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Most of the information here was kindly supplied by Liz Shea.
Frederick William Perry was born in Lambeth around 1835 to parents William Perry and his wife Charlotte Louisa. He was christened at St. Mary in Lambeth on December 25th 1835 [IGI: Batch P006282].
He m a r r i e d J u l i a M a r y G r e e n on February 2 4th 1 8 5 6. She was born in 1838.
The 1871 Census finds them living with several of their children at 2, Dame Street in Islington St. Mary . The record describes F r e d e r i c k a s a P r o f e s s o r o f M u s i c.
The 1881 Census finds them living with several of their children at 1 5, S i d w o r t h R o a d in H a c k n e y . F r e d e r i c k is again described a s a P r o f e s s o r o f M u s i c.
T h e 1 8 9 1 C e n s u s finds t h e f a m i l y at 7 0, F r a m p t o n P a r k R o a d in H a c k n e y, describing F r e d e r i c k a s a m u s i c i a n .
He died on April 4th 1917. Very interesting details of his remarkable life are provided by his obituary, published in an unknown local newspaper, of which a clipping survives among his descendants. It reads as follows:
A Famous Drummer
Military Funeral at Abney Park Cemetery The interrment took place yesterday, in the family grave at Abney Park Cemetery, of Mr Frederick William Perry who had the reputation of being one of the finest drummers in the world. His death occurred on Wednesday week, in his eighty-first year, and he is survived by his wife, Mrs Julia Mary Perry, who, a year younger than her husband, is an invalid, and lives at Frampton Park Road, South Hackney, where the couple had resided for the past thirty-five years.
The late Mr Frederick Perry comes of a military and professional family. His father was Band Sergeant-Major of the Coldstream Guards, his grandfather was bandmaster of the Grenadier Guards and his great-great-grandfather also belonged to this latter regiment. The two last named members of the family died in Chelsea Hospital. The deceased, in his earlier days was noted as being one of four men who could properly play the ophicleide, a large brass German instrument used in military bands but now defunct owing to its difficult manipulation. Of his two sons, the elder became bandmaster to the 10th Lincolnshire Regiment, and also held the post of bandmaster to musicians of the Great Western Railway, India, in which country he died. The other son Mr Alfred Perry also served as a trooper in the 13th Hussars, afterwards entering the theatrical profession, with which the deceased drummer's seven daughters also became associated - two under the name of Curette.
A Magnificent War Record
Mr Perry was corporal drummer in the Honourable Artillery Company for about forty years and was also a member of the Veterans' Corps of Hackney. He has serving with the Forces at the present time 21 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.
Another interesting fact, from a local point of view, is that Mr Perry was for fifty-two years drummer at the Britannia Theatre, Hoxton, he being the only musician who sat in the same orchestra for such a long period. In recognition of his services, Mrs Sara Lane, the then proprietress of the theatre made him a public presentation on his fiftieth anniversary, of a gold watch and albert, subscribed for by herself and others connected with the theatre. He was her oldest servant. His association with the "Old Brit" ceased when the Crawfords parted with it about ten years ago. Up to just prior to his death, however, he was still beating the drum and fulfilling engagements.
Many of the drummers in London were Mr Perry's pupils, and he had the distinction of training the late Queen Victoria's trumpeter to beat the drum and play the cornet. He himself received his tuition at the same time as the Duke of Edinburgh.
At yesterday's internment the coffin was covered with a Union Jack belonging to the Hackney Veterans' Corps, and his four grandsons, Messrs William and Thomas Danford, Sydney Woodhurst and Ernest Forrester acted as pall bearers.
The pall bearer Sydney Woodhurst was the son Sydney Arthur of Frederick's daughter Julia Caroline.
A short history of the Britannia Theatre is given by Matthew Lloyd on this page.
J u l i a Mary d i e d on March 1 3th 1 9 2 0.
A n n i e P h i l i s married William J. Danford.
J u l i a C a r o l i n e married W a l t e r C h a r l e s W o o d h u r s t in 1 8 7 9.
A m e l i a A n n i e m a r r i e d Henry A m o s H i l l at Bethnal Green in 1882. She d i e d on May 2 4 t h 1 9 4 5.
F l o r e n c e L o u i s e married into the J o n e s surname and d i e d in 1 9 3 4.
A d a B l a n c h e married Ernest Daniel F o r r e s t e r in Hackney in 1899. She d i e d in 1 9 0 9.