Family History, Mott Chart 0300 Herbert Edward Mott, Lucy Agnes Mary Cracknell and Annie Elizabeth Baker

1899 Mile End Place, Mile End, Tower Hamlets, Middlesex (marriage). Father - William MOTT (deceased)
1899 2 Cambridge Cottage, Islington, London (baptism of Dorothy Lilian)
1901 2 Cambridge Cottage, Rives(?) Street, Islington, London (RG13; Piece: 192; Folio: 152; Page: 36)
1902 16 Kimberley Gardens, Green Lane, Haringey, London (baptism of Herbert James)
1904 71 Englefield Road, Islington, London (baptism of Leslie Victor)
1906 38 Church Road, Islington, London (baptism of Gladys Lucy)
1911 38 Almorah Road, Islington, London
1926 38 Almorah Road, Islington, London (Newspaper report for inquest on wife)
1928 38 Almorah Road, Islington, London (2nd marriage)
Father William Walter MOTT Carman
1929 38, Almorah Road, Islington, London (birth of Herbert William)
1932 38, Almorah Road, Islington, London (birth Gladys Dorothy)
1933 38, Almorah Road, Islington, London (birth of Sylvia Frances)
1943 1 Coleman Mansions, Upper Holloway, London (birth of Leslie John)

1881 Churchbury Lane, Enfield, Middlesex With her mother and step-father
(RG11; Piece: 1393; Folio: 62; Page: 49; Line: ; GSU roll: 1341339)
1883 Edmonton Union, Edmonton, Middlesex (Barts Hospital List)
1891 10 Cecile Park, Hornsey, Middlesex
General Servant to Charles TUNRBULL (51) widower Mantle Manufacturing Agent born Warden, Northumberland, and children Sarah (22)
born Islington, Middlesex Housekeeper, and Lilla (19) born Hackney, Middlesex Mantle Maker, and step-children Hetty SHELLEY (12)
Mantle Maker, Louisa SHELLEY (16), Kathleen SHELLEY (14), Dolly SHELLEY (11) and C Gordon SHELLEY (6) all Scholars born
Islington, Middlesex (RG12; Piece: 1062; Folio 87; Page 2; GSU roll: 6096172)
1899 Mile End Place, Mile End, Tower Hamlets, Middlesex (marriage)
Father shown as John CRACKNELL Dec'd
1899 2 Cambridge Cottage, Islington, London (baptism of Dorothy Lilian)
1901 2 Cambridge Cottage, Rives(?) Street, Islington, London (RG13; Piece: 192; Folio: 152; Page: 36)
1902 16 Kimberley Gardens, Green Lane, Haringey, London (baptism of Herbert James)
1904 71 Englefield Road, Islington, London (baptism of Leslie Victor)
1906 38 Church Road, Islington, London (baptism of Gladys Lucy)
1911 38 Almorah Road, Islington, London. On the 1911 census Lucy is shown as having had 4 children all still living
1925 Mental Hospital, Colney Hatch, Middlesex (Newspaper report for Inquest)
1926 38 Almorah Road, Islington, London (Death Certificate)
Information from James MOTT
Boarded out in 1878. Lived with Mother and Step-father in 1881 for 5 months. Then she was boarded with "crazy elderly criminal woman for 2/-d a week"
Information from Newspaper Report for death of Lucy, Enfield Gazette 17 September 1926 p.12
Amount paid was 2/6d. The "crazy elderly criminal woman" was imprisoned for two years for treating Lucy so badly that she was taken to hospital and then to the Edmonton Union.
1926 Newspaper Report of Suicide of Lucy
SUICIDE AFTER NERVOUS BREAKDOWN
At the Court House, Enfield on Friday morning, an inquest was held on the body of Lucy Agnes Mary Mott aged 50, which was recovered from the New River, Southbury Road, on Tuesday evening.
Medical evidence was given by Dr. Vandermin. The lungs and stomach, he said, were full of water. Death was due to drowning.
David Parker, 24 St. James's Terrace, Enfield Highway, a waterman in the employ of the metropolitan Water Board, said he discovered the body close to the grating at 6.45 p.m. He took if from the water and then informed the police. He did not know her the body got there.
The Coroner: Would a person have to be trespassing? - Yes.
The husband, Herbert Edward Mott printer's warehouseman, 38 Almorah Road, Islington, said his wife had been in the Mental Hospital at Colney Hatch. She left the in Spetember last year, following a nervous breakdown.
The Coroner: Was she supposed to have been cured? - She was under my care.
Witness said although his wife had not been strong on her return from the hospital, he did not think it was necessary to send her back. Recently she had had another nervous breakdown, for which she had been under the care of a doctor. She left home at 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, but never told witness where she was going. He sent his son to follow her and discovered that she went to Mildmay Park station and booked a ticket for Enfield. As she had a sister living in Enfield, witness thought that was where she would be. However, as she did not return in the evening he informed the police, and was later told that the body of a woman had been recovered from the river. The following morning he identified it as his wife.
The Coroner (Dr Cohen) returned a verdict that not being of sound mind, deceased drowned herself in the New River.
Enfield Gazette 17th September 1926 p.12
Talk on Lucy Agnes Mary CRACKNELL by her Great Granddaughter
Lucy Agnes Mary Cracknell
I wanted to find out about my maternal great-grandmother and the only things I had were a photograph, a sampler with her name on and a family story that she had suffered some sort of cruelty as a child. It definitely seemed to have been a taboo subject in the past.
My first task was to find her birth certificate. As I knew her name was Lucy Agnes Mary Cracknell, and her family had come from Enfield, my task was made slightly easier by her having two middle names. Anyway, I got a copy of her birth certificate from 1875 which showed her mother as Anne Cracknell but NO FATHER. She was born in St Saviour’s Hospital in Islington which was a home for outcast women. Mother Anne’s home address was given as Enfield on the certificate which confirmed that I was on the right track.
I then looked at the 1881 census but was puzzled when I found Lucy aged 5 living with Philip Wheaton and his wife Alice and was listed as being his step-daughter. From this I deduced that Philip had been married to Lucy’s mother - but what could have happened? Lo and behold I found the marriage record for Lucy’s mother Anne marrying said Philip Wheaton in 1877 when Lucy was two, thus making her his step-daughter. Surely Anne must have died for him to have remarried. And sure enough I then found the death certificate for Lucy’s mother Anne – she had died from typhoid only a year after her marriage when Lucy was three.
So Lucy was left with her step-father who then married Alice, hence the entry for the 1881 census.
I made contact with one of Lucy’s granddaughters – the sole survivor of that generation – and she gave me a copy of a hospital record which showed that Lucy was treated for frostbite in St Bartholomew’s Children’s Hospital in 1883, two years after being in the census living with her step-father. I noticed that her address on the form was Edmonton Union so alarm bells began to ring. I had to find out what happened to Lucy in those two years between living with her stepfather and being in hospital.

The bottom child is Lucy shown as having had Frostbite and at the Edmonton Union, she was in fact 7 not 9 as shown.
After much searching and with the help of the local record office in Enfield, the Hertfordshire Archives and a contact I made via Genes Reunited who was also researching the same family, I found a newspaper report on the Hertfordshire Assizes about the ‘gross case of starving a child’. In it there was a full report about how Lucy’s step-father Philip Wheaton put her out to board and lodging with a neighbour’s mother who lived about 6 miles away in Cheshunt, one Maria Briggs aged 61, who used to see Lucy when she visited her daughter and then offered to look after her. When Philip remarried, perhaps his new wife didn’t want someone else’s child, so he agreed and paid 2s 6d a week for Lucy’s keep. BUT it transpired that this woman paid 1d a week to the Prudential Insurance Company for Lucy which turned out to be for a BURIAL FUND. The motive was obviously to obtain money on Lucy’s demise.
How did Lucy get to hospital? Well, I will précis the court report - it said a doctor was called by a neighbour to see Lucy at the cottage where she was living. She was very emaciated with very little clothing on, and on examination was found to be nothing but skin and bone. She was haggard and faint looking and could not bear the doctor to touch her feet. When he tried to remove her boots and stockings she was in such pain. There were ulcers on her feet and the granulations had grown over the stockings. Her toes were in a fearful state and had the appearance of gangrene. She had been starved and even in her clothes with a rug around her only weighed 36 pounds at the age of seven. As well as that her skin was dry and shrivelled and was peeling off from neglect. The doctor was so concerned that he involved the police who took her in and then moved her to the infirmary at Edmonton Workhouse. So, suffering from a condition brought about by squalor, inattention, insufficient food and exposure to cold, she was sent to St Bartholomew’s Children’s Hospital where after three weeks of looking after and building up her strength, she had an operation. This was to amputate one toe from one foot and four toes from the other. After about ten weeks in hospital she was returned to the workhouse.
The prisoner Maria Briggs was found guilty and imprisoned for two years at St Albans prison but the judge added his regret that he had no power to add hard labour to the sentence.
So, Lucy spent the rest of her childhood in the workhouse and that is where the sampler was made. As it just has Chase Farm School I had presumed that it was an ordinary school, but it turned out that was the name of the school within the workhouse.

Tapestry done by Lucy whilst at the Chase Farm Schools
The pieces of the puzzle were all falling into place but there was more to come.
At the age of 16 Lucy left the workhouse and went into service and then married Herbert Mott and they lived in Islington and had four children. Having questioned my last remaining aunt, the granddaughter of Lucy, I was told that Lucy’s husband was unkind to her and when her last child was about to leave home to get married, and her husband moved his mistress into the family home, at the age of 50 she had had enough and took herself back to Enfield and committed suicide. The death certificate states that ‘not being of sound mind drowned herself in a river’. I managed to find a copy of the newspaper report about this which stated that she had previously suffered from a nervous breakdown and had spent some time in Colney Hatch Mental Hospital.
On further investigation I discovered that Lucy’s grandfather John Cracknell had committed suicide by hanging himself six years before her birth and her great-grandmother Elizabeth had drowned herself in the very same river in Enfield – eerily, the death certificate stating word for word that ‘not being of sound mind drowned herself in a river’!!

Death certificate shown death ie "not being of sound mind drowned herself in a river"
So that is the sad tale of the life of my great-grandmother Lucy Agnes Mary Cracknell.

1927 84 Mildmay Park, Islington, London (birth of daughter Alice Maud Diane). Annie is shown as wife of Herbert MOTT on the birth certificate but they were not married at this date.
1928 84 Mildmay Park, Islington, London (marriage). Father George Richard BAKER Gold Blocker
1929 38, Almorah Road, Islington, London (birth of Herbert William)
1932 38, Almorah Road, Islington, London (birth Gladys Dorothy)
1933 38, Almorah Road, Islington, London (birth of Sylvia Frances)
1943 1 Coleman Mansions, Upper Holloway, London (birth of Leslie John)

1899 2 Cambridge Cottage, Islington, London (baptism of Dorothy Lilian)
1901 2 Cambridge Cottage, Rives(?) Street, Islington, London (RG13; Piece: 192; Folio: 152; Page: 36)
1911 38 Almorah Road, Islington, London
1920 163 Offord Road, Islington, London (marriage)
There were two children in the right period born with the surname EGAN and with the mothers maiden name as MOTT
Doreen L Egan September quarter 1921 Holborn district Greater London
Diana L Egan March quarter 1924 Edmonton district, Middlesex
Information for Charles EGAN
Addresses for Charles EGAN:
1920 31 Dartmouth Park Hill, St Panceas, London (marriage)
Father Robert Arthur EGAN - Railway Stores Keeper
1942 560 Abbeyvale Road, Sheffield, Yorkshire (2nd marriage - shown as a Bachelor age 45)
Father Robert Arthur EGAN - Retired
Information from Susan PEACEY 8/5/2014
Charles EGAN and Dorothy [MOTT] separated in 1926 and divorced in 1939. My mother had no contact with her father from the age of two so it has taken a while to piece together his story. He moved from London to Sheffield where his parents and sister lived. Charles and Betty had a son Robert Charles in 1945 and by the time I had tracked him down he had died. I was hoping to meet him. He in turn had a daughter but I cannot find her whereabouts but will keep trying.
Information for Nathan VITALIS
Notes for Nathan VITALIS:
From findmypast - Passenger Lists leaving UK 1890-1960
First Name NATHAN Last Name VITALIS
Title -
Age Transcribed 52
Year 1938 Departure Month 11 Departure Day 26
Ship name QUEEN MARY Ship Departure Port SOUTHAMPTON
Destination Port NEW YORK State - Country United States Destination NEW YORK Destination Place Country USA
Gender Male
Marital Status -
Occupation DIRECTOR
Year Of Birth 1886 Birth Month - Birth Day -
Country Of Birth -
Last Residence Country -
UK Address -
Ship Official Number 164282
Ship Master's First Name R B Ship Master's Surname IRVING
Ship Master's Title -
Shipping line CUNARD WHITE STAR LIMITED City SOUTHAMPTON
Ship Destination Port NEW YORK Ship Destination Country USA
Ship Square Feet - Ship Registered Tonnage 34120 Number Of Passengers 505
Record set Passenger Lists leaving UK 1890-1960
Category Travel & migration Record collection Passenger lists Collections from Australasia, Great Britain, Ireland, United States

1902 16 Kimberley Gardens, Green Lane, Haringey, London (baptism of Herbert James)
1911 47 Chaseside, Edmonton, Middlesex
Child for this couple
Jane E MOTT born about December quarter 1938 Nottingham district, Nottinghamshire as Jane PA
Information from Susan PEACY 11/5/2014
HERBERT EDWARD MOTT junior (1902-1962) was a career soldier. All I have found out is that he was in the Royal Signals and served in India, Afghanistan etc in the 1920s and later in WWII in France. He reached the rank of Major and was Acting Colonel in WWII. (See attached photo). I got this from my mother’s and James MOTT’s cousin Joan (Jo) who is the daughter of Gladys Lucy HUGHES nee MOTT, the youngest of the children of Herbert and Lucy. She is the only living relative (age 84) of this family that I am able to contact. Herbert married Barbara H PASSMORE 1937 Hampstead and I think they had a daughter Jane E MOTT 1938 but I haven't found out any more about her yet.

1904 71 Englefield Road, Islington, London (baptism of Leslie Victor)
1911 47 Chaseside, Edmonton, Middlesex
There was a child James L Mott born March quarter 1936 in Islington district London with Newbold as the mothers maiden name.
Information from Susan PEACEY 17/5/2014
Leslie MOTT worked for the Daily Mail and in the Blitz was with the photographer when he took this iconic photograph of St Paul's Cathedral on 29th December 1940..

1906 38 Church Road, Islington, London (baptism of Gladys Lucy)
1911 47 Chaseside, Edmonton, Middlesex
There is the following child, Joan M Hughes June quarter 1930 Barnet Hertfordshire, with the name Hughes and the mothers maiden name as MOTT.

1927 84 Mildmay Park, Islington, London (birth)

1929 38 Almorah Road, Islington, London (birth)

1932 38 Almorah Road, Islington, London (birth)

1933 38 Almorah Road, Islington, London (birth)

1943 1 Coleman Mansions, Upper Holloway, London (birth)

Our thanks go to Susan PEACEY for providing the photographs above and also a lot of the information.

This is a Chart for Herbert Edward Mott, Lucy Agnes Mary Cracknell and Annie Elizabeth Baker