MITCHENALL FAMILY HISTORY
Edith
1868 to 1954
Edith was born in October 1868, probably at the family home of 7 Paradise Row (where they were living in 1871.) She lived at home until she left school, and in 1884 was baptised in St Barnabas Church in Kensington. She married at Denbigh Toad Chapel in 1890 at the age of 21. At the time she lived at 7, Holland Park Road, but the certificate does not give her profession.
Edith married Sidney King in Kensington. At the time of their marriage he is stated to be a plasterer of 7 Clarence Place. The marriage was in the presence of W Mitchenall and WJ Mitchenall, presumably her father and elder brother. Sidney was from Kensington.
The following year she gave birth to her eldest child Elsie Edith (1891 -1943), in Edenbridge, and then Elsie's baptism was in January 1892 when an address in Hogarth Place, Earls Court, was given. Then, at some point between early 1892 and 1894, the family moved to Clacton, taking up residence in a house next to Sidney's brother Edwin.
I believe that Sidney and Edwin built these houses, and others in the King family also moved in Essex. The two King families lived in 1 and 2 Tennyson Villas. Both were plasterers, but Sidney is stated as an Employer in the 1901 census, whereas Edwin is a worker. Jane King originated from Great Clacton, so its home ground for her.
Sidney and Edwin's parents Henry King and Mary Ann (Marks) King also moved to Clacton, as did four of their six children - besides Edwin and Sidney, Clara and Frederick also lived in Clacton. Ony their two siblings Bessie and George, who both died early, before the other members of the family moved, never lived in Clacton.
All Edith and Sidney's subsequent children were born in Clacton on Sea, Essex.
George William (1894 - 1967), Lilian Amy (1900 - 1973) and Frank Sidney (1909 - 1987) completed the family.
After Edith and Sidney's move to Essex, the Mitchenall family also seemed to adopt the area. When Edith's mother Ann died in Essex in 1923, she seems to have lived their since shortly after Edith's father Williams had died in 1905. Edith's brother Percy died in St Andrews Road, Clacton, probably at the home of his sister Tamar. Tamar lived in Clacton after marrying in Windsor and living in Yorkshire. Sister Lilian married in Essex, Brother Egbert died in Essex. And whilst brother William Jonathan doesn't appear to have lived there, her did marry in Essex on his way from Brighton to Shrewsbury.
So the move of Edith and her husband Sidney to Clacton was part of a refocussing of the King and Mitchenall families on a life in Essex, probably encouraged by the development of Clacton as a resort.
By 1911 Sidney and Edith have moved to Newtonville, Berkeley Road, Great Clacton. Still a plasterer, Sidney is now a worker. Sidney saw service in the first world war, but Edith became a widow when Sidney died in 1920. Her mother was still alive, and like her mother Ann, Edith lived to a good age. Ann Mitchenall died in 1923, and Edith is next recorded in attendance at her brother William's funeral in Shrewsbury in 1933.
In 1939 Edith was living with her son Frank at 35 Page Road, Clacton, an unassuming semi detached home, Next door were Mr and Mrs Austin, whose daughter Winifred had married shortly before. Winifred's husband died in 1941, and in 1943 the now Winfred Brand married Frank King. In the same year Edith saw the death of her daughter Elsie, and then before her own demise in 1954, the loss of her sisters Tamar (1946) and Lillian (1953).
When Edith died in Clacton in 1954, her only living sibling was Egbert. Of William Mitchenall (1838)'s descendants, only her nephews Arthur, Raymond and Frank, and niece Hilda, retained the family name. Only Frank and Raymond have existing Mitchenall descendants.
The King children included two notable musicians - Elsie and Frank.
Elsie
On her marriage in 1919 Elsie's occupation was pianist. In local newspaper reports there are reports of her giving mandolin, piano solos as well as accompanying various groups, dances and concert parties.
She also played at the opening of the Kinema Grand in 1913 and acted as pianist for the silent films.
Frank
Although Frank played the piano, his main instrument was the trumpet. As a youth, he played in the 1st Clacton Scouts' Band. After that he played in dance bands and orchestras around the area, before and after the war. In the RAF he played in concert party shows.
He was regularly in the pit for the local operatic society shows.