Victoria Ellen (Queenie) Clarke-Abbott-Priestley 1897-1983

This directory contains the information we have about Kate and Anthony Clarke's 8th child Victoria Ellen. For details of Kate's life, see her own directory. For details of Kate’s very interesting first husband Anthony, including his families with other wives, see the AJCheeper/Clarke directory.

The information on this page derives from three main sources: a little from genealogical research by me in the early 1990s, more and better research by Anne Kratzmann 2000-05, and Glyn Abbott, after we discovered Glyn through Vivian Watson in mid-2006, and Roger and Glyn met in August 2006. All of the photos for this branch of the family are from Glyn's collection.

Victoria's birth registry entry shows her as being born in Dec qtr 1897, while the family was in Lewisham. Anne later acquired her birth certificate, showing 27 August 1897 (but registered by Kate only on 13 October).

Anne found her Baptism record on 17 Oct 1897 at Waverley Park Mission, Nunhead, jointly with siblings 3-7. It shows her birthdate as 27 Aug 1897. It's curious that her son registered a different birthday on her death certificate (28 Aug).

She appears in the 1901 Census entry (page 1, page 2) as Victoria E., daur., 3, born Nunhead - which is west of Lewisham, halfway to Brixton in South London.

Her father is thought to have abandoned the household in about 1904, when she was about 6 or 7, and her mother and five siblings under 15 may have been in dire financial straits, in which case a very early career in something like barmaiding was on the cards.

Fred J. was shown as a greengrocer’s assistant, resident at 30 New End Square.
He was shown as 22, i.e. b. 1893.
But if he was 54 when he died in Dec qtr 1949, he was b. 1895, and 20 at the time of his marriage.
Glyn says that Fred J. came from the tiny village of Wetheringsett in Suffolk (where they were farmers).
The family is now in Thorndon. Fred J.'s father was blinded by bees. Fred J. had siblings:

• Gus, who died soon after 2000
• Maggie, who had children called Hazel and Edna. Glyn understood that Hazel was still alive in 2005

The photo of Queenie at the top of this page is presumably from the 1930s, a worldly-wise 30-something.

Fred J. and Queenie continued in pubs for all of their working lives.

Glyn has a postcard addressed to Fred J. on 27 August 1939 at the Three Greyhounds pub in Greek St Soho. (The photo is of a wedding party). Later during WWII, Fred J. and Queenie (then in their early 40s) ran the Duchess of Argyle. When that suffered bomb-damaged, they moved to the Tottenham Hotel, on the northern side of Oxford Street, a few doors west of Tottenham Court Road. It was still there in the 1980s. Glyn (who was born during the latter part of WWII) said it had the reputation of not closing down during air-raids. David (Rue's second son) said that he watched the WWII Victory celebrations there, presumably 7 or 8 May 1945. By then, Queenie was 48 and Fred 52. Fred J. had a bit of a reputation as a man-about-town, and as a ladies' man. Glyn said that he caused a bit of stir when he came back from town to his home-village, because he tended to make things happen. They lived in the hotels that they managed. They had 2 children. Some information on them is below.

My aunts Enid and Kath Clarke knew Victoria as their Aunt Queenie - as distinct from their mother Ethel Mary, who was also known as Queenie. Enid says she visited Queenie at the Tottenham pub while on service in the ATS. Kath says she did too. Kath was then about 17-18, and Queenie (Abbott) tried to convince Queenie (Kath's Mum), to let Kath come to London and work for them. Ethel Mary was having none of that.

Fred J. d. Dec qtr 1949, aged 54, Westminster Vol 5C, Page 417.

Victoria moved to 31 Orsett St Kennington SE11 (early 1950s?), behind the gasometers on the north-eastern side of The Oval.

My uncle Ken went to see her there, with his father Willy Tony, Queenie (Abbott)'s brother.
(If that was in 1950, then Ken would have been 15).

Queenie re-married on 5 October 1959 (which was my own 10th birthday, and 46 years to the day before I typed these words). Albert Richard PRIESTLEY was 75 years of age, a widower, and (presumably retired) security officer. She was 62. Their addresses are shown as 31 Orsett St, and the marriage took place at the Registry Office in Lambeth. Queenie is listed as a licensed victualler's barmaid. The witnesses were F.W. Abbott (her son) and Hazel Abbott (her daughter-in-law, i.e. Fred W.'s wife). Queenie's father is listed as Anthony Clarke (deceased), bookbinder. Albert appears to have pre-deceased Queenie, but we haven't yet established when he passed on.

Queenie d. 1983. Her death certificate gives the date as 25 June 1983, when she would have been 85.
She died at St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth, but was still resident at 31 Orsett St.
The informant was her son, Frederick William Abbott, listed as being of 27 Nutley Close, Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex.

Victoria and Frederick's Children

1. Frederick William Abbott (1916/17-1990)
   (hereafter Fred W., to distinguish him from his father, Fred J.).
   Anne found a birth registry entry in Dec Qtr 1916 (Camberwell,1d,1317).
   Glyn said he thought Fred W. was born in 1917.

During WWII, Fred W. was in the Artillery, in a Forward Observation Post. This is one of the most dangerous occupations in the Army, because it involves observing targets and fall of shot, and radio'ing to the gunners to walk the fire onto the target. In many theatres of war, it therefore involves being behind enemy lines, coming under both artillery and small arms fire, and being highly mobile. Their vehicle was hit, killing everyone except Fred W. and his Captain. Fred carried the Captain back, but he died as well.

Fred W. married Hazel Ivy Agnes Kavanagh (1921-72) The marriage was in Dec qtr 1942. Fred W. would have been 25 or 26. Hazel was born 2 Oct 1921, so she would have been 21. Hazel's father was Thomas Kavanagh from county Kildare, and the third of three children. He had a bravery medal from WWI, for delivering ammunition by horse and wagon. In this photo, Fred J. stands behind Fred W.'s shoulder, and Thomas behind Hazel's. Fred W. and Hazel had 5 children, born between 1944 and 1956, whose details are in a separate file.

Fred had a succession of jobs post-War, but later made progress as an executive in British Steel. Hazel worked at the Milk Marketing Board and then Lloyd's Bank (presumably prior to her first child in 1944, when she would have been about 22). Fred W. and Hazel were the witnesses at his mother Victoria's remarriage in 1959 (when he would have been 42 and she 37), and he was the informant on his mother's death certificate in 1983 (when he would have been 66). Hazel died in Dec qtr of 1972, at 50, from complications arising from a car accident. Fred W. died at about 73, on 4 February 1990.

2. Joyce I. Abbott (1922-1940/44)
   Joyce was b. March Qtr 1922 (Edmonton, 3a, 923).
   Joyce was engaged to Jack Harvey, who was Fred J.'s chief barman and right-hand man.
   Glyn said he had enormous hands, and was good at sorting out the fights that started in pubs.
   Anne found Jack Harvey on the Register of Electors at The Three Greyhounds, at 25 Greek St Soho, for 1936 to 1939. The Abbotts are listed there from 1935 to 1939.
   Gordon Bedford advised Anne Kratzmann in 2005 that Joyce died during the War from T.B.
   (at about 18-22 years of age), and Glyn confirmed it.
   Jack later remarried to a farmer's daughter in Cambridgeshire, farmed very successfully, and expanded it.
   Jack remained close to Fred J. and Queenie, and came bearing veggies, to the Londoners' great delight. (Food was in short supply during and long after WWII).

We would love to know more about this branch

This a page within Roger Clarke's Family Web-Site

Contact: Roger Clarke and/or Anne Kratzmann

Created: 5 October 2005; Last Amended: 18 Sep 2006, 22 Aug 2008, 17 Aug 2009 (1901 Census), 9 Feb 2013 (re-formatting), 24 Feb 2016 (baptism), 27 Mar 2016 (birth cert)