William George Soale

William George Soale was born in Hackney, London on the 10th of August, 1878. His parents were Richard William Soal (1847-1913) and Eliza Ann Forwood (1847-1933). He lived on Holly Street in Dalston, London with his parents and siblings. 

He was baptised on the 26th of August, 1878 at St James the Great, Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets near Hackney and Dalston. 

William George Soale was the youngest of four. His three siblings included Annie Elizabeth Soale (born Hackney, 1873, died in 1919, Florida, US), his brother, Richard John Soale (1869-1923) and his sister named Helen Elizabeth Soal (1875-1958). He lived on Backstone Road with his mother, his brother, Richard, and his sisters Annie and Helen.

His father was a wine cellarman, a role which would eventually be passed down to him.

In 1881 William, his parents and siblings moved to live on Blackstone Road in Dalston, Hackney, London. 

During his late teens, he was a pattern card maker and would weave baskets for the wine merchant who his father worked for. 

William's years in Hackney likely became quite nostalgic to him as he would eventually move back during his 20s. 

It is possible that during the 1890s there was a rift between William George's father and his uncle, who was also a wine cellarman, leading to Richard William Soale taking William and his siblings to Walthamstow. 

William George Soale's first wife was Esther Ann Popkin (1874-1903), daughter of a stoker and engine driver for a steamship, who he married at St Michael and All Angels in Walthamstow on the 25th of December 1897, the same day as his brother. His brother married Elizabeth Bullock, daughter of a mariner. Both marriages may have been arranged by the parents of William George who also had roots in shipping.  Their marriage was witnessed by the Hills family who appear to be related to the mother of Eliza Ann Forwood.

Esther Ann Popkin grew up in Bethnal Green, Hackney and may have been a childhood friend of William George Soale.

William George Soale and his wife lived at 37 Hazelwood Road in 1897. Eliza Payne, a relative of the Paynes, one of whom would marry one of Richard John Soale's daughters lived at 25 Wellington Road. Eliza would carry on living there until 1899-1900. Next door to 25 Wellington Road where the Paynes had lived, lived the Hills family who may be related to Eliza Ann Forwood.

On the 12th of March 1899, Esther Ann Popkin gave birth to Esther Ann Soale at 37 Hazelwood Road and registered it a month later on the 15th of April with her as the informant. She would be baptised on the 14th of March at St Marylebone, Westminster. On the 4th of June 1899, Esther Ann Soale died of a hydrocephalus convulsion from head trauma at the house, informed by the mother Esther Ann Popkin the following day.

William George Soale became a cellarman for the wine merchant who his father worked for and lived with his wife in Walthamstow, London near Hackney on Wellington Road in Walthamstow, Essex, London. 

William George Soale lived near both his father and brother in Walthamstow and appeared to be working with his brother and father, who were also cellarmen. 

They moved to 28 Stanmore Villas, Walthamstow.

On the 26th of July 1900, Esther Ann Popkin gave birth to Hilda Esther Soale who was born at 28 Stanmore Villas, Walthamstow where she lived and was informed by her on the 22nd of August 1900. She was baptised in Walthamstow on the 15th of August 1900 before then.

In 1901, William George Soale, Esther Ann Popkin and Hilda Soale lived at 25 Wellington Road.

By 1902 rhey had moved to 135 Leucha Road.

In September 1902 at the house, Hilda Esther Soale died and was buried in Walthamstow, Essex on the 8th of September that year. Her death is registered but there is no death certificate available with the cause of death or other information.

On the 14th of September 1902, Robert Vincent Soale was born at the house and was informed by William George Soale at the address on the 22nd of September 1902.

James Vincent Soale died on the 27th of September 1902 at the same address from starvation (inanition) with William George Soale present at the death and was informed by him that same day.

William and his wife did not go to his sister's funeral in early 1903 and moved to 2 Northbrook Road, Croydon, Surrey that year.

On the 29th of May 1903, Esther Ann Popkin paused away from tuberculosis exhaustion, informed by William George Soale at the address on the 30th of May 1903.

Richard John Soale, according to the account of a relative of his which I came across on Ancestry may have been a drinker and a gambler. 

By this time there had been a rift between William George Soale and the other Soales. 

In 1903, when William George's sister, Annie Elizabeth Soale was married, the other Soale siblings were there, but nowhere in her wedding photo was William George Soale to be seen. This was a few months before Eliza Ann Popkin died.

Following the death of his wife Esther, he moved back to the south of Hackney and married his second wife Emily Amelia Jane Kimpton (1884-1916), daughter of a draper and warehouseman and grandaughter of a basketmaker on the 17th of March 1906 in St Paul, Lower Homerton, London when he was 28 years old. They lived together on Ashenden Road, Upper Clapton, London. 

At the same time a man named Harry Wilson went back to living at 25 Wellington Road in Walthamstow.

The marriage was witnessed by James George Kimpton, a ship clerk and his future wife Lily Hampshire. 

Interestingly, the marriage certificate has William George Soale down as a bachelor when he was in fact widowed. It could be that this was a mistake on the part of the person completing the certificate, or it could be an indication of William George Soale disguising his previous marriage. However, considering that he lied about his age (he is listed as 26 when he would have been 28), it may not be a stretch to consider that he also lied about being a bachelor. 

William George Soale's occupation was still wine cellarman, so perhaps he had continued that role but was now working for the Kimptons who were ship clerks and warehousemen. Some of the Kimptons were basketmakers so likely made wine baskets and perhaps needed a wine cellarman to organise the storage and maintenance of wine bottles.

Perhaps William George Soale collaborated with James Kimpton who introduced him to his sister Emily.

Lillian Ethel Barrett, the woman who would marry the son of William George Soale also had connections to wine cellarmen. Lillian Ethel Barrett's father, William Henry Barrett was a wine merchant's servant and was promoted to Wine Cellarman following the disappearance of William George Soale in 1906-1907. Perhaps Henry Barret, Lillian's father knew William George Soale or was his coworker. 

By March the 17th, 1906, William George Soale and Emily Kimpton lived at 72 Ashenden Road, Upper Clapton Road, London in 1906 where Charles Kimpton, Emily Kimpton's brother also lived that year. Charles Kimpton had moved there in 1902-1903 from 143 Bentham Road where his father had died in 1901, and was there until 1906 when he moved in with his mother on 15 Westgate Stret, London Fields. 

Around the time Emily Kimpton became pregnant with William Charles Soale in 1906, William George Soale disappeared.

Emily Kimpton gave birth to William Charles Soale in Hackney on the 4th of February 1907, but William George Soale was nowhere to be seen. The birth took place at Anton Street, Hackney and was reported by Emily Kimpton's mother as the primary caregiver.

Electoral register records were usually compiled in July of a year. If someone moved in during the first half of a year, the register would be a year behind in reflecting their address. If they moved in after July, the register would be two years behind in reflecting their address.

In 1904-1905 William George Soale moved in to 72 Ashenden Road at the same time as a man named William George Pusey had started living there. William George Pusey eventually moved to 41 Trehurst Street in 1906 where he stayed with George Celisse, a songwriter. Perhaps William George Soale has changed his surname to Pusey.

41 Trehurst Street is only a minute walk from 72 Ashenden Road. 

In 1907 when William George Pusey and George Celisse were not living there, Arthur Clinch Keeler, a wine cellerman from Waltham Forest moved in.

Emily Kimpton would later move in with her mother and brother Charles Kimpton by 1909.

It wouldn’t be until the 21st of February, 1909, when William Charles Soale would be baptised in the church of St. Michael and all Angels in Hackney, without William George present and 15 Westgate Street listed as the address.

During the 1911 Census, William George Soale’s wife and son, William Charles lived without him at the residence of Misses Kimpton (Emily Kimpton’s mother) and Emily Kimpton’s siblings. 

There is no record of William George Soale leaving the UK and he has no death certificate.

It is likely that he was presumed dead. By 1916, more than 7 years would have passed since his disappearance, which according to the law at the time, meant his wife could remarry. 

His final place of residence was at 16 Anton Street, Hackney where his wife gave birth to William Charles Soale.

William Charles Soale was born with clubbed feet. Given William George Soale had lost three babies and his previous wife, it is possible the trauma of those experiences came back to him. He likely experience financial hardship given he had changed addresses multiple times and had tried to conceal his surname. There was a lot of stigma around disability at the time and very little help available. It is possible he felt he was not up to the task and the pressure eventually got to him.

Clubbed feet can be related to hydrocephalus through a wider condition such as Distal Arthrogryposis, Spina Bifida or Walker-Warburg Syndrome. Spina bifida disrupts nerve signals and can block cerebrospinal fluid. It is possible William Charles Soale may have had some other medical problems related to a wider congenital condition. 

Shortly after the birth of his son William Charles Soale, he went missing. Given the circumstances it is thought he commited suicide. His death would not be confirmed until 1916 when Emily Kimpton married Benjamin Swain under the 'Missing Persons Act.'

It is not known exactly how William George Soale died. One theory is that he may have drowned in the River Lea, a 26 minute walk from 16 Anton Street, Hackney.

Benjamin Swain, the man that Emily Kimpton would later marry in 1916 after William George’s death was also a brewery labourer.  

DNA matches with cousins of the same ancestor (Richard William Soal) has confirmed the Emily Kimpton and William George Soale are the biological parents of William Charles Soale.

His life spanned the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78), The First Boer War (1880-81), The Mahdist War (1881-99), The Sino-French War (1884-85), The First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), The Spanish-American War (1898), The Second Boer War (1899-1902), The Russo-Japanese War (1904-5), 1878 Treaty of San Stefano, 1879 Zulu War, 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War, 1898 Annexation of Hawaii, Russian Revolution of 1905, 1895-96 Italo-Ethiopian War, as well as the reigns of the British monarchs: Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, British Prime Ministers: Disraeli,  Gladstone, Cecil, Gladstone, Cecil, Primrose, Cecil, Balfour, Campbell-Bannerman, US Presidents: Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, McKinley, Roosevelt.