{"id":1705,"date":"2022-12-19T21:20:53","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T21:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/favell.org.uk\/wp\/?page_id=1705"},"modified":"2025-10-07T18:51:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T18:51:43","slug":"peter-sayers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.favell.org\/index.php\/peter-sayers\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Sayers"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Tom Sayers<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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I was ten years old back in 1970 when my dad took me to Highgate to search out the grave of a famous ancestor.\u00a0 He knew roughly where the grave was, as he had been taken there himself as a boy, but now the cemetery was overgrown and almost abandoned.\u00a0 With its Victorian Gothic gates, tilted headstones and angels in dense undergrowth it looked just like a scene you would expect to find in a Hammer Horror movie.\u00a0 Though it was filled with the Victorian great and good, Highgate Old Cemetery on Swain\u2019s Lane now had a bad reputation, with newspaper stories regarding vampire sightings and vampire hunters who visited the cemetery at night to find and exorcise them.\u00a0 Vandals had been at work down in the Egyptian catacombs where coffins rested on open shelves behind iron grilles.\u00a0 Some had been broken into, coffins broken open and partly burned.\u00a0 I was peering through the bars at one such coffin when a disturbed blackbird flew out at me like an angrily disturbed soul and I admit that I almost needed a clean pair of underpants.\u00a0 Finally, dad called out \u201cHere he is!\u201d and I caught sight of a large stone dog lying in guard next to the tomb of his master Tom Sayers.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Tom Sayers, I was told, was a Victorian bare-knuckle fighter and had been champion of the world and was the grandfather of my Nan who was born a Sayers.\u00a0 All the family knew the legend and some of Nan\u2019s cousins were said to have had items that belonged to him, including one of his very broad-shouldered boxing shirts.\u00a0 Many years later I read my Great Uncle\u2019s memoirs.\u00a0 They were mostly about his own wartime experiences as a Japanese POW, but in the introduction, he repeated the Tom Sayers legend.\u00a0 He recalled that on visiting his grandfather during the latter part of his life, he was fascinated that the walls were covered in pictures of Tom Sayers boxing and even of him appearing with a circus.\u00a0 The legend was strong and I wanted to learn more.<\/p>

After many years searching I think I have finally got there. Or enough at least to understand what the link between my family and the bare fist fighter Tom Sayers actually is.\u00a0 Along the way I have had to take side tracks when the trail has gone cold, but these have sometimes provided a snippet of understanding that has put me back onto the right path.\u00a0 So, apologies if the story is a little long-winded and strays off here and there, but it is difficult to know what to leave out.\u00a0 The link appears to be a man who went under two different surnames during his lifetime, and used two different forenames in combination.\u00a0 His three marriages, eight children and several court appearances have added to the mix.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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My first introduction to the \u2018full story\u2019 of Tom Sayers was through the book The Great Prize Fight written by Alan Lloyd and published in 1977.\u00a0 This the story of Tom\u2019s career culminating in his most famous fight against the American John Heenan at Farnborough, lasting 42 rounds.\u00a0 There is much available to read regarding this fight and the many that preceded it, so I will not repeat it all here, but a quick look at Wikipedia will give you a good outline.\u00a0 Suffice to say that during a \u2018career\u2019 of prize fighting he fought 16 matches with just one defeat.\u00a0 The book also introduces Tom\u2019s family life, which was the main interest for me in determining exactly how we were supposed to be related.<\/p>

Tom worked as a brick-layer and alternated between his home town of Brighton and London, often making the journey on foot.\u00a0 He is reputed to have worked on the building of Kings Cross station and also the enormous London Road Viaduct that takes the railway into Brighton.\u00a0 It was the hard working and nomadic lifestyle that had led him into fights and ultimately to the Prize Ring.\u00a0\u00a0 Tom had two children with a woman by the name of Sarah Henderson, who he later married.\u00a0 The first born, Sarah, was named after her mother and two years later Tom junior was born.\u00a0 Being only 15 when they first met, Sarah needed her father\u2019s permission to marry, and that was not forthcoming.\u00a0 They had to wait until Sarah reached the age of majority to marry, so, the children were registered as Henderson.\u00a0<\/p>

Interestingly Lloyd states that Sarah\u2019s surname was Powell and that she was a divorcee, unable to marry Tom until the death of her husband.\u00a0 This seems to be incorrect as their 1853 marriage certificate gives her name as Sarah Henderson, as quoted in later books on the subject.\u00a0 While Lloyd appears to have made a mistake with the name Powell, intriguingly it does have a later significance, and it is a mystery as to how he latched onto it.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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As Tom\u2019s boxing career progressed, further children were born, but these were the result of Sarah\u2019s liaisons with another man, James Aldridge.\u00a0 A further three children borne by Sarah, Alfred, James, and Charles were all given the second name of Aldridge and were clearly not regarded as Tom\u2019s by their mother.<\/p>

After the final fight with Heenan a public subscription was raised for Tom\u2019s benefit so that he no longer needed to fight and could retire from the ring.\u00a0 He was so famous and popular among the followers of Prize Fighting that \u00a33,000 was raised, including donations from members of the Stock Exchange and the Houses of Parliament.\u00a0 Formal recognition from the great and good for sport that was technically illegal at the time.\u00a0 Although the money was invested through the guidance of good friends, Tom was uneducated and true friends would have to be distinguished from the hangers-on and those who would take advantage.\u00a0 Tom was allowed to live on the interest from the primary sum, which had been invested in government bonds on his behalf.\u00a0 Luckily, this measure prevented a financial disaster when Tom had an unsuccessful foray into the entertainment business, taking over Howe\u2019s and Cushing\u2019s Circus and the travelling with his own show.\u00a0 Putting on demonstration sparring matches, appearing with performing animals and, with his health failing, cutting a sad figure as a clown.\u00a0 He was the Victorian equivalent of the modern-day Celebrity, earning a living via popular entertainment channels once his own career was over.\u00a0 Putting on demonstration bouts or trading on his fame to attract punters to his travelling circus and, appearing as an act at Music Halls and Theatres or local fairs.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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When Tom died in 1865, aged only 39, Sarah went to court to contest his will.\u00a0 It had aimed to leave a legacy to his children the young Thomas and Sarah, but it was not to be. \u00a0She successfully had them excluded to the benefit of the three Aldridge Sayers children, on the basis that the young Tom and Sarah were born out of wedlock and were illegitimate.\u00a0 The Aldridge Sayers boys were born after she had married Tom and the judge agreed that their separation had not been so complete that the possibility of Tom being their father could be eliminated.\u00a0 Young Tom and Sarah were left penniless and reliant on the generosity of their father\u2019s true friends.\u00a0 As they grew into adulthood, young Sarah married and went to live in Newcastle.\u00a0 Young Tom married and emigrated to Australia, though he too had made the most of his father\u2019s fame, billed as the son of Tom Sayers when appearing in the music halls as a comic singer, or recreating his father\u2019s boxing poses.\u00a0 Tom junior\u2019s only children both died within days of each other.\u00a0 And here lies the problem.\u00a0 With no direct descendants on the male line, no one with the surname \u2018Sayers\u2019 can possibly be a direct descendant from Tom.<\/p>

So where did the story that he was one of our ancestors come from?\u00a0 There seemed to be just too many elements coming from different directions for it all to be just made up.\u00a0 My nan\u2019s recollections of what she was told, plus my great uncle writing about his grandfather (supposedly Tom\u2019s son) and pictures of the circus.\u00a0 Details that I thought would be too specific for someone with just a casual knowledge of Tom\u2019s career to have known about.\u00a0 It was time to go back to square one and follow the \u2018evidence\u2019 if there were any.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I started with my great grandmother\u2019s marriage certificate.\u00a0 Married in 1903 to Albert Henry Oxley, she gave her maiden name as Ada Phoebe Powell Sayers.\u00a0 There\u2019s that name Powell again!\u00a0 In his book, Lloyd says Tom married Sarah Powell.\u00a0 Well, we now know he was incorrect, but that seems too much of a coincidence.\u00a0 There surely must be something in it?\u00a0 The certificate also gives her father\u2019s name as Peter Sayers. \u00a0Well, if he was the son of Tom, then he should also be Tom, so no luck there.\u00a0 Next, I would need to find Ada\u2019s birth certificate.\u00a0 This would not only confirm her father\u2019s name, but also give her mother\u2019s name, which in turn would allow me to find her parent\u2019s marriage certificate that would then quote both of their father\u2019s names etc.\u00a0 The problem was that I could not find any records for the birth of Ada Phoebe Powell Sayers around 1878, the date suggested by her age at marriage.<\/p>

It was around this time that a new book on Tom\u2019s life was published.\u00a0 Tom Sayers \u2013 The Last Great Bare-Knuckle Champion, by Alan Wright.\u00a0 This filled in some more background for me, but as yet, there was no lead regarding any links to my family.\u00a0 Tom\u2019s wife Sarah was correctly identified this time as Henderson and the book gave a more detailed account but sadly, although I managed to borrow a copy at the time, I do not currently have one to refer to.<\/p>

In the meantime, along came the internet, and as each year passes more and more documents are available and searchable on-line.\u00a0 Instead of having to find the right record office and records to search, a lot can now be done while sitting comfortably at home.\u00a0 No travelling, no having to read through everything in the hope of finding something appertaining to the subject you are searching for, and no wasted efforts when nothing turns up.\u00a0 With nearly everything searchable by name or key word, it is so much easier.\u00a0 While errors can be found in some of the claims made in the early books, it is easy to understand how they might have occurred when things were more difficult.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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I started searching other avenues to try to get around this \u2018blockage\u2019 of not being able to find my great grandmothers birth certificate.\u00a0 Out of interest I searched for Tom Sayers in the 1861 census.\u00a0 He was easy enough to find, living in St Pancras and the census enumerator had been helpful enough to mark him as \u201cPUGILIST Champion of England\u201d in extra bold lettering.\u00a0 Living with him at 10 Bellevue Cottages was a Charlotte Sayers, 24 years old and listed as his wife and housekeeper.\u00a0 Now, Charlotte was not his wife so far as marriage records go, and being separated from Sarah, it seems he had \u2018moved in\u2019 with someone else and they were presenting as man and wife.\u00a0 In the same house was listed a son, 12 years old Peter Sayers!\u00a0 Was this Peter Sayers my Great, Great Grandfather?\u00a0 Tom was 35 years old, Charlotte was 24 and young Peter was 12.\u00a0 Tom had stated he was were born in Brighton, Sussex, while both Charlotte and Peter said they were born in Uckfield, Sussex.\u00a0 It is very unlikely that Peter was the son of charlotte unless she was 12 years old when he was born.\u00a0 There is no record of Peter ever having been Tom\u2019s son, so who was he?<\/p>

The next step seemed to be to look back ten years to the previous census and see if Charlotte or Peter could be found.\u00a0 Eventually, the best candidates were living in Great College Street, St Pancras.\u00a0 Living in the household of John Sayers, a bricklayer originally from Brighton, was his wife Charlotte and a 3 year old cousin Peter Powell.\u00a0 There is that Powell name again!\u00a0 Charlotte is listed as being 26 years old which is a slight problem, as she effectively became two years younger by 1861!\u00a0 However, as you will see, I wouldn\u2019t take anything that this family said as gospel!\u00a0 My hunch is that Charlotte \u2018modified\u2019 her age in 1861.\u00a0 Peter Powell was 3 years old and listed as a cousin.\u00a0 All 3 household members stated they were born in Brighton.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The problem with the census returns is that the enumerator wrote down what they were told, usually by the head of the household.\u00a0 If they answered for all the family, they may not have been certain where everyone was born, just where they thought they were.\u00a0 When looking at births, where a child was born, registered, and then baptised could easily have been different places.\u00a0 They might also have been uncertain regarding ages and they might also not be entirely truthful about relationships if they thought they would be shown in a bad light.\u00a0 The 1861 census is a good example as there is no record of Tom and Charlotte ever being married, even though they said they were.\u00a0 Peter was not their son, as he was presented, and I had my suspicion that Charlotte, although living with Tom as his wife, was actually his sister-in-law.<\/p>

A search for Peter Powell\u2019s birth led to an entry in the registers for the second quarter of 1847 in Cuckfield Sussex and a later baptism record on the 29th<\/sup> May for Buxted, just a few miles away.\u00a0 Peter Powell was the son of George Powell and his wife Hannah.\u00a0 It is likely that George Powell is one of deaths of two of that name that occurred in Uckfield in 1848 and 1850.\u00a0 There is a record for a marriage of Hannah Powell in 1851, so there is the possibility that his mother also died, or re-married and decided not to take Peter into the new family.\u00a0 There is some more detailed work to do on this to establish what is most likely to have occurred, but it looks like young Peter was farmed out to a cousin to look after him, and there he stayed.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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We now fast forward again to February 1863 when several provincial newspapers, including the Liverpool Mercury and the Middlesex Chronicle carried reports of a disturbance at the Sayers house.<\/p>

At the Clerkenwell Police Court, yesterday, Charlotte Sayers aged 30 residing at No. 10 Bellevue Cottages, Camden Street, Camden Town, described as of no occupation, was charged before Mr D\u2019Eyncourt with wilfully breaking 20 panes of glass, value 10s, the property of Thomas Sayers, ex-champion of England and Circus proprietor.\u00a0 When the charge was called on it was found that the sheet was not signed with the name of the complainant, but only with a cross, and upon Sayers being asked if that was his he answered in the affirmative.<\/em><\/p>

Mr De\u2019Eyncourt<\/em>: Do you wish to proceed against your wife for the damage?\u00a0 Tom Sayers: Oh yes. \u2013 The defendant (who was showily attired and had on a hat) said: Let him.\u00a0 I am covered in bruises where he has knocked me about, and my arms are black and blue from his ill-usage and he has repeatedly knocked me about.\u00a0 -Sayers then proceeded and said the defendant had been away from home for two nights and on her return, she ill-used him.\u00a0 On Thursday about 12 o\u2019clock she went to his house and made a great disturbance, and then went outside and threw stones through his windows.\u00a0 She broke 20 windows and the damage amounted to about 10s.\u00a0 He wanted the defendant to keep away and not to annoy or molest him anymore, as he was tired of it. \u00a0She caused a large mob of persons to assemble around his house, and this annoyed him and the neighbours.<\/em><\/p>

The defendant said that she was a married woman, and when her husband left her, Sayers took his place, and had cohabited with her ever since.\u00a0 When he came to her, she had a house full of property.<\/em><\/p>

Mr De\u2019Eyncourt enquired <\/em>if it was true that the defendant was not the complainant\u2019s wife, and if so, if he intended to live with her anymore.\u00a0 If true it was not very creditable to either party.\u00a0 Sayers replied that it was true the defendant was not his wife.\u00a0 He did not intend to live with her any more, as he thought he had quite enough of it.\u00a0 This was not the first case of the kind.<\/em><\/p>

The defendant said that her husband had left her eight years ago and the complainant and his children came to live with her, and she looked after them.\u00a0 She complained that the complainant on Wednesday returned home under the influence of liquor, broke up her furniture, and threw it into the street, and then threw her out.\u00a0 He told her, after she had taken some of the goods to a little room she had engaged, that if she came on the following day that she could have the rest, and when she went quietly for them, he refused to give them to her.\u00a0 He had now got a watch and chain, some brooches, and other articles belonging to her in his possession.<\/em><\/p>

Mr De\u2019Eyncourt <\/em>enquired if that was true, and remarked that if it was so, the complainant had better give them up and avoid disputes of this kind.\u00a0 Sayers said there was nothing of the sort in the house; but if there was anything belonging to her there she was at liberty to have it, and more if she required it, as he did not wish to have anything more to do with her.<\/em><\/p>

Mr De\u2019Eyncourt (to the defendant) \u2013 will you promise me to keep away from the complainant and not to annoy him?\u00a0 It is not because he has cohabited with you that you are to annoy him, although there is not much to say on either side.\u00a0 The defendant said she would if the magistrate compelled him to give up her goods and also granted her a summons for the assault.\u00a0 On one occasion he nearly killed her, and although he was taken to the police station she would not attend and press charges.\u00a0 She now had bruises on her arms and body from his violence.<\/em><\/p>

Mr De\u2019Eyncourt said there must be no \u201cifs\u201d in the question.\u00a0 He then ordered her to be bound over in the sum of \u00a310 to keep the peace towards Sayers and all her Majesty\u2019s subjects for six calendar months. -When Sayers left the court, he was followed by a troop of boys.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Tom Sayers as a clown performing with the mules Pete & Barney<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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It was interesting to note that Charlotte who gave her age as 24 in the 1861 census was now claiming to be 30 just two years later.\u00a0 The report confirms that the couple were not married, but there is no hint during the proceedings to any family relationship prior to cohabitation.\u00a0 This is even though she is using the surname Sayers.\u00a0 She seems to suggest that Tom arrived fairly promptly after her husband left her, and if this is the case they must already have been acquainted.\u00a0 Eight years since her husband left would put the date that they started to live together around 1855\/56.\u00a0 The final note that Sayers was accompanied by a troop of boys does not sound as though it is meant to be complimentary and puts in mind a group of young hangers-on.<\/p>

In the meantime, Tom\u2019s \u2018real\u2019 wife Sarah was living with James Aldridge and their son James junior had been born in 1860 and another son Alfred in 1862.\u00a0 She would go on to bear Charles in 1864 and Robert in 1866.\u00a0 There was possibly also a daughter Elizabeth in 1865, who might not have survived beyond infancy.<\/p>

In March 1863, a month after his last appearance, Tom was again in court, but this time with Sarah.\u00a0 From the Berkshire Chronicle: –<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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TOM SAYERS AND HIS WIFE<\/em><\/p>

At the Marylebone police court, on Monday, Sarah Sayers, the wife of Tom Sayers, the renowned pugilist, was charged with assaulting and annoying her husband under the following circumstances: –<\/em><\/p>

On Sayers stepping into the witness box, Mr Yardley said while looking over the charge-sheet, what is your name?\u00a0 Complainant: Tom Sayers.\u00a0\u00a0 Mr Yardley:\u00a0 Oh, oh, Mr Tom Sayers.\u00a0 What are you?\u00a0 Complainant: Circus Proprietor.\u00a0 I have been separated from my wife (defendant) about eight years.\u00a0 On Saturday night, about half-past twelve, I was coming from the Brittania Theatre, riding my horse and following my mules, and, when in Camden Town, this lady came and knocked my hat off and struck me in the face.\u00a0 She followed me, and got a lot of chaps she was with to follow up also.\u00a0 I had to give her into the custody of a policeman.\u00a0 All I want is peace and quietness.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want her to trouble me, as I keep the two children.<\/em><\/p>

Mr Yardley: <\/em>Why did you separate from her?\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Complainant:<\/em>\u00a0 Because she got tipsy, and was always kicking up a row.<\/em><\/p>

Mr Yardley: Do you allow her anything now?\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Complainant:<\/em> Not now.<\/em><\/p>

Mr Yardley: Why not?\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Complainant:\u00a0 \u00a0Because I found out she had committed herself, and then I stopped the allowance.<\/em><\/p>

Mr Yardley:\u00a0 \u00a0Have you charged her before?\u00a0 <\/em>Complainant:\u00a0 \u00a0She has been at Clerkenwell.<\/em><\/p>

Defendant:\u00a0 No, no, not me.\u00a0 That was your brother\u2019s wife.<\/em><\/p>

Mr Yardley:\u00a0 I suppose her recognisance has expired.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>Sayers: I suppose it has, sir.<\/em><\/p>

Defendant:\u00a0 You can\u2019t say that, for I never have been bound down to keep the peace.<\/em><\/p>

Mr Yardley:\u00a0 What do you say to annoying him now?<\/em><\/p>

Defendant: He comes by the house where I live, and throws off sneers and snacks at me.<\/em><\/p>

Sayers:\u00a0 I don\u2019t know where she lives, and don\u2019t want to know for a thousand years.<\/em><\/p>

Mr Yardley:\u00a0 You must not annoy him in this way.\u00a0 He seems now very indulgent towards you.<\/em><\/p>

Defendants father then became surety in the sum of \u00a310 for her future good behaviour to all her Majesty\u2019s subjects for the next two years, more especially to \u201cTom\u201d<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Sayers' Champion Circus<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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What had caused Sarah\u2019s outburst?\u00a0 Was it that Tom had stopped her allowance once he had learned of the children born to James Aldridge?\u00a0 With them both living in Camden Town, it would have made the fact that she had already given birth to two of Aldridge\u2019s children almost impossible to keep secret.\u00a0 Did he really leave her because of her drinking, or had she experienced the same behaviours as Charlotte?\u00a0 The \u2018secret\u2019 seems to have let slip when Sarah argues that it was her brother\u2019s wife that he had previously taken to court.\u00a0 Tom sates that the incidence took place and half past twelve on a Saturday night and he was returning from the Brittania Theatre.\u00a0 The Era newspaper mentioned Tom in their review of the season\u2019s pantomimes earlier in January 1863 when Tom was appearing at The Brittania Theatre in Hoxton \u201cand the redoubtable Tom Sayers, with his two performing mules, Pete and Barney, make a novel addition to the attractions.\u201d\u00a0 Tom had purchased the performing mules from Howes & Cushing\u2019s Circus and presumably they were the mules he was leading home after their performance.\u00a0\u00a0 There is no explanation as to what Sarah was doing out at that hour, but presumably drinking.<\/p>

Books about Tom\u2019s life suggest that Sarah was either thrown out by Tom when he found out about her affair with Aldridge, or that she simply left Tom when she found she preferred Aldridge.\u00a0 The first Aldridge Sayers child was born in 1862.\u00a0 Two years after Tom\u2019s most famous and last serious fight and around six or seven years after she and Tom separated.\u00a0 Was Aldridge really on the scene that long before they decided to have children?\u00a0 A November 1857 newspaper report contained in the Era may shed some light.\u00a0 In the Law & Police section, listed under Clerkenwell is the following account.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The \u201dChampion of England\u201d \u2013 Thomas Sayers, the well known Pugilist and, at present the Champion of England, attended before Mr Corrie, at the instance of the parish authorities of Saint Pancras, charged with refusing to support his wife, Sarah Sayers.\u00a0 Some facts connected with this case have already appeared, from which it will be recollected that Mr Birchmore, the relieving-officer stated that the defendant had refused to support his wife, and that she had, therefore, become chargeable to the parish, and was now an inmate of the workhouse.\u00a0 The defendant refused to support his wife on the ground that she had committed adultery, but took his children away, and well looked after them.\u00a0 Some witnesses were called by Mr T Wakeling for the defence, who proved that a number of men had been seen in Mrs Sayers\u2019 room at all hours of the night, and that she was a very drunken and dissolute person.\u00a0 Mr Wakeling proposed now to call Sayers\u2019 child, a girl about seven years of age to prove that strange men had been seen in bed with her mother.\u00a0 Mr Corrie said that he would not examine a child so young, and would take it upon himself of refusing her evidence.\u00a0 He would adjourn the case for any time that would suit the defendant.\u00a0 Mr Wakeling asked for an adjournment for a fortnight.\u00a0 Mr Birchmore had no objection to an adjournment, but was prepared to have the case decided at once.\u00a0 He should be able to show that Sayers had visited his wife lately.\u00a0 The case ultimately was adjourned for a fortnight.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Was Sarah really as bad as painted, or were witnesses specially selected to say the right things?\u00a0 The accusations were not about Aldridge by name, if he were yet on the scene, but related to a number of men.\u00a0 When Sarah assaulted him six years later, was it pent up anger that she ended up in the workhouse because he would not financially support her?\u00a0 We will never know.<\/p>

Now against this background of matrimonial unrest, separations, assaults, court cases, adultery etc, where was young Peter Powell \/ Sayers?\u00a0 He makes an appearance in June 1865, unsurprisingly in another court case.\u00a0 On this occasion he was named as George Powell.\u00a0 George was the name of Peter\u2019s father and in later life he used the name of Peter George Powell Sayers on registration certificates.\u00a0 It is quite possible that the reporter missed his first name and wrongly reported it as George, but given the circumstances described I am certain this is Peter.<\/p>

On Friday June 16th<\/sup> the Birmingham Daily Post and other provincial newspapers carried reports:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Tom Sayers & his father<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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At the Clerkenwell Police Court, yesterday, George Powell (17), a piano-forte maker, was charged with stealing a coat and telescope, the property of Tom Sayers, the ex-champion of the pugilistic world.\u00a0 Thomas Sayers said he resided at 51, Camden Street, and had kept the prisoner for the past twelve years, and had paid for apprenticing him.\u00a0 About four or five weeks since the prisoner left him, taking with him a coat belonging to him.\u00a0 On the day previous he went to the place where the prisoner was employed and saw the prisoner wearing his (prosecutor\u2019s) coat.\u00a0 He afterwards gave the prisoner into custody, and on searching his box found a telescope belonging to him, which had been taken from his premises.\u00a0 In cross-examination Sayers said:\u00a0 I cannot write.\u00a0 The prisoner is not a nephew of mine, nor is he any relation.\u00a0 He has not gone by the name Sayers.\u00a0 I took him into my house out of good nature.\u00a0 I know him by being related to his mother.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know his age, whether it is fifty or twenty.\u00a0 I can\u2019t form any idea as to his age, and I can\u2019t say whether he was five or fifteen when I took him.\u00a0 He was living with my brother when I took him.\u00a0 He was living with a woman that I lived with.\u00a0 Since he has left me there has been a summons issued against me for his keep.\u00a0 I used to find him in clothes, but I never gave him the coat in question.\u00a0 I will swear that for the last eighteen months he has not been wearing the coat, although I can\u2019t say when I last saw it.\u00a0 I have not seen the telescope for more than twelve months.\u00a0 I have not preferred this charge out of spite, although I have not a very good feeling towards him.\u00a0 I never saw the summons that was issued against me.\u00a0 The prisoner\u2019s mother does not cohabit with me.\u00a0 I should have given the prisoner into custody before, only I was in the country with a circus.\u00a0 Police Constable Jarmin, 495S, said he took the prisoner into custody and when he told him the charge he said \u201cAll right; I will go with you.\u201d\u00a0 Mr Lewis, solicitor, said he should not trouble the magistrate with any remarks, as he must see that the charge was preferred out of feelings of spite, but should call a witness who would prove that the prisoner had been wearing the coat for the last eighteen months.\u00a0 -A witness was called, who confirmed Mr Lewis\u2019s statement, and added that the prisoner was highly respected at the firm in which he was employed, and was a steady, sober, industrious young man.\u00a0 -The magistrate said he should discharge the prisoner, who would leave the Court without a stain on his character.\u00a0 -Mr Lewis said he should bring an action against Sayers for false imprisonment.\u00a0 \u2013 When Sayers left the court, he was loudly hissed and jeered.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Reading between the lines it would appear the summons for upkeep payments for Peter caused Tom to retaliate with a charge of theft and once again result to court action to try to make a point.\u00a0 The reaction of the courtroom with jeers suggests Tom’s popularity was waning.\u00a0 . \u00a0A new book about Tom\u2019s famous fight with Heenan was published in 2008.\u00a0 Ther Lion and the Eagle by Iain Manson.\u00a0 This has proved to be the most reliable to date and the author also ponders the identity of Peter Sayers and George Sayers, and like me, suspects that they are one and the same person.\u00a0 I corresponded with the author and we exchanged new information, so if it is ever updated and reprinted it might shed some more light on Peter\/George.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Illustrated Sporting News feature on Tom's death showing Tom & his father in Tom's Dog Cart and his funeral at Highgate<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Tom\u2019s health was failing him and five months later, in November of the same year he died of tuberculosis consumption of the lungs.<\/p>

Tom\u2019s funeral was attended by thousands who lined the route and followed the procession from Camden Town to Highgate cemetery.\u00a0 \u201cThe funeral cortege consisted of a hearse drawn by four horses, preceded by a stand of feathers and a brass band, which played the Dead March in Saul<\/em>, and six mourning coaches, followed by two private carriages.\u201d\u00a0 The chief mourners included his children Thomas and Sarah, his father, and other family members and friends.\u00a0 I have not seen any mention in reports of his wife Sarah, or of Charlotte Sayers, nor her husband, his brother John Sayers.\u00a0 I am sure they would have been present somewhere, if only in the crowds.\u00a0 The report in the \u2018Era\u2019 also states \u201cwe are sorry to record that despite the strenuous exertions of a numerous body of police, a large party of roughs obtained admission to the burial ground who behaved in a very disorderly manner.\u201d<\/p>

All the provincial newspapers carried reports and one from the Shields Gazette provides and interesting \u2018outsiders\u2019 view of the crowds.\u00a0 The reporter mistakenly refers to Tom\u2019s dog Lion as a Bloodhound rather than a Mastiff, but is obviously struck by the spectacle: –<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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I have just hurried down from Highgate to bring you a brief account of the Funeral of Tom Sayers\u2026 I took a stroll up Camden Town but my progress was arrested long before I could catch a glimpse of the plumed hearse.\u00a0 The pavements were chocked and the street, with the exception of the portion required for the traffic was crowded\u2026. The High Street of Camden Town, for a distance of three-quarters of a mile, was lined with the S and A divisions of police.\u00a0 The shops, so far as they extended along the route \u2013 namely, through a length of three miles, were closed.\u00a0 Take away the large area of Trafalgar Square from the line of Lord Palmerston\u2019s funeral procession, and I hesitate not to say that the numbers present today to look at the hearse of the ex-prize fighter more than doubled those that came to look on that of the late premier.\u00a0 But the class of spectators!\u00a0 The roughs made but an infinitesimal of the crowd that lined the streets from Cambridge House to Westminster; today the roughs were in an overwhelming majority.\u00a0 All the bricklayers of London appear to have taken an entire holiday.\u00a0 Everywhere I turned I saw tawny yellow jackets, caps and trousers.\u00a0 The blue aprons of the butchers showed frequently.\u00a0 Red coats were very sparse, soldiers as a class seemingly not believing in \u201cwar to the knife.\u201d\u00a0 Women and children turned out numerously \u2013 tradesmen\u2019s wives they for the most part appeared to be.\u00a0 A group of these latter, by their un-whispered talk, gave me and all the bystanders much information concerning the domestic and private affairs of the deceased.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Of the procession itself: –<\/p>

In front came a rabble of the off-scourings of London, such as follow the Lord Mayor\u2019s procession, then a strong body of the A Reserve, after which the band of the S division of police in plain clothes playing the Dead March; then came the plume bearers and the hearse, heavily plumed, yet not so as to appear overladen.\u00a0\u00a0 The hearse was drawn by four horses and its tout ensemble was strikingly elegant.\u00a0 Then came the chief mourner!\u00a0 I have seen many solemn pageants.\u00a0 A simple rural funeral touches my heart far closer than the pompous pageantry that conveys the honoured great to their narrow home; but never before was I so much moved on such occasions as today.\u00a0 The unexpectedness of the spectacle had greatly to do with my emotion.\u00a0 Tom\u2019s chief mourner was his dog, his large muscular bloodhound!\u00a0 Every Londoner knows Tom\u2019s little pony trap in which he used to drive about, his bloodhound by his side.\u00a0 The little pony and trap followed immediately upon the hearse; over the pony\u2019s back was thrown a pall of velvet.\u00a0 On the seat reclined the dog, its collar muffled with crape, hanging its head in sorrow (I am not putting this in to up sentiment, it is fact)\u2026.The pony was unled and the dog the only occupant of the little chaise.\u00a0 Had I seen this sight at a country funeral, I would have been less moved, but to me the spectacle overflowed with pathos.\u00a0 There in the densely crowded street \u2013 windows crowded, house roofs crowded \u2013 passed along in silence and in sorrow, raising neither eye nor head, unconscious, apparently, of the throng , the one brute thing whose whole heart was with the dead.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Peter Sayers had already lost his father at a young age and now the man who had once supported him, though had recently turned against him, was also gone.\u00a0 Peter was by now 18 years old and his apprenticeship had allowed him to earn his own living as a Piano Forte maker.\u00a0 Piano manufacturing was a big industry in Camden Town and employed many specialist trades from the obvious carpentry, to the manufacture of ivory keys and various metal fittings that supplied the piano factories, both large and small.\u00a0 Tottenham Court Road not far away was also a centre of furniture makers, using many of the same skills and trades.<\/p>

At the age of 21, Peter married Emily Anne Jay.\u00a0 He had reverted to using his Powell surname.\u00a0 Their first son named Thomas George Powell was born in 1870.\u00a0 The family have proved to be somewhat elusive in the 1871 census, but there is a 1 year old Thomas Powell listed as a visitor at an address in Great College street Camden Town and Peter Powell aged 23 listed as a visitor to a George and Rebecca Reed in Maresfield, Uckfield, Sussex.\u00a0 So there is the possibility that he was visiting family back in his home village and had left the child with family or friends.<\/p>

By the time of the 1881 census the family were living at 47 Ashdown Street in Kentish town.\u00a0 Peter and Emily were now both 30 and Peter\u2019s occupation was still Piano-Forte maker.\u00a0 He gave his place of birth as Brighton and Emily\u2019s as Lambeth.\u00a0 There were now four children.\u00a0 Thomas was eleven, Peter four, Ada (my Great Grandmother) two years old and John 3 months.\u00a0 They were now all using the surname Sayers.<\/p>

A new search for my Great Grandmother\u2019s birth certificate, now using the alternative Powell surname, finally had a result.\u00a0 Born in 1879 in Kentish Town, she was registered as Ada Phoebe and her father\u2019s name was given as Peter Powell and her mother as Emily Ann, formerly Jay.\u00a0 Their address was given as 36 Malden Road Kentish Town.\u00a0 For some reason between 1879 and 1881 Peter had decided to use the Sayers surname again.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Brimsmead's Piano Factory in Camden Town<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Living nearby in 1881 was Charlotte Sayers who was head of the household at 5 Melton Street, St Pancras.\u00a0 She gave her status as \u2018widow\u2019 which seems not to be true as \u2018separated\u2019 would have been a more accurate statement.\u00a0 Her occupation was Tobacconist and she confirmed that she was born in Buxted, Surrey.\u00a0 Also in the household was William Olrod, 54, a widower and Piano Forte maker who was listed as a boarder.\u00a0 Another boarder was James Otzen a 64-year-old widower working as a Waterman.\u00a0 Also listed as her granddaughter was Emily H Sayers, a school girl aged 9 who was born in London.<\/p>

I strongly suspect that Emily was a daughter of Peter and Emily who was being looked after outside of the family home, often done to ease pressure on space and finances.\u00a0 If Charlotte had looked after Peter when he was younger, granddaughter would have been the easiest description to have used.\u00a0 The gap in age between the children Thomas and younger Peter would have suggested at least one child missing from the family home.<\/p>

I say the description of \u2018widow\u2019 to be inaccurate due to press report on the mysterious death of John Sayers that appeared in the Islington Gazette four years later in 1885.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cAt the coroner\u2019s court Holloway Road on Friday Dr Danford Thomas held an inquest on the body of John Sayers, aged 63 years, who died at 15 Lyon Street under the following circumstances: – Deceased was said to be the brother of the celebrated Pugilist Tom Sayers.\u00a0 Inspector Dodd appeared on behalf of the police.\u00a0 Mrs Charlotte Sayers, wife of the deceased, said the latter was bricklayer.\u00a0 Witness had been separated from him for some time; but a few weeks before death he called upon her and said he had been knocked on the head with a stick by a man named Warwick\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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In 1891, Peter\u2019s wife Emily died at the age of 43.\u00a0 This is the same year as the next census was taken and again the family have been difficult to find.\u00a0 With Emily\u2019s death and Peter having at least four children to look after, they could have been farmed out to family and friends to help.\u00a0 There is an Ada Sayers, age 10, listed amongst the inmates of the Islington Upper Holloway Workhouse School in Hornsey Road.<\/p>

In December of the same year,1891, Peter re-married in St Marks, Regents Park, on Christmas day.\u00a0 Giving his full name as Peter George Sayers, a 43-year-old widower and a Piano-Forte maker, he married 40-year-old widow Katherine Strong.\u00a0 They both gave their address as 26 Clarence Road.\u00a0 Peter gave his father\u2019s name as Tom Sayers and his father\u2019s profession as \u2018Professional Boxer.\u2019 \u00a0One of the witnesses to the marriage was Charlotte Sayers, who seems to have still been around and close to the family.\u00a0 They both appear to have been aware of Peter\u2019s little \u2018untruth.\u2019<\/p>

True to form, Peter once again appears in court in 1899.\u00a0 Reports appeared in several provincial papers and seem to be written to amuse.\u00a0 I cannot see such stories being taken the same way today and there seems to be an echo perhaps of Tom Sayers physical abuses.\u00a0 This example is from The Daily Telegraph.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Second Marriages \u2013 Before Mr Plowden at Marylebone, Mrs Catherine Sayers, of Tufnell Park Road, summoned her husband, Peter George Sayers, of Little King Street, Camden Town, for assaulting her on the 7th<\/sup> inst.\u00a0 Complainant, on the night in question, went to meet her husband as he returned from work, in order to get his wages.\u00a0 She missed him, but subsequently found him at a public house, asleep in front of the bar.<\/em><\/p>

Mr Plowden:\u00a0 Did you wake him up by kissing him or giving him a dig in the ribs? (Laughter).<\/em><\/p>

Witness: (Smiling) said she adopted a third method.\u00a0 She drank some whisky at his suggestion, and then, without the slightest provocation, he threw some liquor into her face, struck her face with the glass, and kicked her.\u00a0 He ran out of the house, and she had not seen him since until now.<\/em><\/p>

Mr Plowden:\u00a0 Now come, did you not say something nasty to him?\u00a0 Witness: No I did not; he was in a temper.<\/em><\/p>

How long have you been married? \u2013 Seven years.\u00a0 And it\u2019s a dead failure, is it? \u2013 Yes it is.\u00a0 Second marriages always are.\u00a0 I think.<\/em><\/p>

Mr Plowden: Oh, it\u2019s a second marriage, is it?\u00a0 Defendant: (interrupting): I\u2019m awfully sorry for what I have done, I wouldn\u2019t hurt a hair of her head.\u00a0 Mr Plowden: You set a high value upon her hair?\u00a0 Husband:\u00a0 Well you know, I wouldn\u2019t part with her for the world.\u00a0 Mr Plowden: (to the wife) That\u2019s not bad for a second husband? (laughter).\u00a0 What do you say now?\u00a0 Wife: (with a smile and shake of the head) That\u2019s not what he says and does at home.<\/em><\/p>

Husband:\u00a0 You see there\u2019s two families and the children don\u2019t agree. I\u2019m thoroughly ashamed of myself.<\/em><\/p>

Mr Plowden: (to the wife) Will you forgive him this time?\u00a0 Wife: Yes, if you will bind him over.\u00a0 That\u2019s if there\u2019s no chance of a separation.\u00a0 I shan\u2019t live with him again.\u00a0 Mr Plowden: There is a chance, but at present it is not very hopeful.\u00a0 The defendant was bound over in \u00a320 for the next six months.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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It seems that Peter\u2019s wife did return to live with him as the 1901 census has them both still living together, at 72 Gaisford Street,\u00a0 St Pancras, but without the children!<\/p>

At number57 Fortess Road, in presumably rented rooms with 3 families living in the house, Peter\u2019s son John is named as head of the household aged 21.\u00a0 His sister Ada (my great grandmother) is 22, but not counted as the head.\u00a0 John\u2019s occupation is Syphon cleaner (Idris\u2019s) and Ada has her occupation marked as \u2018labels bottles\u2019 also at Idris\u2019s.\u00a0 The Idris factory in Camden Town manufactured Soda water, Lemonade, Ginger Beer and other soft drinks.\u00a0 It was a large concern and well regarded as an employer in the area.\u00a0 Living with them was younger sister Corrie (presumably short for Caroline) and the youngest child Florence, just nine years.\u00a0 Neither Corrie or Florence are listed as scholars, but Florence would have been attending school and maybe Corrie kept house and looked after her younger sister while the older children worked.\u00a0 All the children are listed under the surname Sayers.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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In 1901, not all the children are accounted for at that address.\u00a0 Other children must have been elsewhere, either having left home, or staying with relatives or friends.\u00a0 The full line up seems to have been: – Thomas (1870); Emily H (1872); Charlotte (1873); Peter (1878); Ada (1879); John 1881; Caroline (Corrie 1885); Florence (1889):<\/p>

Charlotte had already left home by 1901 after her marriage to George Hutchings in 1896, when she gave her full name as Charlotte Eliza Powell Sayers, her age as 23 and her father as Peter George Sayers, piano forte maker.<\/p>

Caroline\u2019s later marriage in 1902 under the full name Caroline Powell Sayers gives her age as 18 and states her father is Peter Sayers, piano forte maker.\u00a0 She gives her address as 105 Gaisford Street and looks to have added a year or two to her age.<\/p>

Ada was married to Albery Henry Oxley in 1903, giving her name as Ada Phoebe Powell Sayers and her father\u2019s name as Peter Sayers.\u00a0 The marriage was witnessed by Peter Sayers (either her father or brother) and her sister Florence Sayers.<\/p>

By 1909, daughter Emily has already been married and widowed.\u00a0 She married for a second time to a widower, 40-year-old David Gardiner and like her sisters, she gave a variant of her father\u2019s name as Peter Powell Sayers, piano forte maker.\u00a0 One of the witnesses to the marriage was her sister, now Ada Oxley.<\/p>

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Ada Phoebe Powell Sayers<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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So far, variants of Peter\u2019s name on various documents and in press reports have been Peter Powell, Peter Sayers, Peter George Sayers, and Peter Powell Sayers.\u00a0 Some, if not all, of his children have been given the name Powell as a middle, or additional name, though none seems to have chosen to use it in a double-barrelled form Powell-Sayers.<\/p>

The 1911 census gives the next snap-shot and finds Peter at the age of 65 living at 20 Grange Road, St Pancras and still working as a piano forte maker.\u00a0 He is now living with his 3rd<\/sup> wife, 50-year-old Alice Sayers and they have been married for eight years.\u00a0 The local electoral register tells us that he is living on the top floor of number 20, in one room, unfurnished, at a cost of 4s 6d a week.\u00a0 The following year he moved to number 50 Dalby Street, where he rented a front room on the 1st<\/sup> floor.<\/p>

His son Peter junior is living in Dalby Street, Kentish Town and is working as a veneer preparer.\u00a0 Peter is married to Lilly and they have a new born son, also named Peter and a 1-year-old daughter Violet.<\/p>

Son John is living in Charrington Street, Oakley Square, Somers town, St Pancras and is working as a coal porter.\u00a0 He has been married to Lillian for six years and the enumerator has taken the surname to be Powell-Sayers and applied it to Lillian, as Lillian Daisy Powell-Sayers, and the same to the children Emily Doris age 5 and Thomas Cornelius age 2.\u00a0 A further child, John Richard Powell Sayers was born in 1913.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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When war came in 1914, John joined the 7th (Service ) Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment, service number 14232, and his military records show his name without the hyphen. \u00a0\u00a0He must have volunteered, as a married man of his age would not have been required to serve, and even so conscription had yet to commence.\u00a0 He entered France on 1st September 1915. \u00a0He died, aged 35 years, on 27th<\/sup> September 1915 at the Battle of Loos and as he has no known grave.\u00a0 He is commemorated on Panels 91-93 of the Loos Memorial at Loos-en-Goohelle, Departement of Pas-de-Calais, France. On 20th November 1915 his widow received his \u00a32-10s-7d back pay and on 6th September 1919 a war gratuity of \u00a33-10s-0d. \u00a0He was posthumously awarded the 1915 Star, the 1914-1918 War Medal and the Victory Medal.\u00a0 John would have been my grandmother\u2019s uncle and it surprises me that I can never recall any mention of him, or that he died in the Great War.<\/p>

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242 Great College Street, Kentish Town<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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By 1914 Peter had moved to Chalk Farm and was living at 114 Gloucester Road where he remained, renting two rooms on the second floor, unfurnished for 7 shillings a week.\u00a0 It was here that his grandson \u2018Bill\u2019 Oxley remembered visiting him in the 1920s.\u00a0 Bill was struck by the pictures on the walls featuring Tom Sayers in boxing matches and performances in the circus.\u00a0 Presumably these were copies of those carried in the newspapers of the 1860s.\u00a0 Bill was the son of Peter\u2019s daughter Ada and Albert Henry Oxley.\u00a0 (He was also my nan\u2019s brother).\u00a0 Albert was a Dining Car Attendant on the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) running out of King\u2019s Cross to Edinburgh.\u00a0 Bill recalled \u201cAs little kids, Grandfather Sayers used to come around to see us at the buildings that we called home, every Sunday morning.\u00a0 He would have a cut off the Sunday joint, collect his two bob that mum gave him, also cigar butts that dad collected on the royal Trains.\u00a0 He would then make his way home to Chalk Farm where he lived with Grandma.\u00a0 Now Grandfather and Grandmother used to live in one large room in Chalk Farm.\u00a0 On all the walls surrounding the room were photos in frames of the Great Fighter in a circus, riding bareback horses, in the ring, sparring and on the road, running.\u00a0 John and me used to stare open mouthed, elated.\u00a0 We were magnetised to those wonderful photos and how proud we felt when we knew that our mum was related.\u201d<\/p>

My Nan also told me about \u201cold man Sayers\u201d visiting them at \u201cthe buildings\u201d which was actually flat 6 in number 242 Great College Street.\u00a0 The group of late Victorian or Edwardian flats still stand in Kentish Town.\u00a0 Nan recalled being terrified as the family all hid under their kitchen table during the Great War when zeppelins were flying overhead on bombing raids.\u00a0 She also remembered that her dad was not particularly nice to \u201cold man Sayers\u201d, was very rude to him and thought him a scrounger.\u00a0 I think she felt sorry for him.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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I<\/p>

Peter Sayers died in 1932 at the age of 86.\u00a0 Looking back at his life, you cannot say it was uneventful.\u00a0 Orphaned at an early age and taken in by Charlotte, the sister-in-law of the Great Tom Sayers, he then went on to live with him like a stepson.\u00a0 Tom supported him with a roof over his head and paid for his apprenticeship but ended up in court accused of stealing when things turned sour. He married three times, having eight children with his first wife.\u00a0 He was taken to court by his second wife for assault, and suffered the loss of one of his sons in the Great War.\u00a0 Born Peter Powell, he used combinations of Peter and George and then when it suited, used the Sayers surname, eventually settling upon it and claiming Tom as his father.\u00a0 Certainly, he must have sold that story to his second wife as that was stated on their marriage certificate.\u00a0 Maybe it earnt him a few pints down the pub and he traded on it perhaps knowing that Tom\u2019s real son was \u2018out of town\u2019 and no-one was likely to question it, especially given Tom Sayers confused and murky private life.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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There is a later post-script to the story.\u00a0 In the early 1980s my uncle worked at a motor repair business in Highgate.\u00a0 He would spend his break time browsing some of the local antique shops.\u00a0 One day he came across two framed photographs of an old gentleman wearing what was claimed to be Tom Sayers\u2019s coat and posing with a bust of Tom and some other trophies.\u00a0 He of course had to buy them.\u00a0 The photographs were dated 1920.\u00a0 But for the fact they appear to have been taken by a Brighton photographer, I would love to imagine that this was the coat that was the subject of the court case and this is actually Peter Powell-Sayers.\u00a0 It is just a shame there is no telescope in the photographs to clinch it.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tom Sayers I was ten years old back in 1970 when my dad took me to Highgate to search out the grave of a famous ancestor.\u00a0 He knew roughly where the grave was, as he had been taken there himself as a boy, but now the cemetery was overgrown and almost abandoned.\u00a0 With its Victorian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_canvas","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1705","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.favell.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.favell.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.favell.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.favell.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.favell.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1705"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.favell.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2271,"href":"https:\/\/www.favell.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1705\/revisions\/2271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.favell.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}