Am I right to be suspicious?

[Phoenix]

Amelia Edney, daughter of Thomas, born August 1895 (Amelia Jennie) in Kensington was in school in Croydon 1909.

She then vanished off the radar until she marries in 1923.

Her mother had died in 1904. Thomas remarried and in 1911 was with his new wife, in Kensington, but none of his little responsibilities from his first marriage.

Edward b 1894 was in the workhouse.
Amelia Jennie b 1895 - no trace


Jennie Evelyn b 1898 and her younger sister Mary have been adopted by Ann Burton, a widow aged 54. She has two adult children and two male lodgers and they live in TWO ROOMS.

Call me squeamish if you like, but I'd feel far happier about the scenario if those lodgers weren't there.

[Olde Crone]

Well, I don't know!

My late MIL was one of 13 children. Her mother fell downstairs and broke her neck and her father quickly married the widow next door, who already had several children and they went on to have a few more together. All this took place in an ag lab's TWO ROOMED cottage.

I asked MIL where on earth they all slept and she said "We slept where we fell". I doubt if much hankypanky could have gone on, there wasn't the room, for one thing!

My mother had eight brothers. They all lived in a two roomed flat with no running water, in a tenement. The boys slept in the bedroom on a series of makeshift beds, my mother and her parents slept in the living room.

So, I would imagine your lodgers had one room to themselves and everyone else slept in the other room. All perfectly proper!

OC

[HarrysMum]

Whe I was little, our neighbours had 13 children (2 with disabilities) in a 2 bedroom war service house. There weren't any spare rooms, just the tiny kitchen, lounge with dining table in it, tiny bathroom and two bedrooms.

I think we seem to think the worst now. We've gone camping with other families and nothing 'bad' has happened............except the time my son got bitten by a bee and needed a quick trip at night on a dirt road to hospital.......lol

[Nell]

When my grandfather was lodging with his aunt after WW1, they were so short of space that he shared a bed with another (male) lodger.

No hanky panky as far as I'm aware - this kind of arrangement was quite normal for the time.

Most of the families I've found in 1911 census were living in what we'd consider very cramped conditions now - several families with a few rooms each in the same house etc probably sharing a bathroom and maybe the bathroom was shared with next door too.

Now we expect everyone should have their own bedroom and possibly an ensuite bathroom. We are more concerned with personal space.

True, posh folk would have separate bedrooms, dressing rooms etc. But the majority of people had to make do. Of course, they didn't have umpteen possessions cluttering up their space though, just the minimum of blankets, pots and pans. Sleeping with several in a bed would have ensured they all kept warm, even if it makes us feel uncomfortable. We are sooooo obsessed with child abuse now we look for it everywhere!

[Phoenix]

I hear what all of you say, and if Mrs Burton had had fifteen children, I wouldn't have worried. It's the presence of the lodgers that bothers me. It could be perfectly respectable, with men in one room, women in the other, but the facts that the lodgers are male and the children not family continue to concern me.

My Dad left home for good when the only respectable sleeping arrangements were him with his father and his sister, having reached puberty, with his mother. And that's only a generation after this census.

[Anstey Nomad]

A friend of mine went to university in 1964, found there was an accommodation crisis and was put in digs where, for the first term, he had to share a bed...with a Welshman (he is a Scot).

Now so many of our students live in purpose built en suite accommodation.

Sometimes we forget how lucky we are.

AN