So Who Was A.E. King Part 2

So Who Was A.E. King Part 2

Last week we had a look into the life and career of A.E. King, i.e. Albert Edward King. Today we’re going to consider another A.E. King with a Loughborough connection, and indeed another architect and surveyor.

Arthur Ernest King was born on 15th May 1871, just three years before Albert Edward King, but of no relation. Arthur Ernest was born in Loughborough to parents William Henry Whatton King, a railway clerk, and his wife, Fanny, nee Perkins. Both Arthur Ernest’s parents were born in Loughborough, William Henry Whatton King to parents William Henry King and Harriett Susanna (nee Whatton), and Fanny Perkins to parents George a hosiery factory warehouseman, and his wife Selina (nee Barson).

William and Fanny were married in 1868 in Loughborough, and their first child, Willam Henry was born in 1869, making Arthur Ernest the couple’s second child, born whilst the family were living at 19 Chapman Street, and while William Henry was a 23-year-old railway clerk. Bearing in mind that although Chapman Street lies fairly close to the Great Central Railway, this was not opened until 1899, and the Charnwood Forest Railway, off Derby Road, didn't open until around 1883, so Henry was most likely to be working at the Midland station. 

In 1875 Arthur Ernest’s sister, Alice was born, but unlike her older siblings, her birth was registered in Cambridgeshire, while that of her younger brother, Walter born in 1879, and Herbert born in 1880 was Mansfield. This location is confirmed by the 1881 census return which lists that family as living at 12 Queen Street, Mansfield. William is a railway station master and goods agent, now aged 32.

In 1891, when Arthur Ernest was 19 years old, he was an assistant architect and surveyor. He was still living with his father William and mother, Fanny, and siblings on Queen Street Mansfield, although the census records the property number as 11 rather than 12. Father, William was still a railway station master and goods agent, and brother, William Henry was now a railway ticket collector. The younger children, Alice (16), Walter (12), and Herbert (10), now joined by Ethel (6) and Frederick (3) were all listed on the census as scholars.

Eight years later, on 18 October 1899, Arthur Ernest married Isabel Hughes, at St Margaret’s church in Toxteth. At the time, Arthur Ernest was living at 102 Derby Road in Loughborough, and he was aged 29, and working as a civil engineer. His father, William was a stationmaster at Mansfield. Isabel was the 25-year-old daughter of stockbroker, Edward Gerard Hughes, and at the time of the marriage she was living at 43 Mulgrave Street, Liverpool. She had originally been called Isabella, and was baptised on 16 February 1874 in St James Church, Whitehaven, Cumberland. I wonder how they met?

'Stamford Villas' built 1884, no.102 Derby Road to the left, pictured in 2016

Arthur Ernest’s parents, William and Fanny were still living at 11 Queen Street in Mansfield in 1901, along with daughters (Alice) Maud (25), Ethel (15), and son Frederick (13) who don’t seem to be employed, and sons Walter G. (aged 22) who is a railway clerk, and son Herbert (20) who is a lithographic artist. Meanwhile, back in Loughborough, Arthur Ernest and wife Isabel were living at 126 Park Road. Arthur Ernest was aged 29, and was an assistant civil engineer. They had been blessed with a new baby, Dorothy, who at the time of the census return was 9 months old.

126 Park Road (black front door) pictured in 2017

In 1905, Fanny, Arthur Ernest’s mother died in Mansfield, and it was shortly after this, in April 1906 that Arthur Ernest’s older brother, William Henry, married Blanche Elizabeth Chambers. William Henry was a railway station inspector, living at Clough Villas, Clough Road, Masbrough, near Rotherham, and his father, William Henry Whatton King, was still a railway goods agent in Mansfield. In July 1909, Arthur Ernest’s younger brother, Walter George, married Florence Louise Savage at Mansfield parish church. He was a 28-year-old clerk, living at Watson Avenue, Mansfield, and his father, William Henry King, was now listed as a gentleman.

By 1911, Arthur Ernest, Isabel, and Dorothy had moved back to Mansfield where they were living at Stanton Place, and Arthur Ernest was now an architect and surveyor, and certainly by 1913 his office was established at West Gate, Mansfield. His offices were also the place where details of land and property could be picked up. Naturally, things didn’t always run smoothly, and there was a time in 1914 when Arthur Ernest took someone to court for not paying him for the plans he had drawn up in relation to alterations to a property in Pelham Street, for which a dance and music licence was to be requested.

Sometime after 1914, and before 1921, Arthur Ernest, Isabel, and Dorothy moved to Richmond in Surrey. On the 1921 census returns they were living at 36 Montague Road, and Arthur Ernest was an architect and surveyor to H.M. Office of Works. The family remained living at number 36 until at least 1924, and it was on 31 December that year that Dorothy married Henry Theodore Andrew at St Matthias Church in Surrey. Henry, who lived a few doors away at 22 Montague Road, was a lieutenant in the navy, and his father was Thomas Andrew, a gentleman.

In 1925 Arthur Ernest was elected as a licentiate of RIBA, and five years later, his father, William Henry Whatton King, who had been a station master for over 40 years, had received a gold watch for his long service to mark his 25 years’ service, and who was a keen bowler, died.

Details about Arthur Ernest that he provided to RIBA in 1933-7 showed that he had moved from 36 Montague Road, Richmond, to a street very close by, number 5 Kings Road, also in Richmond. However, by 1939, Arthur Ernest and Isabel had moved to Hodgson Howe, Newlands, Bridge, Cockermouth, Cumbria, presumably as Arthur Ernest had now retired from his position as architect and surveyor. Cockermouth was only about 13 miles from where Isabel had been baptised in Whitehaven, which might be another reason they moved there.

Unfortunately, this is where the trail runs dry, and as yet I have been unable to establish any later information about the family. 

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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