Bowditch property in Southwark, Surrey

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Southwark, Surrey, England
Surname/tag: Bowditch

Contents 1 Stephen Bowditch’s property 2 Stephen Bowditch's will 3 Later Bowditch property ownership,1819-1851 4 References

Stephen Bowditch’s property

Stephen Bowditch (1748-1801) had various properties in Southwark, which he rented to tenants. Some of these properties were in areas of notorious widespread poverty.

The 1798 Land Tax Assessments show that he had 2 properties in Ewer Street (Gravel Lane); 1 in Gravel Lane; 5 tenements in a Court on the east side of Red Cross Street; 3 properties in Peter Street; one in King Street; and 2 in Queens Court. Gravel Lane was the location of his own home and business. His son John Bowditch also had a property in Ewer Street.

Southwark ca. 1746. Gravel La. (blue); Peter St. (green); King St. (yellow); Red Cross St. (red).

In the 1790s Stephen was listed as a Jury-Qualified Freeholder or Copyholder owing to his property in Glasshouse Yard, Gravel Lane. By 1800 he was described as of Ewer Street, Gravel Lane. In fact Ewer Street is immediately south of Glasshouse Yard.

As an indication of the type of property in this area, the following account is taken from https://thecowkeeperswish.com/2019/04/. It is of a considerably later date, but still of interest.

Gravel lane, at the back of Ewer Street, 1853

In June 1876, [John Errington, Inspector of Nuisances] deemed a block of houses in Glasshouse Yard, Gravel Lane, unfit for human habitation. Filth alone was enough to condemn them for “danger of fever,” but they looked structurally unsafe, too, so Errington called upon surveyor Thomas Greenstreet, who likewise condemned the houses. Bits of roof had come away; shutters, flooring and banisters had been torn out for firewood. The tenants were mostly poor Irish families, and though the property owner, the South Eastern Railway Company, had evicted them, they stayed, having nowhere else to go. The company had purchased dilapidated housing in order to knock it down and expand a railway line, but not all of the property had been required, and these were the places left over, some of them missing doors and windows. In July, one of the houses fell. Fortunately, no one was inside, but the Medical Officer of Health, Robert Bianchi, warned that the other houses were now even more precarious, and might “tumble down at any hour.” He urged “immediate ejectment of the tenants on humanitarian grounds.” Greenstreet recommended that, until the buildings were demolished, a hoarding be erected around the perimeter.

Stephen Bowditch's will

Stephen Bowditch of Old Gravel Lane, St Saviour, Southwark, bricklayer, made his will on 4 Jun 1793. The will calls for the setting up of a trust whose trustees are Edward Staffe (of Bexley, Kent, Gentleman), Stephen’s wife (Jane Bowditch), and Stephen’s eldest son (when he reach the age of 21). All Stephen’s freehold and leasehold property is to be given to this trust and the annual income generated from the property is to be used to pay the widow £30 per annum (reducing to £15 if she remarry) and to pay for the maintenance and education of all the children and for setting them up in business. The residue of the income is to be invested in government bonds or similar securities. When the children reach the age of 21 they receive their share of the proceeds directly. In the case of the eldest son, when he reaches 21 he must take over his father’s bricklaying business and, in lieu thereof, pay an amount equal to its value (independently assessed) into the trust. When he reaches 25 he will take over the whole administration of the trust.^[1]

Stephen Bowditch was buried on 25 Nov 1801 and his will was proved on 11 Feb 1802 (in the PCC). Jane Bowditch, his widow, applied for the grant of administration. Other executors were mentioned—one being the eldest son, John.

John (bapt. 24 Dec 1780) would have been 21 by the time the will was proved and would therefore have taken on the business immediately under the terms of the will. In all probability he had already been working in the business since he left school. By this time John had been married for 2 years.

In the 1802 Land Tax Assessments, 5 houses in Bennetts Row, Southwark are shown as being ‘owned’ by the City of London, but were the property of ‘Bowditch’ and occupied by various tenants including John Bowditch. A further 9 houses in ‘Cross Street A Court’ belonged to the late S Bowditch, along with another 6 properties in King Street (the one in St Georges parish) ascribed to ‘late Bowditch’, 5 cottages in Queens Court and another property in Queen Street. In the London are it is common to find property owned by a large landowner, leased to lessee and then rented to a tenant.

In about 1806 John Bowditch would have reached the age of 25 and taken full control of the trust.

Looking at the Bowditch property in the 1806 Land Tax returns, we find:

1 property in Blackfriars Road occupied by Bowditch. This was probably Hugh Bowditch. 9 Cottages in Peter Street; "Bowditch's Tenements" in King Street; ‘Wd [Widow] Bowditch’ in Glasshouse Yard; 19 tenements and property in Gravel Lane and Ewer Street. Another book (seemingly the 'written up' version) has ‘Wm’ rather than ‘Wd’; John Bowditch in Maid Lane.

Later Bowditch property ownership,1819-1851

The 1819 Land Tax Assessments include the following Bowditch properties:

• Queen Street: John Bowditch (owner): Houses. Occupiers: Wells, Bowditch, Dealy, Noble, Hawkins.
• Marrowbone Court: John Bowditch: cottages.
• Queens Court: John Bowditch (owner): Cottages. Occupiers: Stevenson, Moor, Rentmore, Tobin, Best, Farley; and John Bowditch (owner): Occupiers: Giles, Elphick

The 1820 Land tax Assessment has several properties attributed to John Bowditch in King Street: a cottage; and a set of houses with occupiers: William Hedges, John Bowditch, Dealy, Noble, Hawkins.

The 1821 Land Tax Assessment has Bowditch property in the following streets:

• Peter Street South: John Bowditch (owner) with 5 houses occupierd by Walch, Wakeling, Beard, Williams, Duffell. Adjacent to this are 5 houses owned by Hugh Bowditch, occupied by Spink, Willcox, Brown, Potter, Woodhouse. A further property is occupied by W Bowditch
• King Street. John Bowditch cottage.
• Queen Street (should this be King Street?) John Bowditch 4 houses: Occupiers: John Bowditch; tenements, Dealy, Noble, Hawkins
• Marrowbone Court: John Bowditch, Cottage
• Queens Court: John Bowditch, cottage
• Bennetts Row: City of London (proprietors): Bowditch: 5 houses. Occupiers: John Bowditch, Hall, Howard, Green

In the 1827 Land Tax Assessments the Bowditch properties are:

• King Street: Bowditch: 3 cottages; Bullock (owner): Occupiers: Berry, Dealy, North, Hawkins, Bowditch.
• Marrowbone Court: John Bowditch: Cottages

The 1841 census for King Street shows the following entry for King Street:

Name	Age	Occupation	Born in county
Jas. Bowditch	60	Bricklayer	Y
Elizth. Ditto	50	-	Y
Willm. Ditto	2	-	Y
Elizth. Ditto	15	-	N
Mary Hastings	60	-	N
John Benbow	30	Gardener	N
Sarah Ditto	30	-	N
Willm. Hall	28	Carpenter	N
Elizth. Ditto	25	-	N
Kate ditto	2	-	Y
Caroline ditto	2 months	-	Y

It seems quite probable that "Jas." Bowditch is in fact John and that there is a mistake in the census entry. There is no Jomes Bowditch who would be a credible candidate and we know that John had owned property in King Street and had been living there. John Bowditch was bapt. 24 Dec 1780 so would have been about 63. Rounded down that would be 60, which agrees with the census. Furthermore, John was a bricklayer.

John’s wife, Elizabeth, was believed to be born around 1781. They were married in Jan 1800. Elizabeth Bowditch of King Street was buried in May 1851, aged 70 years. In 1841 she should have been 60, so this looks like a second mistake.

The Elizabeth aged 15 in the household is believed to be Elizabeth Mary Bowditch, John's grand-daughter who had been orphaned some years earlier. The identity of the 2-year-old William Bowditch is unknown.

On 9 Aug 1844 the burial was recorded of John Going Bowditch of King Street, Surrey Grove age 63 years buried at St Peter, Walworth. I think we have to assume this is the same John Bowditch.

The 1848 Land Tax Assessment includes:

• Bennett Street: Owner: Revd. J F Bullock & others. Occupier: John Bowditch.
• King Queen Street[??]: Owner: Revd. J F Bullock & others. Occupier: The late Hugh Bowditch. 5 houses.

1851 Census for 19 King Street has the following:

William BOWDITCH	Head	Widower	47	Master tailor	Surrey, Southwark
Elizabeth BOWDITCH	Mother	Widow	70	Incapable	Surrey, Southwark
William BOWDITCH	Son	Un	19	Colonial broker	Surrey, Newington
John BOWDITCH	Son	Un	17	Tailor under instruction	Surrey, Newington
Stephen BOWDITCH	Son	Un	11	Scholar	Surrey, Camberwell
Lucy BOWDITCH	Dau	Un	7	Scholar	Surrey, Camberwell
Julia BOWDITCH	Dau	Un	5	Scholar	Surrey, Camberwell

TO BE COMPLETED

References

1. ↑ The National Archives; Kew, Surrey, England; Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, PROB 11/1369.