Ellen Smiles (1852-1929)

Ellen Smiles was the twin sister of my great grandmother Margaret Taylor nee Smiles (1852-1917). Ellen and Margaret were born on September 5^th 1852 in Newcastle upon Tyne. Their parents were Jane Smiles and Alexander Maddison, who were not married.

The 1861 census shows William Smiles (aged 78, a cowkeeper), his unmarried daughters Jane (38, a housekeeper) and Mary (28) plus Jane’s daughters Margaret (7) and Ellen (7) living at 3 Liverpool Court, Newcastle.

Ellen married Joseph Scragg on December 20^th 1875 at St Andrew’s, Newcastle. She was aged 23. He was aged 31, a soldier in the Royal Artillery. He originated from Prestbury in Cheshire. They went on to have five children, namely William Joseph (born 1876 in Newcastle), Samuel (born 1878 in Weedon, Northants), Thomas (born 1880 in Aldershot), Jemima (born 1882 in Trowbridge) and May (born 1884 in Macclesfield). The birth places of the first four children probably reflect the location of army barracks where Joseph was sent to. The 1881 census shows Ellen and her family living at the Royal Artillery Barracks, Aldershot.

Ellen Scragg nee Smiles, one of her children (William Joseph?) and her husband Joseph c1879 (photo supplied by Rosslyn Hughes).

Joseph Scragg was an Army pensioner and general labourer in 1885 when he died in Macclesfield aged 41, as a result of a thoracic aneurism. Ellen married John James Williams, another soldier, in 1886. She was 33, he was about 32 and came from Manchester. They had three children, John James (born 1887 in Colchester), Albert Edward (born 1890 in Whittingdon, Staffordshire) and Ellen (born 1896 in Newcastle).

The 1891 census shows Ellen, her husband John (a Private in the Infantry) and seven children living at Whittingdon Barracks, Staffordshire. By 1901, the family were living at 6 Douglas Terrace, Westgate, Newcastle. John had left the Army and was a builder’s labourer. In 1911, Ellen was living at 3 Neville Court, Newcastle (in 3 rooms) with her husband John (a labourer) her son William Joseph Scraggs (34, an insurance agent), daughter Ellen Williams (14) and grandchildren Lily Pretoria (11) and Margaret Scraggs (8), who were William’s children, their mother Hannah having died in 1908.

Ellen died in 1929 aged 76 in Newcastle.