Joseph Myatt's children and grandchildren
JAMES MYATT AND HIS CHILDREN
Joseph’s oldest son James Myatt and his wife Sarah had twelve children who were all baptised at St Mark’s Kennington. All lived to adulthood. James and his own sons ran the market garden business at Myatt’s Ground in Camberwell for many years after Joseph moved on to Manor Farm. The 1851 census for Myatt’s Ground, Camberwell shows James and his wife Sarah and eleven of their twelve children, then aged between twenty and two, plus a niece and a servant. The census notes that Myatt’s Ground occupied 40 acres and employed 18 labourers.
Joseph’s oldest son James Myatt and his wife Sarah had twelve children who were all baptised at St Mark’s Kennington. All lived to adulthood. James and his own sons ran the market garden business at Myatt’s Ground in Camberwell for many years after Joseph moved on to Manor Farm. The 1851 census for Myatt’s Ground, Camberwell shows James and his wife Sarah and eleven of their twelve children, then aged between twenty and two, plus a niece and a servant. The census notes that Myatt’s Ground occupied 40 acres and employed 18 labourers.
When James Myatt transferred his business to the village of Offenham near Evesham in Worcestershire in 1852, he leased The Laurels Farm and then Norval Farm. It was a canny move; the new Worcester to Oxford Railway had just opened. The very same railways that took away farming land in London also meant that fresh produce from Offenham could now be transported by train to the city markets that James knew so well.
James continued to prosper, growing a wide range of fruits and vegetables, but notably strawberries, cabbage, celery and asparagus. Like his father, he was active in developing his own new varieties, including ‘Myatt’s Offenham Compacta’ and ‘Myatt’s Evesham’ cabbages. He was noted as a pioneer in many gardening techniques, including the application of bands of grease on fruit trees to protect them from caterpillars. Newspaper articles of the day describe James being elected to the Royal Agricultural Society and his family participating in the community including good deeds such as ferrying workhouse inmates to a church social event in their farm wagons. James died in 1879. When Norval Farm was sold in 1881, the advertisement gives a good description of the large property James had held for many years. The original house at Norval Farm still stands today, near Myatt Road in Offenham.
James continued to prosper, growing a wide range of fruits and vegetables, but notably strawberries, cabbage, celery and asparagus. Like his father, he was active in developing his own new varieties, including ‘Myatt’s Offenham Compacta’ and ‘Myatt’s Evesham’ cabbages. He was noted as a pioneer in many gardening techniques, including the application of bands of grease on fruit trees to protect them from caterpillars. Newspaper articles of the day describe James being elected to the Royal Agricultural Society and his family participating in the community including good deeds such as ferrying workhouse inmates to a church social event in their farm wagons. James died in 1879. When Norval Farm was sold in 1881, the advertisement gives a good description of the large property James had held for many years. The original house at Norval Farm still stands today, near Myatt Road in Offenham.
The names and years of birth of James and Sarah Myatt's children:
Sarah, 1831
James, 1832
Elizabeth, 1834
William, 1836
Ann, 1838
Joseph, 1840
Harriet, 1842
Philip, 1844
Lucy, 1845
Mary, 1847
Frank, 1849
Charles, 1852
James’ two oldest sons, James Jr and William, had not gone to Offenham with their parents in 1852. They continued at Myatt’s Ground at Camberwell for eighteen years on a remaining smaller portion of the farm that had not yet been sold. This is probably the land that became the Myatt's Fields parkland. They married and started families, and their sister Elizabeth lived with them as housekeeper. In 1870, James Jr and William had their own market gardens on adjoining farms at Mile End, near Colchester in Essex. Elizabeth never married. James’ younger two sons Frank and Charles took over Norval Farm in Offenham when their father died and stayed there for about ten years more. Frank Myatt later migrated to Western Australia and started a citrus orchard. Two other sons, Joseph and Philip, moved from Evesham on to their own property in Stanstead, Hertfordshire, accompanied for some time by their sisters Lucy and Mary. Lucy later married an engineer. Mary married a herbalist and lived near her older brothers James and William at Myland, near Colchester, Harriet remained in Offenham and married a neighbouring farmer. Philip later left farming to become a traveling land-commission agent and his wife ran a small boarding school.
WILLIAM MYATT AND HIS CHILDREN
William Myatt and his younger brother Joseph Myatt junior had always lived with their father and participated in the family business. This advertisement for Manor Farm potatoes in March 1855 indicates that the two brothers were conducting business together under their own names after their father’s death a few weeks earlier:
Sarah, 1831
James, 1832
Elizabeth, 1834
William, 1836
Ann, 1838
Joseph, 1840
Harriet, 1842
Philip, 1844
Lucy, 1845
Mary, 1847
Frank, 1849
Charles, 1852
James’ two oldest sons, James Jr and William, had not gone to Offenham with their parents in 1852. They continued at Myatt’s Ground at Camberwell for eighteen years on a remaining smaller portion of the farm that had not yet been sold. This is probably the land that became the Myatt's Fields parkland. They married and started families, and their sister Elizabeth lived with them as housekeeper. In 1870, James Jr and William had their own market gardens on adjoining farms at Mile End, near Colchester in Essex. Elizabeth never married. James’ younger two sons Frank and Charles took over Norval Farm in Offenham when their father died and stayed there for about ten years more. Frank Myatt later migrated to Western Australia and started a citrus orchard. Two other sons, Joseph and Philip, moved from Evesham on to their own property in Stanstead, Hertfordshire, accompanied for some time by their sisters Lucy and Mary. Lucy later married an engineer. Mary married a herbalist and lived near her older brothers James and William at Myland, near Colchester, Harriet remained in Offenham and married a neighbouring farmer. Philip later left farming to become a traveling land-commission agent and his wife ran a small boarding school.
WILLIAM MYATT AND HIS CHILDREN
William Myatt and his younger brother Joseph Myatt junior had always lived with their father and participated in the family business. This advertisement for Manor Farm potatoes in March 1855 indicates that the two brothers were conducting business together under their own names after their father’s death a few weeks earlier:
However William and Joseph terminated their partnership a few months later. In newspaper notices at the end of 1855 the brothers officially declared their partnership dissolved:
“Notice IS HEREBY GIVEN, that the PARTNERSHIP heretofore subsisting between WILLIAM MYATT and JOSEPH MYATT, Market Gardeners, of Manor Farm, Deptford, in the county of Kent, was DISSOLVED on the 29th day of September last, by mutual consent, All debts owing to or by the said concern will be received and paid by the said WILLIAM MYATT, who will in future carry on the business on his own separate account—Manor Farm, Deptford, Dec. 8.”
William was fifty when he took sole charge of Manor Farm. He stayed on there with his family. He and his wife Eleanor Brown had six children. Like his father, William Myatt is also named in newspaper reports as a community leader in St Paul’s parish. He was a Churchwarden, Inspector of Roads and Pavements and a School Steward, among other positions. Records show he was also a long-standing member of the Royal Oak Masonic Lodge at Deptford.
At the end of 1855 William signaled his intentions to carry on business as usual, advertising strawberry and rhubarb plants and also continuing his late father’s protests against other gardeners unscrupulously using names of exclusive Myatt varieties.
“Notice IS HEREBY GIVEN, that the PARTNERSHIP heretofore subsisting between WILLIAM MYATT and JOSEPH MYATT, Market Gardeners, of Manor Farm, Deptford, in the county of Kent, was DISSOLVED on the 29th day of September last, by mutual consent, All debts owing to or by the said concern will be received and paid by the said WILLIAM MYATT, who will in future carry on the business on his own separate account—Manor Farm, Deptford, Dec. 8.”
William was fifty when he took sole charge of Manor Farm. He stayed on there with his family. He and his wife Eleanor Brown had six children. Like his father, William Myatt is also named in newspaper reports as a community leader in St Paul’s parish. He was a Churchwarden, Inspector of Roads and Pavements and a School Steward, among other positions. Records show he was also a long-standing member of the Royal Oak Masonic Lodge at Deptford.
At the end of 1855 William signaled his intentions to carry on business as usual, advertising strawberry and rhubarb plants and also continuing his late father’s protests against other gardeners unscrupulously using names of exclusive Myatt varieties.
The Kentish Gazette reported a fire at Manor Farm in February, 1857. It is interesting to note that the farm carried a small herd of horses and other livestock as well as fruit and vegetables. However another article about the fire reported that the "thirteen cows and a bull" belonged to a local dairy farmer who sub-let one of the Manor Farm barns from Mr Myatt. Another article from The Morning Advertiser in 1862 describes some children being sent to prison for stealing apples from Manor Farm.
William Myatt was one of the last market gardeners at Deptford. During the 1870s he occasionally advertised the sale of large amounts of plants - particularly rhubarb roots - when parts of Manor Farm were gradually sold off for housing development. As the farm reduced around him, William went bankrupt for a short time, his main creditor being the local coal merchant. Nevertheless he remained at Manor Farm until around 1880 and died in Deptford in 1887.
The names and birth years of William and Eleanor Myatt's children:
William, 1835
Eleanor, 1837
George, 1838
Emma, 1840
Henry, 1842
Joseph, 1844
William’s oldest son, William Jr, always stayed with his grandfather and father at Manor Farm, but he remained single and died in middle age, pre-deceasing his father. Eleanor Myatt married a solicitor and they later lived at Ongar in Essex, and then Devon. Her baby sister Emma, had not survived infancy. George Myatt left Manor Farm as a young man and had his own market garden not far away in Deptford with his wife and family. As the city expanded, they later moved to market gardens at Plumstead and then Chiswick. Henry Myatt also worked as a market gardener, first at Ongar, near his sister Eleanor, and then at Braiswick, near his cousins at Colchester. Henry later became a land steward and farm bailiff in Sussex.
William's youngest son, Joseph, was an epileptic, in those days forbidden by law to marry or have children. He worked as a market gardener with his father for many years and then he farmed at Ongar and Braiswick in partnership with his brother Henry. Later Joseph lived at a 'training colony' for young epileptic men at Crook in Westmoreland. Although he is described as an 'inmate' there in the 1901 census, the other residents were all young men aged 15-20, while Joseph was in his late fifties. He was working as the colony's gardener. Joseph died in Harrogate in 1919.
When William Myatt died in 1887, he left the mementos of his father Joseph Myatt to his own son, Joseph. Some money was left to George, but all the household and personal effects were bequeathed to Elizabeth Brown, the niece who had served as the family's faithful housekeeper her whole life.
ELIZA MYATT AND HER CHILDREN
After they were married, Eliza Myatt and her husband Henry Sheppard lived at Bermondsey on the market garden owned by his father, also called Henry Sheppard. Legal documents from the 1830s show that Eliza's father Joseph Myatt had financial interests in Henry Sheppard Senior's business. The first eight of Eliza's ten children were born at Bermondsey. In the mid-1840s Henry and Eliza moved on to their own market garden at Deptford. There they had sixty acres employing thirty men in Evelyn Street, near to her father's gardens at Manor Farm. Another neighbour was Henry's uncle (and Joseph's close friend) Samuel Sheppard who lived nearby on his market garden. The Sheppard and Myatt families were always close; their two family vaults are side-by-side at Nunhead Cemetery. Henry and Eliza Sheppard were still running a market gardening business in Evelyn Street in the 1870s. Eliza died in 1874.
The names and birth years of Eliza and Henry Sheppard's children:
Joseph, 1829
Ellen 1830
Henry, 1832
Eliza, 1835
James, 1837
Elizabeth, 1838
William, 1840
Edward, 1843
John, 1848
Sarah, 1851
Five of Eliza's six sons followed the same path as their father and both grandfathers; Joseph, Henry, William, Edward and John Sheppard all became market gardeners and all remained in the South London area. Only James differed, taking the occupation of butcher and emigrating to Canada.
Ellen, Eliza and Elizabeth Sheppard all married local merchants and remained in the Deptford area. Sarah Sheppard never married.
JOSEPH MYATT JUNIOR
The younger Joseph Myatt was in his early thirties when his father died in 1855. He moved away from Manor Farm when the partnership with William was dissolved, but stayed in Deptford, living nearby at no.4 Friendly Street. He was also active in St Paul's parish as a churchwarden, holding the position of Steward of the Deptford Benevolent Institution in 1857. Perhaps he was not quite as upstanding a citizen as his father however; in 1856 he and two friends had been charged and fined for being drunk and disorderly and assaulting a policeman. He died in 1858 aged thirty-seven of 'softening of the brain'. This generic Victorian term may have referred to any one of a number of diseases, including encephalitis, dementia or an outcome of cancer or syphilis.
It seems Joseph Jr never married, but whether or not he had children remains inconclusive.
The names and birth years of William and Eleanor Myatt's children:
William, 1835
Eleanor, 1837
George, 1838
Emma, 1840
Henry, 1842
Joseph, 1844
William’s oldest son, William Jr, always stayed with his grandfather and father at Manor Farm, but he remained single and died in middle age, pre-deceasing his father. Eleanor Myatt married a solicitor and they later lived at Ongar in Essex, and then Devon. Her baby sister Emma, had not survived infancy. George Myatt left Manor Farm as a young man and had his own market garden not far away in Deptford with his wife and family. As the city expanded, they later moved to market gardens at Plumstead and then Chiswick. Henry Myatt also worked as a market gardener, first at Ongar, near his sister Eleanor, and then at Braiswick, near his cousins at Colchester. Henry later became a land steward and farm bailiff in Sussex.
William's youngest son, Joseph, was an epileptic, in those days forbidden by law to marry or have children. He worked as a market gardener with his father for many years and then he farmed at Ongar and Braiswick in partnership with his brother Henry. Later Joseph lived at a 'training colony' for young epileptic men at Crook in Westmoreland. Although he is described as an 'inmate' there in the 1901 census, the other residents were all young men aged 15-20, while Joseph was in his late fifties. He was working as the colony's gardener. Joseph died in Harrogate in 1919.
When William Myatt died in 1887, he left the mementos of his father Joseph Myatt to his own son, Joseph. Some money was left to George, but all the household and personal effects were bequeathed to Elizabeth Brown, the niece who had served as the family's faithful housekeeper her whole life.
ELIZA MYATT AND HER CHILDREN
After they were married, Eliza Myatt and her husband Henry Sheppard lived at Bermondsey on the market garden owned by his father, also called Henry Sheppard. Legal documents from the 1830s show that Eliza's father Joseph Myatt had financial interests in Henry Sheppard Senior's business. The first eight of Eliza's ten children were born at Bermondsey. In the mid-1840s Henry and Eliza moved on to their own market garden at Deptford. There they had sixty acres employing thirty men in Evelyn Street, near to her father's gardens at Manor Farm. Another neighbour was Henry's uncle (and Joseph's close friend) Samuel Sheppard who lived nearby on his market garden. The Sheppard and Myatt families were always close; their two family vaults are side-by-side at Nunhead Cemetery. Henry and Eliza Sheppard were still running a market gardening business in Evelyn Street in the 1870s. Eliza died in 1874.
The names and birth years of Eliza and Henry Sheppard's children:
Joseph, 1829
Ellen 1830
Henry, 1832
Eliza, 1835
James, 1837
Elizabeth, 1838
William, 1840
Edward, 1843
John, 1848
Sarah, 1851
Five of Eliza's six sons followed the same path as their father and both grandfathers; Joseph, Henry, William, Edward and John Sheppard all became market gardeners and all remained in the South London area. Only James differed, taking the occupation of butcher and emigrating to Canada.
Ellen, Eliza and Elizabeth Sheppard all married local merchants and remained in the Deptford area. Sarah Sheppard never married.
JOSEPH MYATT JUNIOR
The younger Joseph Myatt was in his early thirties when his father died in 1855. He moved away from Manor Farm when the partnership with William was dissolved, but stayed in Deptford, living nearby at no.4 Friendly Street. He was also active in St Paul's parish as a churchwarden, holding the position of Steward of the Deptford Benevolent Institution in 1857. Perhaps he was not quite as upstanding a citizen as his father however; in 1856 he and two friends had been charged and fined for being drunk and disorderly and assaulting a policeman. He died in 1858 aged thirty-seven of 'softening of the brain'. This generic Victorian term may have referred to any one of a number of diseases, including encephalitis, dementia or an outcome of cancer or syphilis.
It seems Joseph Jr never married, but whether or not he had children remains inconclusive.