Subject

Committee chairman in Bow in 1900.

Our colleague Andrew Behan has researched this man:
Initially (ha) we thought the middle initial on the plaque read 'R' but since that name lead nowhere Andrew hunted around and found this man, with an 'H' which the letter on the plaque could also be. Arthur Henriques Valentine not only lived for a while in the same Tredegar Road as Francis Knibbs but was also initiated into the same masonic lodge two years after Knibbs - we're convinced he's our man.
Born Abraham Henriques Valentine in 1869 in Whitechapel, the eldest of thirteen children of Saul Henriques Valentine and Sarah Valentine nee Ornstien. His father was an Overseer in a Printing Office. The 1871 census shows the family living at 30 Mount Street, Whitechapel and by the time of the 1881 census they had moved to 9 Capel Terrace, Mile End Old Town. Records show that by 1890 he was using the name Arthur Henriques Valentine and married a Rebecca Corper on 19 February that year in Manhattan, New York, USA. They went on to have eight children. The 1901 census shows them living at 17 Tredegar Road, Bow, and his occupation was given as a Fire Insurance Assessor. On 9 October 1902 he became a Freemason, being initiated into the Coborn Lodge No.1804, his address being given as 48 Bulwer Road, Leytonstone, and his occupation as a Valuer. The 1911 census records them still living at 48 Bulwer Road, Leytonstone, and his occupation was listed as Valuer, Fire Insurance Assessor. By 1920 he and his wife were listed on the Electoral Register as living at 152, Broadhurst Gardens, London, NW6. He died on 19 February 1925 at The Royal Infirmary, Sunderland.