Brief details of the Chew family of Biggleswade
The Chew family were grocers in Biggleswade from about 1838, the first
Ebenezer having began as a shoemaker in 1830. They had premises on the High
Street. By 1901 his son, also Ebenezer, was combining the grocer trade with
china dealing. The business was a family concern. In the 1901 census
Ebenezer’s son Henry is working for his father as a grocer’s assistant and his
eldest daughter Mary is managing the china shop. By 1911 they had two shops
one trading as Chew & Son and the other as H E Chew. Ebenezer retired from
business in 1919 and Henry some years before his death in 1946.
Both Ebenezers are reputed to have been photographers but on the 1881 census
it is in fact a distant cousin, Minnie Chew, then aged 16 and living in Hitchin,
who lists her profession as ‘photographer’. In 1884 both Ebenezer Senr and his
wife Mary and Ebenezer and his wife, son and eldest daughter sat to another
photographer – J Phillips of Shortmead Streeet, Biggleswade (Z50/142/340341). The Biggleswade Chew family seem to have been involved with
photography from at least the 1890s. Ebenezer junior’s son Henry also took
photographs. In the early 1900s a number of postcards were published by Chew
& Son but it is not clear whether they took the photographs themselves as many
cards from the same negatives were also issued by other publishers (see
Z1130/30)
The following images from the obituaries published in the Biggleswade
Chronicle give further details of the family.
29 November 1901
25 September 1936
2 October 1936
15 Feb 1946
16 Feb 1968
Brief pedigree of the Chew family (dates of birth are approximate worked out from age at census dates. See also obituaries from Biggleswade Chronicle)
William
Sarah
Ebenezer
baptised
Biggleswade
14 Sept 1834
moved to Hitchin
married
Rose H
born Bedford
Eva E
1858
Elizabeth
James
born 1804
Alfred
b 1836
bur
26/10/1855
Ellen
b1838
bur
2/2/1840
Charles
W
1861
Minnie
F
1865
Ebenezer
born Broom, baptised
Biggleswade Baptist
born 27 July 1810
died 24/11/1901
Louisa
Finch
1840
Sarah
1843
Mary Ann Elizabeth
1845
m William Cole
1 Dec 1875
Miriam
Dagma Cole
1878
Miriam
1847
Mary Masters
born Girtford
m 9 Dec 1843 at
Dunton.
Died 1888
Ebenezer
born Biggleswade
1848
married 4 Dec 1873
bur 26/9/1936
Annie Tilcock
born Biggleswade
died 22/8/25
Arthur
several
children
Herbert Arthur Henry Ernest Mary
Alice Irene
1875
1880
bur1875 aged
1889
bur 11/2/1946 m ? Briggs bur 13/2/1968
5 mnths
to Canada
Annie Dale Margaret John Dale
Hubert
baptised 1915
died on active bapitsed 1906
m. Kathleen Mary
bur 13/8/1907
service in
middle east
1945
Elizabeth Mary
baptised 1946
Philip
baptised 1918
Henry
-to
America
son
Harold
& dau.
Ursula