Elijah Whittle was born on 21 December 1839 in Stanstead, Suffolk, and christened there on 12 April 1840. His parents were labourer Samuel Whittle and Elizabeth Boreham, from Brockley. Samuel died in 1853 when Elijah was only thirteen, and the following year his mother remarried to John Ablitt.
Sarah Ann Bruce was born in 1839 in Lawshall, Suffolk. Her father was Thomas Bruce, a factory labourer and mat maker, and her mother was Rebecca Alderton, a soldier's daughter who later worked as a charwoman, seamstress and monthly nurse. Elijah and Sarah married in 1859 in Sudbury, Suffolk. They had twelve children, of whom nine survived. Elijah was a carman, first working for a mill, then later an agricultural lab0urer. In 1859 Elijah was charged with stealing a plough spud; in 1866 he was summoned by Inspector Ginn for riding on the shafts of a waggon drawn by four horses, not having reins to guide the same, on the turnpike road, at Slelford, on the 24th, and fined ls. and costs.
Elijah and Sarah lived in Glemsford until 1869, when they moved to Wandsworth, where Elijah's mother died that year. They moved to Putney in about 1874, Kew in about 1878 and Mortlake in about 1880. Their granddaughter Doris Rosewell said that Elijah moved to Weybridge from Cambridge in 1888 to help build the roads, with his eleven-year-old son George, on horse and cart.
In the 1890s Elijah and Sarah moved to Walton-on-Thames, where Elijah worked as a labourer and carman. In the early 1900s they moved to Sandycombe Road, Richmond. Sarah's mother Rebecca then left Richmond Union Workhouse where she had been since the 1880s, and moved in next door to them. She died in 1905 aged 83. Several of their children lived in Sandycombe Road, which is also where their son-in-law James Hickey ran his successful boiler-making business.
Sarah died in 1909 aged seventy, just four years after her mother; Elijah remarried in 1914 aged 75 to a widow, Emma Trebett. Elijah died in Brentford aged 78 and was buried in Richmond Cemetery on 23 February 1918 - his burial is recorded as "Elizah" and inexplicably described as a female. Emma died aged 72 and was buried in Richmond on 4 May 1928.
Children: Anna Maria Whittle (1860-1860) Susannah Whittle (1862-?) Rebecca Whittle (1864-1948) Eliza Whittle (1866-1944) Thomas Whittle (1868-1928) Jane Maria Whittle (1869-1871) Kate Whittle (c1871-?) James Whittle (1873-1961) Ada Elizabeth Whittle (1875-?) George Whittle(1877-1966) Sarah Ann Whittle (1879-?)
First Cousins of Elijah Whittle
Mary Ann Playle (1821-1867), m. Robert Thompson.
Samuel Playle (1823-1913), carpenter, m. Elizabeth Bennet (c1821-?); lived in North Finchley.
Thomas Playle (1826-?), wheelwright & railway coachmaker, m. (1) Maria Pratt (c1830-1868), 4 children; m. (2) Elizabeth (c1826-?); lived in Stoke Ferry, then Faversham, then Northwold.
Betsy Playle (1828-?), m. James Rickard.
William Playle (1830-1910), tailor & tailor's cutter, m. Hephzibah Springfield (c1834-1904), 5 children; lived in Deptford then Carbrooke.
James Playle (1832-1913), wheelwright, m. Ellen Rowan; lived in Carbrooke.
Henry Playle (1834-1915), m. Elizabeth Howlett.
Edward Playle (1836-1915), bath keeper at a cottage hospital & carpenter, m. (1) Louisa Royal (c1839-?), 1 child; m. (2) Ann (c1833-?); lived in Boston, Lincolnshire.
John Playle (1838-1928), silk buyer & draper + furrier, m. (1) Annie Elizabeth Powley (c1830-1882), 1 child; m. (2) Mary Emma Cummings (1839-1937), fancy draper, no children; lived in Glasgow then Cheltenham.
Arthur Howard Playle (1840-1920), m. Ann Cox (1839-1893); lived in East Dereham then Wellington, New Zealand.
Frederick Playle (1842-1917), lace merchant & tailor's cutter, m. Ellen Child (c1838-?), 5 children; lived in Regent Park then Finchley.
Eliza Playle (1844-1845)
First Cousins of Sarah Ann Bruce
Alfred Mortlock (c1844-?), agricultural labourer, m. Sarah Ann Armstrong (1846-1904), 7 children; lived in Shimpling.
George Mortlock (1845-1909), agricultural labourer, m. Alice Stutters (1854-1927), silk winder; lived in Sudbury.
Ellen Mortlock (c1848-?)
Elizabeth Mortlock (c1850-?)
Samuel Mortlock (c1852-?)
Matilda Mortlock (1854-?)
Emma Mortlock (c1858-?), horse hair weaver.
Walter Mortlock (c1860-?)
Jane Mortlock (c1863-?)
Emma Bruce (1857-1862)
Lucy Bruce (1859-1864)
George Albert Bruce (1863-1930), butcher's assistant & sub-postmaster, m. Elizabeth Mary Lorking (1864-?), 8 children; lived in Sudbury.
Laura Kate Bruce (1872-1954), m. Henry Musk (c1864-?), 5 children; lived in Thingoe.