Welcome to the Lancaster family website. This branch of the family are descended from John Lancaster through  Henry Lancaster who was born in Hackney in 1804. He was a Master Upholsterer and Cabinet Maker running his  own businesses in Tunbridge Wells and Eastbourne.

The main branches of this tree are

LANCASTER FISHER NEWNHAM FRASER                       
 Many of  the various branches of the family lived in and around East Anglia and the South of England. Originally from East Anglia  before moving to Wapping and Hackney then gradually moving out to Kent and Sussex they retained strong connections with  London and many family members moved back there. There were connections in other areas particularly in the Portsea area of  Hampshire as well as Surrey, Essex, Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire and Suffolk. Also in India, South Africa, Canada and  Australia.

Life in Kent
 Henry Lancaster came originally from Hackney. There was no shortage of cabinet makers and upholsterers in  London. The following passage is taken from "A Working Man's Recollections of America," Knights Penny  Magazine 1 (1846), This was written by a cabinet maker who emigrated to America.

"I was a cabinet-maker by trade, and one of the many who, between the years 1825&1835, expatriated  themselves in countless thousands, drawn by the promise of fair wages for faithful work, and driven by the  scanty remuneration offered to unceasing toil at home, and overpowering pressure of the burdens immersed by  the state, at a time when none of that sympathy which now occupies so large a portion of the public mind was  shown to or felt for the working classes. Many an anxious look did poor parents at that day cast on the  expectant faces of their little ones when seated round the table, on comparing the demand for bread with the  small and uncertain supply, and with a shudder of horror half anticipated the piteous cry of hunger and misery.  Work they did, work unceasingly; but apparently to no good; the wolf would never go away from the door, and  was always heard scratching on the outside...."

Whether or not it was these concerns that made Henry Lancaster Snr decide to leave London we may never know.  However he moved to Reading where he married Harriet Robinson on 30th July 1827. Their first son also Henry,  was born in 1829. More about Henry and his 15 children later! Shortly after this the family moved to Tunbridge  Wells where they had two more children Harriet in 1831 and Charles in 1836.

Henry must have been an enterprising man. He established his own business and supplemented his income by  becoming an insurance agent. In 1851 his address was 1, High Street, by 1861 he was living at 4 Campden Place  working as a Master Cabinet Maker and Upholster and employing five men. By the time of the 1871 census he  had moved to Mortimer Villas in Queens Road.

He also established a much bigger business in Eastbourne this was run by his eldest son Henry. His second son  Charles became a musician and ran a business in London where he taught, tuned pianos, ran a piano storage  business and sale room. However his father obviously had little faith in him, in his will, although he left money  and business interests to other members of the family, the money he left for Charles was tied up in a trust fund  to be administered by a solicitor and Henry Jnr!

Lancaster's in Sussex
 Henry Lancaster's eldest son, also Henry trained in the family business and became a Master Upholsterer and  Cabinet Maker as well as the head of a large family. 
 He moved to Eastbourne where he ran the family business at 42, Robertson Street with various branches, until  his death in 1902. He married twice. Firstly in 1858 to Harriett Wright from Camberwell. They had ten children  before Harrietts early death at the age of 37 in 1875. He then married Hannah Clemmans the daughter of a  colleague. They married in Islington in 1876 and went on to have another five children before Hannah also died  aged 55 in 1895. Her death was partly due to exhaustion, I would guess Harrietts was too!  Henry appeared to inherit his father's entrepreneurial skills as well as running a successful business in his own  field, he is at various times also working as an insurance agent, a coal merchant, art designer, ran a removal and  storage firm and worked as a funeral director.

This is a new site and still under construction. I hope...to update it regularly. I have more information on the  family that does not appear in this site. This is because there are close connections with living family members  and I feel I should respect their privacy.
 If anyone has any information on or connections with people mentioned on this site I would love to hear from  you. Any suggestions, corrections or additions will be very welcome.