Tanjore Abraham Ward (1832-1920) – businessman and publican

Tanjore Abraham Ward (1832-1920) and Amelia Lambourn (1834-1895).
My 2nd great-grand uncle and aunt.

Tanjore was born on 12 August 1832 and baptised at All Hallows in Tottenham, Middlesex, on 27 July 1834. Of all William Ward and Mary Ann Downer‘s children, Tanjore is the most curious. His name comes from a city, also known as Thanjavur, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which lies on the south bank of the Kaveri River. It’s famous for the Brahadeeswarar Temple, constructed more than a thousand years ago.

But was Tanjore named as a result of a family connection with the city? Was it that there was Indian blood running in the family? Or was he Indian and adopted by William and Mary Ann? Could there be another story waiting to be told about his background? A surviving photo of him does suggest that he had South Asian heritage. A distant cousin on Ancestry.co.uk messaged to say that some of Tanjore’s relatives and descendants had similar looks, and rumours in the family suggested military service in India and subsequent Indian ancestry.

Tanjore married Amelia Lambourn on 11 September 1860 at All Hallows in Tottenham. She had been baptised on 10 August 1864 at Hackney to gardener George Lambourn and his wife Sarah, and worked as a domestic servant.

Tanjore went on to have a successful business career as owner of the Cook’s Ferry Inn (top) in Edmonton, as revealed in census, electoral roll and directory records. However, earlier census records show that he worked as a railway porter – in 1861 and 1871 when his family were at Railway Cottages in Tottenham, and 1881 when they were in Ashley Road, Tottenham.

By the 1891 census, Tanjore was at the Cook’s Ferry Inn with his wife, children and several nieces. However, he was landlord there from at least 1883, as the Fishing Gazette of 2 June that year reported. It noted that the pub had accommodation of good standard. Post Office directories showed Tanjore living and working there at least until 1914.

The Cook’s Ferry Inn in Angel Road, Edmonton (though it was on the Chingford side of the river) was a major hostelry on one of the very few major crossings of the River Lea. In more recent times – the 1960s and 70s – it hosted many legendary rock acts before they became famous. It was then demolished to make way for the enlarged North Circular Road.

Amelia died on 19 August 1895, Tanjore on 4 February 1920.

In his will, Tanjore left the pub, property at 3 Ashley Road in Tottenham, 100 £10 shares in the British Steamship Company, £500 of Great Eastern Railway stock, 25 £1 shares in Haig and Haig Ltd and two houses at 4 and 5 Cottage Place in Tottenham Hale to his sons.

Amelia and Tanjore’s children were:

• Herbert Charles Ward (1861-1946). He was baptised in Tottenham and became a railway porter before joining his father’s business as a barman and pub manager. He married Amelia Rose Lambourn in 1904 but continued to live at the Cook’s Ferry. By the 1921 census he was described as a gentleman and was doubtless living in part off his father’s estate. Amelia died in 1933 when the couple were living in Chingford, Essex. Herbert then married Elizabeth Rose Ward in 1935. He died in 1946, Elizabeth in 1978.
• Walter Ward (1866-1949). He was born in Tottenham and married Rosa Florence Cain in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in 1896. Initially he worked as a clerk but by 1901 he was with the Board of Trade and living in Glasgow with his wife and children. The 1921 census showed him living in Chingford, an inspector of ships’ provisions with the Board. Walter died in 1949, Rosa in 1956.

Sources: Wills, BMDs and census info at Ancestry.co.uk and Findmypast.co.uk, where I also accessed the British Newspaper Archive. Birth records at gro.gov.uk. Websites linked to in the text.