Richard Edward Mattingly was born in 1846 to Henry and Mary Mattingly who lived in the village of Calmore, Eling, near Southampton in Hampshire. He was one of five boys and one girl bought up by the couple. His father worked on the Tatchbury Mount Estate as a Groom, looking after the horses and later as a Coachman for the Timpson family.
His mother died when he was just three years of age and his father had the task of bringing up his young family. Ricahrd would have attended the local village school and also assisted his father on the farm.
The next record of the family is the 1861 Census which reveals that his father has remarried Ann and both son and father were working on the Timpson estate
The marriage record has survived for the year 1868 when we find Richard junior marrying Elizabeth Herriot of Whitechapel in London. Her father, Glaisford Herriot works as a Brass Finisher at the famous long established Bell Foundry, which has only just closed after many centuries on the site. It seems that he had initially moved to Brighton, where he held the position of Footman at no. 50 Sussex Square at Kempton Town in Brighton. He was only their briefly and after his marriage to Elizabeth took on the improved position of Valet and moved to 24 Broughton Street, Battersea in London. It was here where aged just 25, he became a father on the birth of William Henry Mattingly in 1871. He was not here for long and there followed a number of different moves over the years around London.
The year 1875 was very significant in Richard`s life in that he gave up working for others and decided to open a Greengrocers at the age just 29. This was to be the first of many that he operated. He would have had to have run the entire business of buying, selling and book keeping. He no doubt would daily go to the markets at Covent Garden and Borough for fresh produce at the crack of dawn. His first shop was at 45 Lonsdale Road in Notting Hill, Kensington. He then seems to have bought one at 13 Blenheim Crescent, a short distance away and a confusing Directory entry for the year 1887 shows him owning both.The small shop in Blenheim Street was later to become famous in the Film “Notting Hill” with High Grant. Richard was only to be there briefly and two years later moved to larger premises at 229 Ebury Street in Pimlico. This has become an upmarket street since and nowadays the fashion shop”Tomasz Starzewski” can be found there.
It was here in the year 1878 that my grandfather, Richard Edward Mattingly was born, his third son. Just two years later and they moved to 100 Southville, Lambeth, where their first daughter, Caroline was born. The Census of 1881, has him as a Greengrocer at 76 Shakespeare Road in Brixton- a town that was to feature in the lives of his descendants. Again it was only a short stay before he moved to Shepherd’s Bush, where he established a Greengrocers at 9 Eagle Terrace. It was at this address that their daughter, Rose was born. They were to have another daughter, Ellen Louisa at 5 Ridley Road in Dalston in 1885.
The 1891 Census provides us with a new direction for Richards talents when he opened an Eating House in Stockwell Street, next to the new Railway Station at Greenwich Park. It is in this year, that another girl - Maude was born to the couple. When their last of ten children, Violet was born in 1894, they were living in Lewisham.
It was their daughter, Mary Elizabeth, who married Albert Masey in 1896. Her father is described as a Restaurant Keeper, living at 157 Stockwell Road, Stockwell. At the turn of the century Richard appears as a Greengrocer in the Census living with his wife and daughters, Florence and Violet at 1 Mansion House Street In Kennington. His sons Richard (22) and George (24) are working nearby in a Coffee House at 66 Ham Park Road.
Another of Richards daughters, Caroline, gets married to Ernest Hampton in 1907, by which time, her father is describing himself as a Farmer. It would seem that at the age of 61 he has separated from his wife, Elizabeth and has moved back to his roots in Hampshire and bought a house called Beech Croft in the village of Medstead Lasham, near Alton. The Census for 1911 clearly shows him living with two of his daughters, Ellen(24) and Violet (17) and describing his occupation as a farmer.
At the same time his wife, Elizabeth at 65 Ferndale Road, Stockwell is a Boarding House Keeper with her daughter, Florence Maud and grandson, Ernest. On the form she records that she had been married 44 years and had 9 children living in that year. Their son, Richard, who was my grandfather, was working nearby to her as a Potman at the Landor Hotel in Stockwell.
Towards the end of Richards life, we see him returning back to London and when his daughter,Caroline marries Peter Hill in 1917 he was living at 120 Ferndale Road, Brixton, not far from where his wife ran her boarding House. He was to live for a further 10 years and it would seem that when he died in 1927,aged 82, hw was at no. 10 Benham Street, Wandsworth. His son, Richard was by then living nearby at 59 Huntsmoor Road. Elizabeth Mattingly was to pass on just two years later aged 82.
Looking back on his life, certain things stand out to me. It’s is astonishing that he bought up nine children, compared with families today. I also admire him for deciding at an early age to take an independent trail in life and become a Greengrocer, an occupation that my own father was to follow later in his life. He lived to a good age for those times and with his constant moves could never settle down long in one place.

Ellen Louisa is born to Richard and Elzabeth Mattingly on the 29th September 1885. They are living at no. 5 Ridley Road Dalston near Hackney in London which he runs as a Greengrocers in that year.