Relinque Road

[jrh]

Hello,
I am researching my family history and have found that my grandmother, Lucy Pigden Born 1891, was discharged in Dec. 1911 from the Workhouse at Lewisham to 3 Relinque Road Lewisham. She was 20 and unmarried and gave birth to my uncle in the workhouse.
My family name is Harris. Also, as Lucy Harris she is in the 1922 Electoral Register. at 3 Relinque Road. Has anybody any history of this road or the Pigden family that would help me in my research?

[Michael Viner]

Hello there-Relinque Rd. was built in the 1880's -one of a cluster of roads of working class terraced housing built near the Bell Green Gas Works in Lower Sydenham;many residents of the houses worked there.The area was quite heavily bombed in WW 11 (the gas holders being a ' good' target for the Luftwaffe) and the houses of Relinque Rd. which survived (some pre-fabs replaced some of the bombed houses for a while) were demolished in a 'slum clearance ' of the area in 1961. One building of Relinque Rd. survives- Emmanuel Hall, the former London City Mission hall,now used as a community hall;tall blocks of flats stand where the terraced houses were,next to Home Park. Your relative Lucy Harris was no longer living at 3 Relinque Rd. by 1930,according to my street directory;however, a Richard Pigden was living not too far away at No.43 Acacia Rd. Sydenham in the early 1930's. Acacia Rd. was also demolished in the 1960's and is now called Hazel Grove.
Hope this helps/is of interest
Kind Regards,Michael

[jrh]

Hello Michael,
Thank you very much for the information in your post. You answered a couple of questions for me as I was trying to find out when the Relinque Road houses were built and when they were pulled down.
In the 1911 census Lucy's father and mother, Benjamin Thomas (1862 – 1921) and Annie Pigden (1862 – 1916), are shown in No.3 Relinque Road with 5 of their children but not Richard. 2 other are adults were living the same house. Would you by any chance know how many bedrooms the houses in Relinque Road have and did they have inside toilets? Studying the 1901 Census, the odd numbers 1 to 13 had 39 adults and 18 children (57) living in the 7 houses.
Lucy married my grandfather, George Henry Harris in July 1916 and my father, same name, was born in December 1916. I have found my grandfathers WW1 record, he joined up in 1916 and was discharged unfit in April 1917, not war wounds, to No.3 Relinque Road. He died 3 months later in July 1917. This left Lucy with her eldest son, Thomas, Arthur Pigden aged 6 and my father George Henry Harris aged 9 months. Lucy Harris is in the 1922 Electoral Register at No.3 Relinque Road. After that I can only find a Lucy Harris in the Electoral Registers in Hammersmith. She re-marries in 1927 to a Bert Denyer (1896 – 1937) and after that she is shown in the 1939 Register living with my Father and Mother at 23 Rathfern Road, Lewisham.

[Michael Viner]

Re.Relinque Rd.- these were typical' 2 up 2 down' terraced houses of the period ie. 2 bedrooms upstairs,one for parents and one for children, and two rooms downstairs- a kitchen and front room( or living room) The toilet was outside in the back yard and there was no bathroom; baths were taken either in the tin bath,brought in from the back yard into the front room and filled with hot water,or the local public Bath House was used,which was just down the road at Bell Green(this still survives,used as an architectural salvage shop) A number of the roads around Bell Green were the same-it was a poor area,probably the poorest part of Sydenham.The Wells Park Rd. area of Upper Sydenham was another poor area at the time

[Michael Viner]

Sorry,I forgot to add re.the 2 other adults living at 3 Relinque Rd. in the 1911 census;it was quite common in poor areas back then for families to take in lodgers-despite the cramped living conditions- to make money and help pay the rent,thus the husband and wife,or even the children,would sometimes end up sharing their room with a stranger to make ends meet! (Quite often this would be a young, single work colleague of the husband)

[jrh]

Thanks Michael for this very useful additional information.

[Astrocopus]

Hello there-Relinque Rd. was built in the 1880's
Hope this helps/is of interest
Kind Regards,Michael

Do you know who 'Relinque Road' is named after?

[brioch98]

Hello

I have been doing some work into my family history. And saw my great great grandma lived in Relinque road and died in a bombing. Was there a greengrocers down Relinque road at number 12? As we believed they owned the greengrocer’s? Her name was jemima (Jane) Morris and her husband was Henry Morris

Any info would be amazing