Hillens.com

Gramps (Alan) was very fond of his father, often remarking that he was a true gentleman. One sage piece of advice passed on by James to his son was 'always make love to your wife'. Gramps took these words to heart - his own marriage lasted 66 years.

James Thomas HILLEN was born in about 1850, in London (not in Friston, Suffolk as was sometimes claimed). He was illegitimate, and we have so far been unable to find a record of his father's name. His mother, Emma Smythe, registered the child as James Thomas. As far as we are aware, Emma had no connections in London. Someone, therefore, paid for an unemployed domestic servant from Suffolk to travel to London, and to give birth to a baby there. On her return to Friston, she claimed that the child was a 'visitor' and not her son (1851 census returns). Our next step is to chase down the registration of birth for a James Thomas in London around 1850.

Family lore, handed down over several generations, has it that his father was a 'Dr Bell', a surgeon in whose household his mother was a servant. We have recently discovered that Frederic Bell was working as a GP in Aldeburgh, just four miles from James' birthplace, Friston, from 1839 to 1860. James' mother Emma, whose profession was listed on census information as a Domestic Servant, could easily have worked for an employer in Aldeburgh, just an hour's walk from her home. We recently visited the Suffolk Public Records Office at Ipswich to see if we could establish a link between Dr Frederic Bell and Emma Smith. Sadly, we were unable to do so, but we did unearth Dr Bell's will. Our remaining opions are the records of the board of Guardians at Plomesgate Union Workhouse (where Dr Bell worked as one of the 'on call' physicians), James's registration of birth, or a DNA test .... should any Bells from this line be willing (slight problemette: we have to find them first). In his will, Dr Bell left a sum of money to an old servant, Elizabeth Pettit. We did find various gravestones bearing this surname in the graveyard around the church at Friston where James Thomas Hillen was christened - is that a connection, or a coincidence?

James Hillen's grandaughter, Doreen, also spoke of him as 'a cultured man'. He had evidently taken his stepfather's surname after his mother married John Hillen (on 27 Feb 1854 in St Clements Church, Ipswich).

Census records show that he was living at Snape, Suffolk in 1861. In 1871 he was listed as a Cordwainer, living on Farnham Road in Snape. In 1877, his marriage certificate gives his profession as Traveller, resident at St James, Holloway.

James married Lucy Hodson (born at Leeds) on 10th December 1877 at St James Church, Parish of Islington in the County of Middlesex. The record states: James Thomas Hillen and Lucy Hodson, both of 'full age'. He a batchelor and she a spinster. Both were of St James's, Holloway. James's father was 'John Hillen, occupation Bootmaker'. Lucy's father was 'George Hodson, occupation Railway conductor'. The marriage was witnessed by Frederick John Felgate and Sarah Ann Hodson. The certificate was signed by Charles H Griffith (see below).

In May 2009, Nigel and Simon visited Snape and located the graves of Frederick Felgate and Sarah A. Felgate in the graveyard of the St John the Baptist church there:

Simon clearing the base of Frederick Felgate's grave marker, to confirm the name.

Close by the grave of Frederick Felgate is the grave of Sarah A. Felgate (for my money, the former Sarah Anne Hodson). It would appear that Frederick married into the same family as James Thomas Hillen.

After running a photographic studio in Gloucester for a number of years in the late 1880s, by 1891 James and Lucy had moved to South Wales, and James adopted another name: Alexander James Robinson. Our best guess at this stage is that his business in Gloucester had failed and he had been declared bankrupt. However, I need to get to the Gloucester public records office to confirm this theory.

The photograph below is an example of his work during this period.

David Trebilcock uncovered some details of this period when researching Lucy's background:

She lived in 61 William Street North, Islington in 1861.² She lived in Roman Road, Lower Holloway, Finsbury in 1871.³ She was listed as a photographic researcher in a Caravan between Davies and Lewis Street, Aberdare, Glamorgan in 1891.⁴ She is with, and shown as the wife of, an Alexander Robinson.  However, no record found of such a marriage, nor any other birth or other record of this person. The age and place of birth given for him would fit those of her original husband - could he also be using an alias?
Her children are at this date living with her mother and sister at 4 Windsor Place, Oystermouth (Mumbles).  Note that her son Alan, born at Mumbles about 1893, appears to have been registered as Robinson - although he as well as the other children is Hillen again in the 1901 census. In 1894 she was a Photographer in Dunns Studio, Mumbles.⁵ Occupation in 1894 is deduced from record that in that year an Emily Hodson and Lucy Robinson, of Dunns Studio, Mumbles, copyrighted a photograph relating to a house at Mumbles.  Dunns Studio was presumably in Dunns Road, which is just round the corner from Windsor Place, where her mother and children were living.  She died Oct-Dec 1940 in Stratton district (rec. age 82).⁶ After being widowed, she had been living with an elderly lady called Catherine Hillen (presumably her husband's half-sister) in Woodbridge, where Sheelagh visited them in 1939.

In the 1901 census, Lucy gives her birthplace as Leeds, Yorkshire. Simon obtained the following information on Lucy's family from Al Hodson, of South Casco, Maine, USA: ... I found Emily Hannah Hodson, bap. 25 Nov. 1849, at Ely, Cambridge.  Nigel comments that: The 1901 census records her as being single, and the head of the household, aged 51, at 10 Prospect Place, Woodbridge:

She was the daughter of George and Mary Ann Hodson. Regarding George Hodson and his wife Mary Ann, I found a record for a George Hodgson and Mary Ann Thompson, married 5 Jul 1849 in Hinderwell, Yorkshire.  Mary Ann Thompson was baptized on 29 Mar. 1827 in Ely. Nigel comments that: this coincides with the 1901 census which shows Mary Ann Hodson, born in Ely in 1827, to be living in Woodbridge, with her daughter Emily (head of household) and James and Lucy's children, Mary, Reginald, Stanley and Alan.  I believe the reason the family moved so often was because George worked for the railroad, so you may not find a connection in Woodbridge. The name Hodson is usually derived from Hodgson which is more commonly found in the north of England.

James was working as a 'traveller' (traveling salesman) when he married. The 1901 census records that he was a professional photographer, who had just moved to Nottingham from Woodbridge in Suffolk. At some later stage he was a pub landlord. The photograph below was taken in his studio at Woodbridge around the turn of the century, the address is the same as his home address (See the footer: J.T.Hillen - Melton Road, Woodbridge):

His three sons all volunteered for service in the First World War and, amazingly, they all survived the war.

James died of natural causes at Wandsworth in 1934. He was buried in Croydon, but his grave was destroyed by a German bomb during the Second World War. Lucy died at Bude, Cornwall.

The photograph below shows James and Lucy in later life.

Here we see a younger Lucy, with her grandaughter Doreen on her knee. This photograph was kindly provided by Doreen's daughter Sheelagh and her husband, David Trebilcock.