Walter Scott(1860-1935) and Julia Slape(1860-1943)

Walter Scott was born February 15, 1860 at 49 Nile Street, Portsea, Hampshire England, son of William Scott, a convict warder, and Mary (née Jacobs), his wife. Walter was the third child born to William and Mary and was the first to survive infancy.

It is interesting to note that the birth registration includes the time of birth, 11:45 a.m. This was because Walter was a twin. His younger brother Charles was born ten minutes later. Charles died in infancy.

Six months later on August 15, Walter's wife-to-be, Julia Slape, was born about a half mile away at 2 Brunswick Rd. She was the daughter of George Thomas Slape and Sarah Good. George was a waterman (a person who rowed passengers to and from ships anchored in the harbour at Portsmouth).

The census of 1861

We have the listing in the 1861 census for Walter Scott as part of the household at 49 Nile St. In this listing we find that William Scott (27, head, Warder Convict Prison) and his wife Mary (27) have their son Walter aged 1 year. Also living in the house are Walter's uncle John Scott (25, carpenter and joiner) his wife Martha (23 -- she was the sister of Mary, William's wife) and their son Frederick 10 months.

The Slapes lived at 2 Brunswick Road just off Commercial Rd.

We are fortunate in having photographs of Walter form a very early age, possibly due to his Aunt Mary Ann (sister of his father) who worked as a photographer.

The City of Portsea

The map above gives part of the layout of Portsea Island, an island on the south coast of England at the mouth of the Solent. the map dates from about 1860; since that time the fortifications have been removed and much of the area was obliterated by bombing attacks during World War II.. Portsea Island is the location of the famous Portsmouth harbour, home of the Royal Navy. Nile St. and Brunswick Rd. are indicated on the map. Neither of these streets exist today. As a child Walter may have played in the vicinity of the old city walls which were extant then.

It is difficult for us to imagine, at the time of this writing (2002), what it was like in a place like Portsea in 1860. To start with there were no motor vehicles. Portsmouth harbour was filled with the sailing ships of the Royal Navy, and, increasingly, with the steamships which were replacing them (Walter's father, William had been a sailor on many steamships during his service with the Navy and Merchant Marine). Movement between ships was by boats rowed by watermen, the piers had not been built and there were no motor boats. Although some horse drawn vehicles were present for the movement of goods, normal movement in the town was by foot. Homes generally (and certainly those of our ancestors) did not have the space of courtyards for horses and carriages and they were not commonly used. So, whereas today we can, in our automobiles, move, in a matter of minutes from the Fratton railway station along the M275 to the mainland - a distance of about 3 miles - that would have been an hour's walk in 1860. It was not a trip that one would often make. People lived in their communities, areas which were bounded by a radius of a half mile or so. Men lived close to their work; there was no public transportation available to them.

So it probably was with Walter's parents. Walter's father, William Scott, worked as a warder in the prison. This prison (Kingston prison) exists today and is just north of the Fratton rail station, and Nile Street was within a ten to fifteen minute walk from it. Walter's mother, Mary (nee Jacobs) was probably born nearby in the village of Westbourne (about four miles away) where she was christened in 1831 and where she married William in 1856 (William and Mary).

19th Century Portsmouth

That Fratton rail station, by the way, only came into existence about 1860; the first train service reaching Portsmouth just 15 years earlier in 1845 and terminating in Portsmouth. But there had been substantial growth in Portsea, as in the rest of England during those years. It was, indeed, an exciting time to be born an Englishman. In 1801 (the year of the first English census of modern times) the population of England, Scotland and Wales was about 7.5 million. By 1901 it had more than quadrupled to over 32 million. At the same a large number of Englishmen (as many as 500,000 per year by mid-century) had emigrated to the colonies and to the United States of America. All this population growth was accompanied by phenomenal increases in wealth and in the size of the British Empire. In 1860 Victoria had been on the throne for 23 years, but she would reign for another 41. The population of Portsmouth was 94,799 in the 1861 census, up from 32,166 in 1801 and 63,032 in 1841 - a 50% growth in 20 years, and it would reach 190,281 by 1901. This growth was accommodated by a gradual spreading of the population from the original Portsea to new districts such as Landport, Kingston, Milton and Southsea as the century progressed. Walter was born into this dynamic environment and grew with it.

At the same time as population was growing, the employment of the population was changing too. In the 1800's the population of England moved in great numbers from the farms and estates, into the cities. Workers were no longer farm labourers but worked in a variety of activities associated with village and city life. The Scott family, and the women they married were part of this movement, as we see in greater detail when we study the lives of Walter's ancestors.

There was also major social change in England during this century, and this change had an impact on the lives of our ancestors. One of the important changes was the change in legal matters which removed deportation as a punishment and created the need for jails within England - the jails that employed Walter's father. In 1843 the voting acts were modified to give the franchise to more people; we see some of our ancestors standing as councilors in Portsmouth. It was in the 1829 that the first police forces were created (the famous "bobbies" named after Robert Peel) and this influenced our ancestor's lives directly; Walter Scott would become a policeman as an adult.

There was also amazing technological change in this century. While at the beginning of the century almost all power was supplied by the labour of man and beast (with the notable exceptions of the power from wind and water), by the end of the century we had steam, electrical and gasoline powered devices. While at the beginning of the century the country was entering the "great age of coaching", by 1845 there was a railway to Portsmouth and later in the century roads were good enough for bicycling and even early motor cars. The Royal Navy had moved from wind power to steam power, especially by the 1840's and Walter's father had spent several years on steam ships travelling around the world. As steam ships grew ever larger construction could no longer be done on the Thames with the result that by the end of the century the dreadnought battleships were being constructed in the dockyards at Portsmouth.

All of these changes were occurring during Walter's life and it is interesting to discover, through the various documents that are available, how his life was influenced by them.

The Short Childhood Years

Walter was one of at least seven children born to William and Mary. The oldest was a son William born in 1857, the second oldest was a daughter Mary Anne born in 1858. Then Walter was born. But, surprise! It turns out that Walter was a twin; his brother was named Charles. And then there were at least three other children, Elizabeth Marion (who married Henry Cobby and was known thereafter in the family as "Auntie Cobby"), Sydney George (who had at least two namesakes in the next generation) and William Joseph (who went off to the Boer War and then may have roamed for much of the rest of his life). Walter's birth in 1860 was nicely timed so that he could be included in the census of England in the spring of 1861. In that census we find that William and Mary are still living at 49 Nile St. However they have only one child, Walter living with them.

An interesting side note from the 1861 census is that living with William, Mary and Walter, at 49 Nile St., are another family. These are John Thomas Scott, his wife Martha and their son Frederic, aged 10 months. John Thomas Scott was William Scott's younger brother by two years. John married Mary's younger sister Martha Jacobs about 5 months after William and Mary were married.

We are fortunate in having photographs of Walter from early childhood. The first photograph, shown below is of a boy about two years old, indicating that it was taken about late 1861 or early 1862. It is interesting that Walter is alone. At this time he was the only surviving child of the first four born.

Our next photograph of Walter is of a lad of about five or six. In this photograph he appears with his sister Elizabeth who is about two or three years old, so that the photograph was taken in late 1865 or early 1866. The third photograph is of the same two, taken perhaps two years later. These photographs were taken in Landport, an area of Portsmouth.

We do know that during his childhood, Walter and his parents also lived on the Isle of Wight where his father William was a warder at the Parkhurst prison. Parkhurst was created in the 1840's as a jail for boys. By the time Walter's father, William, took up a position there, the prison had evolved into a normal prison. William probably went there in late 1869 and would stay there for the rest of his career in the prison service. Walter went there with the rest of the family. We do not know where or what schooling he received. However by April 1874, barely 14 years old, he was employed as a parcel porter of the Joint South Western and Brighton Railway Station which was the main railway station in Portsmouth. Walter's mother Mary had died the previous year in February (she is buried on the Isle of Wight) and this might have had an influence on employment at this early age. However, in those days, entering the work force by the age of 14 was common.

After the death of Walter's mother, Mary, William remarried in 1875 to Sarah Langrish, a childhood friend of Mary. The witnesses to the wedding were Ellen Witcher and A. Griffin. We do not know where Walter lived in the years between 1874 and 1881. Family lore has it that he lived with a 'favourite' aunt. The 1881 census entry for Walter is interesting:

Dwelling:    23 Highfield St, Portsea

Source:    1881 census, FHL Film 1341283 PRO Ref RG11 Piece 1154 Folio 37 Page 27

Walter was now 21 years old, and living with his uncle Alfred Griffin and Alfred's stepdaughter Ellen Witcher (who was 19 at that time). How it was that Alfred was his uncle (Alfred is listed as a widower in the census), is unknown, but from Walter's granddaughter Iris we hear that Walter lived with a favourite aunt at about this stage of his life. The address for Alfred Griffin in Portsmouth was 23 Highfield St. Today Highfield St. is one sixth of a mile from the railway station which was consistent with Alfred's employment as a Railway Driver. Interestingly Ellen was a dressmaker, a fairly common occupation for young ladies in Portsmouth at that time. It is hard to believe that Ellen who was about 13 at the time of William and Sarah's wedding would have been the witness at the wedding. More likely she was named after her mother who had died between 1875 and 1881. If Ellen was a favourite aunt, she had apparently been married to someone with the surname Witcher, prior to marrying Alfred Griffin. We do not know of any sisters of William or Mary who had the name Ellen, however there was an Emma who was a sister of William. Could she have changed her name? It will take further research to solve this puzzle.

In August of 1875, Walter left the railway company and joined the Provincial Tramway Co. Limited eventually becoming a tram driver with them. This was the peak of Southsea (another area of Portsmouth) as a tourist area in which people came to enjoy the beach. The Provincial Tramway was established to supply transportation to this trade by providing a tram line from the rail station to the beach area. These trams were horse drawn vehicles that rode on rails. In letters of reference written in October of 1881 Walter is described as being "thoroughly sober, trustworthy and honest".

The letters of reference were solicited by Walter from both his employers, from a bank manager and from a "Squire Graham" to support his application to become a constable in the Metropolitan Police Force in London. The fact of his application and its acceptance in February of 1882 indicates his strong moral character (in a time when Portsmouth was known for its seedy element that pervaded the dock area, which was only a half mile from Walter's home). It also tells us that he was at least five foot seven, which was a physical requirement at that time. (Police records indicate he was five foot ten). In his application to the Police force he submitted letters of reference which were copied and returned to him on his retirement:

Walter's acceptance into the force, marked a considerable step forward in his prospects - the kind of move that in a young man's life is often accompanied by marriage. It was no different for Walter. We do not know when or how he met her, but within weeks of his acceptance into the force Walter married Julia Slape.

Julia Slape's Childhood

Of Julia's early life, after her birth, we know nothing. Our next reference to her comes in the census of 1881 where we find that she has spent the night as a visitor at the home of Nehemiah Evans, 6 Holloway St., and his wife Eliza who have five children at home that night ranging in age from 7 to 18. The eldest of these, a daughter Eliza is a dressmaker, but no occupation is listed for Julia. However, we know that Julia was an embroideress, and it is likely that Eliza was a friend of Julia's through work. (looking to earlier comments we see that Ellen Witcher, Walter's cousin and with whom he lived, was also a dressmaker and it may be that this was the common link that led to their introduction).This is the only reference we have to Julia until her marriage to Walter.

The Marriage of Walter and Julia

We have one interesting anecdote that relates to the courtship of Walter and Julia. Walter worked late at his job with the tram company and on his way home would go by the Slape residence to see Julia. Apparently one night he was particularly late and Julia was in bed when he came. She got up in her nightdress and went down to see him at the front door. It is said that her mother locked her out of the house and never let her back in. We do not know how long before the marriage this occurred.

The marriage certificate is interesting in a number of ways. Both Walter and Julia have indicated that they are 22 years old, although it is 4 days before his 22nd birthday and 6 months before hers. While they are married by banns (which requires prior notice being read in the church), there is no obvious indication of any family involvement at the ceremony; the witnesses are a Kempster Hall and Mary Ann Cull. The name Kempster Hall does not appear anywhere else in our studies, but the 1881 census shows only one person of that name in Hampshire -- a greengrocer living a 2 Kingston Rd. Julia is identified as a spinster (not previously married), but no occupation is indicated, and Walter, a bachelor, is identified as a being a tramdriver. The father's are identified, but interestingly, Julia's father, now identified as a pilot, had been dead for about 13 years, having been killed in 1870. He had been a waterman, not a pilot -- There is perhaps a little social 'elevation' in play here.The last thing that is interesting is that they are married in St. James' Church in Milton. St. James' was known locally as "The Runaways" church because it would marry persons who were not in the parish. However the Slape family had been connected with the church for many years with children being Christened there, etc. and they were married under banns, so they probably did not marry as `runaways'.

 
The Years with K Division

In any case, married they were, and just weeks later, on 13 March 1882, Walter reported for duty at K Division in the Metropolitan police force in London. He was known as PC117'K', warrant number 66328. The warrant number appears to be a kind of 'regimental number' which he retained throughout his service. In the ledgers of K Division he is listed as being '5 Feet, 10 Inches tall and was a Driver before joining the force'.

His first post was in the East India Docks area of London, near Bromley on Bow. They took up residence at 16 Cobden St. and here started their family. There are few records available for these years of their lives; their children have all passed on and only one of their remaining grandchildren knew them. But we do have some documents, some momentos, some photographs and some recollections. These provide some information on their lives.

Genealogically, the most interesting activities were, of course, the births of their children. The order and dates of the children who survived to adulthood occurred as follows, and their times and locations provide some information on the progress of the family and Walter's career:

Children of Julia Slape and Walter Scott

Being born in Bromley (this is Bromley-le-Bow located in the center of London, not Bromley, Kent) the older three were all born within the sound of Bow Bells, the traditional definition of a Cockney. Both Lillian and Frank spoke of this with some pride (or at least relish) in later years.

One of the family `legends' is that Walter was involved in the search for Jack the Ripper; in fact, it is reputed that he and a partner discovered one of the bodies.  This well known search occurred in the fall-spring of 1889-90 in the White Chapel district of London. This was in the adjacent H and J division areas of the police force. However there were major area searches, door-to-door, and it is quite likely that Walter took part in some of that activity as well as in the generally heightened security operations at that time.

One of the family heirlooms that exists from this time is Walter's Police Constable's Handbook, in possession of his great granddaughter Vanessa Taylor. It is the book of instructions that policemen carried with them in their jobs. Written in the front cover is the inscription  "Walter Scott, PC 117K, No. 16 Cobden, Poplar".

An interesting socio-economic study was conducted in London in the last decade of the 1800's by Charles Booth. He walked many of the areas of London in the company of policemen and made notes on what he found in the way of housing, businesses, etc. One of the streets he reports on is Spey St. where the younger children were born. These pages have been digitized by the library at the London School of Economics and can be seen at http://www.lse.ac.uk/booth. The page including Spey St. is:

We see that the street is respectable. For some idea of what other streets in the area are like, as well as some interesting reading, take a look at the on-line documents.

In addition to this document we are fortunate in having a note penned by Walter and Julia's oldest child, Lillian, during the 1960's. This note indicates some of her male lineage and the locations she lived as a child and the years of the moves from one location to another. These notes give us an understanding of Walter's career moves.

During his sojourn at K Division, Queen Victoria, the only monarch under whom Walter had lived, celebrated her 50th year on the throne -- her Golden Jubilee. Many public servants, including Walter, were issued the Victoria Jubilee medal to celebrate this event.

X Division

Walter was promoted to Sergeant and transferred to X Division on 11 September 1890, becoming PS49'X'. From notes written by Lillian Scott in the early 1960's we learn that the family moved to Willesden in 1891, where she, at least, attended St. Mary's, Willesden school. Willesden is in the West End of London, north of the Thames, and at that time would have represented a considerable improvement in community for the Scott family. The promotion was recorded in the Police Orders of the Metropolitan Police Office on 11 September 1890 as part of an increase to the strength of the force. The pages recording this increase and its implications for staffing are shown below:

Page 753: This gives statistical information on the changes to the size of the force with no direct information on Walter. It is interesting to see that V Division where he is transferred is adding 5 new night beats on this strength augmentation and as one of the new sergeants he would probably be pulling his share of night duty.

Page 754: The bottom table shows promotions to Sergeant, including Walter's in K division, from P.C. (Police Constable), number 117, Warrant Number 66328.

The list continues to the next page (below) and appears to be presented in increasing warrant number order, presumably being a listing with the most senior listed first. In this list 95 police constables are promoted to sergeant rank. Walter's seniority in this list is 50th in this list. It is likely that such promotions were only made on a few occasions during the year (perhaps twice a year?).

Page 755: This shows Walter's transfer from K division to X division. It was common to transfer newly promoted sergeants. We see that at least two other new sergeants are being transferred to X division at this time (Everett and Osborne). It is interesting to see here that his salary will be 34 shillings per week.

V Division Days

In 1894, according to Lillian's notes, the family moved to Kingston on Thames, but, not having the birth certificate we do not know at which location (Willesden or Thames Ditton) Kathleen (Kitty) was born. This is in the south west part of London on the south side of the Thames river. In this division he was known as SPS64'V'.

In addition to these births, we know that Kitty (she was always known by this name in the family and I will use it in this narrative) had a twin sister Kathreen who died shortly after birth. In addition there may have been as many as seven other children who died in early childhood, usually by the age of 8-10 months, but we have no documentary confirmation of these births. (Frank's daughter-in-law, Olga (Swetz) Scott says that he always indicated he was one of 12 children; Lillian's daughter, Iris, says that she remembers, as a child, a box which had a number of burial memorial cards for babies which she only later realized were these siblings).

1897 was an exciting year in England. Queen Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837. This year marked what became known as the Diamond Victoria Jubilee. As a part of the celebrations Walter was issued the 1897 bar to his Victoria Jubilee medal; Walter received an 1897 bar for his 1887 medal. We do not know if this involved any particular activity on Walter's part (perhaps being part of a guard on a parade).

In 1898 the family moved to Surbiton. This move was probably in conjunction with his promotion to Station Police Sergeant (also known as Clerk Sergeant). Kitty's comments. This was also the year in which the Boer War started in South Africa; Walter's brother William Joseph Scott enlisted as a sapper and went to South Africa.  It was also the year in which his father, William, stopped working at the Southsea Pier & Esplanade Company in Portsmouth -- a sign of his advancing years. A few years later, in 1901, Queen Victoria died. This was the end of the Victorian era, but also the start of the Edwardian era. At Edward's coronation medals were issued to various public servants and Walter again was a recipient of the Edward Coronation medal. This medal, together with the Victoria Jubilee medal were the medals that Walter received. The medals are now in my possession and photographs of them appear below:

Walter Scott's medals. On the left is the Victoria Jubilee medal issued in 1887, with the 1897 bar, and on the right is the Edward Coronation medal issued in 1902. The ribbons are the original ribbons and show signs of age. The medals were polished for this image created in 2001 -- probably the first time they had been polished in at least 65 years. The edge of the Victoria medal is inscribed: 'PC W. SCOTT . K. DIVN.' The edge of the Edward medal is inscribed: 'P.S. W. SCOTT. V. DIV.' The inscription on the Victoria medal indicates that the medal was issued in 1887 to William when he was a police constable. He received the '1897' bar at the time of the diamond jubilee in 1897.

The reverse sides of Walter Scott's  medals. They show the dates, 1902 for the Edward medal and 1887 for the Victoria Jubilee medal, of issue.

It was from the Tolworth police station that Lillian Scott married Bertram Benjamin Fry in 1903.

At some time during his service with V Division, and after the Coronation of Edward, Walter posed for a formal photograph, which is shown below. The photograph shows his four stripes as a station police sergeant. It also shows, on his shoulder his number '64.V' -- the '6' is partially obscured. He wears his medals for this photographs -- the two medals shown above.

SPS 64V. Station Police Sergeant Walter Scott V Divions about 1905.

Walter served with the police force for 25 years, almost to the day, retiring on 18 March 1907 from the Surbiton Police Station (on Tolworth St.; this building no longer exists, having been torn down to make place for a parking lot). For his duty he received an annual pension of (pounds) 81-13-10. In his retiring document it states that "His Conduct was Very Good". During his service he gradually rose to the rank of Station Sergeant, the position that he held at retirement.

Sidney, some years later (29 July 1914), after Walter, Julia and Kitty had moved to the south, married Elsie Ribbons of Surbiton. Frank Scott emigrated to Canada in 1909 with the Melbourne family from this area and later married Elsie Melbourne.

We do not really know much at this time about Walter's police career. His great grand daughter Vanessa Taylor has his "Police Constable's Handbook" which has a sample of his hand writing and indicates that he was PC 117K when at Bromley.

On some occasion, probably in the summer or early fall of 1906,  prior to Walter's retirement, he joined in a family event. We are not sure where this occurred, but it may have been in Surbiton or perhaps in Brighton. His son-in-law Bert Fry took the following four generation photograph.

In the back, Lillian (Scott) Fry
William Scott, Walter Scott
Lillian (Babs) Fry

We are able to date this photograph fairly accurately. William (born in 1833) died in December 1906. Babs was born 1 July 1904. She appears to be a couple of years old in this photograph. Observing the leaves in the background, it was probably taken in the late summer/fall of 1906, quite possibly in the backyard of 40 Harold Street in Portsmouth where William and Sarah Scott lived.

The next year, in April, Lillian's second child, Francis (known in England as Sonny) was born on 18 April. A very short time after his birth, probably within a month or two the family gathered again for Francis' christening.

Kitty standing on left, Julia sitting holding Francis, Walter behind
with Lillian sitting and Babs standing in front of her, about June 1907

The Retirement Years

Walter retired the 18th March, 1907, 25 years and five days after he joined up. At the time of retirement he was the desk sergeant at the Tolworth Police Station in Surbiton where the family lived for a number of years. His retirement was again recorded in Police Orders. On 16 March 1907 his pension was recorded on page 257:

This page shows his pension declared as being of the amount £ 81-13-10, starting on the 18th of the month. This is about 31s per week.

The page is also interesting in that it shows the salaries being paid to some of the personnel at that time. One sergeant (Flatt) is to receive 50s. 6d. per week but the other sergeants are being payr raises to 37s to 39s per week.  This is not a great increase on the salaries being earned by the constables mentioned below.

In this document we see that his pay is to be until the 17th and that he is to be issued with Certificate No. 1.

This document also provides interesting information on housing costs for supplied residences with married personnel being charged 6s 6d per week for accommodation. Noting that Walter's retirement pension will be about 31s per week we see that he will be living on a fairly reasonable retirement income comparable to that of a constable.

On the 19th he was given the following Certificate Number 1 which  indicates his duration of service, a general comment on his quality and the statement that his pension would be £81-13-10 per annum (this document has been retained in the family; the previous document copies were provided by the Metropolitan Police Museum at Scotland Yard, London)

Walter and Julia stayed in Tolworth for a while after his retirement. A postcard from their son Frank, to his mother, postmarked Jan 13 1908, Jan 13 is addressed to 21 Dennam Rd, Tolworth. However soon after this they appear to have moved back to Portsmouth. By this time Walter's father William, and step-mother Sarah (Langrish), had both passed away (within weeks of each other in late 1906) so the return was not precipitated by a need to return to look after them. Julia's mother Sarah was alive, however, and not doing well financially, and it is possible that they returned, in part, to look after her. In any case Sarah did stay with them for awhile in Portsmouth. However, that did not work out and she was 'moved out'.

Not too long after that, Walter and Julia moved to Brighton, probably to 92 Hythe Road, for there are existing copies of post cards to their daughter Kitty, at that address, until the end of 1915. By mid 1916 the address has changed to 80 Sandgate Rd. where they would live until Walter's death in 1936. Sandgate Road is the next street north of Hythe Road, in the direction of Patcham in Brighton. The house at Hythe Road would have been very similar to the one on Sandgatge Rd. The move to Brighton was partially precipitated by Lillian's marriage to Bert (Bertram Benjamin) Fry who moved there in his business activities.

Of Walter's retirement (he was now about 50 and would live until he was 76) we have not yet documented many details. In a note from Kitty to Arthur Barnes on July 4, 1913, Kitty wrote: "I had a letter from dad yesterday & he is going home this afternoon. He has got a job at the West Pier thetre & starts this evening. But he wont be home till late tomorrow." We do not have the details of his job at the pier, but it is likely it was in some sort of security role. We also have a photograph of Walter taken during the first world war, showing him in uniform. The story, from his granddaughter, Iris, is that he became a guard during the war, at the Woolwich armory near London, in Kent (an interesting connection since his grandfather had been in the Royal Navy there and his father was born there). Apparently he took a room (or was in barracks) and came home on weekends.

Walter Scott, about 1916, in World War I Uniform.
He wears the Victoria Jubilee and Edward Coronation medals shown above

Of Julia, throughout her marriage we have little information. She was a embroideress and would be active at that from time to time. Her daughter Lillian, who for many years made her living has a dress maker, lamented that her mother had not taught her the same skills. Julia apparently bore a dozen children, but had a lesser interest in them as they grew older (with the exception of Lillian). We know little of her relationships, so far, with her other children. Lillian took much of the burden of raising the younger children and Julia was often in bed during the many pregnancies. In a letter dated Mar 26, 1933, Lillian wrote "Grandpa [Walter] is looking very well but Grandma [Julia] has had one or two bad turns lately and Kitty has been very worried about her. . . " Yet Julia survived her husband, dying during 1943.

The Photographic Record

The photographic record of Walter Scott is rather interesting. Photography was developed in 1839. The first photographs were daguerreotypes, a form of photography that created an image on a metal plate. By 1850 the technique had developed in England to include photographic prints similar to those that we use today. And by the 1850's it had become fashionable in middle class England to take photographs. These were generally taken in studios. A photographic record that extends back to this time can then represent the effect of one or more factors:

• sufficient wealth to afford such photographs
• enough pride or vanity to want such a record
• someone in the family with a suitable photographic interest and access to the technology.

We are fortunate in having this combination in existence in the Scott line at that time. We know that Walter's Aunt Mary worked in a photographic studio, and this probably accounts for the large number of photographs that have come down to us from the 1860 - 80's time frame. It is also possible that some of these photographs (particularly the earlier ones) are a reflection of sufficient pride and wealth. In any case, we have ended up with a photographic record of Walter from his earliest days.

In a later generation this photographic record includes many photographs taken by Bert Fry, Lillian's husband, including some group family photographs. Unfortunately Bert was killed in an accident in 1916 (not related to W.W.I -- he was exempt from military duty due to health issues).

Back (l. to r. ) Arthur Barnes, Kitty (Scott) Barnes, Lillian (Scott) Fry, Elsie () Scott, Sidney George Scott*******
Francis Fry, Julia (Slape) Scott, Hilda Fry, Walter Scott, Lillian (Babs) Fry (photographer, Bert Fry)
probably about 1913-14

Walter, Julia and their daughter Lillian, probably about 1930 in Brighton

Deaths of Walter and Julia

During the last years of their lives Walter and Julia lived at 80 Sandgate Rd. in Brighton. Their daughter Lillian lived nearby. Coincidentally, sixty-five years later, a great grandson Ian Fry and his wife Angela, with their children Darrel and Nadine, would live just down the street. Walter and Julia's granddaughter Iris remembers well visiting the couple at this location. During those visits 'Grandpa' would take her and her older half brother Norman Fry on walks down to the Brighton beach.

Walter died before his wife Julia on the17th of June, 1936, in his home at 80 Sandgate Road. The cause of death was heart failure, diabetes and senility.

After their deaths, Walter and Julia were interred at the Brighton cemetery in Brighton. The writer visited their grave this year with another great grandson Ian Fry who coincidentally lives on Sandgate Rd. in Brighton. A photograph of the grave site is included below.

What were they like?

Having gone, more or less, through a chronology of their lives it is interesting to speculate on what Walter and Julia were like as people. This is an area of which I have little information so far and hopefully we can collectively, gradually remember and record some of this information.

Iris Groutage, granddaughter of Walter and Julia remembers that as a child she and her (half) brother Norman would be sent to stay with them during the height of tourist season (when her parents were busy with guests in their guest house). She recalls that every day Walter would take them down to the beach for a walk along it. Walter was a popular kind of person who had lots of little stories to tell and who got along well with people. Julia is recalled as a person who was very structured in the way she ran her house with many rules on how things were to be done around the house - more than a little girl wanted to know. She was said to enjoy infants but to have a lessening interest in children as they got older. Julia also was a seamstress who from time to time would be involved in dressmaking activities throughout her life (her daughter Lillian had a dress making business for a while and it is likely that Julia was involved - she was known to be close to Lillian).
Elsie Scott, a daughter-in-law described Julia as a rather severe, humourless kind of person. Mind you she only married Julia's son Frank, when she was 24, eight years after leaving England, and she never saw Julia again. At that time Elsie's older brother Leonard was a friend of Frank's and it is not clear how closely she would have known Julia.
Brian Cobby related that Walter was a pompous sort of person.

Additionally I have a few written comments from Lillian, which are not yet part of this record.

These few comments aside, I find that looking at their lives, I see some traits that are interesting. While Walter and Julia left Portsmouth at the time of their marriage, they seem to have had a fairly strong sense of family. Walter was an executor of his father's will, together with his sister Elizabeth Marion (Scott) Cobby. When Walter retired, they moved back for a while to Portsmouth and, although it did not work out, had Julia's mother Sarah live with them for a while. They moved to Brighton, reportedly to be close to daughter Lillian and her husband Bert Fry.

In raising their four children they made investments in both sons to have them educated as teachers. Sydney eventually became a respected school headmaster. Frank, after becoming a qualified assistant teacher stopped that training and went to Canada, where, amongst other activities, he did teach for awhile. This raising of teachers is interesting in that neither Walter or Julia had much education. In subsequent generations many of the children and grandchildren of Sydney and Frank have been teachers, and this investment has certainly had the effect of bettering the lives of their descendants.
The photographs that do come to us from the period of 1900 - 1920 also show a sense of family that seems to be quite strong, and we are indebted to Bert Fry for many of those family photos. This family sense was also evident to me as a child when there seemed to be frequent letters from Auntie Lil and Auntie Kitty to their brother Frank and also to Lillian's son Francis (known in England as Sonny).

Research Required:

[1] More information on Julia Slape's early life
[2] Determine the relationship of Alfred Griffin and Ellen Witcher to Walter
[3] Photographs of Walter and Julia between 1870 and 1900
[4] Determine the names of the children that are not listed here -- there were perhaps as many as 12 altogether
[5] Extract sound bites and make transcripts of tapes
[6] Extract more information from letters in possession of Eythel Fry.
[7] Obtain information on WWI service.
[8] Obtain more details of addresses throughout his lifetime.

Acknowledgements:

The following have helped in preparing this page through sharing knowledge or materials

• Iris (Simmons) Groutage; for many items including notes from Lillian Scott
• Jennifer (Groutage) Hart; for photographs
• Philip Griffiths and his daughter Sian for analytical work on the photograph of Walter in W.W.I uniform and for other photographs and copies of correspondence
• Leslie Scott for copies of various photographs and documents
• Ron and Doreen Scott for various photographs, documents and research
• Notes left by Lillian Scott, courtesy of Eythel Fry
• Scott Slape-Plumb for pointing out the link to the LSE collection.
• The Metropolitan Police Museum for details of Walter's police career
  

This document is 'in progress'. Any errors are mine. Contributions to this account of Walter and Julia's life would be much appreciated.

©Kenneth Scott and others

last modified 1 January 2002