Henry James Carter.

Information by Jennifer White, Great granddaughter of Henry James Carter.

Henry James and his staff, C.1880-1890.

     Henry James Carter was born 1851 in Horndon. His family had come off the farms as labourers. His father, also Henry, was the head pit pony 'boy' at the brickfields and a very gentle and humorous man. The brickfields were located in the quarry where the big shopping complex now sits. Henry James met the Brickfields manager's (John Grimwood) daughter, Annie Grimwood. They married. Henry borrowed £200 from his sister and her husband (Ann Elizabeth and Henry Freer) and built a house down on the river by Seabrookes. Shortly afterwards, he sold it and built another. Eventually, he formed a builders contractor business and in addition to many buildings for other people and organizations, he built up a personal estate of over 400 houses. He built and owned the High Street, Orsett Road and Palmers Avenue, Highview Avenue and thereabouts. He built and owned all of Brooke Road, London Road, New Road and streets around there. In addition, he worked with the architect, Christopher Shiner to build Palmers Boys School at the top of Southend Road. If you look at the church on Orsett Road, I think it is a Baptist Church, you will see the stone which states built by H.J. Carter. He built the original library. Although there has been a lot of sell off during the 20 century, my family still owns much of this property.
     Basically, Henry built all of new Grays (beyond the railway line) up the hill to the top of Southend Road and down Chadwell Road. Also, Henry built numerous civic and church buildings around London and the outskirts, out as far as Twickenham. The City Hall at Stratford in London was still in use as such when I saw it in the 1990's and was one of many that he and Christopher built. There is a stone on it too, naming him as the builder.

Palmers College, then and now.

        Henry, Annie and their 8 children (all boys but one) lived there until Henry and Annie died. The ‘boys’ all called him ‘the Guv’ner’ or ‘Sir’.

 All the ‘boys’ went to Palmer’s, as did many of the next generations. My father and his brother were pupils there. Angela went to Palmer’s Girls but I did not. I attended at the Convent in Grays.
     Henry became a prominent and wealthy resident of Grays. He was the first to own a motorcar. His Co-op number was ‘1'. He was on the council and on the board of the hospital in Orsett. He was a founder of the Grays Football Club.
     When he died, the 7 ‘boys’ inherited the builders company and promptly sold it to Woody Walsham. The girl, Ena, had a trust set up for her portion. It was during the First World War and the ‘boys’ were all going into the forces. All but one came back. They kept the property and pooled it, sharing the rental proceeds equally. My grandfather, Edward Harry was one of these boys. He became the ‘administrator’ to the Carter estate after WW I. My father took over in the 1960's and administered the estate for the family until he died in 1996. My stepmother Pat continues to administer the estate (both real property and financial assets) from her home in Palmers Avenue, one of the original Carter houses.
My sister Angela and I grew up in Carter houses both in High View Avenue and Parkview Gardens. The house on the corner of Orsett Road and The Dell, number 111, was called Ashbury. H.J. built it for Ann and Henry Freer. Angela remembers them; I remember Great Gran but Henry Freer had died before I was born. Ann lived to 94 and always resided in that house. My grandmother, Emily Freer lived there with my grandfather, William Herbert for many years before and after Great Gran died. So, Ann (Carter) Freer was my mother’s maternal grandmother and H.J. Carter, her brother, was my father’s paternal grandfather. My mother and father were cousins. H.J. and Annie are buried in Chadwell Road cemetery, as are his parents and brothers and other assorted members of the family.
 

One of H.J's horses decked out for a parade.

     Many of the old pictures of Grays that you see are of property built by and still in the possession of my family. Some were damaged in WW II and a lot have been sold off now. Compulsory purchase in the 60's took London Road and much of the High Street. As the family has aged and diminished in size, few have the motivation to continue to manage the property. We’re not sure what will happen in the next few years as there are only 4 of our generation in the direct family, my sister and I are in Canada, our female cousin in Cambridge and our male cousin in Wales, all of us are between 50s and 70's. The Carter name has died out or will do when our male cousin passes on, as the males had no boys to carry it on. It’s possible that one of us will return to England at least to arrange for the estate if not to continue its work.