| Description | Papers for properties in the Bethnal Green area owned by Mrs Mary White (formerly Beven, nee Dixon) and later by her son Dudley Beven. Mary married firstly to Herbert Beven and on his death to John Harman White.
These properties were owned by members of the Beven family from the 1800s. The Bevens were house proprietors and married into the Mellenfield family, house agents, later running J. H. Mellenfield and Son, estate agents based at Cambridge Heath Estates Offices, 517 Hackney Road. J. H. Mellenfield and Son were the estate managers and accountants for Mary's properties.
Properties covered:
54, 64 Cranbrook Street;
10-18 Entick Street;
35, 37, 41 Middleton Street;
10, 21, 23, 25, 27 St Judes Street;
244 Vallance Road.
Properties in Hamilton Street are also covered.
The papers consist of letters from agents, quotes and costs for maintenance and sales and notices of compulsory purchases. They also include statements and accounts from Mary's estate managers at Cambridge Heath Estate Office.
Click the PDF icon to browse descriptions to this collection in PDF format. |
| AdminHistory | Mary Dixon (1862-1946) was born in South Hackney, daughter of Pierson John Dixon (born c. 1828, Bethnal Green), house agent, and Sarah Dixon (nee Drew, formerly Mellenfield) (born c. 1833, Bethnal Green). Her parents married on 7 November 1861 at St James the Less, Bethnal Green. Sarah was the widow of James Henry Mellenfield (who died in 1861).
Mary married firstly on 28 June 1890, in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, to Herbert Beven (born 5 May 1858, Bethnal Green; died 12 December 1897, buried at Cheshunt). Herbert and Mary had two children Vaughan Beven and Dudley Beven (born 1896 Broxbourne, Hertfordshire; died 1962) who married Lillian Croucher (1892-1989) and had Elizabeth (1928-2019) and Herbert (1932-2008).
Herbert Beven was son of Thomas Beven (1814-1886) and Frances (nee Bradbrook) (1831-1903), both of Bethnal Green. Thomas was a house proprietor in 1861, living at Stanley Villa, King Edward's Road, South Hackney. The Beven family married into the Mellenfield family: Mariane Beven (1856-1933), sister of Herbert, married James Henry Mellenfield (1856-1919), house agent, and had Cecil B. Mellenfield, solicitor of 35 Lincoln's Inn Fields (1914) who managed Mary's property effects; Sydney Beven (1859-1932), their brother, married Elizabeth Mellenfield (1859-1920).
In 1891 Pierson John Dixon, estate agent, and Sarah his wife were living at Woodlands, Turners Hill, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. Herbert Beven, stockbroker, and Mary were living at Grove Cottage, Church Gate, Cheshunt. In 1901 Mary was a widow living at Oakwood, Dowsett Avenue, Prittlewell with her son Dudley Beven.
Mary married secondly to John Harman White on 21 December 1908 at St Laurence and All Saints, Eastwood, Essex. John Harman White, born Areley, Essex in 1863, was son of Richard Marsh White and Caroline his wife. In 1911 John and Mary White were living 23 Ceylon Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex; John was working as a tutor. John died on 29 September 1919 at Lawn Hospital, Grantham in Lincolnshire.
By 1921 Mary White and her son Dudley Beven were living with her mother Sarah Dixon at 26 Hamilton Road, Ealing. Mary's unmarried half-sister Ada Elizabeth Mellenfield (born 1857, Bethnal Green, daughter of Sarah Dixon by her first husband James Henry Mellenfield) was also living in the household. James Henry Mellenfield was also father of John Henry Mellenfield, the house agent.
Mary White, while corresponding on property matters, was based at:
- 1913: Glen Erin, Crowstone Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex
- 1921: 14 Queens Road Ealing; also 26 Hamilton Road, Ealing
- 1923-1943: Wheelers Farm, Swallowfield, Reading, Berkshire
- 1938: 44 Lytton Grove, Putney Hill
- 1939: 54 Mount Park Road, Ealing; also 133 Brighton Road, Worthing, Sussex |
| CustodialHistory | These papers were kept by the Beven Family before they were donated to Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives in March 2026. Please credit 'The Beven Family' when using any images from the collection. |