Page 67 - ‘A Blaker Family History’ The family history of Joseph Blaker (1916-2007; ‘Joe’)

© The Blaker Society
© The Blaker Society

until his retirement. His working hours were long – 08.00 to 18.00 on
weekdays and 08.00 to 13.00 on Saturdays. He also assisted a local
‘Cobbler’, Mr. Beard, in his shop – doubtless a useful contact to keep his
children’s shoes in good order. Mary Ann worked locally in Norwood,
assisting in the delivery of babies and in the ‘laying out’ of deceased
persons – a combination of midwifery and mortician! They were a
devoted couple, who, despite living on limited means, kept a loving and
happy home.

By 1939, the family had moved from Auckland Place to Wolfington Road
in West Norwood.

In June 1944, ‘Alf’ and Mary Ann’s son, Joseph Blaker, married Margaret
Marie Jackson. The newly-wed couple started their married life living in
rooms at 15 Wolfington Road. In 1942, Lily Blaker married ‘Alf’ Foster and
they lived with ‘Alf’ and Mary Ann Blaker in rooms at 15 Wolfington Road.

During WWII, ‘Alf’ and Mary Ann moved from their flat in 32 Wolfington
Road, West Norwood to a house at 15 Wolfington Road that was being
vacated by a tenant who wanted to escape from the German bombings.
Lily Caswell recalls that her parents agreed a rent of 9s. 0d. per week plus
a quarterly contribution towards the rates. They took in a sub-tenant who
rented a couple of rooms at a cost of 2s. 6d. per week, but this came to an
end when the local council learned of the arrangement.

The house was opposite the Arnold and Jane Gabriel Home that formed
part of a large Jewish orphanage. The orphanage was originally
established, in 1866, as the ‘Jewish Hospital and Orphan Asylum’ on a 3.4
hectare site adjoining Knights Hill in West Norwood, and, at that time,
provided accommodation for some 220 children. In 1910, the Gabriel
Home extended the accommodation to a total of some 400 children, and
was itself used for 5 to 8 year-old children. During WWII, West Norwood
was heavily bombed, and, the orphanage’s children were evacuated to
homes in Worthing and Hertford, returning to West Norwood after the
end of hostilities After the War, the institution, then known as the ‘Jewish
Orphanage’, started to undergo some changes of its own, and was
gradually phased down and relocated. The old orphanage site in Knights
Hill, West Norwood now belongs to Lambeth Council as Norwood Hall -
for which there are ambitious plans to build a swimming pool and health
centre.

Jewish Orphanage, Knights Hill, West Norwood: 1861 Photograph

15 Wolfington Road, West Norwood, London: Contemporary View

‘Alf’ & Mary Ann Blaker: Unknown Date