Margaret Sarah Chiswick was born in Poplar on 29 Sep 1851 the eldest daughter of Daniel Chiswick and Margaret Lucas. Her father was a cooper, whose family had practised the trade in Bethnal Green for more than a century.
In 1872 she married Thomas Morgan, who had moved up to London from Bristol only the year before.
Margaret Morgan in about 1930
Margaret was the eldest in a very large family and had ten sisters and one brother. Her mother died in 1870 possibly in childbirth – so, we can imagine, Margaret had responsibility for looking after a series of young children well before she embarked on her own family.
The last of her own eleven children was born in 1897. It is not surprising then that we find her again in the 1901 census staying with her eldest daughter Florence Schofield looking after a third generation. Her life was therefore dominated in the cycle of childbirth and raising young children, most of whom survived to adulthood.
When she married in 1872 the register shows that she was not able to sign other than with an ‘X’. This is a little surprising as we believe both her parents were literate. Her schooling though is likely to have been very limited – we do not have any later examples of her writing.
She remained closest to her daughter Armoral (b 1895) who was living with her parents at 394 Strone Road, Manor Park on the marriage certificate of Armoral to John Cecil Darcy on 28 Dec 1916. Thomas Morgan died at that very same address some two years later and at some point Margaret moved to Ilford, where her son William lived.
Despite this apparently tough life, she lived to the age of 85, dying on 17 Apr 1937. We have a memorial card from her funeral. The address on that card is given as 19 Grosvenor Road Ilford and that is probably the address of Armoral and her second husband Alfred Hughes. On her return from South Africa in 1930 after the death of John D’Arcy, Armoral remarried and lived in Ilford, although the only address given is in neighbouring Albert Road. Armoral and her two children, Armoral (b 1917) and Desmond (b 1923), together with William and his two children, Winnie (b 1911) and Donald (b 1922) lived all very close to their grandmother in neighbouring Ilford streets.
See Thomas Morgan page for the full details of their family together.
The whole Morgan family – probably Summer 1930
This family photo must date from about 1930 as it shows Armoral and her two children and they only returned from South Africa in April that year. From Left to Right – it is William Morgan, Donald (aged 8), Emma, Winnie (aged 19), Grandmother, Armoral (aged 13), Amy, Desmond (aged 7) and Armoral. (It is possible Armoral the mother is three in from the right and the lady on the end is someone else)