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The OSBORN family from East End of London, England.  

Stephen Osborn was a confectioner.  In 1881 he was living with his wife, Hannah or Annie Osborn nee Wiles at 3, Commodore St, Mile End Old Town, in the East End of London. 

Their 3^rd son, Bertried, changed his name to Bertram.  He married Charlotte Newman in 1900 at St Paul's Church, Bow Common.  They raised a large family in Poplar and later moved to East Ham.

Bert was a painter and decorator by trade and was also a very good pianist, often playing in public.  He once played at a dinner party for Queen Alexandra.  He was a convivial person and enjoyed company at the pub (playing probably provided free beer!) 

He went to Australia before WW1 by working his way on a ship. This was to decide on whether the family might emigrate there. But on his return they decided to stay in England.

He served in the First World War joining up in 1914 and was shot through his left arm in 1916 (probably at the Battle of the Somme). He was discharged in 1917 with a disability pension. 

Unfortunately he could never play properly again which caused great sadness to him.  He spent much of his life painting ships in the docks. The pension was later cashed in to purchase an end of terrace house at 142 Market Street, East Ham and the family moved from Poplar to East Ham.

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      The NEWMAN family of the East End of London, England 

and Toronto, Canada.

In 1891 Charles and Mary Anne Newman nee Lofts were living in the East End of London, England.  With them were their sons Charles (9) Walter (4) Arthur (2) William (1) and their only daughter, Charlotte (Lottie) (7).  She was born 13 December 1883 and was Alan's grandmother.  Also in the house was Charles Lofts, Mary Anne's widowed father.    Charles and Mary Anne Newman and Charles Lofts all made horses nosebags. Both the Newman and Lofts families had come to London from villages near Sudbury in Suffolk.

Charles Newman died while the children were still quite young.  Mary Ann supported the family by making nose bags for horses.  She emigrated to Toronto, Canada with her sons, probably in the early 1900s.  She married again in Canada to a man named Lang or Laing.   

I believe that there are still descendants in the Toronto area of Canada. Do you know anything about them?  click here to send me an email

Charlotte Newman, Mary Anne's only daughter remained in England.  She married Bertram George Osborn and raised a large family in the East End of London. 12 children were born and nine survived to adult life (2 boys and 7 girls). 

Alan's mother Phyllis Ada Osborn was the second youngest born in 1918.  The photo below shows her with three of her sisters and a friend with his father John Lawrence on an Ariel Red Hunter motor-cycle in 1937.

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