Westminster Ivells / Ivalls

This is an expanded version of the item that I posted in March 2013.

Ivell and Ivall are both uncommon surnames. There are some cases of the name Ivell being misrecorded as Ivall and vice versa. However, there is also a family whose name changed from Ivell to Ivall. This item is about them.

George Ivall (b 1809, a farrier) married Mary Ann Jopling (b 1815) about 1837. As far as I know, George Ivell is not related to the Ivalls in my family tree. George and Mary Ann had ten children, all of which were born in the St George’s Hanover Square registration district (in Westminster) and were registered with the surname Ivell. The family appear in the 1851 and 1861 census as Ivell. However, they appear in the 1871 and 1881 census as Ivall. George’s death in 1866 was registered as George Ivall. A birth (in 1879) and two deaths (in 1878 and 1879) in the family were registered as Ivells. Thereafter the surname Ivall was used in birth, marriage and death registrations for the surviving members of the family.

The names and dates of George’s descendants can be found on   http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=sghs-ivells&id=I01. None of George and Mary Ann’s ten children lived beyond the age of 40.

Alice (23), Mary Ann (19) and Annie (1) Ivall all appear in the 1881 census as daughters of Mary Ann Ivall (aged 65). Annie is listed as a daughter of Mary Ann senior, which cannot be true because she would have been too old to have children when Annie was born. Annie’s baptism record shows that she was actually Alice’s child. In 1881, when Annie was aged 2, Alice Ivall married Frederick Killon. They had five children (including a daughter called Minnie).

Annie Ivall married Alfred David Higginbottom in 1899. He was soldier in the Middlesex Regiment from 1890 to 1898 and was a porter at the time of his marriage, but was recalled to the army later that year to fight in the Boer War. He was discharged in 1902. The 1901 census shows Annie Higginbottom (21) living with Minnie Killon (17), who is listed as her sister. This confirms that Annie was a daughter of Alice Ivall. Annie’s marriage certificate has a blank space where her father’s name should be. Annie and Alfred had four sons (Joseph, Frederick, George and Henry) and two daughters (Winifred and Maidie).

The 1911 census records that Annie was deaf.  Apparently when she was 13, her family was hop picking and she developed severe earache. Someone suggested liquid paraffin might help, but as there was none to hand they used fuel paraffin instead. Not surprisingly Annie was left profoundly deaf, but she did learn to lip read. Alfred and Annie lived in a flat at 178 Drury Lane, Central London from 1906 onwards. This only had two rooms, meaning that it was very crowded for eight people!

Annie Ivall with her children (l to r) George, Henry and Winifred in 1918

The 1939 register shows Alfred (a wire worker Japanner) and Annie, still living in Drury Lane. Annie died in 1954 aged 75 and Alfred in 1959 aged 86.

Annie’s son Henry Arthur Higginbottom (b 8 Dec 1915) married Maud Florence Prudhoe in 1938 in Holborn. In 1939 they were living at 133 Grays Inn Buildings, Holborn. Henry was a diamond mounter (jeweller). He didn’t like his surname and changed it to Ivall (his mother’s maiden name). He divorced his first wife and later married Nellie (known as Helen) Ringsell nee Hales in 1954 in Kensington Register Office. Henry was aged 38, a Leading Fireman with the London Fire Brigade. Helen was aged 31, a mannequin (a model). Both had been married before and divorced. Henry was the Red Watch Station Officer at Soho Fire Station until he retired in 1968. 

Henry and Helen Ivall on their wedding day (in 1954).

Henry and Helen later had two daughters, whose births were both registered as Ivalls. They have supplied information and photos for this expanded item. Henry and Helen were devoted to each other and both died in 1992.