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Brentford Families - Clements

Rebecca Norris wrote in 2006 and her notes follow immediately. In 2024 Peter Barrett found the page and realised Rebecca was 'my late father's cousin'. His footnote adds more information about the family.

Rebecca Norris

My father was originally from Brentford, his name is Rob Norris. He lived in George Road which I am led to believe does not exist anymore. His father's name was Charles William Norris and mother's name was Mary Helen Clements... My father tells me of Clitheroe House which was renamed Sidney House after Sidney Clements, James Clements son who was killed the first world war. This has now been demolished I have been told. I also know that James Clements was the Charter Mayor of Brentford and Chiswick.

Clements references on the High Street from censuses and trade directories

• George Clements, fishmonger at numbers 159 & 160 High Street (next to the bridge) (1920, 1928, 1933 & 1940 trade directories)
• As above but just at no. 159 (1913 trade directory)
• James Clements, tug owner, heading a household of 9 including himself, aged 38 born Brentford, living at no. 63 High Street (1901 census)
• James Clements, publican, heading a household of 4 including himself, aged 27 born Brentford, living at no. 273 High Street (the Kings Arms Public House) (1891 census)
• Charles Clement, clerk to a silver merchant, heading a household of 4 including himself, living at no. 396 High Street (1851 census)

James Clements - mystery of his birth

The following speculative tree has been compiled using census returns, FreeBMD and James Clements' obituary in the 'Middlesex Independent' December 29 1934.

James's obituary gives his birth date as February 1862 and his place of birth as Orchard Road, Brentford. His birth should therefore have been registered in Brentford in either the January - March quarter or the following April - June quarter, 1862. His obituary also mentions his father dying as James was born: so the death of a male Clements is expected in the same quarter as James's birth.

There is no birth or death registration of a male Clements in the first two quarters of 1862. However Roger Davis has spotted entries in the October-December quarter of 1862: a birth (Volume 3a page 50) and a death (Vol 3a page 67) of a James Clements in Brentford registration district (ancestry.co.uk). James Clements was buried in the recently opened South Ealing Cemetery on December 21st, aged 23, of Old Brentford, indicating he was born around 1839 (ancestry.co.uk parish register search).

James's half-brother Mr H Payne attended James's funeral, according to the obituary. A Henry T Payne was a tug captain in 1901, aged 29. In 1881 a 9 year old Henry Payne was living with his parents John & Ellen Payne, on the Half Acre. John Payne was a lighterman. A 10 year old daughter Ellen Payne recorded in 1881 is presumably the sister-in-law living in James Clements household, aged 21, in the 1891 census.

So James's father remains a mystery - for the time being. Since writing this new information has come to light, see below.

James's mother is also difficult to pin down. James's obituary suggests his mother was alive when James was 9, both being employed at Penningtons. However there are no obvious Jamess living in Brentford in 1871 that match. His mother may have remarried by 1871 and James may be recorded in the census under his step father's surname.

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James Clements - mystery of his birth - solved

In October 2011 Bob Sheridan wrote:

'James Clements, father James Clements a general dealer, married Ellen CORNISH, father Edward Cornish a boot closer, at All Saints, Poplar 8th December 1861. Both resident Market Street. Ellen was widowed by 1865 when she married John Abraham PAYNE, father Abraham Payne, at St. Mary, Lambeth on 2nd April 1865. John was resident at 8 Miller's Lane. The names and dates fit and it may be worth some further research ...'.

The 1861 marriage entry was witnessed by W MATTOCKS and Sarah Mattocks; James Clements, the groom, was a waterman. All parties signed the register. The name MADDDOX appears in the family notes that follow, an example of how surname spelling can change.

Clements family tree

James Clements ( 18?? - 1861/5): son of James Clements, general dealer; waterman in 1861; married Ellen Cornish at All Saints, Poplar in 1861; only one known child:

• James Clements (1862 - 1934): born in Brentford (baptism not found); his father died as he was born; he married Sarah Jones (1863/4 - 1934+, see below) in 1886, Brentford St Paul's; he was a lighterman, address Albany Road; Thomas SMALL & Annie CAREY witnessed the marriage; in 1891 he was a publican at the Kings Arms, 273 High Street; his sister-in-law Ellen Payne was living with the family; in 1901 he was a tug owner living at 63 High Street; he lived at Thames Bank House Brentford in 1915 when his son Sidney signed up and at 'Caerleon', Boston Road in 1919; he was the Charter Mayor (ie first mayor) for Brentford & Chiswick 1932; children included:
  • May Florence Clements (1889 - 1934+): living with her grandmother Sarah Maddox or Jones in 1891; married Thomas W PENNINGTON in Brentford in 1914
  • Mary Ellen Clements (1890 - 1934+): married William Charles Norris (born Daventry, Northants) in Brentford in 1911 (her middle name was Helen at marriage rather than Ellen); the list of close family mourners at Mary Ellen's fathers funeral (1934) includes a Mr & Mrs C W Norris; William Charles Norris is thought to have died in Whitstable, Kent in the late 1960s / early 1970s; children include (all born Brentford)
    • James C Norris (1914 - ): deceased by 2007
    • Daphne C Norris (1917 - 2007); grandmother of Peter Barrett
    • Mary Norris: died in the early 1970s
    • Robert Norris: father of Rebecca Norris
    • John Norris
  • James Henry Clements (1891 - 1934+): only surviving son by 1934, known as Jim; was living at 44 Adelaide Road Brentford in 1919
  • Lydia Lilly Clements (1893 - ): married Arthur S PARR-HEAD in Brentford in 1917
  • Sidney Hadley Clements (1894 - ): his WWI service records (Ancestry web site) show he was an unmarried waterman when he signed up in March 1915; he was a lance corporal in the British Expeditionary Force in France when he died in action in September 1915
  • Sarah Clements (1898/9 - ): married Edgar W WALLIS in Brentford in 1926; known as Cis
  • Beatrice Hadlow Clements (1900 - ): married Henry E MYATT in Brentford in 1922; children included
    • Paul A Myatt (1926 - )

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Jones/Maddox family tree

Joseph Maddox (ca 1810/4 - 1878): born Isleworth; living on Back Lane in 1851, a coal labourer; living with him was Sarah JONES, his housekeeper who was 17 years his junior; still on Back Lane in 1861 (ag lab) & 1871 (labourer); Sarah was recorded as a widow in 1881 and the three children still at home had the surname Jones; Sarah appears as Sarah Maddox in 1891 with her son William D and granddaughter May Clements, age 2

• John Maddox/Jones (1852/3 - ): hawker in 1871
• Samuel Maddox/Jones (1855 - ): pot boy in 1871; traveller in 1881
• William D Maddox/Jones (1861/2 - ): labourer in 1881; potman in public house in 1891
• Sarah Maddox/Jones (1983/4 - 1934+): married James Clements in 1886, see above

Footnote from Peter Barrett, 2024

There is more to the Clements family than I see published but sadly the memories are being lost with time/age. At some point they were (apparently) involved in shipping and quite wealthy, but they managed to drink and gamble the wealth away.

The family has now spread far and wide, I am in Texas, I have a cousin in San Diego and other family members moved to Cyprus many years ago. One part of the Norris or Clements family also spent some time working for Napier in Buenos Aires and was the first person ever to drive across South America - this was documented in Motor sometime in the 1920s. My Grandmother (Daphne Cecilia Barrett nee Norris, Rebecca's Aunt) had a copy but much was lost when she moved in the early 2000s. She died in 2007.

Note from webmaster

Regarding Peter Barrett's update above, I have not been able to find the identity of the individual who drove across South America in the 1920s; if you can find a reference please get in touch.

I did come across a reference to the demolition of Sidney House, which is mentioned by Rebecca Norris above. West London Observer dated 6 January 1928:
Workmen have this week been engaged in the demolition of a famous old residence, also regarded as a notable landmark, situated at the junction of Windmill Road and Boston Road, Brentford. It was called "Sidney House," but was much more famously known as "Coffin House," because of the fact that the shape of the roof, as seen from the main roadway, bore a most strking resemblance to a coffin.
The article explained the demolition was a necessary part of a road-widening scheme.

However, an obituary of Mrs Sarah Clements, widow of James Clements, published in the Middlesex Chronicle dated 1 December 1945, notes she was of Sidney House, Boston Manor Road. Perhaps the original Sidney House was demolished and the Clements named their next home Sidney House?

Links

Janet McNamara researched men who served as Brentford Local Board Members and Councillors, including James Clements.

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Published March 2008; last updated July 2024