William was the oldest son of James (born 1820) and Elizabeth Grummitt, and he was born on 6th November 1848. He married Elizabeth White in St. Mary's Parish Church, Hitchin, Hertfordshire on 16th November 1868. At that time, William was a labourer. William and Elizabeth were both living in Langley, Hertfordshire, and this is where their two oldest children were born. Anne was born just three months after her parent's wedding in February 1869 and Alfred round about 1871. By 1880 they had moved to Holloway in London where James Herbert was born (he was later known as Herbert).

At the time of the census in May 1881, they were living at 72 Pooles Park, Islington and William was listed as being a coal dealer. However, six months later, at the time of their daughter Eleanor Elizabeth's birth on 28th November, 1881, they were living back in Bedfordshire in the village of Stotfold, and William's occupation is now a market gardener.

It's obvious from the above that they moved around a lot. We don't know where the family were living in 1891, but at the time of the census in the spring of that year, they were visiting William's sister Mary Ann, who had married George Hare and lived in the village of Clophill. William's occupation is given as carman. A Carman was a driver of horse drawn delivery vehicle or freight cart and is probably a derivation of 'cart man'.

Elizabeth Grummitt (nee White) died on 3rd December 1894 aged 49 years and William remarried. There were two children from his second marriage, Ethel and Frank Cecil.

By 1905, William Grummitt was a coalman in north London once again. He sold coal in Holloway. He had a horse, cart and trolley. He got the coal from a depot at Holloway Station. His two sons, Alfred and Herbert, also worked with him in this business. His Grandson, Horie Pickett remembers him as being 6 foot tall, very upright and always wearing grey tweed suits. Later in his life, he organised the traffic for John Barnes, furnishing people, of Finchley Road, Hampstead. His job was to make sure the lorries were loaded properly with the furniture. He always used to visit his married daughter, Nell, on Saturday afternoons in the 1920s, and gave her a packet of 20 Players cigarettes - she loved to have a cigarette. Apparently, William and his son-in-law Albert didn't see eye to eye.

Sources and acknowledgements:
GRO indexes
1881 census for Islington RG11/ 0259 folio 105
1891 census for Clophill RG12/1259 folio 88