WILLIAM KAY - Grandfather of our senior generation

The second son of Charles Kay and Mary Ann Oxley, was born on September 12th 1871 at 7 Richmond Street, City Road, Holborn. The 1881 Census records the following persons living at 4 Rutland Court: Mary Oxley (widow, 66 years, takes in washing), Charles Kay (11 years), William Kay (9 years) and Mary Kay (7 years), the place of the census is given as St Botolph, Ald. There were also several other families living at the same address. It appears that their maternal grandmother cared for the children after their mother died.

The Workhouse:
Brian Kay relates the story that his father Albert told him about Grandad Kay: After their mother died, the three children were being cared for by their maternal grandmother, Mary Ann Oxley. Finally, when things became too much for her, she decided appeal to the Workhouse to take the children in. To prevent dismaying the children she told them she would take them to visit an uncle, but when approaching the building, Charles said to William 'can you read those words up there carved into the wall?' To which William replied 'I'm not going in there!' And they both made a run for it. Mary Ann could not bring herself to leave young Mary there by herself, so they returned home together. How the boys fared is unclear, but they both survived!

Click here to return to the top of the page

The 1881 census shows also that living at 65 St Clements Court (or Street) both of which are located between Barnsbury and Highbury Corner were: Samuel Kay (73), commercial traveller (although he is given as a bookbinder on his son Charles' birth certificate), living with his wife Elizabeth (née Donald 70), daughter Emma (40) unmarried book folder, Frederick (33) unmarried painter and Charles (31), widower, bookbinder. There were three families (19 people) listed as living at number 65.

Before he married, William studied to become a missionary in China and a copy of "The Chinese Radicals", Shanghai, China Inland Mission, 1891 which he owned, is in the family archive. He told his son, William John, "that he was not accepted because he could not contribute £100 towards his fare and expenses". In the film 'The Inn of the Sixth Happiness', Gladys Aylward in her early life suffered a similar rejection. William was for many years a member of the Leysian Mission silver band and can be seen with band members in a contemporary photograph. He was also active in many other aspects of the Mission's work including playing at open air services.

Click here to return to the top of the page

On April 18th 1896, William married Ann Caroline Louise Chapman. It is not certain where their first home was, but the birth certificate of their second child bears the address 3 Alexandra Buildings, Shoreditch.

During WWI William worked at Woolwich Arsenal, which involved long hours. Six o'clock in the morning until six in the evening. When telling of his early life, he once remarked, "It was all work and bed", adding, with a twinkle in his eye, "No wonder we had large families then!" Later he became a warehouseman with Raphael Tuck, the printers; and related how he once was threatened with the sack if he did not renounce his union card during the early years of trades' unions. He also worked for several newspapers, including The News of the World.

William and Ann moved to 1 Croker's Buildings, Charles Square, Shoreditch, at the beginning of the 1900's. The name is spelt in three different ways and variously given as Shoreditch, Hoxton or Finsbury: (1) Croker, (2) Croker's and (3) Crocker's, the third spelling being the usual pronunciation. It is probable that eight of their twelve children were born there.

Click here to return to the top of the page

About 120 years before William and Ann moved to Crocker's Buildings, the Reverend John Newton, the renowned slave-trade abolitionist, lived there on becoming Rector of St Mary Woolnoth in the City of London. When writing to a friend, after moving from Olney in Buckinghamshire to his new home in Charles Square, Hoxton, John Newton described how "There are green trees in front and a green field backwards, with cows feeding in it; so that it has some little resemblance of the country". It is thought that Crocker's Buildings were originally a row of farm cottages.

For a short time early in WWII William and Ann moved to Morton Road, Islington, the home of William and Gladys who had moved to Buckinghamshire. Another son, Albert, bought a house at Greenford, Middlesex for them to live in away from the city; where Ann (of whom it was said, survived long enough to see her youngest son Ernest, return from the war) died on January 31st 1946.

For the next 12 years William lived alone, supported by his daughter, Grace, who lived close by. He would take turns to visit many of his children from time to time and throughout maintained his cheerfulness, optimism and independent spirit. He had the utmost conviction of the truth of the Christian faith and 'knew' that one day he would be reunited with Ann. He died in 1958 at the age of 86 years at Fen Cottage, Elmstead, Essex, while being cared for by another of his daughters.

Click here to return to the top of the page