15.3 The five known children of Charles James Topper & Susannah Griffin

 Four of her children are living with Susannah Griffin at the time of the 1841 census: Charlotte, Charles, Ellen and Susan. The eldest, Elizabeth Topper, who would have been about 14-15 years old, is not at home on census night and may be working as a female servant to a Coach Builder in James Street, Marylebone.

1. Elizabeth Topper was my 3xgreat grandmother, born in Lambeth in 1826 and married David Windebank, a Smith, at the Baptist Meeting House in Reading in 1847, when she was about 20 years old. The family moved to Dorney, Buckinghamshire – now part of High Wycombe – in the 1850s, before returning to London via Reading again. As her mother was from Loudwater, Bucks, there may have been some family connection that drew them there.

2. Charlotte Sarah Topper was born around 1828 in Lambeth, Surrey. I haven’t found a baptism record for her. She names her father as Charles James Topper, Porter, on her marriage record of 12 July 1853, when she married William Jones, a Labourer, at Norwood, Middlesex. At the time of the 1851 census, she is working as a house servant to ‘House Proprietor and Fund Holder’ Mr White, at nearby Hanwell. They had six known children between 1855 and 1874. Her husband William Jones worked as a Labourer throughout their married life, although in the 1871 census their address, like others in the street, is given as ‘Shop’ on Lindfield Street, Battersea – perhaps they were living above commercial premises. There is a death registration for a Charlotte Jones in the July quarter of 1885, although given the common surname I cannot be certain if this is the right person (likewise, for her husband’s death).

3. Charles James Topper was baptised on 3 October 1830 at St John the Evangelist, Lambeth. His parents are Charles James Topper, a ‘Serjeant of Police’, and his wife Susan, of Montpelier Row. A Charles Topper, aged 28, was admitted to the Dreadnought Seamans’ Hospital on 20 April 1859. His birthplace is given as Lambeth (although on most censuses his birthplace is Knightsbridge), and he is said to have had eight years’ service in the merchant navy, his last ship being the Patent Derrick. In the 1851 census he is described as a Labourer, as he is in the 1861 census. He is said to be 5’5” tall, and to be suffering from a dislocated thumb. He was discharged a week later to convalescence and was living in Greenwich, as a lodger, by the time of the 1861 census.

Five years later, there is a report of a trial at Old Bailey Online which features Charles Topper and five other men who “were indicted for that they, on the high seas, on board the British ship Scotland , did practically and feloniously make a revolt.” However, newspaper accounts of the trial name the man as Charles Tupper, and one gives his age as 23 – whereas Charles James Topper would have been about 36 at the time. At the time of the 1871 census, a Charles J Topper, aged 41, is lodging at Sun Street, Greenwich, close to the Oil and Colour Works, said to be working as a Foreman Stoker. His birthplace is shown as Knightsbridge.

He married Lucy Tull at St George the Martyr, Battersea on 10 September 1876, his age shown as 43. His father is named as Charles James Topper, Foreman Porter. His own occupation is Oil Refiner. His bride is the daughter of Benjamin Tull, a Labourer, and is 25 years old. In 1881, they are living in Bermondsey with their two young children, and a year later, he is probably the ‘son, Oil Refiner residing at Bermondsey Dock Head’ who gave evidence at the inquest on his mother’s death after a fall downstairs. At the time of the 1891 census, he has once again changed occupation, this time working as a Gardener in ‘public gardens’, and living at Rotherhithe with wife Lucy and four children. Ten years later, by then aged 71, he is listed as an inmate at St Olave Union Workhouse, Horsleydown, described as a widower and ‘Retired Ship’s Stoker’. He died three years later in Lewisham, and was buried there on 6 July 1904.

4. Ellen Topper appears with her mother, aged two years, on the 1841 census. I have not found a birth, marriage or death record for her (including variations on her name), nor found her in any other censuses. She may have died young.

5. Susan Selway Topper was baptised 22 February 1841 at Stanford, Berkshire, daughter of Charles James and Susan Topper. She appears with her mother and siblings, aged 4 months, at the time of the 1841 census, in Stanford, and with her parents in Hayes, Middlesex, in 1851. She married John James Archer at St Mary Ealing on 22 February 1863. Her husband was a Lighterman, as her father had been early in his working life. By the time of the 1871 census, they are living at Bromley and have three children, all born in Brentford. They appear in subsequent censuses with their growing family; John’s occupation is usually Lighterman or Lighterman (barge). By 1901 they are living at Devonport Street, Ratcliff, Stepney. The Lost Hamlet Of Ratcliff | Spitalfields Life indicates that this area was once known as ‘Sailor Town’ which had a poor reputation for centuries but which, by the turn of the century, had had its act cleaned up a bit. By 1911, now aged 70, she has been widowed and is living at ‘4 Waterman’s Asylum’ in Penge, Croydon. She says she was married for 48 years, and had six children, five of whom were still living. Royal Watermen’s Almshouses | Penge Heritage (pengeheritagetrail.org.uk) were ‘for aged watermen and lightermen and were built in 1839-40.’ There were 46 Almshouses in all; presumably she moved there with her husband and remained after his death.

Her middle name Selway derives from her paternal grandmother’s maiden name: Elizabeth Selway.

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view