Biography of Alfred Hanley FOLKER
[Ref. O.6]
| Ancestors |  |
Profile | |
Dwellings | |
Index for FOLKER |
Biography of Alfred Hanley FOLKER
[Ref. O.6]
| Ancestors | |
Profile | |
Dwellings | |
Index for FOLKER |
Alfred Hanley Folker was born in Brighton on 28 April 1830, the sixth of the family of seven children of Samuel and Susannah Folker. Alfred was baptised on 11 June at St.Nicholas church in Brighton. At that time, the town was called Brighthelmstone. Details of his early life are not known, but in 1841 he was a pupil attending Bancroft's Hospital in Mile End Old Town, Stepney. Bancroft's was a charitable day school for those in the Draper's trade and it is not known where Alfred would have been living at that time. After that, it is believed from family testament that he was apprenticed to a hosier in Brighton and that he slept under the counter in the shop.
The census of 1851 shows Alfred living at 9 Poultry in the City of London. He was employed as a Hosier's Shopman and apparently living on the premises. The owner and his wife were Henry and Harriett Wishers although the surname is not clear on the census form. Also on the census were two other shopmen, a porter and a housemaid.
On 21 January 1854, the Reverend H M Wagner married Alfred and Eliza Pocock at St.Peter's church in Brighton and the event was recorded in a local newspaper. His place of residence at that time was shown as St.Mary le Strand, Middlesex. Eliza was a daughter of John and Mary Ann Pocock of Brighton.
Alfred and Eliza were living at 41 Warstone Lane, Birmingham when their first son, Alfred Henry, was born in March 1855. Alfred was delighted with the arrival of his firstborn son and wrote to his mother giving details of his size. A month later, Alfred is listed as Hosier, glover, hatter, shirt-maker & outfitter at 20 High Street, Oxford, having taken occupation of the premises when his cousin John Charles Thorpe vacated it. Alfred's mother still lived in Oxford.
Newly arrived in Oxford, Alfred attended a banquet on Wednesday 18 April 1855 hosted by the City Mayor. Alfred probably secured his invitation through relatives on his mother's side. The event was reported in minute detail in The Oxford Chronicle
Alfred's business as a Hosier in Oxford can be followed from advertisements which started to appear in local newspapers on 21 April 1855. They showed that he was trading for cash rather than opening accounts for customers. He would have had some staff, one of which was his foreman, W Hayward, who left and set up his own business nearby.
In July 1855, a newspaper report records Alfred playing cricket in a local team. In December 1855, he advertised for an apprentice for his shop and in 1856, he started to diversify by becoming an agent for shirt manufactures from London. In June 1856, there is a report in the Oxford Chronicle of Alfred's shop being decorated as part of the Oxford Illumination, celebrating peace after the Crimean War.
Early in 1856, the family moved to 127 St.James Street, Brighton where Alfred resumed business as a Hosier. Daughter Ellen was born there in October that year. In 1857 Alfred had to defend himsef in court for having not supplied goods as expected to a client. The judge allowed the claim but halved the amount payable. The details of the claim indicate that Alfred had supplied precut panels and collars for shirts to be assembled by the customer. Son George was born at 127 St.James Street, Brighton in March 1858.
Alfred had become a Freemason and was a member of the York Lodge. In June 1858, Alfred attended the consecration of the Royal Brunswick Lodge in Brighton. At the end of July 1858, an advertisement appeared in The West Middlesex Advertiser announcing the sale of Alfred's stock as he had become insolvent.
Alfred's name has not been found in the 1861 census and it seems that he had separated from his wife by then. He submitted divorce papers on 2 May 1862 citing that Eliza had left him around 1 March 1858 and gone to her widowered fathers's home at 20 Russell Square, Brighton. Son Horace was was born there in June 1959 which was announced in the local press. It seems that Alfred and Eliza had separated before son John was born in August 1861. She declined to return to Alfred so the petition went to court in November 1862 and was granted on 28 November.
Looking at various dates around the alleged date of Eliza's departure, the date of 1 March 1858 looks spurious. It is stated that she took her three children, Ellen, George and Horace, to her father's house in Russell Square. However, Horace was born there in June 1859 which means that Eliza would have been pregnant when she left. Furthermore, John was born in August 1861, long after the alleged date of separation and Alfred is recorded as the father which is confirmed in the divorce petition.
It seems that Alfred went to London and traded as a hosier, shirt maker and outfitter at Stanley House, 36 Edgware Road in Middlesex. He was in partnership with a gentleman called Henry Forester Dickeson and the business was known as Dickeson and Folker. The following year the partneship was dissolved, notice being given in a number of newspapers The London Gazette reported the partnership being dissolved on 5 March 1963. Thereafter, Alfred continued the business by himself, advertising in newspapers. The London Gazette of 14 June reported that Alfred had been registered bankrupt on 4 June. The report noted him as a Draper of High Street in Marylebone, Middlesex.
Between January and March 1864, newspaper advertisements show Alfred trading in books and baby warmers from 36 Edgware Road in London. In April he returned to hosiery, having a warehouse at 18 High Street, Marylebone. By July he had gone bankrupt again and his stock had been taken and put up for sale.
A birth certificate for a child called Fanny Folker, born on 31 October 1864 in Flamstead Hertfordshire, shows Alfred as the father and Letitia Folker, ne้ Porter, as the mother. There is, however, no record of their marriage and it would appear to have been an invention. Alfred was landlord of the Sebright Arms public house at the time but nothing more is known about Letitia. Research indicates that Fanny lived under her mother's maiden name and possibly married in 1896.
Between March and May 1866, Alfred was London Agent for 'Harry Wilson's Shilling Sweeps', and listed as Tobacconist at 210 Whitechapel Road. The following year he was a Commission Agent living at 4 Brooklyn Villas in Peckham, Surrey. He was registered as bankrupt again as reported in the London Gazette of 11 January 1867. He appears in the 1871 census as a Docks Warehouseman boarding in the Alexander Hotel at Great Warley, Essex.
By 1875, Alfred had moved to Guildford where he became the innkeeper at The Bowling Green public house. He did not remain there for more than a year or so before he established an Auctioneer's business at 6 Lea Pale Road, Guildford in 1876. He carried out his profession at the Guildford markets where there was a livestock market each Tuesday, wholesale dry goods each Saturday and horse sales on the first Tuesday of each month. In 1876 he founded the Guildford Poultry Market, which was held each Tuesday at 11 a.m.
By 1878, the business also had stores in Woodbridge Road as proclaimed in his advertisement in the front of The Guildford Directory and Almanac of that year. By 1880, The business additionally had offices at 64 High Street, Guildford. The advertisements for the business offered services in the sale of property, transfer of businesses, debt collection, accountancy and insurance. He was agent for the Scottish Union National Insurance Co. for Life and Fire, the Imperial Union Accident Assurance Co and the National Provincial Plate Glass Co. He also stocked fertilizer and animal feed.
The census of 1881 shows Alfred as an Auctioneer living in Lea Pale Road, Guildford with his son Horace, who also was an Auctioneer. Alfred's sister Emma also lived with them.
In 1881, Alfred's son Horace joined him as a partner in the business which then became known as Messrs Folker & Son, and moved premises to Almorah Lodge in Woodbridge Road. The partnership was short-lived, being dissolved in 1884, three years after it was established. Horace then set up on his own account in competition with his father. At that time, the main offices were in Guildford Chambers, North Street, Guildford. Alfred remained here, but Horace opened new premises at 74 High Street. The reason for the split is not known, but it certainly was complete. A possible cause may have been that they were both fairly stubborn and may not have been able to tolerate each other in close proximity. Alfred continued in business as an Auctioneer although it is likely that Horace established himself in the stronger position and took the lions share of business.
Round about 1885, Alfred moved to 11 Guildford Park Road then moved again in around 1890 to Strasburg Villa in Martyr Road. The census of 1891 shows him living at that address with his sister Emma and employing a 17 year old servant called Rose Denyer. An entry in Fur and Feather journal mentions that Alfred had owned a grey parrot for the past 23 years
His estranged wife Eliza died on 21 March 1900. On 31 October the same year, Alfred married Catherine Mills, nee Tate, widow of William Charles Mills, and they lived at 46 Denzil Road. One month later, he drew up a new Will which, other than a previous settlement on his children, favoured his new wife.
Alfred passed away on St. Valentines day in 1901. He was buried at Stoke next Guildford and probate on his Will was granted to his wife, Catherine, the sole executrix, on 24 May the same year.
A considerable amount of new information has recently been uncovered on the life of Alfred and is expected to be added to this biography in the latter part of 2020.
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