MITCHENALL FAMILY HISTORY

John was George's third son, born to his wife Elizabeth in East Greenwich, or Woolwich, before George settled in Lewisham.

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All his life he remained close to his parents, he never married and seems to have worked with the family. By the age of 35 (1891 census) he was stated to be a Gas and Hot Water engineer; earlier, at 24, he was more simply a gas fitter.

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He lived with his parents, presumably working in the business, for his father was trading as a builder employing 17 men (1881). He also ran an ironmongers shop whilst John lived at home. I speculate that John was part of the family business, with other brothers professing other trades. He appears to have been dependant on his father, but when his father died he left the family home and instead lived with his brother Simon and his wife a few hundred yards down the road. Now in his 50's, he is then simply stated to be a plumber.

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The electoral registers of 1895 and 1900 show him recorded as a lodger, rather than a member of the household, a tenant to his father George at the shop at 246 Gipsy Road. He has 3 rooms, recorded as furnished in 1895 but unfurnished in 1900, on the 1st and second floors. In the 1911 census, he is recorded as living with brother Simon, who is working in Brighton. The electoral role instead shows John at 147 Gypsy Road recorded as a lodger.

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in 1923, the year Simon died, he is recorded at 11-13 Paxton Place, but said to be living at 99 Hamilton (occupants recorded as William Fox and a Mr and Mrs York).

 

11 Paxton is the workshop associated with his brother George William's son George Samuel and his brother Frank Rowland. In 1925 and 1926 he is at 99 Hamilton. He died in 1927 - I have not traced exact details of any probate. He would appear to have lived with family one way or another until the very last years of his life, and to have worked with family as a plumber (gas and water) for most of that time. 

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