George William HURLOCK (1802-1886)

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage

Individual Note 1

Notes by Sandra Hurlock:

"The fourth surviving son of "Cutaway Mike" and Sarah was born in 1802. Having a well-known father and son (William) has made it difficult to get information on George's life.

"According to family information, at the age of 23 he made a runaway marriage with Charlotte, the daughter of a wealthy city man. Charlotte Hodsell was the duaghter of Thomas Hodsell (Hodsoll?) whose family seems to have been connected with one of the old City banks. She had been baptised at St. Botolph Bishopsgate in 1802 and although she was therefore "of full age" when she married in 1825, it was said that she defied her parents in so doing. Nonetheless, two of her relatives attended the marriage at St. Pancras Church as witnesses - William, probably a younger brother, and Isabella Hodsoll.

"It is not known where George and Charlotte began married life. In 1828 two daughters were christened Charlotte and Sophia at St. Leonard's, and on this occasion George gave his occupation as "Shoemaker" (it seems probable that both girls died before 1841 since they do not appear on that census and on-one in the later family seemed to have heard of them). George Edmund was born in April 1830 and was also christened at St. Leonard's, when George Senior declared himself "Fishmonger", maybe working with one of his brothers. George Edmund usually gave his place of birth as Hackney, although he once gave it as Hoxton.

"Sometime during the next four years the family crossed the Thames and went to live in Deptford, then still virtually a riverside township, separated from London by marshes. This was very puzzling to the author for a long time. The first civil document she found connected with George - the marriage certificate of George Edmund (1856) showed George Senior as "Police Constable". This prompted a series of enquiries to the River, City and Metropolitan Police forces, but despite their thorough investigations George's assertion remained unsupported by other evidence until the family was discovered on the 1851 census at 7 Nelson Street, Deptford. It was a very dark copy and after the word "Policeman" in George's occupation slot could just be discovered, in brackets "Rail". He wasn't listed with the family on the 1841 census, perhaps because he was working nights?? This return showed George Junior aged 11, three of the children born in Deptford - Thomas, Emily and William, plus a child of three years named Maria, with n.k. where her surname should have been. She may have been a "Nurse Child" but both film and copy are too faint to be deciphered with any confidence. She was no longer with them by 1851.

"The authorities seem to agree that it is extremely difficult to find reconds of early railway staff of any kind and that to do so it is essential to know the name of the Railway Company that employed them. Since no-one this century even seemed to have heard about this police occupation of George's it seemed that an educated guess would have to be the only starting point. There must have been a very good reason for George to remove himself and young family from the Hurlock network in the Shoreditch area and cross the River to live in a dockyard township: finding a better kind of employment seemed the most likely one.

"Bibliographies of railway history and a study of maps of South London helped to reduce the possibilities somewhat. It was found that in 1833 permission had been given for a railway to be built between Greenwich and London to carry both freight and passengers. The work of actually building it began in 1834 and the first section to be laid ran about two miles, from Bermondsey to Deptford. When it was officially opened in December 1836, the London and Greenwich was the first passenger railway to run into London, eventually terminating at London Bridge. At the start the Company employed thirty policemen (whose duties included the rudimentary signalling used in the very early days) but over the years this number reduced to a very few. Unfortunately, although not unexpectedly, only two or three names of policemen appear in the Minutes of the Company during a period of thirty years and none of these was George. Therefore the author has sadly to declare total ignorance of George's police work with the railway.

"George and some of the family were still at 7 Nelson Street in 1852 but had gone from there by 1861. In March 1864, on the marriage of the youngest son William, George have his occupation as "Clothier", which must have meant that by then he was working with William at the Walworth Road shops. In 1871, he and Charlotte were certainly living in Walworth Road in a household which included on census night at least, William, the then unmarried daughter Charlotte, Emily's daughter Emily C. Williams and Emily's future husband, James Carpenter."

If Charlotte's background was as superior as legend has it, she must have had to suffer materially in the cause of romance and no doubt at times felt that she had sacrificed too much. She died in 1882 at St. Albans, aged 73. It seems as though George then moved to live with his youngest daughter, Charlotte Catherine, and her husband Henry White, in Stockwell, since although George also died at St. Albans, upon probate of his will being granted in 1886, he was said to be "formerly of St. Albans... but late of... Stockwell"

Individual Note 2

Some census details:

the 1851 census shows that the family is still living at 165 Nelson Street, St. Paul, Deptford. George is a "Policeman (Rail)". He and Charlotte are with their children Emily (aged 14 and a dressmaker's assistant/apprentice?), William (aged 11) and Charlotte (aged 6).

The 1861 census gives George still as Railway Constable. In the house at the time of the census were his wife and two daughters Emily (aged 23) and Charlotte (aged 16)