Subject

Churchwarden of St John the Baptist upon Walbrook in 1884.

Andrew Behan has kindly provided this research: John Richard Whitmore Luck was born on 21 December 1842 in Camberwell, the eldest of the four sons of John Kinton Luck (1811-1900) and Sarah Luck née Faulkes (1810-1857). His father was a Master Hat and Cap Maker who on 30 November 1846 was admitted to the Freedom of the City of London by redemption into the Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wire Drawers of London. On the night of the 1851 census it shows him at the home of his paternal grandmother, Ann Holford Luck, at 50 Watling Street in the City of London, whilst his parents and other siblings were at their home at 9 St Mary le Stand Place, Old Kent Road, Camberwell. His mother died in 1857 and his father remarried on 21 July 1859 to a widow called Eleanor Susanah Wyatt (1812-1880) at The Parish Church in the District of St George, Camberwell. His address was shown as Addington Place, Camberwell Road and her address was High Road. The 1861 census confirms that he was living at 24 Walbrook, London, with his father and stepmother, his three brothers Thomas Faulkes Luck (1846-1886), Robert Faulkes Luck (1847-1932) and George Joseph Luck (born 1851) and a female servant.

In 1871 he married Fanny Elizabeth Hall (1849-1911) in Lincoln, Lincolnshire and they had eight children: Frederick John Whitmore Luck (1872-1926), George Edward Luck (1874-1938), Arthur Henry Luck (1875-1953), Charles Robert Luck (1876-1944), Mabel Kate Luck (1877-1931), Ethel May Luck (1878-1933), Frank Hugh Luck (1880-1881) and Percy Luck (1882-1918). The 1881 census shows him as a Wholesale Hat Manufacturer living in a house called Oakmead in Crouch End, Hornsey, with his wife, six children, a cook, a housemaid and a nurse. The 1891 census shows his home as Oakmead, Waverley Road, Hornsey where he was living with his wife, seven children, a cook, a housemaid and a children's maid and he was still there at the time of the 1901 census with his wife, six children, a cook and a housemaid. His father died on 15 February 1900 and he was a joint executor of his father's estate that totalled £22,855-3s-10d.

He was listed in the London Gazette dated 21 December 1906 stating that King Edward VII had appointed him, along with many others, as one of his Lieutenants within the City of London and again on 20 December 1907 as he was a Commoner representing the Walbrook ward of the City of London. He died, aged 66 years, on 28 May 1909 and was buried in Camden on 1 June 1909. Probate records showed both his addresses as Oakmead, Waverley Way, Crouch End, Middlesex and 23, 24 and 25 Walbrook, London and that when probate was granted on 30 June 1909 his estate totalled £9,405-17s-9d.