Charles Ascot Tivey & Louisa Blunt - 2xgreat-grandparents
Charles Ascot Tivey was born in 1873 in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire. Soon after his birth his father, tailor Francis Tivey, abandoned his family and moved to Lancashire, where he cohabited with Mary Ann Palmer and started a new family. Francis moved to the United States in around 1883 and settled in Hartford, Connecticut where he died in 1899. Charles and his siblings were thereafter raised by their mother Lucretia (née Brown), the daughter of a London businessman, who supported them by working as a tailoress - a skill she'd most likely learnt from her estranged husband.
Louisa Blunt was born on 17 November 1878 in Westminster, London. Her parents were fishmonger Francis "Frank" Blunt, from a Northamptonshire shoemaking family, and her mother was Margaret "Maggie" Brennan, the laundress daughter of Irish immigrants. In 1882, Frank died aged just 24, and Maggie did not cope well. She turned to alcoholism, and was first brought to police attention for drunk and disorderly conduct in 1883, and in the 1890s she made national papers for reaching her 150th court appearance. Louisa was raised in Walthamstow Orphanage in Essex. After receiving an education there she moved to Hammersmith in London to work as a servant.
Charles and Louisa married in 1901 in St. Pancras. They lived there for the next ten years, before moving to Russell Road, Walton-on-Thames, where they remained for the rest of their lives. They were joined there by Charles's mother Lucretia, who died in 1919. Their daughter Agnes lived with them until her marriage in 1955, and their daughter May remained with her mother until her own death.
Charles died in 1954 aged 80; after May's death in 1966 Louisa spent time in hospital in Hertfordshire and then moved to a different home in Walton-on-Thames where she died in June 1971 aged 92.
1900s Charles and Louisa married a few months into the Edwardian era, in Autumn 1901 in St. Pancras, London. On 16 June the following year, their first child was born. Victor Charles was christened on 2 July in Camden. He was born severely disabled, which was generally kept very private during this time. Relatives later recalled that Victor was rarely spoken about. This was not at all unusual when considering the time period. On 10 May 1904 their daughter May Louisa was born. She was christened on 8 January 1905, named after the month of her birth and her mother. Intriguingly, May was both born and christened in Walton-on-Thames, whilst the family still lived in St. Pancras, not to move to Surrey for about eight years. Back in St. Pancras, the third child was born on 24 October 1906. Isabel was sometimes known as Bel. She was followed on 5 May 1908 by the third daughter, Irene, or 'Rene'. The fourth daughter, also born in early May - 7 May 1910 - was Jessie, the last child before the family's move.
1910s In about 1912, the family moved to Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. The year 1912 is suggested as the 1911 census shows them still living in St. Pancras, and their daughter born in 1913 was born in Walton-on-Thames. The family settled in 49 Russell Road, and remained there for over fifty years. Their final daughter was born on 28 February 1913, Agnes Elizabeth, also known as Aggie. The following year, the First World War began. Already past forty, Charles was initially too old to sign up (the government, desperate for numbers, later changed the age standards but Charles never fought). The family was still affected by the war though: May was having an operation for meningitis,when the air-raid siren called. The surgeon ducked immediately, inadvertently dragging his knife and cutting May's face. She was permanently deformed and remained living with her parents, having difficulty speaking. On 26 February 1915, two days before Aggie's second birthday, their final child was born: Philip Ascot Tivey (Phil). Around this time, Lucretia came to live with Charles and Louisa. She was in her early eighties and had previously been living in Nottingham with Rene Chavasse. She moved in to spend her final years with her son Charles, her youngest child and the one she had spent the most time with previously. Shortly before the end of the War, the tragedy of it impacted the family greatly. Charles's nephew Percy Chavasse, who had lived with Charles and Lucretia since being a young boy, was fatally wounded on the Western Front on 8 October, aged 28. The news must have distressed the family back at home, particularly for Lucretia, who had done her best for her orphaned grandson. She died just a few months later, on 4 January 1919, aged 86. She was buried in St. Mary's in Walton-on-Thames.
1920s The family was not spared from further tragedy. In the Summer of 1921, the family were picnicking in Watford, Hertfordshire. In a freak accident, Victor drowned, ending his life at just nineteen. The loss of their eldest son would have been devastating. As he was disabled and so often excluded from discussion or reminiscence, the loss would have been greater for the grieving parents - sometimes it must have felt as though he had never existed. Throughout the 1920s, the Tivey girls grew into dark beauties, with very dark hair and eyes and olive complexions. In the summer of 1928, Rene Tivey, twenty years old and unmarried, gave birth to an illegitimate son - Charles and Louisa's first grandchild. He was named Antony Wyatt Tivey, known as Tony. At this time there was still significant social pressure against illegitimacy, and it would have been difficult for Rene to raise him alone. Louisa stepped in and adopted her grandson, raising him as her own. She and Charles were in their fifties, but there would have been help in the home, as all their children were still living with them. In August 1929, their daughter Bel married telephone engineer George William Huckstepp in Walton-on-Thames. All the Tivey family attended.
1930s In July 1930, Bel and George had their first daughter, Joan. This was Charles and Louisa's first granddaughter. In late 1931, their daughter Jessie became pregnant, unmarried. Charles and Louisa knew the issues involved in illegitimacy - they were raising Tony - and pressured Jessie to get married to the baby's father, Herbert George Smith. Jessie and Herbert married on 23 January 1932, and four days later their son Patrick was born. The following year, Rene married Bill Gregory, a former Army Captain. They had no children together, and Rene did not raise Tony even though she was now married. Instead, she and Bill ran the Red Lion public house in Uxbridge. In late 1934, Bel and George had another daughter, Georgina. Phil became an engineer, flying around the world and investigating the causes of jet-plane (a new invention) crashes. Around the start of the Second World War he was working in India.
1940s In 1940 Phil married Betty Blanchette, the daughter of an Anglo-Saxon father and a native Indian mother. The following year, they had a daughter, Gillian, born on 10 December. It was decided that with the growing tensions of the War, and rising threats in the area, the only safe option for the young family was to return to England. They booked a ship back home, but the chance arose to board a flying ship and return sooner. They took the chance - and tragedy struck. On 29 December, they were bombed at sea off Sumatra. Betty, twenty-one years old, and newborn Gillian perished. Phil managed to survive and later returned to England, a widower in his mid-twenties. Back at home, Charles and Louisa took on billeted soldiers from Canada and the USA during the War, providing them lodgings. The home would still have been fairly bustling: daughters May and Aggie still lived there, and grandson Tony. In June 1942, Jessie and Herbert had their second child, a daughter named Jennifer. After the end of the War, Phil managed to recover from his tragic losses, and in 1946 he married Kathleen Curtis in the New Forest. The following year, he and Kay had a daughter, named Jane. She was Charles and Louisa's final grandchild.
1950s In the summer of 1954, Charles died aged eighty. He and Louisa had been married for over fifty years and had two children still living at home, one who had passed away, and six grandchildren. Charles's artworks remained in the family for some time but only his self-portrait is known to be still in the family today. The following year, Aggie married for the first time, aged 41. Her husband, Alfred Percival Stratford, was a widower aged almost sixty with two adult sons. They married and settled in Watford, where Alfred lived. It was coincidental that this is were Victor had died thirty years previously. In the summer of 1955, granddaughter Joan married Edward Newcombe in Walton-on-Thames. In December of that year, grandson Patrick married Nadine Whittle in Twickenham. The following year, grandson Tony married Peggy Ridsdale, and they lived in East Molesey. In 1957, daughter Jessie and her husband Herbert migrated to New South Wales, Australia, with their daughter Jennifer, settling in Orange. Later that year, Patrick and his wife Nadine followed, living on the South Coast. In 1958, her eightieth year, Louisa became a great-grandmother. Patrick and Nadine had a daughter, Debbie. A year later, Tony and Peggy had a son, Roger.
1960s Louisa's progeny continuously expanded in her later years. In 1961 granddaughter Gina married Jacobus Vandenberg in Sydney, Australia, however they lived in Surrey. They had Maria, Michael and Jacqueline. Meanwhile, Joan and Edward Newcombe had Richard, Joanne and Suzanne. Tony and Peggy Tivey had their second son and final child, Colin. Pat and Nadine Smith had their second and final child, Craig. Jennifer and Ferdinand had their first child, Warwick. However, in May 1966, Louisa's daughter May died aged 62. She was the final child who remained living with her mother, and her early death left Louisa alone for the first time since her marriage. The following year another death befell the family with Aggie's husband Alfred Stratford dying aged seventy. Aggie would remarry seven years later to Walter Savage.
1970s Before she died, Louisa gained further great-grandchildren: Jack and Gina had Isabel and Ian; Jennifer and Ferdi had Heidi. In January 1971 Phil married for the third and final time, to Rosemary Dyer. They had met whilst both working at Heathrow Airport. Several months later, in June 1971, Louisa died aged 92. She had spent seventy years as a loving and much-loved member of the Tivey family, a stark contrast from her difficult upbringing in Walthamstow orphanage. Nan Tivey is fondly remembered today, by the myriad of descendants who came through the doors of 49 Russell Road.
Many thanks to Charles and Louisa's great-nephew Jack Tivey, of Cheshire, for this photo of them in their Russell Road garden.