The Ient Family: Family History

Julia Ient (1865 – 1955)

[Maiden name: Julia Ann Horley-Hemmings]

Julia was my grandmother. For me, she represented all that a grandmother should be, and I have extremely fond memories of her, her home and especially her Sunday roast dinners! I know her from our family visits to her home in Clairvale Road, Heston (near Hounslow), in the early 1950s.

For our Sunday visits, we used to travel up on the Aldershot & District coach service from the bus station in Aldershot to the Travellers Friend pub on the roundabout at Hounslow (the house was near to her, on a 1930s estate). Wonderful! I remember sitting in the long kitchen of the 1930s house watching Granny, who was always dressed in a black Victorian dress with an apron around her waist, cooking the Sunday lunch – heavenly smells of the roast!

The picture to the left is of her in about 1880.

She was the heart of the Ient family.

When she died in 1955, I think the family lost their focus and gradually grew apart. I guess the period of rapid social change in the later 1950s and 1960s also contributed to the changing family cohesion for the Ient's, as well as for many other families.


This is my summary of her history:

1865
Oxford
Julia & Karl Marry and Move to London
London
WWI
1920 - 1940
1940s to 1955
Julia - Summary

1865

Julia Ann Thurley Hemmings was born on 18 June 1865, in Paddington, London, to parents James Thurley Hemmings and Sarah-Anne Ball. This is the surname shown on her birth certificate and later her marriage certificate, but the name Thorley Hemmings was used by other family members.

Looking at the birth certificate, one finds that: Julia Ann Thurley Hemmings was born at 105(?) Westbourne Park Road (in the parish of St May's, Paddington),  London. The mother was Ann Hemmins (actually she was Sarah Ann, formally Ball, as shown on her marriage certificate). Her father, James Hemmins, was a journeyman bricklayer. It seems the registrar spelt the name wrong, as it should be Hemmings, but this is understandable since the signature on the certificate is an X. Julia's mother couldn't write.

Oxford

James, Julia's father, was a journeyman bricklayer, whose life was intrinsically linked with the construction and development of the City of Oxford. In 1871, James and his wife Sarah Ann had returned from London to Oxford and were living at The Crown, Cowley Road, Oxford, with their children James, Julia, William and baby Frank.

Julia was part of a large family with extensive roots in Oxford – The Hemmings family. Julia's parents had eleven children. Julia's siblings were James John (1862), Sarah Ann (1867), William (1868), Frank (1871), Tom (1873), Ada (1875), George (1876), Harry (1878), Frederick (1880) and Edward (1882). Julia obviously went into service at a young age, because the 1881 census shows that, aged 16, she was working as a servant to William and Bessie Brooks of 27 New Inn Hall Street, Oxford. Ten years later she had moved on and was working as a cook for James Young and family at 27 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, Sussex.

Here is Julia with a friend (unknown). This photo was taken by the Parisian Photographic Co. of 45 Gildridge Road, Eastbourne. From the 1891 census records, we know that Julia Hemming was working as a cook for James Young and family at 27 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne, Sussex. So we can assume that this was taken between 1890 and 1892, when Julia was between 25 and 27 years old.


Here is a recent photo of Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne:













By late 1893/early 1894 Julia had returned to Oxford, because it is here that I believe she met Charles (Karl Gottlob) Jent. I do not know whether Karl, in the company of his sister Louise, had gone to Oxford just for a visit, but I think it more likely that, as a mason, Karl had gone there in search of work.

Julia & Karl Marry and Move to London

The couple we married on 8 April 1894, in the Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene, Oxford. Children followed very soon after; indeed Katherine Louise was born just six months after the wedding, followed by Godfrey (1896), Thomas (1897), Philip (1899), Pauline (1901), George (1903) and my dad, Albert (1905).

London

In the same year that their daughter Katherine was born, 1894, we know that Karl and Julia were living at 54 Warriner Gardens, Battersea, London. This was their family home until circa 1905, when they moved to 5 Warsill Street, Battersea, London. See the section on this website about London from the 1890s for locations and maps.

WWI

The First World War must have been a terrible time for Julia and we can only speculate at the anguish she must have suffered as the mother and step-mother of boys fighting on the Western Front. Phillip, Thomas and Charles Frederick all fought on the Western Front in WWI. Added to this, I believe that Julia's husband Karl may have been interned, along with other German civilians, in Alexandra Palace, London. Then, almost as soon as the war was over, more tragedy awaited Julia with the death of Karl on 1 December 1919, from tuberculosis.

1920 - 1940

At the age of 54 years, Julia became a widow. What happened to her after Karl's death is unclear, but Dennis Young, my cousin, who often visited Granny when he was a child in England, remembers in 1927 or 1929 visiting Julia in the country. He thought that this was perhaps somewhere in the southern counties, but I have a feeling it may have been Eastbourne in Sussex. This ties in with the earlier periods of work, when she was in service in Sussex in the 1890s. It may have been the same family! More research will hopefully reveal some facts in this area.

We also know from the family history research into the Hemmings family by Rob Hemmings that Julia visited her family in Oxford in 1938.

1940s to 1955

It is not until the Second World War that Julia's life becomes clear once more. At this time she and Aunty Kath lived at 45 Clairvale Road, Heston, Hounslow, Middlesex – the place where I remember her best. Indeed, my brothers and many of my cousins will share these happy memories. For cousin Roddy, in particular, this was his home away from home for the duration of the war.

Again, this world war provides some anguish for Granny as my father was declared 'Lost in Action' in early 1942. She later found out that he was a PoW in Japan.

The immediate post-war period must have been a very happy period for Granny with the Ient family re-united. My dad was very close to Granny. Here is a picture of them at my home in Gloucester road, Aldershot:

Julia died on 4 March 1955 at the grand age of 90 years and is buried, along with Aunty Kath and Uncle Sid, in Heston Church, Vicarage Farm Road, Hounslow.

As a grandmother, she was an iconic figure, the person who kept the family together. She was without doubt the matriarch of the Ient family.

This picture was taken in the early 1950s.

People (left to right):

Front Row: Katherine (Kitty, Charlie's daughter), Kath* (Katherine), Granny, Julia Ient, Unknown, David (George's son),

Middle Row: Gwen (George's daughter), Unknown, Tom*, Charlie*, Unknown, Unknown, Pat (Tom's daughter)

Back Row: Joyce (Phil's wife), Phil*, Albert*, Unknown (Roddy?), George*

* Children of Granny Ient

Julia - Summary

Marriage certificate shows name as Julia Ann Thurley Hemmings (unhyphenated)
Father:	James Thurley Hemmings Occupation - Journeyman bricklayer Born - 1842 Died - 1929 Family from Oxford
Mother:	Sarah Ann (nee Bull or Ball) Family from Highworth, Wiltshire – now part of Swindon
Born:	18 June 1865 (not registered until 24 July 1865) 105 Westbourne Park Road, Paddington, London
Siblings:	1881 census shows 8 children living at family home 8 Dovers Row, Cowley   Eventually they were 11 in the family
Married:	Charles Jent of 30 Orkney Street, Battersea, Occupation: Mason, 8 April 1894 At: Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene, Oxford. He was living at: 52 George Street, Oxford
Children:	Katherine Louise, born 1894 Godfrey, born 1896 Thomas, born 1897 Philip James, born 1899 Pauline, born 1901 George, born 1903 Albert Victor, born 1905
Addresses (taken from Census Returns):
1871:	The Crown, Cowley Road, Oxford
1881:	27 New Inn Hall Street, Oxford Occupation Servant to William and Bessie Brooks
1891:	27 Jevington Gardens, Eastbourne Occupation Cook
1896:	54 Warriner Gardens, Battersea
1901:	54 Warriner Gardens, Battersea
1929:	50 George Street, Oxford
Died:
1955	Death registered 1st quarter 1955) Aged 90 Clairvale Road, Heston, Hounslow

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