Joseph Wilborne Peters was born in Ware in Hertfordshire in about 1853, the son of
William Peters and Anne Wilborne. His early years are a mystery and the first evidence
of him is when he married Elizabeth Sarah Beverley Bradford on 31 May 1873 at the
Church of St James the Great in Bethnal Green. The marriage entry records that he
was working as a carman (in effect, a delivery man driving a horse and cart) and
that his father was dead. Bride and groom both made their mark.
By the day of the 1881 census, Joseph and Elizabeth had four children: James, Robert,
Jessie (born 27 December 1879), Emily, and were living at 31 Mare Street in Hackney.
Joseph’s meagre earnings as a carman meant that they had to share the house with
two other families — in total nineteen people living in one house. Ten years later,
James and Robert had left home and Joseph and his family (with the addition of William
(born about 1883) had moved to 54 Queensbury Street in Islington. Joseph was working
as a dustman.
In the following years, Joseph’s daughters also left home. Emily was married on 7
August 1899 to a cabinet maker. In contrast, on 17 February 1900, Jessie gave birth
to a son at Holborn Workhouse in Hoxton New Town. At the time, Joseph and Elizabeth
were in their late forties but their youngest son, William, was only seven years
old, and they agreed to raise Thomas as their son. The following year, Jessie was
working as a sewing machinist and boarding with a family at 62 Sussex Street in Poplar.
In 1911, Joseph and Elizabeth were living at 38 Alley Lane in Stratford, Essex with
the eleven year-old Thomas. They declared that they had seven children, of whom six
had survived (it is not known which child had died). At this time, Joseph was working
as a general labourer for Bates and Brothers of Hornsey Rise.
