My Grandfather's Hat : William Wait (1899-1966)

I never knew my paternal grandparents, William Robert Victor Wait (1899-1966) and Edith Wait née Lacey (1900-1940). In fact I never knew any of my father's family - apart from meeting Maurice Lacey (Edith's brother) and his wife for a short while in the 1970s.

The only image I have of my grandfather is that of his fedora hat laid upon the pebbles on Brighton Beach. My father, Samuel Wait (1923-2008), never hid the fact that he hated him. So much so, that he gave his father's name as Richard on his wedding certificate. This, of course, fired my curiosity. I had so many questions. What was my grandfather like? What happened to him? I just had to know more. 

So, using information from my father's early life, I have managed to piece together details of the man who wore that hat - my grandfather, William Robert Victor Wait.

Brighton sea front c.1928

Above is a photograph William Wait probably took on the Brighton seafront in c.1928. From left to right is his wife Edith Wait née Lacey (my grandmother). Next to her, holding his pipe, is her brother Maurice Lacey (1904-1981). On his lap (half out of view) is my father, Samuel Wait, and in the foreground is his sister Ruth Wait (1926-1946). My grandfather's hat is laying next to Ruth.

Descendants of William Wait

Marriage of William and Edith

I will never know how my grandparents met, but they were married on Saturday 7th April 1923 at Wandsworth Register Office.

William and Edith's marriage, Wandsworth 1d 1095

The marriage certificate shows that William was a bachelor, 23 years old and a cartage contractor's motor lorry driver mechanic. His residence at the time of marriage was 167 Eardley Road in Streatham. William's father was William Francis Wait, a house decorator (master).

At the time of her marriage, Edith Ruth Lacey was a 22 year old spinster. She worked as a chemical manufacturer's assistant and lived at 6a Fairelight Road, Tooting. Her father, Samuel Lacey, was working as a builder's night watchman. Eardley Road was approximately two miles from Fairlight  Road.

The witnesses on the certificate are William's mother, Isa Jane Wait (1878-1913) and Edith's brother Maurice Lacey.

Birth of Samuel Wait

My father, Samuel Wait, was born twelve weeks later on Thursday 28th June 1923, at 167 Eardley Road, Streatham in London. Which means Edith was approximately six months pregnant when she married William.

Samuel Wait's birth certificate Wandsworth 1d 1010

My father's birth certificate shows that his father was William Robert Victor Wait, a contractors motor driver. His mother was Edith Ruth Wait, née Lacey.

167 Eardley, Road, Streatham, London

Edith Wait

Edith Wait (my father's mother) was the daughter of Samuel Lacey (1864-1927) and Jane Lacey née Stuck (1868-1949). My father was named after his wiry-haired grandfather. His grandmother, Jane, was a very austere woman who often described all the Wait family as toe-rags.  Her opinion of the Waits obviously wasn't helped by her daughter being six months pregnant on her wedding day!

Edith Wait née Lacey (1900-1940)

Descendants of Samuel Lacey

Edith Wait (possibly on Brighton beach)

Above is an enlarged photograph of Edith Wait, possibly taken on Brighton Beach (the beach huts of Hove promenade can be seen in the background). She loved opera and was particularly fond of Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of  Penzance. 

This tiny picture, along with a couple of others (including the one below), were treasured by my father. 

Sam Wait (aged about 3) with his mother Edith Wait in c. 1926

Birth of Ruth Wait

Three years later, William and Edith Wait were blessed with a daughter. Ruth Jean Wait, my father's sister, was born on November 8th 1926 (Wandsworth 1d 886). 

Death of Samuel Lacey

However, on the 22nd March the following year, Edith's father Samuel Lacey died, aged 63 (Wandsworth 1d 685).

Samuel Lacey's death certificate Wandsworth 1d 685

The death certificate (above) shows that on the 22nd March 1927, Samuel Lacey died at 46 Ousley Road Balham. His occupation was described as a House Decorator (Journeyman) and cause of death was Intestinal Obstruction and Ileus. Ileus is the medical term for a lack of movement somewhere in the intestines. This gut obstruction can be deadly and if the Ileus is not treated it can perforate or tear the intestine.

It is interesting to note that, before his death, Samuel Lacey had improved his occupation from a nightwatchman (on his daughter's marriage certificate), to a master house decorator. This, coincidentally, was the same occupation as the father of his son-in-law (William Francis Wait).

Samuel's home address is given on the death certificate as 6a Fairlight Road, Tooting. His son, Maurice Lacey, was the informant,  living at 1 Belvedere Avenue, Leeds. 

Fairlight Road, Tooting c.1950

Samuel Lacey was buried in the churchyard of St Nicholas which is located on the corner of Mitcham Road and Church Lane, Tooting Graveney. His widow, Jane Lacey née Stuck (my great-grandmother), remained living at 16a Fairlight Road with their two daughters Lilian and Annie. This was two miles from William and Edith Wait and their two children Sam and Ruth. 

St. Nicholas Church, Tooting.

Sam Wait at School

My father and his family still seem to have been living at Eardley Road when he started school in c.1928. This school was in Defoe Road, approximately two miles from his home. At that time, the road and school carried that name because of the local tradition that an old chapel, built near Tooting Market, was founded by Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), the author of Robinson Crusoe. Today, Defoe Road has disappeared and an extended Garett Lane (A217) runs across into Mitcham Road.

Eardley Road to Defoe Road/Garratt Lane

Boys at Defoe Road School learning shoemaking (date unknown)

Sam then went to Broadwater Junior School, near his grandmother's house in Fairlight Road. 

Broadwater School, Tooting

Broadwater School, Tooting.

Finally, my father returned to Defoe Road to attend the Senior School.

Defoe Road schools

William Wait walks out

It is unclear exactly when William Wait walked out on his wife, Edith, and their two children, Sam and Ruth. But it was probably sometime in late 1928. Most of my father's existing pictures, probably taken by his father in Brighton, seem to have been before this time. Intriguingly, it was in Brighton that William Wait eventually lived and married again.

Dad's Gran - Jane Lacey

Shortly after her husband had left her, Edith Wait took her children to live with her recently widowed mother, Jane Lacey, upstairs at 6a Fairlight Road. Also living there at this time were Jane's other two daughters Annie and Lilian who was born with a deformed spine. Lilian worked as a knitting machinist in Greyhound Lane in Streatham while Annie later married George Parfitt an engineer in 1935 and moved to Chiswick with him.

Both Edith and Lilian were tall and slim. 

6a Fairlight Road Tooting

My father had a great deal of respect for his grandmother and she must have been a fascinating character. Sadly, I only have a few of dad's descriptions of her, all now written down in my notes. But apparently she was very strict with him and his sister. At meal-times they had to sit up straight, and there were absolutely no elbows allowed on the table.

The copper stick

Jane Lacey was also an ardent royalist and would often take my young father to watch the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace and Trooping the Colour, an annual ceremony in London's Horse Guards Parade near St James Park. Seeing these spectacular events inspired my father so much that he would often spend the rest of the day imitating the soldiers by marching up and down the yard in Fairlight Road pretending a copper stick was a gun. His love of the British army would stay with him for the rest of his life. 

My father left school in 1937 aged 14. On that last day he went to visit his mother at County Hall in central London, where she worked as a cashier. Below is a copy of my father's tiny photograph taken outside County Hall, showing his mother with many of her work colleagues.

Edith Wait at County Hall in London (front row, fifth from the right)

The Eve of War

On September 3rd, 1939, the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, announced over the airwaves that Britain was at war with Germany. The 1939 Register was taken twenty six days later, over a single weekend, and was created essentially for identity cards, evacuations and rationing. 

1939 Register  Ref: RG101/0585C/023/27 Letter Code: AXGP

In 1938, Edith and her two children had moved with her mother and sister Lilian to 50 Welham Road, Tooting. Also, about this time it seems my father was working as a clerk for a local dentist. But when I looked at the 1939 Register for 50 Welham Road, Tooting bizarrely the first name is Wait Jane L.  This is undoubtedly my father's grandmother, Jane Lacey née Stuck (1868-1949). 

Jane Lacey née Stuck (1868-1949)

Jane Lacey's date of birth is given as 7th August 1868 and she is described as a widow (her husband Samuel Lacey had died in 1927). It is also noted that she is at home, sick with a broken arm and is an unpaid domestic worker (a housewife).

So this line of Wait surnames for the household is not entirely correct as both Jane and Lilian should have the surname Lacey. 

The names in the register were copied down by an enumerator from the household schedules, which were handwritten by the householders themselves. Perhaps, because of Jane Lacey's broken arm, someone else had filled in the form and assumed all their surnames were Wait.

Next we see Wait, Edith R., my father's mother. Underneath her date of birth, given as 10th December 1900, it is noted that she was separated. Her occupation was as a cashier (this was at County Hall in London).

Wait, Lilian N is next on the register. This is Lilian Lacey, Edith's sister. She was single and a knitter (she worked in a factory in Greyhound Lane, Streatham). Lilian was born on 27th November 1910.

Ruth Wait was still at school when the register was taken. Her date of birth is given as 8th November 1926.

Sam Wait joins the army

The last name on the 1939 Register for that household is my father Wait, Samuel. His date of birth is given as the 28th June 1923. The enumerator has crossed his name out and written not issued with I-C (ON STRENGTH OF ARMY). 

Section of Samuel Wait's details

It is unclear exactly what this means. But as soon as war had been declared, my father had gone to the recruitment office (possibly in Balham), without the knowledge of his family, where he lied about his age in order to join the army. His mother and grandmother were deeply distressed over this and immediately applied for his discharge. So, at the time the register was taken, on September 29th 1939, my father - although he should have been at that address, had not been issued with an identity card because he was in the army.

Army Record of Samuel Wait

My father's army papers reveal that from September 1939 to December 1939 he had served in the 9th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. Meanwhile, both his mother, Edith, and grandmother, Jane Lacey, applied for his discharge because of his age. After three months they succeeded, leaving my father very aggrieved.

Sam's 'original date of birth' on his army papers

On his papers the army have written that his date of birth at first attestation was 28.6.1922 (above). The sergeant major told him to come back in a year's time, when he was old enough. And he did. 

Where was William Wait?

I know that my grandfather, William R. V. Wait, left his wife Edith shortly after the birth of their daughter, Ruth. But where did he go? The 1939 Register shows him in 29 Campings Coach Garage, Brighton in Sussex.

Ref: RG101/2432E/015/44 

First we see Beach, John an Engineer's Painter and his wife Gwen. Next is my grandfather, Wait William R.V., and his date of birth is given as 20th May 1899. William is described as still married and his occupation is as a bus driver.

The exact location of 29 Campings Coach Garage in Brighton was difficult to find. But, after considerable research, I discovered it was at 19 Hollingdean Terrace which has now been transformed into art studios and a craft space.

Inside the Coach Garage 

The Coachwerks 19 Hollingdean Terrace, Brighton

Hollingdean Terrace, Brighton, Sussex

Sam Wait joins up (again)

Sam Wait in the East Surrey Regiment c.1941

On November 22nd 1940 my father enlisted again: at seventeen years, he was now old enough. He was sent to Milton Barracks in Gravesend with the 70th Battalion East Surrey Regiment, and given the service number 6148833. 

The battalion were all volunteers and he explained to me that part of their uniform were old 1914-1918 putties. Unfortunately, my father's legs were so thin he could not keep them up. So he was told to get a pair of old football socks, cut the feet out of them, and wear them underneath the putties!

Putties

Death of Edith Wait

Edith Wait's death certificate Battersea 1d 707

Just over a month after joining the army for a second time, my father was informed about the death of his mother. Edith Wait died on December 26th 1940 at St. John's Hospital Battersea. She was 40 years old.

St. John's Hospital, St John's Hill, Battersea SW11.

The cause of her death was pulmonary tuberculosis (Battersea 1d 707). Her home address was 50 Welham Road, Tooting and the certificate describes her a the wife of William Victor Wait, an engineers motor driver. The informant was J. Lacey, mother of 50 Welham Road, Tooting.

Dad was devastated. He told me that a soldier went around the barracks with a hat and collected for a wreath.

Edith Wait was buried at St. Nicholas Church, Tooting.

Sam meets his father

With the 70th Battalion East Surrey Regiment, my father was temporarily kept in civilian billets between Weybridge and Walton-on-Thames. In 1941, under Sgt. Major Seal and Captain Bishop, the regiment went on route marches, trained the home-guard at Ascot, and one night were inspected by General Montgomery.

70th Battalion East Surrey Regiment in 1941 (Dad was ill and not in the photo)

My father often described to me how one day he was chosen, along with other six footers, for 24-hour guard-guard duty at Shoreham Airport in West Sussex. His company were described as smarter coming off duty than the others that were going on duty!

Shoreham Airport, West Sussex c.1936

Because my father's Company had been so smart during their guard duty at Shoreham Airport, the men were rewarded with weekend leave. This was possibly when he decided to take the opportunity to see his father about his mother's insurance money.

Dad told me very little about this meeting, apart from the fact that his father was living near Brighton Railway Station in Buckingham Road.

Buckingham Road, Brighton is about ten miles from Shoreham Airport. At the southern end it is lined with large villas constructed in the 1870s, with some impressive terraced housing built in the 1850s in the north.

Buckingham Road, Brighton

I do not know exactly where William Wait was living in Buckingham Road, but he was approximately three miles away from his work place at Campings Coach Garage in Hollingdean Terrace. 

Dad probably travelled by train from Shoreham to Brighton Railway Station in Queens Road. After a four minute walk he knocked on the door. It was opened, he said, by an ugly, short haired woman (Lily Baker?). He asked to see his father and he eventually appeared. Dad described his father as a medium sized man, approximately 5' 10'' tall with light brown hair.

William denied that he owed Edith any money. 

This would be the last time Sam saw his father.

The marriage of William Wait and Lily Baker

On the 23rd May 1942 William Robert Victor Wait married Lily Baker née Moore at Brighton Register Office.

William Wait's marriage certificate Brighton 2b 716

William Wait was a widower (his former wife Edith had died on December 26th 1940). He was now 43 years old and an omnibus driver. His father was William Francis Wait, a general labourer.

William's new wife was Lily Baker née Moore, a widow aged 45. Her father was John Alfred Moore, a colliery manager, deceased.

The addresses of the bride and groom are interesting. William was living at 9 New Steine in Brighton. This is a rather elegant row of five storey Georgian houses near the sea front.

The junction of St. James Street and New Stein c.1920's.

According to her wedding certificate, Lily was living approximately 11 miles away at Briarwood, Queen's Place, Shoreham-by-Sea.

Queen's Place, Shoreham (1904)

So Lily was a widow, and her father, John Alfred Moore, had been the manager of a coal mine. I was intrigued and began to investigate a little further. 

The 1901 Census (below) shows Lil(l)y, aged four, living with her family in Bolsover, Derbyshire. At this time her father, John Alfred Moore, was a horsekeeper for the colliery. He was 35 years old and born in Langley, Derbyshire. Her mother, Harriet, was 28 and originally from Old Whittington, Derbyshire.

Lily Baker aged 4 on the 1901 Census. Bolsover RG13/3254/69/10

I eventually discovered the certificate of Lily's first marriage. She married Albert Baker, a grocers packer, on the 22nd February 1931 at the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Grace, High Road, Chiswick, Middlesex. She was 34 years old and lived at St Alban's Avenue, Bedford Park. But Albert died in December 1941 aged 48 (Brentford 3a 223).

On 23rd May the following year, Lily married my grandfather  William Wait at Brighton Register Office. She was now a widow, aged 45, and gives her address as Briarwood, Queen's Place, Shoreham-by-Sea. How William and Lily met will no doubt remain a mystery.

9 New Stein, Brighton (2015)

Perhaps my grandfather continued working for Campings Coaches. Apart from Hollingdean Terrace, Campings also had a garage in Franklin Road, Brighton and Portslade. The company's main ticket office in Brighton during the 1950's can be seen below. It was in a kiosk on the right of the picture.

Brighton c.1950.

The death of William Wait

My grandfather died in March 1966. 

Death certificate of William R V Wait (Hove 5H 588)

Detail of cause of death for William Wait

His death certificate shows that he died in 78 Nevill Road, Hove, East Sussex on the March 25th 1966. He was 66 years old and a retired omnibus driver. There was a postmortem and causes of death are given as:

• Myocardial ischemia (usually a critical coronary artery obstruction).
• Coronary occlusion (a partial or complete obstruction of blood flow in a coronary artery.)
• Coronary atheroma (a build up of fatty deposits on the walls of the arteries around the heart).

I do not know where my grandfather was cremated.

78 Nevill Road, Hove, Sussex

His wife, Lily, died in Worthing, Sussex six years later in 1972 (Worthing 5h 1939).

Our paths never crossed and many questions remain. But at least I have managed to piece together a little about the life of the man who wore that fedora hat - my grandfather, William Robert Victor Wait.

William Wait's fedora hat.