3. From Ockley to Lambeth

a. James (3) [1774-1846] & Hannah Weller In 1797, James Braby, born 1773, (son of James and Elizabeth) married Hannah Weller of Abinger at Ockley. The naming of the eldest boy after his father, common in many families supports this succession of Jameses. James and Hannah quickly made it four in succession when their eldest son, James (4), was born in Ockley in the year of their marriage. Eleven other children were all born in Lambeth.

Their children (baptised at St Mary’s, Lambeth, except for James) were: 1. James (4), the eldest and the only one to have been born in Ockley (1797); 2. John (1799-1881), who married Maria Churchman of Maybanks at Rudgwick in

1829 and whose son Frederick married Jane Child in Slinfold, and who was in his younger days in partnership with James (3) and (4) in the family wheelwright business, then later a slate merchant;

3. Thomas (1804-1861) and 4. Henry (1807-1866), who both emigrated to the United States, and were lent money

for the purpose;5. Edward (1813-1865), who became a veterinary surgeon in Southwark and elected

member of the council of the Royal College; 6. Harriet (1815-1863), who married John Waterman, who worked for James (3), and

was an executor to his will;7. Charles (1818-1884), a hay and straw salesman, who was grandfather of Herbert

and Sidney who brought Pennthorpe School to Rudgwick, and Roland, who was vicar of Loxwood.

8. Caroline (1820-1820), born after her parents had moved to Duke Street.

Two views of Vine Street, 1898, www.ideal -homes .org.uk , ©London Borough of Lambeth

James (3) and Hannah moved from Ockley in 1797 (family Bible), immediately after the births of James (4), to live (by 1813 for certain) in Vine St, off Narrow Wall, Lambeth (referred to later as Vine St, Pedlar’s Acre) which ran from the

site of Waterloo Station (not built until 1848) across York Road and Belvedere Road. Narrow Wall, a former river wall, became a street and locality renamed Pedlar’s Acre, itself renamed Belvedere Road when the street was straightened in the 1820s.But he may have retained a link with Rudgwick. Evidence points to him becoming lay Rector from 1820 on his acquisition of Parsonage Farm from the Howard family (Dukes of Norfolk) [see below]. James’s grandson Frederick wrote in 1858, “Mr. James Braby, formerly a wheelwright at Ockley, afterwards in Lambeth, was a clever mechanic and invented several musical instruments, a weighing machine, improved carriages etc. He died at an advanced age at Kentish Town. His father before him was a wheelwright at Ockley”.

The map above was made in 1770, when new roads were first envisaged. Stamford St eventually took a slightly curved line. Vine St and Narrow Wall are in

the west; Duke St does not exist – it will be created in fields between the hamlet of Wigleys and Broad Wall.

Below, the manor of Lambeth was enclosed in 1806. Subsequently, in 1815, the area known as the Prince’s Meadow belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall, was proposed for development on long lets of 93½ years. Stamford Street would now be built, together with Duke Street, Duchy Road and Cornwall Street, all home to members of the Braby family, and to their new wheelwright’s shop. Later documents will show they owned property in this area for many years. Note, north is to the bottom left.

The Brabys moved in at the very beginnings of the expansion of the built up area into the low-lying land away from the wharves and yards of the Thames.

A process of innovation and diversification from the essentials of the wheelwright skills (but influenced by his rural roots) now took shape. As early as 1809, he demonstrated the invention of a chaff cutter, a turn wrist plough and a swing plough, and a device for ascertaining the draught of a plough (not very successful) to the Duke of Bedford. In 1814, he won a purse of 5 gns from the Society of Arts for an improved cart and drag (to slow downhill motion) for agricultural purposes. In 1815, "The silver medal[of the same society] was this session voted to Mr. James Braby, of Pedlar's Acre, Lambeth, for a weighing machine for family use”, followed by another in 1816 for a fire escape. (Fleming Collection).

The letter above speaks for itself, with

reference to the drawings above, with the exception of Fig 3. (Transactions, Royal Society of Arts, 1816). A machine was deposited with the Society.

NINETEENTH CENTURY LAMBETH

Belvedere Road (formerly Narrow Wall) in the 1940s, before demolition

Lambeth from the RiverLeft, area demolished for the new London County Council building in 1910, from Westminster Bridge. (including Simmonds & Morten flour mill, owned by Rudgwick landowner, John Whately Simmonds)

Right, Goding’s (later Lion) Brewery and the Belvedere Road Shot Tower in 1836, from Waterloo Bridge.

Views from LambethLeft, the foreshore near old Westminster Bridge, 1791.

Right, Lambeth Marsh, a gentleman’s residence, with Westminster in the background, in 1804.

Vine Street floods 1850. “To the Hungerford Suspension Bridge”, the original one completed by Brunel in 1845. Vine Street, shown on this 1807 map, crossed Narrow Wall, which failed spectacularly on this occasion, to College Street, leading to Kings Arms Stairs.His grandson, Frederick, also gave him credit for inventing musical instruments “by which the human voice could be mechanically imitated, namely, the melodeon, seraphin, and harmonium”. Braby of London built a Clavaeolina which was a type of small seraphine with steel reeds in a brass matrix. One of these very rare instruments is in the Fluke collection at Saltaire. “It has 3½ octaves F-C with a cherry wood case and brass fittings” (Reed Organs in England). A seraphin(e) is a German-origin free standing organ brought to England between 1810 and 1840. The melodeon is an American instrument, and the harmonium was originally French. Ironically, his grandson James (5) would later be instrumental in replacing the harmonium in Rudgwick church with a modern pipe organ.

b. A Family Affair: J., J. and J. Braby; James Braby & Sons; Braby, Jas & Jno.

The area of Lambeth where James Braby lived and worked, 1844.Duke Street runs NNW to SSE across Stamford Street (in the green), with Thomas St at the southern end. It is probable that this junction is where the Braby Works was situated. The area is still industrial on an OS map of 1898. Vine Street crosses York Road and then Belvedere Road, from Narrow Wall, opposite

the Kings Arms Stairs. (map source: www.ideal -homes .org.uk )

For a time up to1819, Braby had formed a partnership with a Mr Dane (Braby & Dane, in a directory of 1819). He then moved his family into a house next to the business in Duke Street c1819-20. James (4) and John respectively attained their majority in 1818 and 1820, whereupon they went into partnership with their father in the Lambeth wheelwright business of J. J. & J. Braby, doubtless reaching more customers from their premises in the growing metropolis: Braby & Sons, wheelwrights, 1/8 Thomas Street, Stamford Street; Duke Street (Sun Fire Insurance, 1819-38). “James Braby, wheelwright, London” (Pigot’s Directory 1825-6), and in 1833 additionally a cabriolet proprietor, (Guildhall Library). In 1821-1836 he insured 23 Cornwall Road, and 39 other properties on this road, with Sun Fire. Some Sun Fire documents also mention blacksmithing in this period.

Thomas Street is now Aquinas Street, off Duchy Street; Duke Street is now Duchy Street. Both today are entirely residential. One building on the junction of Stamford Street and Duchy Street is a listed building from about 1800, so might be recognised by

the Brabys. The area belonged to the Duchy of Cornwall, hence also Cornwall Street, a couple of blocks to the west.

The London Gazette announced the end of the partnership on 10 July 1839: J. J. and J. Braby, Duke Street, Lambeth, wheelwrights. James Braby the elder and James Braby the younger and John Braby, wheelwrights of Duke St Lambeth, dissolved “so far as regards James Braby the elder”. Father was retiring at age 65. James and John remained in partnership: 1839, “Braby, Jas & Jno, Duke Street, Blackfriars”, (Pigot’s Directory); 1843 and 1848, “Braby, Jas & Jno”, “wheelwrights, etc” at 22 Duke St, according to various directories.

James (3) not only created the business in Lambeth, but also died a gentleman and a wealthy one at that. By 1829, he and Hannah had moved across the river to north London to live on Hampstead Road, Camden, an area just developing at that time, and somewhat healthier.

By 1838, approaching retirement, they moved a short distance to Kentish Town, near the Assembly House (aka The Bull, next to which were fields built on in the early 19th century), described below in the description of Kentish Town Estate by Mr J F King, c 1850: “The old Assembly House of very long standing and was held in great repute, being a pleasant distance from London, when those who sought a Country Walk could there meet with every enjoyment a Country Inn could supply; besides which it was famed for Club dinners annually given, called ‘Beanfeasts’. There was also a reserved Parlor where none but the Members of a Society called "Social Villagers" were permitted to enter, which consisted of the Aristocracy of the Village and where many cheerful evenings were spent as far as the Glass and the Pipe could furnish, to pass a convivial hour, which often cheered their buoyant spirits and sent them home ‘merry’”.

The 1841 entry for Jas & Hannah Braby in Gloucester Place (occupation, ‘none’), with son Charles, and grand daughter Harriet, Thomas’s daughter – he having emigrated to America without her.

He died there in 1846 when his executors sold a “substantial” house, according to The Times. Gloucester Place has now become Leighton Road. It is located north of King’s Cross, near Kentish Town Station. He was buried (as was Hannah in 1854) at St John’s Waterloo Road, Lambeth [bombed in World War 2].He was therefore the exception who was not buried in Rudgwick. However, the link with Rudgwick (as lay Rector) was far from broken. This responsibility together with the glebe farm passed to James (4) in 1846.

The Assembly House Tavern, 1853 (Metropolitan Archives).

Below, Sale by Auction of 16, Gloucester Place, Kentish Town, 3 Sep 1846 (The Times, 3 Sep 1846).

In his twelve-page Will, “Gentleman of 16 Gloucester Place”, he made provision not only for his wife Hannah, who was left his “Arsenal estate” (Woolwich?), but also for their children. “I give and bequeath to my sons James and John £50 each for their assiduity during their co-partnership with me to be paid to them respectively immediately after my decease”.

Thus, the main business in Duke Street (since at least 1819) and 8 cottages and tenements in Thames Street, passed to James and John in partnership, though the leasehold in the buildings went to his executors, son Edward and son in law John Waterman, and the rents of the houses to Hannah during her life. Most of his other assets were later split between his children (excepting James & John) on Hannah’s death. It is curious that no reference is made to Rudgwick property in the Will. It was

his personal success that enabled his descendents to live in some style, reinforced by further success, inventiveness and foresight in moving into new and growing trades, a typical Victorian success story. His widow, Hannah, moved to 59 Camden Rd Villas on Camden Road, where she died in 1854, aged 80.

Hannah Braby, funeral card.