Birth

John Gillard was born at Newton Le Willows, Lancashire, in about 1829.

Railway

John was one of the navvies who built the railway from Crewkerne to Yeovil.

A court case of June 1860 refers to him as a railway navvy residing at Hardington. On the night of Saturday, 23 June 1860, he was out on a pub crawl that took him as far as Yeovil. As he walked down Hendford Hill in a drunken state, cursing and swearing, he attracted the attention of PC Penny, who asked him to go home quietly. When John responded by hitting him and trying to push him over, Penny arrested him. At the Borough Police Court the following Monday, two magistrates fined John 10s.[1]`

Marriage

On 2 September 1860, John married Louisa Rendell at Hardington. John and Louisa were both about 32.

Louisa, the daughter of Thomas and Susan Rendell, had an illegitimate daughter, Selina, who was born about 1850.

Childs Hill

By 1868, John Gillard, Louisa and Selina had moved to Childs Hill, where John worked as a railway platelayer.

In 1868, Selina married Thomas John Elphick in Hendon.

In the first quarter of 1870, John and Louisa registered the birth of their son, John.

By April 1871, John and his family lived at Cricklewood Terrace.

Laundry work

By April 1881, John and his family lived at 2 Brook Cottages, The Mead. At that time, many people in Childs Hill earned a living providing laundry services to the new suburbs of West London and Hampstead. Their customers believed the Childs Hill water was cleaner and less likely to carry diseases like cholera and typhoid. John decided to jump on the bandwagon and, by July 1888, he and his son were both laundry workers.

Death of Louisa

Louisa died in 1888, aged 58.

Second marriage

The following year, John married Mary Ann Armstrong, who was twenty years younger than him.

Conflagration

On Wednesday, 30 March 1892, at about 11.45 pm, James Simmons, the owner of the Sanitary Laundry at The Mead, was returning home when he noticed a glare in one of the upper windows of an adjacent property. As he got nearer, he saw that the upper part of 2 Brook Cottages was on fire. Knowing that John Gillard and his wife were inside, he banged on their door and called out to them. When he finally made them hear, they came downstairs to the front door only to find it stuck. Using all his might, Simmons successfully forced the door from his side and saved them. The fire spread to other properties, destroying 1, 2 and 3 Brook Cottages and damaging Mr Simmons’s laundry. None of the tenants were insured.[2]

The local newspaper reported that the houses in the area had special flues for ironing grates. The flue at John Gillard’s house overheated, causing the fire.[3]

Willesden

By March 1901, John and Mary Ann had moved to Willesden, where John’s son lived. John lived off his savings, but Mary Ann continued working as a laundress. They lived initially at 44 Draper’s Road and then at 67 Dudden Hill Lane.

John died in 1916, aged 89.

By June 1921, Mary Ann was a patient in Park Royal Hospital, Acton Lane, Willesden, a Poor Law institution. She died in 1924, aged 75.

References

[1] Langport & Somerton Herald, 30 June 1860, p.4.

[2] Hendon & Finchley Times, 1 April 1892, p.5.

[3] Hendon & Finchley Times, 1 April 1892, p.5.