In 1852
John married Catherine Johnson daughter of William, a
wine merchant recently settled in East Lane. John and
Catherine's first three children were all born at East
Lane: Catherine (1852) Mary Emma (1854 and known as
Emma) and Alice Isabella (1856 and known as Isabella).
They all settled in 97 East Lane, one of the two
adjacent dwellings his father had recently erected and
which he later inherited.
In 1856
his father retired and we assume John took over running
the business as two years later in January 1858 George
passed away bequeathing the business to John. ®
His
father's death was soon followed by the birth of John's
first son John McLean, named after his maternal
grandfather, though neither his wife Catherine nor the
baby survived more than a few months.
It's not
known if John had any servants at this stage to assist
with the raising of his three daughters but it was
perhaps these practicalities that led him to remarry the
following autumn (1859) to Marianne Charman Shaw
daughter of the late John Shaw, hairdresser of Lambeth.
®6
After
their marriage they settled at
24 Hanover St, Peckham and by census time 1861
®7 their first son John George had been born.
®8 They had also engaged a house servant and a
nursemaid. John and Marianne had a further two children
in Peckham: Marianne Shaw (1862) and George (1863)
before moving to 2 St Paul's Terrace,
Brockley Road, New Cross a new suburb behind
Deptford on the Thames.
Here their
last child Arthur was born in the late summer of 1867.
Like Catherine before her, Marianne developed
complications and died the following spring aged 38
years.
®18 John, having contracted phthisis - also known as
consumption or tuberculosis - two years prior was
himself now gravely ill and died a few weeks later aged
45.
®9
It fell to
Robert Johnson, lighterman, as executor of John's will
to settle his affairs and sell the business.
®10
Arthur was
baptised two days after his father's death at St Paul's
Deptford but he too died the following year (1869) from
whooping cough aged 2 years 3 mths
®11 and followed by Mary Emma a few months later
aged 15 yrs at 98 Sandgate Road, Folkeston, Kent.
®13
John had five surviving
children, the eldest, Catherine now 16 years. In a
surviving letter of 1868 Mary Fleming, their grandmother
writes that John's brother Richard hoped the children
would go and live with them in New Zealand. However this
seems unlikely in the immediate future as in March 1869 Richard's wife Emma took
her own life. ®
However we
do know the other children were all still alive in 1879
from a transfer of estate duty ® form when grandmother
Mary died and the children inherited their grandfather
George's East Lane properties.
In the
1871 census John's St Paul's Terrace residence was
empty.
In 1886 Marianne Shaw Fleming is
recorded as living at Church St, Ewell, a Surrey village
when granted the administration of the estates of her
brother Arthur and sister Mary Emma
®13 . She later married William Godfrey L Spyer. The 1881 census lists George, now 17 yrs and a
leather warehouseman boarding with the Welland family of
Upper Russell St, Bermondsey.
®12. Catherine and George emigrated to NZ,
married and had their own families. Still to be
discovered are the fates of Isabella Alice and John
George Fleming
