James Colby Waller was born on 14 November 1864. He was baptised at the Church of the Holy Trinity Birkenhead on 1 January 1865, parents “James” (actually George James) and Amelia, father’s occupation Seaman, address 124 Wood Street. The birth register incorrectly says CALBY not Colby.

In the 1881 Census James Colby Waller is 16 and an Office Lad.

On 11 November 1889, aged 25 and signing his name as James Colvy Waller, he married Mary Brereton, 23, born about 1866. His occupation is quite faded, it could be Seaman. His residence was 11 Arrow Place (Cathcart Street), hers was 2 Arrow Place. His father was George James Waller, Mariner, hers was Robert Brereton, Labourer.

In the 1891 Census on 5 April James, 26, a Dock Labourer and Mary, 24 (and quite pregnant) are at 7 Arrow Place, George James his father and family are at 11 and a Charles Brereton (Mary’s uncle?), aged 46 and a Railway Shunter, is at number 2 with wife Mary, also 46, and daughter Annie, 12.

In Q2 1891 the birth of Edward Ansell Waller was registered. He was baptised at Birkenhead St. Peter on 9 June, parents James and Mary Waller.

In Q1 1893 Annie Waller’s birth was registered in Birkenhead, no baptism record found.

On 25 August 1897 Amelia Waller was born in Birkenhead. She was baptised at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Price Street on 13 October, parents James and Mary Waller of 173 Wood Street. The same year but on 25 May, his older brother John James and his wife Mary Jane had another Amelia.

In Q3 1897 the death of a Mary Waller, aged 30, was registered in Birkenhead. This could well have been as a result of giving birth to Amelia.

In Q1 1900 a marriage between James Colby Waller and Sarah Mathews was registered in Birkenhead.

A Sarah Maria Waller was born in Q2 1900 in West Ham, and her death age 0 in West Ham was recorded in Q3 1900. Was this James and Sarah’s daughter?

On 2 February 1901 James Waller aged 37 (he was actually 36 at this time) and born in Birkenhead was admitted to the Dreadnought Seamen’s Hospital suffering from periaortitis, and discharged on 11 February to convalesce. The hospital (by this time catering to the Merchant Navy) was on the same site as the Royal Hospital at Greenwich where his father George James had gone following his injury in the Navy in 1847. At that time James was on the crew of the Napo, owned by Robert Singlehurst & Co. of Liverpool and which sailed between Liverpool and South America. The only reference to his being a Seaman before this was on his marriage certificate to Mary. At this time two of his children, Edward Ansell and Annie, are staying with his brother Edward Ansell in West Ham.

I cannot find him anywhere in the 1901 Census taken 31 March. If it was he who was on the Napo, then it could be he was on a voyage at the time, hence why two of his children were with his brother in West Ham and one with Mary Brereton, his stepmother-in-law. Where was his wife Sarah at this time? There is a Sarah Waller aged 28 who is a servant to a Francis Todd in Birkenhead, this could be her.

In the 1901 Census his brother Edward Ansell (1856-1938), a Dock Labourer living in West Ham, had his niece Annie and nephew Edward Ansell staying with him (Christopher George also had a son Edward Ansell, but he was born in 1906. John James had one but born in 1895). Edward A. was 9 and Annie 8.

Also in the 1901 Census, a Mary Brereton aged 61, widow of Robert Brereton senior, was living in Birkenhead with her stepson (the late Mary’s brother) Robert Hy (Henry) Brereton aged 31 (who Christopher G.’s widow Margaret would later marry) and her niece Amelia Waller aged 4. This is quite confusing! If this was Mary Brereton’s stepmother, surely Amelia was her step-grand-daughter?

An entry in the Birkenhead News dated 8 October 1902 reads:

POLICE COURTS
Saturday – Before Alderman Gatley and Mr. E. Williams
Maintenance Arrears

Jas Colby Waller, of Canning Town, London, was charged by warrant for having neglected to pay £8 maintenance arrears due to his wife, Sarah. The Magistrates’ Clerk said that altogether, prisoner owed £56 and had not paid 56 farthings. In defence, Waller said he had been out of work, and could not pay. The magistrates committed him to prison for one month.

In the 1911 Census James Waller, a Dock Labourer aged 47 (he was 46) and born in Birkenhead is a boarder at 17 Coolfin Road, Victoria Docks East, Canning Town. Present are Sarah Fuller aged 49, the head of the household and a widow, born in Poplar Middlesex, and Annie Waller aged 19 and born in Birkenhead. James is stated to be married. Annie Waller has “daughter” against her name. She was a Motor Tyre Maker at an India Rubber Works. But where was James Colby Waller’s wife Sarah, and where was Amelia? An Edward Waller aged 21 and a Locomotive Fireman is a boarder In the home of a Walter Henson in West Ham.

Again in the 1911 Census, there is an Amelia Waller aged 14 and born in “Berbiehead” Cheshire (!). She is a Domestic Servant, living at a house in Stoke Newington in London owned by an Isabella Louis (Louise?) Middle, who is a Boarding House Keeper.

In Q4 1915 the death of a Sarah Waller aged 48 was registered in Birkenhead.

During the war, James served in the Mercantile Marine, but no details of his service are available.

On 28 January 1917 James’ son Edward Ansell died while serving in the Mercantile Marine Reserve. He died of pneumonia onboard HMS Orvetio in the Norwegian Sea. James’ address was 4, Argyle Rd., Custom House, London. Native of Birkenhead.

In Q1 1917 James C. Waller married Sarah E. Fuller in West Ham.

After the war on 25 August 1919, a James Waller received the Mercantile Marine and British Medal Ribbons, these being sent to M.M.O. Victoria Docks (near where he was living with Sarah Fuller). The actual medals were sent on 22 March 1921 to M.M.O. Cornwall House (Board of Trade, Marine Department, (War Medals Branch), Cornwall House, Stamford St., London). M.M.O. stands for Mercantile Marine Office.

In Q3 1932 the death of Sarah E. Waller in West Ham was registered.

In Q2 1933 James C. Waller married a Ms. Kemp in West Ham, obviously Elvina Kemp.

In the 1939 register James C. Waller aged 75 is living at 103 Mortlake Road, West Ham with his wife Elvina aged 78. He is a Stevedore, Incapacitated, Retired.

The death of a James Colby Waller is registered in Q1 1940, but in Wallasey, Cheshire. The age is recorded as 75, which would be about right.

The death of an “Elvena” Waller is also registered in Q1 1940, in West Ham, age stated to be 75, she was 78 or 79. How and why they died in the same quarter of 1940, and why they were 240 miles apart, will remain a mystery.