Edwin Lewis Meadows was born in Stepney in 14 January 1838. He married Emily Jessie Whitter at St Mary’s, Stratford Bow on July 21st 1863. He was baptised just a few weeks later on August 19th, perhaps at the request of his new wife.
Edwin Lewis Meadows
Emily Jessie Meadows
Daughter Emily who was born in 1867 and is shown in the 1871 Census living with the family in Leytonstone. She was no longer at home in 1891 when they were in Kent and nothing more is known of her.
Eldest son Frederick John was born 8 November 1868 in Leytonstone. He was an artist, a taxi driver and a publican with establishments in Westerham (George & Dragon), Ewell (The Organ) and Deal (The Alma). It was whilst at Westerham, that Frederick John built a bungalow named Islingham and ran a taxi service amongst whose clientele were Winston Churchill then living at Chartwell. Fred died in December 1950.
Grace Meadows was born in Leytonstone in 1871. She was also an accomplished artist. Examples of her work can be seen here. She appears on the Censuses of 1871 and 1891 as living with her family. In 1891, she gives her profession as “artist painter student”. In the 1901 Census she appears to be staying as a visitor in a mixed household in Garlinge, Kent. By the 1911 census she was living and working with her brother at the George and Dragon and she gives her age as 35! Edwin Henry reports that she died in Deal, but the date is not known.
Youngest son Orestes Lewis, Roger and Jeff’’s great grandfather, was born in Leytonstone on December 14th 1864.
On his marriage certificate, like his father James, Edwin gives his profession as Artist, but he also owned a cement works in Rochester and it was this ”day job” that he reported in the 1891 and 1901 censuses. The family had moved in 1890 to Islingham Farm, Frindsbury in Kent, and he was the owner-manager of the cement works across the river Medway at Rochester. At this time, his sons Orestes Lewis and Frederick John operated a barge for a while but one day, the bottom fell it their venture – literally. The cement works were subsequently sold to Amalgamated Portland Cement Manufacturing (APCM). He did however enjoy great success as a landscape artist and some of his paintings are reproduced here. He even painted the cement works! His career as an artist is very well documented on meadowsfamilytree.net.
Edwin Lewis with his wife Emily in the garden at Islingham on Jubilee Day 1897
We are fortunate to have Edwin Lewis’ notebook and we’re now putting it to the purpose he intended. Whilst it may not have the properly researched provenance you might expect on a typical genealogy site, it represents a fascinating anecdotal history of our family. It seems likely that he would have written more, but he died on December 23rd 1907 after suffering a paralytic stroke. It appears that Emily went to live with Frederick John, as the 1911 census shows her ‘assisting in the business’ at the George and Dragon.