Charles Spurgeon talks about why his family moved from Norfolk to London in 1885
Conversation with Charles, Roy & Joan Spurgeon, Sacremento, California, March 1968.Charles: They were in business in Norfolk. He had the biggest, a dry goods store, that is, you know what I mean by a dry goods store?
Roy: A provisions store?
Charles: No, not provisions, no.
Joan: A corn chandlers, that sort of thing, do you mean?
Charles: Along that line. Clothing and all that kind of stuff. And my father (Robert), your grandfather too, he got into, gave too much credit, and he went bankrupt, in that town. Then he, I investigated all this through world war one when I was down there one time. And he had an awful time actually putting through bankruptcy, due to bad credit and so on. Unfortunately he went to drinking, lost everything they had, and they came to London, at the behest of my Aunt Charlotte, that's my mother's sister. And she got him a job with Thomas Pattersons. He was with them for a few years and then they left there, and he.
Roy: Where were they living then, Uncle?
Charles: In London.
Roy: In central London, or, you don't know?
Charles: Clerkenwell or somewhere there. Because you see they had nothing, didn't have anything at all, they lost everything. Aunt Charlotte took them under her wing and started them on the road back again. And then they moved to Brentford.
Roy: That's where you were born.
Charles: No. I think I was born in London. I was the last one to be born in Clerkenwell, somewhere around there. And then, as I say, from then on, they got back on their feet again and also the boys, and so on.
Roy: What did he do in Brentford?
Charles: He was with the Beldam Rubber Company. All of those older boys were really, because the manager was a friend of the families, and that's how they all became to go to work with Beldam. Beldam was a great cricket, professional cricket player, and my older brothers, Cecil & Sid, they used to, he used to have, at his house there, he used to have these nets and so on for practicing cricket. And they used to bowl for him. They were great friends, they had lots of fun.