A prosperous undertaking
by Robin Gill
Charles James Paine was born in Iden a small village about 2 ½ miles north of Rye in East Sussex. He was baptised at All Saints Church on 6th December 1846, the third son of William (a builder /carpenter) and Eliza (nee Wood). The other children were in order of age; Thomas Henry bapt 4th June 1843, William Edward bapt 20th April 1845, Edwin bapt 19th November 1848, Eliza bapt 3rd March 1850, Sally(ie) Coleman bapt 28th November 1852, Ellen bapt 19th November 1854, and Emily bapt 11th July 1858. All in Iden.
Charles married Mary Ann Hall on 21st August 1869 at St Peters Church in Norbiton. It is stated that they were both living in Washington Road at the time of the marriage, and I suspect that this may have been at the property of Charles’ elder brother William whose first two children had been born in Norbiton in 1870/1.
(William and family moved to Lewisham in 1871, and then Lee in Kent, before emigrating to Australia). In Lee he was living only a few doors away from his (and Charles’) father in Ronver Road.
Mary Ann was born in Icklesham in Sussex in 1853, but during the 1861 census taken 7th April, she was staying with her grandfather James Hall in Iden. She was 9 years old and Charles living a few doors down was 14, and they married just over 8 years later.
Growing Paines
Charles and Mary Ann set up home in Burritt Road, about ½ mile from their original address in Norbiton, and their first five children were born there firstly Frederick William on 4th April 1870, followed by Bryan Charles Sargant in 1872, Eliza Maria in 1874, Mabel Sargant in 1876, and Patrick Harold in 1879. The family had moved to Longfellow Road in Worcester Park by the time of the 1881 census on 3rd April. Here were born Martin Michael in 1881, Ida Kate in 1883, and Charles Philip in 1886. The last move to New Malden happened around 1886 when William Edwin was born, also born in Malden were Dennis Flynn in 1890, Gladys Ethel in 1892, and Cecil George in 1894.
As can be seen from the above Frederick was the eldest of twelve children not eleven as stated in official records. This has been confirmed in the obituary of Charles Paine (Surrey Comet Sept 22nd 1894) “leaves a wife and twelve children”. I think the problem may have arisen with the eleventh child Gladys Ethel who died 9th February 1896 at Station Terrace, Coombe Road, New Malden aged 4. Although she is mentioned on the memorial stone (C2625) of her father and mother (and brother Frederick), she was buried in a separate plot (C 2597) in Kingston Cemetery.
The first mention I have found of Charles James Paine in business dates from 15th March 1882 when his (Building) partnership with James Hopkins is dissolved. It does not state when the partnership began, but there is a James Hopkins living next door to Charles Paine (Longfellow Road) in 1881 as a carpenter aged 36, so this is probably our man. It is stated that Charles is to continue the business on his own account. (London Gazette 21st March 1882 page 1297).
It declares on Paine’s headed notepaper that the business was founded in 1884. In that year, the family were still in Worcester Park, and didn’t move to New Malden until 1886. In that year (1886) on 21st April Charles Paine petitioned for bankruptcy. His address was given as Longfellow Road Worcester Park, Worcester Park Station, and New Malden, and his occupation was described as a builder and blacksmith. (London Gazette April 30th 1886), although he was trading in Malden as a furniture dealer and ironmonger. He duly had his meeting (14th May) at the Griffin Hotel in Kingston where he was assessed, and the bankruptcy order was given 4 days later. His court hearing was fixed for 4th March 1887. He was not released from his bankruptcy until 27th November 1889.
A thriving business
This explains why the business operated from Station Terrace in New Malden from 1887 was under the name of Mrs Mary Paine or M Paine: Ironmonger and furniture dealer. This was the trading name of the business until 1905, when the name becomes M Paine & Son. This name continues until 1909 when it becomes Frederick Wm Paine Undertaker after being sold by Mary Ann. The upholstery side of the concern was sold to her assistant Walter Ebenezer Ball who continued to trade from 16 Coombe Road (now Sopranos) for many years. The furniture was sold by auction by Townley & Co of St Andrews Square, Surbiton. It looks as though as soon as Frederick was involved on a regular basis, he started pushing the undertaking side of the business.
The first funeral I can find conducted by Paines, was for Cyril Gordon Stephens aged 6 months of Chestnut Grove New Malden. The burial at Kingston Cemetery took place on 23rd May 1890.
The first local undertaker in the New Malden area seems to have been John Francis Povey a cabinet maker of Chestnut Grove who carried out his first funeral on 20th November 1882 with the burial of Helen Bedford who had lived in the next-door property. Povey’s father (Francis de L’Homme de Lille Povey to give his full name) was also an undertaker in Westminster where John was born. Life may have been confusing in the Westminster Povey household as both John ‘s parents were called Francis/Frances and his brother and sister were also Francis/Frances. The family originated from Martinique a French governed island in the Caribbean.
Prior to Povey, funerals in New Malden seem to have been carried out by various firms, mostly Farebrothers. Povey, then in Coombe Road (Station Terrace) close to the station, conducted his last funeral in April 1891, and it is only after this date that Paines became more involved, 10 funerals in 1891, 3 in 1892, 4 in 1893, 3 in 1894, and 17 in 1895. (first full year Frederick was involved)
Charles died in September 1894 at 8/9 Station Terrace, Coombe Road aged 46. It was an impressive funeral cortege and almost every business and private house along the route from the shop in Coombe Road to the cemetery in Bonner Hill Road had drawn their blinds as a mark of respect. The coffin was of “polished oak” and was transported in a transparent car, followed by many carriages. In December, his widow Mary Ann made an announcement that she was carrying on the business with her son FW Paine (Surrey Comet 29th December 1894). It had previously been stated that FW Paine would be carried on the business during Mr Paine’s (senior) illness (Surrey Comet 3rd March 1894). By 1899 Mary Ann was advertising her business as a complete house furnisher, upholsterer, estate agent, valuer and undertaker.
Undertaking and taking over
When the new council buildings were opened in 1905 there was accommodation within the fire station and stables site (to the right of the main building) for a mortuary and Frederick was successful in bidding for the business against strong counterbids. This may have caused an altercation with Farebrothers the Kingston firm of undertakers. An announcement in the Surrey Comet (20th June 1906) stated that Farebrother was opening in New Malden at 27/29 Malden Road. This was opposite the Town Hall (now Waitrose) and not far from Paines. This in turn may have prompted Frederick to open in Kingston at 24 London Road nearly opposite Farebrothers a year later. This property had for over 40 years belonged to Edward Simpson an established greengrocer/fruiterer specialising in potatoes who had died in 1907. Farebrother’s venture into Malden did not last long, but Paines are still in London Road. Paines acquired Farebrothers in the 1990s.
A brave lady
On 29th December 1903 Charlotte Read died in Avenue Road New Malden aged 55. (Burial conducted by Paines). The Read family were saddlers by trade, and had lived in New Malden close to the premises Of Paines since at least 1874 moving to 5 Station Terrace (3 doors away) in 1905. After the business had been past to Frederick, his mother Mary Ann married the widower William Charles Read in Titchfield Hampshire in 1909, and lived there, until his death eight years later. Mrs Paine subsequently moved down to Shaldon in Devon, living in a lovely thatched cottage where she died in 1941. She had had a nasty experience almost two years earlier, when awakened by noises in her chimney, which she initially thought were made by owls that lived in the flue. It was only when the room started to fill with smoke did it become apparent that something else was amiss. Eliza, one of Mrs Paine’s daughters who was staying with her, went to a nearby alarm to contact the local brigade who arrived in a short time. Mary Ann who would have been 85 years old, didn’t seem in the least perturbed, just wanting to make tea for the local policeman who had also been called to the scene.
Perils of marriage
In 1906 scandal swept the Paine family and New Malden, when Frederick was involved in court over a breach of promise case. This was brought by a laundress from Wimbledon Laura Charlotte Mills who had known Frederick for eight years. A contract to marry was agreed on 26th December 1900, and intimate letters from both parties were read out in court. It didn’t help that the officiating judge was Mr Justice Darling. Frederick had given Laura a ring at Christmas during their relationship but asked her not to wear it as an engagement ring as he felt it was not good enough. Frederick denied the charge stated that their relationship was purely platonic, but the court found in favour of Laura and fined Frederick £50.
Frederick married in 1908 to Violet Rachel Baron who came from Wigan. It is said that the marriage was not a happy one and little is known about her. It may be that she added the name Violet at a later date. The couple separated with Rachel moving to Portsmouth, where she remarried in 1948 after Frederick’s death, and died herself in 1960.
As stated above, in 1909 Mary Ann passed the business to Frederick and left New Malden, and in the same period Frederick acquired the property in London Road Kingston. He still carried on trading at 10 Coombe Road between 1912 and 1923 (between the station and Acacia Grove) The business then relocated to 27 Coombe Road (between Alric Avenue and the station) in 1924.
Charles James Paine was exhumed in Kingston Cemetery on 25th August 1925, and interred in the same plot as his daughter Gladys (C2597) under Licence 544 345, 223/8. The reason for this is unclear.
The business only moved to 118 Malden Road (close to the Fountain New Malden) in 1935. Before that, there had been no buildings between the Police Station (opened 1891) and the Post Office (opened 1933).
by Robin Gill
Charles James Paine was born in Iden a small village about 2 ½ miles north of Rye in East Sussex. He was baptised at All Saints Church on 6th December 1846, the third son of William (a builder /carpenter) and Eliza (nee Wood). The other children were in order of age; Thomas Henry bapt 4th June 1843, William Edward bapt 20th April 1845, Edwin bapt 19th November 1848, Eliza bapt 3rd March 1850, Sally(ie) Coleman bapt 28th November 1852, Ellen bapt 19th November 1854, and Emily bapt 11th July 1858. All in Iden.
Charles married Mary Ann Hall on 21st August 1869 at St Peters Church in Norbiton. It is stated that they were both living in Washington Road at the time of the marriage, and I suspect that this may have been at the property of Charles’ elder brother William whose first two children had been born in Norbiton in 1870/1.
(William and family moved to Lewisham in 1871, and then Lee in Kent, before emigrating to Australia). In Lee he was living only a few doors away from his (and Charles’) father in Ronver Road.
Mary Ann was born in Icklesham in Sussex in 1853, but during the 1861 census taken 7th April, she was staying with her grandfather James Hall in Iden. She was 9 years old and Charles living a few doors down was 14, and they married just over 8 years later.
Growing Paines
Charles and Mary Ann set up home in Burritt Road, about ½ mile from their original address in Norbiton, and their first five children were born there firstly Frederick William on 4th April 1870, followed by Bryan Charles Sargant in 1872, Eliza Maria in 1874, Mabel Sargant in 1876, and Patrick Harold in 1879. The family had moved to Longfellow Road in Worcester Park by the time of the 1881 census on 3rd April. Here were born Martin Michael in 1881, Ida Kate in 1883, and Charles Philip in 1886. The last move to New Malden happened around 1886 when William Edwin was born, also born in Malden were Dennis Flynn in 1890, Gladys Ethel in 1892, and Cecil George in 1894.
As can be seen from the above Frederick was the eldest of twelve children not eleven as stated in official records. This has been confirmed in the obituary of Charles Paine (Surrey Comet Sept 22nd 1894) “leaves a wife and twelve children”. I think the problem may have arisen with the eleventh child Gladys Ethel who died 9th February 1896 at Station Terrace, Coombe Road, New Malden aged 4. Although she is mentioned on the memorial stone (C2625) of her father and mother (and brother Frederick), she was buried in a separate plot (C 2597) in Kingston Cemetery.
The first mention I have found of Charles James Paine in business dates from 15th March 1882 when his (Building) partnership with James Hopkins is dissolved. It does not state when the partnership began, but there is a James Hopkins living next door to Charles Paine (Longfellow Road) in 1881 as a carpenter aged 36, so this is probably our man. It is stated that Charles is to continue the business on his own account. (London Gazette 21st March 1882 page 1297).
It declares on Paine’s headed notepaper that the business was founded in 1884. In that year, the family were still in Worcester Park, and didn’t move to New Malden until 1886. In that year (1886) on 21st April Charles Paine petitioned for bankruptcy. His address was given as Longfellow Road Worcester Park, Worcester Park Station, and New Malden, and his occupation was described as a builder and blacksmith. (London Gazette April 30th 1886), although he was trading in Malden as a furniture dealer and ironmonger. He duly had his meeting (14th May) at the Griffin Hotel in Kingston where he was assessed, and the bankruptcy order was given 4 days later. His court hearing was fixed for 4th March 1887. He was not released from his bankruptcy until 27th November 1889.
A thriving business
This explains why the business operated from Station Terrace in New Malden from 1887 was under the name of Mrs Mary Paine or M Paine: Ironmonger and furniture dealer. This was the trading name of the business until 1905, when the name becomes M Paine & Son. This name continues until 1909 when it becomes Frederick Wm Paine Undertaker after being sold by Mary Ann. The upholstery side of the concern was sold to her assistant Walter Ebenezer Ball who continued to trade from 16 Coombe Road (now Sopranos) for many years. The furniture was sold by auction by Townley & Co of St Andrews Square, Surbiton. It looks as though as soon as Frederick was involved on a regular basis, he started pushing the undertaking side of the business.
The first funeral I can find conducted by Paines, was for Cyril Gordon Stephens aged 6 months of Chestnut Grove New Malden. The burial at Kingston Cemetery took place on 23rd May 1890.
The first local undertaker in the New Malden area seems to have been John Francis Povey a cabinet maker of Chestnut Grove who carried out his first funeral on 20th November 1882 with the burial of Helen Bedford who had lived in the next-door property. Povey’s father (Francis de L’Homme de Lille Povey to give his full name) was also an undertaker in Westminster where John was born. Life may have been confusing in the Westminster Povey household as both John ‘s parents were called Francis/Frances and his brother and sister were also Francis/Frances. The family originated from Martinique a French governed island in the Caribbean.
Prior to Povey, funerals in New Malden seem to have been carried out by various firms, mostly Farebrothers. Povey, then in Coombe Road (Station Terrace) close to the station, conducted his last funeral in April 1891, and it is only after this date that Paines became more involved, 10 funerals in 1891, 3 in 1892, 4 in 1893, 3 in 1894, and 17 in 1895. (first full year Frederick was involved)
Charles died in September 1894 at 8/9 Station Terrace, Coombe Road aged 46. It was an impressive funeral cortege and almost every business and private house along the route from the shop in Coombe Road to the cemetery in Bonner Hill Road had drawn their blinds as a mark of respect. The coffin was of “polished oak” and was transported in a transparent car, followed by many carriages. In December, his widow Mary Ann made an announcement that she was carrying on the business with her son FW Paine (Surrey Comet 29th December 1894). It had previously been stated that FW Paine would be carried on the business during Mr Paine’s (senior) illness (Surrey Comet 3rd March 1894). By 1899 Mary Ann was advertising her business as a complete house furnisher, upholsterer, estate agent, valuer and undertaker.
Undertaking and taking over
When the new council buildings were opened in 1905 there was accommodation within the fire station and stables site (to the right of the main building) for a mortuary and Frederick was successful in bidding for the business against strong counterbids. This may have caused an altercation with Farebrothers the Kingston firm of undertakers. An announcement in the Surrey Comet (20th June 1906) stated that Farebrother was opening in New Malden at 27/29 Malden Road. This was opposite the Town Hall (now Waitrose) and not far from Paines. This in turn may have prompted Frederick to open in Kingston at 24 London Road nearly opposite Farebrothers a year later. This property had for over 40 years belonged to Edward Simpson an established greengrocer/fruiterer specialising in potatoes who had died in 1907. Farebrother’s venture into Malden did not last long, but Paines are still in London Road. Paines acquired Farebrothers in the 1990s.
A brave lady
On 29th December 1903 Charlotte Read died in Avenue Road New Malden aged 55. (Burial conducted by Paines). The Read family were saddlers by trade, and had lived in New Malden close to the premises Of Paines since at least 1874 moving to 5 Station Terrace (3 doors away) in 1905. After the business had been past to Frederick, his mother Mary Ann married the widower William Charles Read in Titchfield Hampshire in 1909, and lived there, until his death eight years later. Mrs Paine subsequently moved down to Shaldon in Devon, living in a lovely thatched cottage where she died in 1941. She had had a nasty experience almost two years earlier, when awakened by noises in her chimney, which she initially thought were made by owls that lived in the flue. It was only when the room started to fill with smoke did it become apparent that something else was amiss. Eliza, one of Mrs Paine’s daughters who was staying with her, went to a nearby alarm to contact the local brigade who arrived in a short time. Mary Ann who would have been 85 years old, didn’t seem in the least perturbed, just wanting to make tea for the local policeman who had also been called to the scene.
Perils of marriage
In 1906 scandal swept the Paine family and New Malden, when Frederick was involved in court over a breach of promise case. This was brought by a laundress from Wimbledon Laura Charlotte Mills who had known Frederick for eight years. A contract to marry was agreed on 26th December 1900, and intimate letters from both parties were read out in court. It didn’t help that the officiating judge was Mr Justice Darling. Frederick had given Laura a ring at Christmas during their relationship but asked her not to wear it as an engagement ring as he felt it was not good enough. Frederick denied the charge stated that their relationship was purely platonic, but the court found in favour of Laura and fined Frederick £50.
Frederick married in 1908 to Violet Rachel Baron who came from Wigan. It is said that the marriage was not a happy one and little is known about her. It may be that she added the name Violet at a later date. The couple separated with Rachel moving to Portsmouth, where she remarried in 1948 after Frederick’s death, and died herself in 1960.
As stated above, in 1909 Mary Ann passed the business to Frederick and left New Malden, and in the same period Frederick acquired the property in London Road Kingston. He still carried on trading at 10 Coombe Road between 1912 and 1923 (between the station and Acacia Grove) The business then relocated to 27 Coombe Road (between Alric Avenue and the station) in 1924.
Charles James Paine was exhumed in Kingston Cemetery on 25th August 1925, and interred in the same plot as his daughter Gladys (C2597) under Licence 544 345, 223/8. The reason for this is unclear.
The business only moved to 118 Malden Road (close to the Fountain New Malden) in 1935. Before that, there had been no buildings between the Police Station (opened 1891) and the Post Office (opened 1933).
