The Three Daws, Gravesend

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Pat Tritton tells us about her Great-great Grandparents:

Frederick Ball married Mary Southerden, only daughter of Thomas Wittwer Southerden and his 2^nd wife Jane (née Longley) at Holy Trinity Church, Milton-next-Gravesend, Kent, on 1 June 1854 by licence. The witnesses were Richard Russell and Hannah Ball. 

Frederick was born on 6 March 1819, probably at No.10 Exeter Street, near St Clement Dane’s Church in The Strand, London. His father was John Ball, a tailor, and his mother was Hannah (née Taplin). Mary was baptised at St Mary in the Marsh, Kent on 1 November 1829. 

Quite why they married at Gravesend is a mystery. At the time, Frederick was a Revenue Officer, but after the birth of their first daughter in Stepney, the family moved to Gravesend where he became the licensee of The Three Daws pub, Town Pier. 

Frederick and Mary had three daughters and two sons – Margaret Jane, Kate, Clara Elizabeth, Frederick Richard and George. George died on 13 January 1865, aged 6 months and is buried in Gravesend cemetery. Two years later Mary died, leaving Frederick with four young children to bring up, as well as running the pub.  Find their headstone in Round the Graveyard.

He had obviously kept in touch with Mary’s relatives in Kent because on 28 September 1870 he married her cousin, Catherine Wood. Their daughter, Edith Mary was born in Gravesend in 1872. 

Frederick ran The Three Daws until he died, on 17 December 1884. Catherine took over the licence after that and there is a framed list on one of the walls of the pub which names them and all the previous licensees. The pub is reputed to have been connected with smuggling, with a secret passage to St George’s Church, and being so close to the river Thames it is not difficult to imagine what might have gone on there. 

Kate Ball was the only one of Frederick’s daughters to marry and Catherine was one of the witnesses when she married Edward Read in 1887.  

Catherine eventually gave up the licence of The Three Daws and moved to Oakdene, 14 Pelham Road, Gravesend. She died on 12 August 1912 and her obituary notice was published in the local paper on 20 August. As well as leaving the bulk of her estate to her only daughter, her Will also mentions bequests to her niece and nephew, Louisa and William Beale, and she obviously thought fondly of her step-children, because she left them legacies as well. 
 

Ancestors of
Frederick Ball

Ancestors of
Mary Southerden

Margaret Jane Ball
1855-1928

Kate Ball
1858-1911

Clara Elizabeth Ball
1863-1893

Frederick Richard Ball
1862-1926

George Ball
1864-1865

Edith Mary Ball
1872-1939

Photograph supplied courtesy of
Paul Tritton