Leslie Robert Ivall (1922-2021)

Leslie was descended from Alexander "Sandy" Ivall (1831-1911), who emigrated to Canada from Scotland in about 1837. Alexander married Jane Kerr and they had 10 children. Their third child, also called Alexander (1855-1922), married Sarah Baldwin and had 6 children including Joseph William Ivall (1880-1957) who married Ann Kolesar in 1907. They had 9 children, Leslie being the third youngest.

An obituary for Leslie is at https://memorials.northridgefuneralhome.com/leslie-ivall/4636368/

Ivalls on Find A Grave

The free website Find A Grave https://www.findagrave.com/ contains the names and burial locations of over 220 million people. 160.8 million of these are in the USA, 7.8 million in Canada, 7.3 million in Australia and 6.7 million in England. The memorials on Find A Grave contain some information about the person’s life and often a photo of the grave.

The website contains entries for 82 Ivalls buried in England (73 with Ivall as their surname when they died plus 9 with Ivall as their maiden name). 43 of the memorials also have a picture.

A few of the English Ivalls listed, such as my ancestor David Ivall (1816-67), were buried in common graves.  A common grave was a plot which belonged to the owners of the cemetery rather than to a private individual. These plots were used to bury the bodies of unrelated individuals who died over the course of a few days and did not have the means to pay for a plot with private burial rights. These graves were not marked with any kind of stonework.

In addition, there are 86 (69 + 17) Ivall graves in Canada and 13 (10 + 3) in the USA on the website. There is 1 Ivall grave in Scotland and 1 in New Zealand. There are also 2 Ivall war graves in Belgium and 1 in France.

It is not easy to establish where people in England were buried. There are some burial records online but they only cover a minority of cemeteries and burial grounds. Consequently, I do not know where many English Ivalls are interred. If you know of any Ivall graves not on the Find A Grave website, please contact me.

Emily Ralph / Dennis nee Ivall (1845-1911)

Emily Ivall was a sister of my great grandfather George Ivall (1853-1932). Their parents were David Ivall (1816-67) and his wife Elizabeth Ann (1817-92) nee Gibson, who had nine children. David Ivall was a journeyman coachmaker - meaning that he worked for other people. The available evidence indicates that he was not well off, so Emily would have grown up in a moderately poor, working- class household.

Emily was born in 1845 in the St Pancras registration district of North London. At this time, her family lived in Somers Town, which included the site (next to St Pancras Station) where the British Library is now located.

The 1851 census lists David (aged 34, a coach maker) and Elizabeth (33) living at 29 Bull Place, St Pancras with their children Henry (9), Georgiana (7), David (2) and Elizabeth Ann (8 months). Emily Ivall (age given as 3 but should be 5) is listed with her grandparents Thomas (aged 54, a coach-lace weaver) and Ann (54) Gibson at 49 Wilsted Street, St Pancras. 

David and his family moved from St Pancras to Southwark sometime between 1851 and 1853. By 1861, the family were living at 19 Nursery Row, Walworth, Southwark and consisted of David (aged 44, a coach maker), Elizabeth (43), Georgiana (17), Elizabeth (10), George (7), Louisa (5) and William (2). Emily is not listed with them. By then she would have been 15 and might have left home for work reasons eg she could have been living elsewhere as a servant. I have not found Emily in the 1861 census.

On 15 August 1864, Emily married William Ralph, at St Peter’s Church Walworth. Their marriage certificate shows that William, aged 25 was a mariner. His father was Thomas Ralph, a labourer. Emily was aged 19. Her residence at the time of marriage is shown as 19 Nursery Row (where her family lived). Her brother Henry and sister Georgina Jane were witnesses to the marriage (Emily witnessed Georgina’s marriage in 1866).

William Ralph in 1860

Emily and William had a child, Emily Elizabeth, in 1867. Another child, William, was born in 1869 but died in 1870. Emily’s husband William Ralph died on 17 March 1871 aged 32. His death certificate says that he was a stoker (someone who shovelled coal into the furnace of a ship’s steam engines) in the Royal Navy. He died from an aortic aneurism at the Royal Naval Hospital at East Stonehouse in Devon. The census in April 1871 showed Emily (aged 25, a widowed dressmaker) and her daughter Emily (aged 3) living at 125 Salisbury Place, Newington, Southwark. Another daughter, Rose Jane, was born later in 1871.

Emily married James Christmas Dennis (a railway guard) on 8^th April 1872 at St John’s Walworth. She was aged 26, he was 33. The 1881 census lists James (aged 42, a general dealer) and Emily living at 24 Green Hundred Road (a shop), Camberwell, which is close to the Old Kent Road. Living with them were Emily’s children from her first marriage, Emily (13) and Rosy (9) Ralph as well as Ann (7), Ellen (3) and James (1) Dennis, from her second marriage.

The family were living at the same address in 1891 and consisted of James (52, still a general dealer), Emily (45), Charles (9), Louisa (7) and Ada (5) Dennis. By 1901, the family at 24 Green Hundred Road were James (62, a general carman), Emily (55), Charles (19, a general dealer), Louisa (17) and Ada (15). Also in the household was Rose Barrett (widow, 29, a laundress) together with Rose’s children Charles (7) and Rose (1) Barrett (Emily’s daughter Rose had married Frederick George Barrett in 1891, but he died in 1899).

Charles Booth arranged a survey of London’s working class and their housing between 1886 and 1903. His team produced a map in which the roads were classified into 7 categories ranging from the poorest (1) to the most affluent (7). Green Hundred Road at the northern end was classified as category 2 (very poor, chronic want), the rest being category 3 (poor, 18s to 21s a week for a moderate family). The property at 24 Green Hundred Road no longer exists.

Emily Dennis nee Ivall

In 1911 Emily (65) and James (72, a retired carman) were living in one room at 492 Old Kent Rd, Walworth. The census return says that 10 children had been born to their marriage, of whom 7 were alive. GRO records show the following 7 Dennis births with Ivall as the maiden name

Ann Ralph Dennis (1873-1931)

Ellen Alice Dennis (1877-?)

James Dennis (1879-82)

Charles Ernest Dennis (1882-1942)

Louisa Susan Dennis (1883-1956)

Ada Dennis (1886-1973)

Florence Maud Dennis (1890-1890)

If Emily’s 3 children by her first marriage are included, it brings the total to 10.

Emily died in 1911 aged 65 in Camberwell. She was buried in a common grave in Camberwell Old Cemetery on 9 September 1911. There is no grave marker. Her husband James died in 1915 aged 76 and is also buried in Camberwell Old Cemetery in a common grave.

Emily’s eldest four children, namely Emily Elizabeth (1867-1970, she lived to the age of 102), Rose Jane (1871-1964), Ann Ralph and Ellen Alice emigrated to Canada. Bev, one of their descendants, has kindly provided me with information and pictures for this article.

Leonard Fordham Ivall Obituary

Leonard Fordham Ivall (1912-91) was my mother’s second cousin. There is an item about his life on this blog. I recently found a short obituary about him, published by the Aberdeen Press and Journal on August 22^nd 1991, in the British Newspaper Archive. It reads :

Former architecture consultant dies

Retired Elgin architectural consultant and a well-known personality in the Moray town, Mr Len Ivall, 113 Morriston Road, died yesterday. He was 79. Originally from Cornwall, Mr Ivall moved to Elgin while serving with the Royal Engineers in the early 1940s.

 In his professional work, he was involved with the design of many of the Royal Mission to Deep Sea Fisherman centres in the northern half of Scotland. He also specialised in hotel design. But his main interest, particularly in latter years, was the Elgin Club in Commerce Street, of which he was a long-standing committee member, trustee and served as president from 1973-1984. He was one of the small group of local businessmen who helped the club survive when it was facing financial difficulties in the 1960s.

Mr Ivall is survived by his wife.

Google Maps shows 113 Morriston Road to be a fairly modern bungalow in Elgin.

The Elgin Club was founded by a group of eminent local gentlemen in 1863. It was housed in imposing, purpose-built premises completed in 1869. It operated as a gentleman’s club until the late twentieth century, when ladies were permitted membership. The club closed in 2002 due to falling membership and increased running costs. The building is now being converted into an entertainment venue and boutique hotel.

Looking for the Grave of George and Alice Ivall

George Ivall (1853-1932) was my great grandfather. An item https://ivall.blogspot.com/search/label/George%20Ivall%20%281853-1932%29 about his life is on this blog. My second cousin Paul, recently sent me a document showing where George and his wife Alice (1856-1935) are buried.

On the back of the document it says

First Interment            George Ivall                78 years           30^th June 1932

Second Interment        Alice Ivall                   79 years           16^th May 1935

Bay Street, Dalston (where George was living when he died) no longer exists. Its site is now occupied by modern housing in Freshfield Avenue. Tottenham Park Cemetery is in Edmonton, North London and was opened in 1912. It is 7 miles north of Bay Street.

Most of the burials at Tottenham Park Cemetery since the 1950s are of people from the Turkish Cypriot community. The Guardian.com published an article about the cemetery on 2 Oct 2018. It contained the following text

 Police have opened an investigation after a broken skull, a shoulder blade and leg-bones were among suspected human remains discovered lying uncovered in a cemetery. The bones include a partial skeleton and were found at the privately owned Tottenham Park cemetery in north London by a group of campaigners who fear that graves are being dug up and reused without consent amid a nationwide shortage of burial space.

More bones have been found by members of the Tottenham Park Cemetery Action Group who have relatives buried there. Police and a leading forensic pathologist have confirmed to the Guardian that some of the bones discovered in recent months are human remains. Tests are pending on others, according to Scotland Yard.

The cemetery is owned by an Essex-based company that runs two private cemeteries in London and charges up to £4,100 per plot. Tottenham Park is one of the largest Turkish-Cypriot burial grounds in the UK and part of it is leased as an Islamic cemetery. While four out of five people are now cremated in Britain, demand for burials remain high among Turkish and Muslim communities that require it for religious and traditional reasons.

Concern about the management of the cemetery has been simmering for years. David Johnson, a medical engineer who has five members of his family buried in three neighbouring plots, claims he discovered in 2005 that two elaborate marble structures had been erected over two of the plots to memorialise two completely unconnected people who appeared to have been buried there. He said he has not been able to get answers about what has happened to the remains of his loved ones. “What have they done with them? We think they have been dumped in a skip. I feel very angry to have this done to my family.”

The Burial Act 1857 makes it an offence to remove buried human remains without a licence from the government, or permission from the Church of England if it is consecrated ground.

Scotland Yard said a man has been interviewed under caution as part of its investigation, which began in May when the first bones were found. It said it was alerted to the discovery of more bones on 29 August and “a dismantled human-looking partial skeleton” on 14 September. “Police will continue to liaise with local volunteer groups and the Tottenham Park cemetery to repatriate the [latest discovered] bones, once confirmed as human, at the location as soon as is practicable,” said a spokesman. Scotland Yard said that bones discovered at Tottenham Park cemetery in May and June were forensically examined and confirmed as human.

In November 2018, Tottenham Park Cemetery Ltd was placed into voluntary liquidation. In 2019 it was under new management, who say “Our aim is to clean the cemetery and reinstate the respect and reverence the cemetery deserves.”

 I visited the cemetery recently to look for George and Alice Ivall’s grave (2132, square C). Most of the memorials there are ornate and for people with Turkish sounding names. There isn’t much space between the gravestones. In most UK cemeteries, enough memorials have the grave number inscribed onto them to work out where another grave is located, if you know its number. In Tottenham Park Cemetery, very few of the memorials have the grave number displayed, so it is not possible to locate other graves this way. I managed to find the approximate location of square C but could not find a gravestone with George and Alice’s name on it.

I phoned the cemetery office who told me that it was very likely that a grave from the 1930s would have been reused since then. I sent an email asking whether they could definitely confirm this and tell me the name on the memorial currently on grave 2132 (if there is one), but have had no reply.

Daniel Durnford Ivall (1905-2000)

The following item appeared in the Harrow Observer dated Thursday 08 January 1959. My item https://ivall.blogspot.com/2012/05/daniel-durnford-ivall-obe-1905-2000.html (written in 2012) about Daniel on this blog contains more information about his life.

NATIONAL APPOINTMENT FOR MR. D. D. IVALL

In a week's time Mr. D. D. Ivall, Assistant Chief Officer of Middlesex Fire Service, will be leaving the county headquarters, Harrow Road, Wembley, to take up a Home Office appointment as an Assistant Inspector of Fire Services. Mr. Ivall has held his present rank since 1948, when the National Fire Service was divided. Mr. Ivall's son John. who was injured in Cyprus when a Services jeep struck a terrorist mine was allowed home for a few days at Christmas from the R.A.F. hospital at Halton, Bucks.

BORN AT FIRE STATION

Mr. Ivall could be said to have been born into the fire service, as he was born at Dulwich fire station, where his father was serving. He joined the London Fire Brigade in 1925, when he was 20, serving first at Cannon Street and later at the headquarters at Southwark. In 1934 he was moved to Camden Town, with the rank of sub-officer. After this he had 18 months at the Soho station. reputed to be the busiest in London, two years as sub-officer inspector in the brigade's training school, and spells of duty at Clerkenwell and Lambeth headquarters. Just before the war he was promoted station officer, in charge of training for the London brigade. When war came he was placed in charge of the Lambeth headquarters and was later promoted district officer.

TOURED AMERICA

For 12 months in 1940-41, Mr. Ivall and a group of colleagues toured 46,000 miles in the United States and Canada. In 145 cities and towns they gave addresses and showed films, paintings and drawings of the bombing of London. Ivall was accompanied at many meetings and official visits by Mr. La Guardia, the famous Mayor of New York. who was Director of Civil Defence. "Those were the days before Pearl Harbour," said Mr. lvall on Monday. "But when Americans were shown the fires and the ruins of London, and the way the fire service and Civil Defence went into action, with bombs whistling and crashing all around, I think we did our share in making them realize the meaning of war." On his return to Britain Mr. Ivall was appointed divisional officer and director of studies of the London officers' training school, No. 5 Region. Within six months came promotion to assistant fire force commander for an area of Middlesex including Edmonton, Hendon and Mill Hill, with headquarters at Highgate. Subsequently he was transferred with the same rank to the South- East London area. In 1945 he became a deputy fire force commander and in 1948, when the N.F.S. was disbanded, he received his present appointment as assistant chief officer of the county service, with 38 fire stations and ten ambulance depots in his area. In the Coronation Honours he was made O.B.E. He also holds the King's, the Defence, the Coronation and the Long Service medals.

This is the 100^th item on this blog. According to statistics provided by Google Blogger, my blog has been viewed 69,700 times since I started it in 2007.

Grace Evelyn Taylor nee Ivall (1922-2006) : Her Life Story Part 4

This is the final part of my mother’s life story. She was a true and constant friend to many people she met. In 2002, she had some thickened skin with a split in it on the sole of her foot. This turned out to be melanoma (skin cancer). She had several operations to try and cure it, but it returned and eventually was the cause of her death in March 2006. During her illness she showed great fortitude, was grateful to others and managed to get some pleasure from life.

Friends

During all my life friends have played a very big part. I’d like to mention a few more of them.

Firstly, Ida and for many years, her husband Eric (he died in 1995). Ida was my rival at school but since 1949 and a chance meeting in Erith she has been a staunch friend. We’ve brought up our families side by side and shared the ups and downs of life. Ida lives nearby (in Northumberland Heath). She is well and happy with a new partner, Ted (he was nearly 90 when she met him!) and I see her quite often.

Pearl and I made friends at Barnehurst Methodist Church Young Wives group. We are both now well into our eighties! Needless to say, we’ve shared many experiences over the years.

Ron and June are friends from many years ago. Ron was Eric’s office friend and he taught Eric to drive (in 1947-48). June and I became chums and spent many days out together. June is a widow now but still a valued friend.

Sheila and Jim recently came back into my life after thirty years. What a happy day that was!

 

These and all the other friends I mention in my story, have a special place in my heart.

Grace and Eric at their golden wedding anniversary in 1994

Recent Times

Time moved on. Evelyn married and left home to build up a life and family of her own. Philip was working and soon he too was leading an independent life. My mother died in 1970. Eric and I became “Derby and Joan”. The big house wasn’t really necessary any more. The work in the garden seemed to be arduous, tiring and rather wearing. By 1996 it was time to scale down and take life easier.

After unsuccessfully looking for our dream bungalow in the Marlow area we settled for a retirement flat in Bexleyheath (with an appropriately botanical name - Fern Court). We “thinned out” our possessions, had the flat decorated and carpeted and moved in. I’ve always thought that the move was right for us and I’ve never regretted the choice that we made. What matters most to me is that Fern Court has given me new friends, particularly Olive. I thank God for their friendship and for that of the many kind folk from the United Reform Church where Olive and I go regularly together. Our move was on 13th June 1996. We had one more year of good health and then in the summer of 1997 unfortunately health problems began to arise.

Grace with her old school friend Cathie

The first sign that anno domini was affecting me was severe atrial fibrillations which resulted in my having to have a pacemaker implanted in October 1997. This took place at St Thomas’ Hospital and was the start of a long association with St Thomas’ and its partner Guy’s Hospital. At this time, Ruth, who was once a neighbour, became my faithful companion accompanying me on regular appointments there. We went by train in those days. Ruth visited me every day during the three week stay that I had in St Thomas’ Hospital after my second foot operation. Thank you Ruth.

As the years went by Eric fell victim to myasthenia and he also had a series of mini strokes (Transient Ischaemic Attacks). It was one of those attacks that finally led to his death in May 2003. Eric died just 3 months before his ninetieth birthday and had he lived nine months longer we would have achieved our diamond wedding anniversary (60 years of marriage).

I think I have coped with widowhood reasonably well, although I miss Eric’s companionship beyond words. I do realise that I have only “kept going” because of the help that Philip gives me, in many ways taking Eric’s place. Philip works with quiet efficiency keeping all my paperwork and problems under control. He is my constant companion, taking me to numerous tedious hospital appointments and also taking me out on pleasure bent. I’m told many times “You’ve got a good son”. “Couldn’t be better” is my reply to that. I value and appreciate all that he does for me.

Before concluding my story there is one more person who is very dear to me that I haven’t yet mentioned - my niece Valerie. Dear, loving, caring Valerie with her optimistic nature and her ability to cheer up bouts of despondency. Valerie has only recently come into my life regularly and frequently, as she has spent all her life looking after her mother (Eric’s sister Vera) who died aged 87 in December 2002. Vera had no hearing at all so needed to be communicated with by lip reading and sign language. In her later years she became nearly blind as well. But Vera had one great blessing in her life, her daughter Valerie who looked after her with total devotion, kindness and love. Now that Vera is no longer with us, “Auntie Grace” benefits from that love and care!

           

Since Eric died my own health problems have escalated (melanoma is the operative word!) but my problems have been greatly eased by my wonderful “back up” team. Evelyn, Philip and Valerie have helped me in every possible way (including boosting my morale) and I am eternally grateful. I love them all dearly.

It is now February 2005 and my story is nearly over. I hope it hasn’t been too tedious reading it. I suppose it’s a fairly ordinary pattern of achievement but to me it has been quite special and I’ve benefited from all my caring family and friends that have shared it with me. So thank you all.