derry, in [date?].

Judging by photographs he took, GB seems to have visited Rushbrooke and other parts of Ireland quite frequently.

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When did the Bevingtons move to Wandsworth?

Presumably some time between 1832 and 1838. They were already here in 1841 (they're named on both the Tithe Apportionment and the Census). Samuel was born in Newington, Surrey, in 1832, but Geoffrey was born in 1838 in Wandsworth. Did they always live in Ivy House?

Did James and then Samuel commute?

Did James and then Samuel commute? Or did they live during the week near Bermondsey, returning to Wandsworth Common at the weekends? The family appears to have had a house in Gracechurch Street.

Geoffrey died at an early age of a heart condition (a disorder of the mitral valve). Was Geoffrey always "delicate"? Did they family move because of his health - Wandsworth Common was considerably more salubrious than Bermondsey?

Birth registration

Geoffrey Bevington: July Quarter 1838, Wandsworth, Surrey [England & Wales Births 1837-2006]

1841 Census

St Anne's Lane [is there any further info e.g. that can be deduced from neighbouring houses?]

James Bevington, 35, Leather [?], born Surrey.

Mary Bevington, 35, born outside of Surrey.

Geoffrey Bevington, Male, 5, Surrey, England [His name is added some pages after the rest of family.]

[Thomas Usmar's school] New Lane, Croydon, Surrey, England

Samuel Bevington, aged 10, is a pupil at Thomas Usmar's school.

[Note that a "Sarah Bevington, Schoolmistress, aged 40, married" is listed immediately after Thomas Usmar, Schoolmaster. Also that there are two boys surnamed Coventry, Samuel, 11, and Edward, 8, at the school. In 1841 the Coventry family were living in St John's Hill, Battersea, not far from the Bevingtons. By 1851 Thomas Usmar's school had moved from Croydon to Epping, Essex - Geoffrey Bevington and two different Coventry boys are pupils.]

1848: Death of Samuel Bevington [senior, i.e. grandfather of GB]

Dec 19. At Wandsworth Common, aged 75, Samuel Bevington, esq. late of Neckinger Mills, Bermondsey.

The Gentleman's Magazine, vol 183.

1851 Census

Address?

James B Bevington, Head, Married, Male, 46, Manufacturer of Leather, born Bermondsey, Surrey, England.

Mary Bevington, Wife, Married, Female 47, born Ireland.

Samuel B Bevington, Son, Unmarried, Male, 18, Student at Kings College, born Surrey, England.

Esther Battell, Servant, Unmarried, Female, 23, House Servant, born Croydon, Surrey, England.

Elizabeth Chapman, Servant Unmarried, Female, 18, House Servant, born Wandsworth, Surrey, England.

Usmor [Usmar?] and Hunter's Boarding School, Epping Town, Essex, England

Geoffrey Bevington, Male, 12, Scholar At Usmor And Hunter's Boarding School, born Wandsworth, Surrey.

[Note: Only 20 or so pupils, aged 8 - 15, of whom two (Arthur and Millis [?] Coventry) were also born Wandsworth. ]
[Notice also the family of Henry P Bevington, Manufacturer of Leather, living at 3, Brunswick Square, St Giles Camberwell, Camberwell, Surrey. James Buckingham Bevington's brother?]

Passport application, 1860

Geoffrey Bevington's photograph album contains a number of photographs from ?Switzerland [check where].

[Bevingtons listed as having acquired passports in 1860 were Geoffrey, Henry, Samuel, John.]

1861 Census?

1871 Census: James and Mary Bevington, Geoffrey Bevington et al

Ivy House, Wandsworth All Saints, London.

James B. Bevington, Head, 66, 1805, Male, born Bermondsey, Surrey, England

Mary Bevington, Wife, 67, 1804, Female, born Aghady, Antrim, Northern Ireland

Geoffrey Bevington, Son, 32, 1839, Male, Dividend Holder, born Wandsworth, Surrey, England

Cecilia [?] Knox, Visitor, 27, 1844, Female, Retired Officer's Daughter, born Agivley, Antrim, Northern Ireland

Sarah Dudman, Servant, 27, 1844, Female, born Lengusham [?], Sussex, England

Charlotte Griffin, Servant, 37, 1834, Female, born Coley, Gloucestershire, England

Margaret Pullen, Servant, 19, 1852, Female, born Lurgusham [?], Sussex, England

[Source: Ancestry: 1871 England Census, Geoffrey Bevington.]
[Ivy House listed is between "Agnes's Cottage, Allfarthing Lane", and "6 Agnes Cottage".]

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The Elms, Bromley [Kent].

Add SBB's family info.

The four children, aged 3 to 9 years, were all born in Wandsworth, presumably at Ivy House.

Shirley Pasmore mentions a Mr Bevington JP who chaired meetings to defend Wandsworth Common against sales of land by Earl Spencer in 1870. I assume this is James Buckingham Bevington, GP's father, rather than Samuel Bevingtn, his son. Was he antagonistic to the radical John Charles Buckmaster?

Plough Green

An attempt at around 1850 to remove fences around Plough Green had resulted in a court ruling that there was a public footpath. After a second attempt, and another court case, Mr Justice Bovill ruled that because no defined path could be seen a plea of free user could not be established. On Appeal, also lost, the ruling was that since the railway had cut the track it had lost continuity and therefore no longer existed.

It was some 20 years later, on 13th April 187, that there was a very determined public effort to remove the fences [PB: still Plough Green, or elsewhere on the Common?]. It was a splendid affair with bands and cheering crowds. The 'stir and tumult continued until dusk' (Mid Surrey Gazette).

In the evening of this eventful day, a crowded public meeting was held in the Spread Eagle. Chaired by a Mr Bevington JP and supported by the fund-raising committees. However, Mr Bevington was of the opinion that the kind of activity at Plough Green [?] was not considered the best way forward.

This meeting had two aims, to get wider public interest and to raise more money. Battersea had already contributed liberally to the Defence Fund but Wandsworth was lagging behind. Buckmaster gave an impassioned speech.

A Wandsworth sub-committee was formed. Mr Du Buisson, active for and generous to the Fund from the start, now offered a further £100 and the use of his house for committee meetings. However, even with the evening's takings of £478, the Fund only stood at £909.7s.6d. A public meeting in Putney raised a further £180.

[Source: Shirley Pasmore, "Wandsworth Common: Origins, Enclosures, Fight to Save, Management, Legal Protection" (2010), p.5. Duplicated document.]

Death registration

Geoffrey Bevington, ?

[GB died 31 October 1872.]

Death certificate, Geoffrey Bevington

Geoffrey Bevington, Death Certificate, 1872

Died 31st October 1872 at Ivy House, Wandsworth Common, aged 34 years. Son of James Buckingham Bevington a Justice of the Peace. Cause of death: Vascular disease of Heart (mitral) some years certified. L? J Dudman present at the death Ivy House Wandsworth Common. Registered 2nd November 1872.

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It seems likely that Geoffrey Bevington's chronic heart condition may have shaped his life from a very early age, although it did not prevent him from travelling in Britain and Ireland, and to the Continent. His mother died in the following year.