Eureka Moment
Dr Sally Stockbridge’s amazing connection to The Times
The growing popularity of newspapers and journals in the 19th century generated fresh opportunities in skilled labour. Ironworkers crafted the printers’ presses, while compositors assembled the printed text by arranging metal blocks containing typography.
Dr Sally Stockbridge works in the media in Australia, and has been astonished to find links to that world way back in her tree.
My Brick Wall
I was born in Sydney, Australia, but my maternal grandfather John Clifford (Jack) Marriott hailed from London. He emigrated to New South Wales in 1923 at the age of 19. Perhaps he was in search of adventure.
In 2010, I began researching the major strands of my family tree. I knew a little about Jack’s parents, but nothing of my ancestors’ occupations.
It was while I was searching through census data that I noticed a connection to The Times. My 4x great grandfather John Marriott was born in London in 1800, and in the 1851 census he is listed as a labourer, living at Printing House Lane “nr Times”.
Between 1785 and 1974, The Times was produced at Printing House Square in Blackfriars, the City of London. John Marriott’s home was very close by.
There were two more enticing clues in the census returns of 1851 and 1861. John Marriott’s son, also called John, worked as a messenger in a printer’s office in Fleet Street. His son Henry was listed as a printer. However, despite spending time on Ancestry ( ancestry.co.uk), I couldn’t progress any further with the Marriotts.
My Eureka Moment
In 2012, my daughter Cassandra went to work in London and lived with her boyfriend, who is now her husband. His father Ian has an interest in genealogy, and offered to help me find out more information about my ancestors.
In January 2013, Ian contacted the human-resources department at News International, which owns The Times. They responded asking for details about my family. I emailed them names, dates and census records.
In no time at all I received a lovely email from the archivist at The Times confirming that the Marriotts were connected to that august publication, and that
he could provide information about their extensive employment history. I felt over the moon.
My Breakthrough
I had booked a trip to London to visit Cassandra in May 2013, so I asked the archivist if I could visit in person. He emailed back and scheduled a “long meeting because he had a lot to tell me”.
I cannot explain how exciting this was. Cassandra and I were shown into a room with a large table strewn with documents. The archivist and his assistant shook our hands and said, “It’s lovely to meet descendants of one of the old Times families.”
Firstly, the archivist showed me an article that appeared in The Times House Journal of January 1928, which included details from an article published in the newspaper itself in 1921. To my surprise, it revealed that eight members of the Marriott family had worked for the newspaper, amassing 304 years of service across two generations. There was even a table giving their names, job titles and length of service.
It all began with my 4x great grandfather. He was an ironfoundry foreman who later became a warehouseman for the newspaper in Printing House Lane. His son John, my 3x great grandfather, served an incredible 58 years at The Times. He joined at the age of 14 as a night porter, and rose to become head messenger. What’s more, his wife Esther Hearn dedicated 40 years of her life to serving the family of the newspaper’s founder John
Walter as the housekeeper at their home in Blackfriars.
John’s son Harry, my great great grandfather, worked in the composing room, and notched up 46 years at the newspaper. His uncles William and Charles and three cousins worked alongside him at various times.
It was interesting to discover that the Marriott family was literate for so many generations. You had to be, to work in the composing room – part of their job was to edit coarse or embarrassing language from parliamentary reports.
One of the last of the Marriotts to work for the newspaper was Henry, my great grand uncle, who was foreign-office messenger. His obituary gave an impression of the Marriott character. He had “a great attachment to, and veneration for, The Times. He was trusted by his employers and respected by those with whom he associated.”
The archivist said it was very unusual to find a family with such strong links to The Times. He was excited by it, as were Cassandra and I. We call it our Who Do You Think You Are? moment!