Page 24 - The Leach Family of Bermondsey.

 Chapter 6        Other Families.

The Leach Family.

                                  Ladies Pub Outing about 1928/29.                                            


The above picture includes five members of the Leach family that I am aware of, thanks to information from Margaret (Pettard) Tomlin we can identify them as follows; Rear row 3rd from the left is Emma Leach mother of the following Leach girls. Second row 3rd from the left is Florence (Leach) Pettard mother of the next generation of Pettards. The fact that Florence is deceased summer of 1930 dates the picture sometime prior.  Second row 5th from the left is Amy Leach, she was too young to be officially on a pub outing and is seen here dressed-up to make her look older. Amy born 1914 was about 15 years old when this picture was taken so dating it about 1929.  Third row 4th from the right is Elizabeth (Leach) Davies seen here with a young child, Elizabeth was married 1923, also third row 3rd from the right is Gladys (Leach) Maloney married 1925.

			The Leach Family
abt 1895	Marriage	1969	1930	1986	1989	2005	unknown
John	Emma	1895	1898	1904	1905	1914	1915
Leach	(Moran)
	Leach	John	Florence	Gladys	Elizabeth	Amy	Ellen
		George	Beatrice	Emma	Ivy	Lucy	C
		A	Violet	Leach	Leach	Leach	Leach
		Leach	Leach
1915	Marriage
John	Lucy
George	A
Leach	Hill
	1917	Marriage
	Florence	William
	Beatrice V	Francis
	Leach	Pettard
		1925	Marriage
		Gladys	Denis
		Emma	Maloney
		Leach
			1923	Marriage
			Elizabeth	Walter
			Ivy	Davies
			Leach
				1934	Marriage
				Amy	John
				Lucy	Oram
				Leach
					1936	Marriage
					Ellen	Fred
					C	Gates
					Leach

The Leach Family cont.

As with the Pettard family the Leach family was Bermondsay born and bred but don’t appear to have any connection with the river and its trade. The Leach families were merchants being shop, market stalls and public house owners, although I am reminded of what Margaret Pettard said; “my aunts on my mothers side worked the Tanners” apparently both Aunt Elizabeth known as Liz and Aunt Amy had worked the Bermondsey Tannery in their younger days.   John Leach worked for Southwark Borough Council being a foreman overseeing road work, while Emma Leach runs a market stall opposite from where they then lived in Bermondsey Street. Emma sold new and second hand woman’s clothes until they were bombed out during WWII and moved to Great Dover Street with a flat above a shop. The shop sold mainly woman’s cloths, hosiery and house lining, again they were bombed out and moved in with their daughter and her husband Gladys and Dennis Maloney who at this time were running a pub in East Street the Masons Arms. Previous to this Gladys had also run a woman’s clothing shop in Long Lane but as with her parents she also got bombed out. The Maloney’s moved first to Camberwell and a new pub then to Australia for two years before returning to England and the pub trade.

In 1917 Florence Beatrice Violet Leach married William Francis Pettard and so a continuing relationship between the two families was maintained up until the 1960’s by which time most of the Leach and Pettard family had moved away from the Bermondsey roots, but not all.

                                    Florence (Leach) Pettard about 1928/29
         

Florence gave birth to 6 children before she died in 1930 with the birth of Frances (Sally) who also died shortly after birth, Florence was 40 years old leaving William 13, John 9, Margaret 6, Reginald 4 and Dennis 2. As previously documented Margaret age 6 would be taken in by her grandparents John and Emma Leach until about the age of 18 when she returned to her family for a short while before setting up her own home in Camberwell.

		1999	1986	1924		2000	1953
1917	Marriage	1917	1921	1923	1924	1926	1928
William	Florence
Francis	B V
Pettard	Leach
		William	John	Florence	Margaret	Reginald	Dennis
		John	Francis	Elizabeth		Francis	Patrick
		Francis

Amy Leach married John Oram and they too become publicans running the Camberwell Arms at Camberwell Green. John Leach who married Lucy Hill worked for Pickford’s as a driver; being the only son of John and Emma Leach he also had the distinction of producing the only male grandchildren of the family.  Margaret Pettard records that although he lived in the near vacantly of his parents and sisters he appear to have very little contact with them, and the family very seldom spoke of him, adding that there had been some very serious falling out but she, Margaret, being very young at the time was never aware of the reason.

                                            Amy Leach about 1928/29.

Elizabeth Leach married Walter Davies who worked for the post office, Mount Pleasant sorting depot, then if not now the biggest post sorting depot in the World. Situated off the Farringdon road I well remember the place, and feel sure that as a very young boy I was shown around the sorting area that was largely situated underground with its own transit system. Walter Davies, uncle Wal as he was known had a fair distance to travel to work from Bermondsey to Mount Pleasant, a journey I had at times walked with my dad when visiting the Davies on a Saturday if dad was not working.  The Davies family was very close knit with aunt Elizabeth, always known as aunt Liz, appearing to have an open house with daughters Betty and Joyce always at hand along with their off spring Debbie and Jill.  Their husbands Larry Boon and Bill Saunders were Millwall supporters and if I got to aunt Liz’s on time they would take me to The Den, that being the local name for Millwall football ground.   Both Aunt Liz and uncle Wal had in some ways larger then life personalities, you never know from one time to next what uncle Wal had in store for you, normally I was given a bucket and spade to shovel up the horse shit from the road for him to use in the back yard. Aunt Liz was never short of domestic devices, and you never know from one visit to next what she had just purchased or more like got on the never-never,  I remember seeing my first washing machine, fridge and TV at Aunt Liz’s. I also recall watching the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on their TV which I think was 1953 the year we would leave London for Surrey.

                                Elizabeth (Leach) Davies about 1928/29.

When Margaret Pettard at the age of 6 was taken in by John and Emma Leach she often spent long periods saying with aunt Liz and uncle Wal, also at the age of 18 having returned to her father’s place she was bombed out and along with her younger brother Dennis she returned to live with the Davies’s until her father had got out of hospital and found a new place for them to live. My father William John Pettard had long busted up with his father and left home, again to be taken in by the Davies until he find his feet.

Dennis Patrick Pettard was only 2 at the time of his mum’s death, being too young for granddad alone to look after he too went to Aunt Liz’s at Pagers Walk, I am not sure how long he stayed with aunt Liz and uncle Wal but by the time he was 10 he was back with his father only to get bomb out and return to Aunt Liz.

So, a strong connection between both families exited and my father in particular was always very appreciated of how the Leach family had been there for him and others. It was not always a bed of roses between the two families, the Davies’s would fall out with my grandfather, with my dad taking the Leach’s side and his brother Johnny taking his fathers side. The Leaches were like most people of their time and place very hard working, if they had it you could share it and dad said he was often in debt to them.

Aunt Liz to supplement income use to do house cleaning which included grandfather place, one day a 5 pounds note went missing from granddads place, it was rent he had left out to pay later.  Aunt Liz was blamed for the missing money it being her cleaning day.  It was left to dad to get to the bottom of it, which he did, establishing that aunt Liz had taken it with the intention of putting back, but for the time being she had no money for food for the kids, and had not yet been paid for her cleaning work. Dad paid back the 5 pounds to granddad after calling him a few words for leaving that sum of money around.  However, I am not sure that the incident was ever forgotten by Granddad and Uncle John, and I can recall it being aired a few times leading to arguments between them and my father. I guess aunt Liz was in the wrong, but given the situation of not having money to feed your children most would have been tempted to do the same.  My Aunt Margaret express a differing opinion, in her view aunt Liz would never have taken the money and she is convinced it was someone else in the family. 

By about the mid 50’s my family having moved to Weybridge in Surrey lost contact with the Leach family, we did not make many family trips to London and non that I can remember to the Leach family, I do remember Betty and Joyce along with Debbie and Jill driving down one Saturday to see us, but it had been a bad trip taken most of the day having got lost endless time, such that when it was time to go the two girls Debbie and Jill would not get back in the car. Margaret as always stayed in contact and any Leach family news was funneled to us through her.

Looking back now it’s obvious from the above that my Leach family memories were those of aunt Liz, uncle Wal and their family at Pagers Walk Bermondsey, other memories of the family are very vague I am positive I meet my great grandparents John and Emma Leach along with Gladys and Dennis Maloney in the back room of their pub in East Street Bermondsey, I remember they had big dogs that mum was very uneasy with. I can’t recall either Aunt Amy or Aunt Ellen but have no doubt my dad would have taken me to see them.

                                      Gladys (Leach) Maloney about 1928/29.

That with a lot of help from my aunt Margaret is about all I can recall of the Leach family, Jill the daughter of Joyce and Bill Saunders was born autistic but was not taken into special care and learning, instead she was cared for by her mum, grandmother and aunt, she died in her teens and I was never sure whether this was the right way to care for her. Today much expert help would be on hand but in those days I am not certain if that was always the case. I had had first hand experience in the 60’s of seeing just how much progress could be made in the right hands, but it was never going to be a case of the Leach family not caring for one of their own.

The 1901 census shows the Leach family living 263 Guinness Trust Buildings, Snowsfields, Bermondsey.  The household consists of John Leach and wife, with son John G A Leach aged 5 and daughter Florence B V Leach aged 3 completing the household.  John Leach’s wife is listed Anna Leach born 1878 age 23, a Office Cleaner born Rotherhithe,  this however contradicts the name we have for her, that being Emma Leach with maiden name Emma Moran.  Head of house John Leach was born 1873 Bermondsey and a Painters Labourer by trade.

The 1921 census shows the family living 136 Long Lane Southwark, John Leach is still head of household now 38 and a House Painter, his wife is listed Emma Fredrica Leach born 1877 now aged 34, a Ward Robe Dealer born Bermondsey. Also stated alongside Emma’s name is number of years married, quoted has 16 years giving their marriage date 1896.  The household now consists of four children, son John aged 15 a Van Boy by trade, Florence the eldest daughter now 13 and still at school plus daughters Gladys aged 7 and Elizabeth aged 5.

                                              Emma Leach about 1928/29.