George Finch (1845-1879) and Eliza Deadman (1838-1910).
My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunt.
George was probably a twin as he was baptised on the same day as his brother Peter, on 15 June 1845, at St Mary’s Church in Reigate, Surrey. His parents were Henry Finch and his wife Jane.
At the 1861 census he was still living with his parents on Reigate Hill and working as a labourer, but he then married Eliza Deadman at St Mary’s in Reigate on 14 May 1865. She’d been baptised at St Andrew’s in Great Hadham, Hertfordshire, on 13 May 1838 to parents James, an agricultural labourer, and Mary.
The 1871 census showed George and Eliza living in Doods Road, Reigate, with their son Albert and by then George was working as a baker. The couple had at least four other children but George died very young on 1 April 1879 and left effects worth less than £100. Eliza continued working as a baker for several years after his death, according to the 1881 census. She died in 1910 – listed as a resident of 47 Doods Road – and was buried on 15 June.
The couple’s children were:
Albert George Finch (1870-1906). Albert was born in Reigate but spent many years living in nearby Lingfield, Surrey, where he worked as a baker and shopkeeper. He married Florence Jane Boyman in Chatham, Kent, in 1895 and together they had several children. She carried on his work after his death in 1906. Florence died in 1929.
The couple’s son Bertram, who was baptised on 13 September 1874, went on to be the founder of Finch Cycles in Reigate. He was educated at St Mark’s Church Of England School and married Elizabeth Hammond of Suffolk in 1898. The couple had three children – Cyril, Amelia and Douglas.
The cycle manufacturing business was established in 1897 in Doods Road, Reigate, and later became a retail business too.
Bertram died on 7 December 1929, with the funeral held on 11th of the same month. He left £6,007, 2s in his will. The Surrey Mirror of 20 December reported on his death and funeral, describing him as of The Gables, Bell Street, Reigate, and as one of the oldest cycle makers in the borough. The report added: “During the Great War he was a Special Constable and ambulance worker. He was also a very keen pigeon fancier and obtained the highest position in the HP National races open to all England, having won two of these races in two successive weeks. He retired from pigeon racing in 1925 owing to ill health.”
The business is still owned by the family and is today based in Bell Street having previously been located in Reigate High Street.
Sources: Ancestry.com and Findmypast.com for census and BMD returns, Surrey Family History Centre (Woking), British Newspaper Archive, Finch Cycles website