Person    | Male  Born 1849  Died 13/4/1909

John Kettle

Categories: Politics & Administration

Countries: Scotland

Chairman of the Plaistow Library Committee in the Borough of West Ham in 1902.

Apart from the information and image of John Kettle that is contained on the London Wiki website our research has found that he was born in 1849 in Forgandenny, Perthshire, Scotland, the eighth of the eleven children of James Kettle (1808-1885) and Margaret Kettle née Crow (1811-1873). 

The 1851 census shows him living at Rossie Ochil, Forgandenny, Perthshire, with his parents and eight siblings. His father's occupation was recorded as a shoemaker. In the 1861 census he was described as a scholar still living at the same address with his parents and five of his siblings.

He was listed in the 1871 census as a clerk and a servant at 130/132 Marylebone Road, Marylebone, the home of John and Mary Hanbury, a grocer and wine merchant. Also shown on the census were five other servants, i.e. three male grocer's assistants, a female cook and a housemaid.

On 14 September 1880 he married Jane Russell (1848-1929) in Milton, Glasgow, Scotland, and in the 1881 census he is described as a grocer & provision merchant, living at 1 Earlham Cross, Woodgrange Road, Forest Gate, West Ham, Essex, with his wife.

When the 1891 census was undertaken he was recorded as a grocer and wine merchant residing at 58 Woodgrange Road, Forest Gate, with his wife and their four children: Florence Jane Kettle (1883-1893), Jessie Baird Kettle (1886-1893), Russell Kettle (1887-1968) and Margaret Crow Kettle (1890-1893), together with a female domestic servant. Sadly, their three daughters all died within 10 days of each other between 22 June 1893 and 1 July 1893.

On 8 February 1897 he was initiated into Freemasonry, being the first initiate of the newly consecrated Byfield Lodge No.2632 that met at the Great Eastern Railway Hotel, Liverpool Street, London.

In the 1901 census he is shown as a grocer and provision dealer, still living at 58 Woodgrange Road, Forest Gate, with his wife, whose forename was recorded as Jeanie, together with a female general domestic servant. He died, aged 60 years, on 13 April 1909 and was buried in the City of London Cemetery & Crematorium, Aldersbrook Road, London, E12 5DQ. Probate records confirm that his address had been 189 Earlham Grove, Forest Gate, and that when probate was granted on 19 May 1909 to his widow, who was recorded as Jeanie Russell Kettle, his effects totalled £9,848-18s-8d.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk and Andrew Behan.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
John Kettle

Creations i

Plaistow Library

In 1902 Plaistow was part of the Borough of West Ham.

Read More

Other Subjects

Philip E. Hill

Philip E. Hill

Investment banker. Chairman of Beechams Pills Ltd in 1936. Chairman of Covent Garden Properties Company Limited, in 1933. The most interesting fact we can discover is that he moved into 68 Brook St...

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Bermondsey Borough Council / Vestry

Bermondsey Borough Council / Vestry

The Vestry of Bermondsey was incorporated in 1855. In 1889 it became part of the County of London and then in 1900 the Vestries of Bermondsey and Rotherhithe were joined to form the Metropolitan Bo...

Group, Politics & Administration

4 memorials
Estates Governors of Alleyn's College at Dulwich

Estates Governors of Alleyn's College at Dulwich

The management of the College sounds complicated. For 1882 Wikipedia has "Two Boards of Governors came into being. Both Dulwich College and Alleyn's School were to be managed by the college Governo...

Group, Politics & Administration, Property

1 memorial
Mrs Anna Ross

Mrs Anna Ross

Worked for the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society. Was on the building committee for the Abbey Wood branch in 1912.

Person, Commerce, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (d.1915)

Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (d.1915)

Politician. Born Essex. Grandson of the first baronet.  Governor of South Australia. Died in a cottage at Cromer, rather than in his nearby family seat, Colne House, because at the time, WW1, that ...

Person, Politics & Administration, Race Issues, Social Welfare, Australia

0 memorials

Previously viewed

Mrs Charlotte Budd

Mrs Charlotte Budd

Charlotte Swain was born in 1787 and on 5 August 1805 she married Henry Budd (1787-1862) at St Nicholas Church, Brighton, Sussex. They had six children: Richard Budd (1806-1830), Charlotte Budd (18...

Person, Friend / family

1 memorial
BBC news reporters and crews who lost lives

BBC news reporters and crews who lost lives

See Broadcasting House memorial for the names and biographies of these men and women.

Group, Tragedy, TV & Radio

1 memorial
Gale King
War dead, WW1
1 memorial