Henry William Mackness (elder brother of my great-grandfather Robert Mackness) was born in 1859 in Stepney, London. On 19 December 1880 he married Emma Rebecca Patmore (born 1860, Royden, Essex) at St. Thomas, Stepney. In the 1881 census his occupation was recorded as “clerk”- twenty years later he was a postman in the 1901 census. Henry and Emma Mackness had seven children:

(1) Herbert Henry (born Stepney, 1882) was a 19 year old railway porter at the time of the 1901 census. His partner was Elizabeth Walling (1884-1980) who died as Elizabeth Barrett. They had at least four children, including Herbert Edward Mackness (1908-1953), Thomas Edward Mackness (1912-1982) who married Edith Boggis (1917-1994), John Alfred French Mackness (1914-????) and Douglas Alfred Mackness (1917-1995).

(2) Elizabeth Esther (born Stepney, 1884) was a 17 year old waitress living in East Ham at the time of the 1901 census. She died in 1902 at the age of only 18.

(3) Edith (born Stratford, 1886) was a 15 year old shop assistant in the 1901 census. She married Arthur J Thorne in West Ham in 1913.

(4) Kate Ellen (born Stratford, 1890) was recorded as an 11 year old in the 1901 census - otherwise nothing is known about Kate Ellen.

(5) Annie May (born Stratford, 1891) married Wilfred G Andrews in West Ham in 1915.

(6) Alice (born Stratford, 1895) married Henry W Narborough in West Ham in 1925.