William Henry Charles Groome (GT1) – The Early Years
1854 – 1881
William Henry Charles Groome was born on 17 November 1854 at the family home 10 Ann’s Place, St Margaret, Westminster, Middlesex, England.
He was baptised on 10 December 1854 at St Stephen’s Church, Westminster, Middlesex, England.
We next find him in the 1861 Census held on 7 April 1861 aged 6 years living with his family at 5 Harveys Buildings, St Martin in the Fields, Westminster. (Buildings are untraceable.)
William next appears in the 1871 Census held on 2 April 1871 aged 16 years living with his father at 40 Maiden Lane, St Paul Covent Garden, Westminster, London. At the time it was the Bedford Head Hotel.
The current building was re-built in 1873 and is still a hotel. His mother had passed away and his sister Ann Elizabeth was living away in service.
Family Life – W H C Groome
Even as a young boy he loved drawing and as he grew up apart from study he would spend his time drawing, illustrating or painting, buying materials with whatever meagre funds he could earn. It became his passion and ambition to be a professional artist. In the meantime he had to earn a living and we find him in the 1871 census working as a Barristers Clerk. So what did this entail?
The Role of a Junior Barristers’ Clerk
Generally a junior barristers’ clerk acts as an assistant to other senior and more experienced staff, increasingly assuming more responsibility over a period of time including the allocation of briefs and negotiation of fees. One of the most significant duties that a junior barristers’ clerk will need to undertake is to arrange the diary and general work programme of the Barrister to the best of their ability.
The junior barrister clerk is usually the first point of contact between a solicitor seeking the services of a barrister, and the barrister. Junior barristers’ clerks will need to ensure that they are consistently professional in their approach and that they possess positive attitudes and behaviours.
The barristers’ clerk therefore needs to ensure that whichever barrister they put forward has the ability, competence and time to perform the particular piece of work. Consequently the barristers’ clerk needs to be up to date with the diary for that particular barrister, and aware of any other commitments the barrister may have, such as other cases in progress as well as scheduled leave.
For a newly appointed barristers’ clerk, relationships with barristers in chambers, instructing solicitors, the court service and many other outside agencies is paramount. Depending on the size of chambers and the available staff resources the typical responsibilities of a junior barristers’ clerk will include some or all of the following:
- Dealing with incoming and outgoing post
- Collecting and delivering documents
- Maintaining and updating court lists
- Maintaining and filing briefs/instructions
- Communicating with clients, court staff, solicitors, other chambers and various outside agencies
- Attending court listing meetings and representing their chambers’ interests
- Arranging court listings via the telephone
- Fee billing
- Diary management
- Maintaining the stock of stationery
- Updating and maintaining chambers library
In those days he most likely would not have received wages but would get a percentage of the barrister’s fees.
His occupation showed him another side to life in London and his growing social awareness led him to join the Liberal Party.
William and Eliza Marry
In 1878 William H C Groome met and fell in love with Eliza Horner a single mother with one child, and they were married on 24 August 1878 at St Andrew Holborn Church, Middlesex, England.
William had agreed that Ann Ellen Horner, Eliza’s child from a previous relationship would be brought up as a family member. Ann Ellen Horner is of importance in that William’s step daughter was later to emigrate to New Zealand and marry William Groome’s first cousin Charles Timpson son of Henry and Ann Timpson.
William next appears in public records in the 1881 Census held 3 April 1881. William is living with his family at 9 Hereford Street, Paddington, London. He is still a struggling Barristers Clerk but spends all his spare time doing illustrations to try and make a name for himself as an Artist.
The Groome’s lived in the middle apartment and no doubt there would have some type of shop below back then.
The Children of William Henry Charles and Eliza Groome née Horner
Edith Frances Groome (GH1)
Their first child was born 22 September 1879 at Luddington, Northamptonshire while William, Eliza and Ann Ellen Horner were visiting William’s Uncle Henry and Aunt Ann Timpson.
Edith Frances Groome married Gerald Richard Dean on 17 December 1904 at St Edmund the King and Martyr Church, London, England. Gerald was a Bank Clerk.
They had one child Frances Mary Dean born 16 March 1905 at Heston, Middlesex, England.
At the start of World War 1 Edith Frances Deannée Groome volunteered as a VAD (Volunteer Aid Detachment) Nurse and served as such throughout the war.
In the 1939 War register Gerald Richard Dean is a Retired Bank Clerk. Frances Mary Dean is single and living at home with her parents as a Self Employed Teacher of “Mental Defectives”.
Arthur Francis Groome (GH2)
Their second child was born 11 June 1882 at Bayswater, London, England.
In the 1901 Census he is a Railway Clerk.
Arthur Francis Groome married Kate Elizabeth Dance in late 1906 in the Brentford Registration District of London, England.
Learn more about the life of W H C Groome in Chapter Seven.