Peirce, Walter

Notes on Walter Peirce and family

He was proud of the spelling Peirce; it’s not clear how long it had been used for.

See interview tapes 92, 93, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 117, 125, 126.

Looked for marriage of Stephen, Walter’s father, 1905-1908, on 1837 on line without success

Walter’s father, Stephen Edward, known as Ted.
From Margate originally
Born 19 October 1878.
Married 5 November 1900.
Before c.1908    :    skipper on a barge for Keebles of Maldon
Ditto            On farm at Stow Maries.
c.1908:         settled in Stow Maries
c.1910-c.1914        Moved to Witham and worked in Harrison Gray maltings (by the
railway station)
c.1914-1918:         Fought in First World War
c.1918-        Worked at Blyth’s mill, Guithavon Valley, Witham
Died 21 November 1951.

Walter’s mother: Lily Elizabeth, nee Day, from Wymondham, Suffolk.
Born 18 December 1880, baptised Ipswich.
She was an unofficial midwife in Witham; started by looking after mothers and then started helping at births if no-one there. This was when her children small. Died 1945.

Walter and family, from his own information:

Born 1908 at Stow Maries

Siblings:
Henry Edward (stationmaster, Tiptree), born 20 November 1901, baptised Norfolk.
William John (in charge of refuse disposal at Braintree) baptised at Stow Maries
Then Walter, born 1908
Dorothy Ellen Elizabeth, born 10 August 1909, lived Terling.
Stephen Mark, born 21 April 1912, Witham, killed in Burma 1942.
Ethel Maud, born 6 Feb 1914, lived Heybridge, died 1953.
Mabel born 1916. Died at age of 56.
Leonard born 1919, died near Cambridge 1956.
Lily Harriet born 1921[?], lived Braintree.
Two others that didn’t live, one at Stow, one at Witham

School: National Schools, Guithavon Street, infants and boys

Married: 1928, Witham.

Residences
c.1908 – 1910, Stow Maries
c 1910 till ???, Mill Lane, Witham
??? till c.1925, 90 Church Street, Witham (since demolished) There by 1916, see below about going to hospital then.
c.1925 – 1930, Cressing Road, Witham (new Council house)
?when, Station Road, Hatfield Peverel
1930 – 1994, Airlings, Ulting Road, Hatfield Peverel

Jobs
c 1922, on leaving school, in service with Revd Eyre at 6 Chipping Hill. For nearly a year.
c 1923, learned thatching. Though elsewhere said he did this straight after school.
c 1924, book stall on Witham station, including delivering newspapers and collecting money, and serving the trains.
1927-1928, Blyth’s mill, Guithavon Valley, Witham, with father
1929 approx, East Anglian Electricity Co, bringing electricity to Witham from Braintree (part over and part underground)
?c.when, digging for water main from Langham to Billericay.
c.1929, temporarily for Lord Rayleigh’s at Blunts Hall farm when unemployed
?c. when, probably after Blunts Hall, to Seabrook’s at Boreham.
Then gardener at Boreham for Lady Curtis Bennett.
?c.when. Crittall’s metal window factory became main job., and eventually was tractor driver for Crittall’s at Witham. Also doing building work at Silver End for a while. Some of the jobs mentioned earlier may have been during layoffs from Crittall’s, the order is not very clear.

Died: 23 October 1994

Other information, chronological

12 Jan 1916, page 642, D/UWi 1/4/2 Urban District Council Letter Book, mentioned by WP on tape 110, side 5.
Dear Sir
On the 1st inst, a Mrs Pearce and her child, were removed from Church Street, Witham, to the Heybridge Isolation Hospital as suspected Diptheria cases; on the 8th inst I received a telephone message from the Hospital informing me Mrs Pearce was returning home that day. Mrs Pearce duly arrived home in the Ambulance, and I understand she went to Chelmsford by train on the following day, Sunday.
Will you be good enough to inform me whether this patient was discharged from the Hospital cured.
[To] …, Clerk, Maldon Joint Hospital Board’

21 March 1916, page 657, D/UWi 1/4/2 Urban District Council Letter Book
‘Dear Sir
Re Patients. I am in receipt of your account herein for which I thank you.
Dorothy, Edward and Walter Pierce were discharged on the 15th January, not the 16th as mentioned in the a/c and I have deducted 3 days making a total of £295 18 6 due, Do you agree? … [to] Maldon Joint Hospital Board’.

1917, Essex County Chronicle, 19 January
page 6, see xerox on newspaper file. ‘Witham Church School. Children and parents and friends, distribution of certificate for full attendance. Songs, and address by the Vicar. Vast opportunities. Boys had won the County’s Challenge shield this month for their attendance. Mrs F Round presented the certificates. ‘Little Ellen Bright’ thanked her and the Vicar. List of winners. Includes H Godfrey, A Poulter, W Peirce.

1919. Essex Weekly News, 4 April, page 2
Witham Petty Sessions. ‘Mrs Ellen Fleming, Witham, was summoned for assaulting Lily E Pierce. Complainant said defendant sent her an insulting message by her little boy, and when she went to ask her what she meant by it defendant knocked her down, dragged her into the street, and threw cold water over her. Stephen Pierce, complainant’s husband, a soldier, said he received a telegram from his wife, and got leave at once. He found her much bruised. She had only recently been confined. Defendant said complainant had tried to create strife between her (defendant’s) daughter and her young man at Chelmsford, and she sent a message to “thank her for what she had done for her Beatty”. The Chairman said the Bench were quite satisfied that the trouble was brought about by complainant’s own act, and the summons would be dismissed’.

1920 electoral register
Peirce, Stephen Edward Mark, Church Street
Peirce, Lily, Church Street.

1930 electoral register
Pierce, Stephen Edward, 41 Cressing Road
Pierce, Lily Elizabeth, 41 Cressing Road

1932. Braintree and Witham Times, 17 November
page 4, col 3. Mabel Pierce at police court. Of Cressing Road. Guilty of stealing a petticoat and vest at Hatfield Peverel. Was temporarily employed at the Swan, Hatfield Peverel. Discharged on 7th as unsuitable. Said was untruthful and dirty. Mrs Pierce apologised. A lot of trouble even at school. ‘Miss Luard took her in hand on one occasion and got her in a rescue home at Ilford’. Superintendent couldn’t do anything for her. Kept being sacked from jobs. She and father Stephen Pierce were bound over.

1937 electoral register
Pierce, Stephen Edward, 41 Cressing Road
Pierce, Lily Elizabeth, 41 Cressing Road
Pierce, Stephen Mark, 41 Cressing Road
Day, Winifred Maud, 41 Cressing Road

1944, Second World War
Sergeant Stephen Mark Peirce, aged 31, 1st Bn Essex Regiment, service no 6009248, killed 22 February 1944 in Far East. Son of Mr and Mrs Stephen Edward Mark Peirce; husband of Katie Sinclair Swinburn Hargrave Peirce, of Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, Co Durham. On Rangoon Memorial.


Glen Dersley kindly sent some information in May 2019 as follows:

“I’ve been looking at the information you have about my great uncle (Walter Peirce) and see that you were unable to find details of his parent’s (Stephen & Lily) wedding.
They were actually married around 1911 at All Saints in Witham (when they settled here), I’ve got the wedding certificate somewhere.  It was obviously carried out “on the quiet” as I seem to recall it was a weekday and the witness was the vicar’s maid…
I also remember Walter’s daughter (another Lily) telling me of her grandmother showing her where her  “still born” twins had been buried in that churchyard ( just to the left of the front door apparently) but I’ve never been able to find any record of that event”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *