John Alfred Reffell had moved to the Tunbridge Wells area after he married Ellen Adams in 1856. He had died in 1869 aged 43, but Ellen had only recently died in 1909. Two of their three children are shown in the 1911 census; Emma & Alexander.
After a number of years at Mark Cross Sussex, Emma Reffell was living with her husband of 32 years, John Martin Payte a land surveyor, at 75 Payne Avenue in Hove Sussex. Also there was unmarried daughter Norah who was a clerk to a hosier. John was to die three years later and Emma then joined her family in Canada, living to the grand age of 92.
Alexander Reffell had recently lost his wife Lucy Maria Vinall, and was living at 49 Perryfield Street in Maidstone Kent. His occupation was as a night watchman with the South Eastern & Chatham Railway. Also living with him was one of his two surviving sons Arthur Sidney. The other son George Stanley was at 17 Elizabeth Terrace in Eltham, where he also worked for the South Eastern & Chatham Railway as a number taker. Unfortunately George Stanley Reffell was to die six years later during the first world war and was buried at Bulley-Grenay in France.
John Alfred’s other son was Albert Edwin who had only one child, John Alfred Gordon Ellis Reffell. He was a private in the army and in camp at the Wellington Lines in Aldershot Hampshire. Previous to his military service, he had lived at the Chertsey School of Handicrafts from 1900 to 1904. John’s half brother Frank Leslie Reffell had also been a resident there since 1903, and was still there in 1911. Later that year he was to leave the school and emigrate to South Australia as a farm boy. Frank’s sister Bessie was a housemaid to the Tasker family at Cranworth Cottage on The Common at Southborough.
The Bexley Brewery is not actually shown in the 1911 census as no one was living on the premises. Percy Hugh Waistell had become the manager of Reffells Bexley Brewery in 1904 and was living next door to the brewery at Bourne Cottage with his wife of five years Hilda Florence Aldersmith. Also with them was young son John Kipling and two servants; Bessie Wood & Nellie Tugwell. Percy’s recently widowed mother, Margaret Ida Waistell was living at South End Northallerton in Yorkshire on private means. With her were an unmarried son and daughter; Charles Rowland a solicitor & Irene Margaret. Charles was to die the following year aged 43. Also at the address was a visitor, Mary Elizabeth Rowlandson and two servants; Sarah Anne Metcalfe & Ethel Blanborough. Margaret’s other two sons are not shown in the census; Arthur Kipling (later Sir Arthur) who was in the navy and retired in 1934 with the rank of admiral & Alan Murray. The census also lists a number of other local people who worked in the brewery in Bourne Road.