Mary Cullen was born in about 1793 at Greenstreet, Kent, England. Greenstreet
is 80 km from London and was initially part of the ancient trackway used
between Canterbury and St Albans; it is likely that Chaucer’s pilgrims
travelled through Greenstreet. In 1793 it was a very small village, little more
than the orchard. There were many Cullens in Greenstreet around that time. Greenstreet was at the northern part of the
parish of Lynsted, and it was at the Saint Peter and Paul church in Lynsted
that Mary was baptised on 10 March 1793 by her parents Mary and William.
Nothing is known of Mary’s early life, including any siblings or her
parents' lives - except that her father was a gardener. Sometime before 1819 she
married Thomas Watson and they had at least three children; Clarissa Ann (born
1819); George (1826) and Alfred (1828).
Thomas died before 1841, but we don’t know exactly when. Indeed, nothing is known of Thomas except that he must have existed at the time that his children were baptised!
At the 1841 Census, Mary Watson was living at St
Pauls, Deptford, Greenwich, Kent with Clarissa and Alfred. George, who would have been 15, was not with
his mother. His fate is unknown. In the
same building, but a different unit, lived Edwin Luker, a carpenter. On 29 July 1841 Mary married Edwin at St
Leonards, Shoreditch, Middlesex. They
were both in their late forties. Mary’s
son Alfred also became a carpenter – and it was possibly due to Edwin Luker.
Mary's grand-daughter owned some old photographs taken by a
photographer based in Greenwich. It is believed that two of these are photographs of Mary. I've included this below.
 |
| Mary Cullen / Watson / Luker |
By the 1851 Census both Clarissa and Alfred were married - their stories will be told in due course. Mary was living at 6 Victoria Place, St Paul
Deptford, Greenwich with her daughter Clarissa, and Clarissa’s family. Edwin Luker was at the Greenwich Union
Workhouse, Greenwich. People ended up in
Workhouses for a number of reasons.
Potentially Edwin had significant health issues and couldn’t be cared for
in Clarissa’s house. Perhaps Mary and
Edwin’s marriage had not been successful and they were estranged. In any case, it must have been something rather
unfortunate! The 1861 Census told a
similar story. Mary, still living with
her daughter and family; and Edwin living at the Workhouse. Mary Luker died in 1862 at Greenwich. She was 69.
Edwin Luker died in 1883 – having lived for over 30 years at the
Workhouse in Greenwich. Life was tough…
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