Emil SCHALLER
1877 - 1945 (68 years)
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Name Emil SCHALLER - Also known as Harry or Henry.
Birth 1877 Oberstein, Bavaria, Germany 
[1] Gender Male 
Census1891 64 Grose Buildings, Mile End Old Town, London, England [2] 1911 Census1911 7 Alderney Place, Mile End, London, England Burial Jan 1945 Woodgrange Park Cemetery, Manor Park, London, England [3] Death 21 Jan 1945 Mile End, London, England [3] Person ID I83 Our Family Tree Last Modified 30 Dec 2017
Father Jacob SCHALLER, b. Abt 1850, Germany d. Jun 1923, Islington, London, England (Age ~ 73 years) Mother Paulina (SCHALLER), b. Abt 1857, Oberstein, Bavaria, Germany d. 13 Dec 1903, Mile End Old Town, London, England (Age ~ 46 years) Marriage Germany Family ID F83 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family Agnes FRENCH, b. 7 Sep 1885, West Ham, London, England d. 17 Jul 1963, Mile End, London, England (Age 77 years) Marriage 18 Sep 1904 Stepney St Peter, London, England [4] - Registered Mile End, Vol. 1c, page 656, Sept quarter 1904. Witness at marriage was Elizabeth French, Agnes's elder sister.
His father's name stated as Jacob. He was said to be 26, she 19.
Children 1. Edith SCHALLER, b. 24 Oct 1906, 70 Globe Road, Mile End, London, England d. 2 Oct 1986, Armidale, NSW, Australia (Age 79 years)2. Grace Agnes SCHALLER, b. 1908, Mile End, London, England d. 1956, London, England (Age 48 years)3. Maud Amy SCHALLER, b. 21 Oct 1909, Mile End, London, England d. 1984, Brentwood, Essex, England (Age 74 years)4. Rosina Ellen SCHALLER, b. 15 Jun 1911, 7 Albany Place, Globe Road, Mile End, London, England d. 22 Oct 1980, Eastbourne, Sussex, England (Age 69 years)5. Doris SCHALLER, b. 1912, Mile End, London, England d. 4 Oct 1996, New Ollerton, Nottinghamshire, England (Age 84 years)6. Emily SCHALLER, b. 1912, Mile End, London, England d. Abt 1913, Mile End, London, England (Age 1 year)7. Ivy E. SCHALLER, b. 19 Jul 1916, Mile End, London, England d. Sept 1970, Stepney, London, England (Age 54 years)8. Harry Albert SCHALLER, b. 24 Nov 1920, Mile End, London, England d. 1987, London, England (Age 66 years)9. Joyce M. SCHALLER, b. 8 Sep 1923, Whitechapel, London England d. 24 Jan 1991, Crawley, West Sussex, England (Age 67 years)10. Leslie Leonard SCHALLER, b. 5 Jun 1925, Mile End, London, England d. 16 Oct 2016, East Ham Care Centre, Shewsbury Road, London E7 (Age 91 years)11. Ronald William SCHALLER, b. 10 Dec 1927, Mile End, London, England d. 24 Oct 2004, London, England (Age 76 years)Family ID F28 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 30 Dec 2017
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Event Map 
Birth - 1877 - Oberstein, Bavaria, Germany 
Census - With his mother 'Polly', presumably not her German name, he aged 15, born Oberstein, in Germany. Also present were Polly, daughter aged 11, born Oberstein, Edith, 6 born Bermondsey, London, and Rosy, 2, born Limehouse, London - 1891 - 64 Grose Buildings, Mile End Old Town, London, England 
Marriage - 18 Sep 1904 - Stepney St Peter, London, England 
1911 Census - Recorded as 'Henry' he as 24, a toy manufacturer, a worker, a British resident, born 'Ovistern' in Germany. With him was wife Agnes, 25, born Stratford (London). The had had 6 children of whom 3 were still alive: Edith 5, at school, Grace 3, Maud 1, all born Mild End. Also present was Amy French, his wife's sister, aged 17, a domestic servant, born Stratford. - 1911 - 7 Alderney Place, Mile End, London, England 
Burial - Jan 1945 - Woodgrange Park Cemetery, Manor Park, London, England 
Death - 21 Jan 1945 - Mile End, London, England = Link to Google Earth Pin Legend 
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set
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Photos Our Family History - Emil Schaller (1877 - 1945)
Emil (Harry) Schaller
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Notes - I found him in the 1891 Census at Mile End, aged 13, born in Oberstein, Germany. There are several 'hits' for Oberstein on Google maps but the only place of any size I can find of this name is Idar-Oberstein in western Germany. Most of the others appear to be street names but Google maps show a place, very small, near Prockenbach, Regen, Bavaria, which may be a better match to what family legend says about the family. Both his mother, Polly, and his oldest sister, also Polly, were said to be from the same place, later children being born in London. There was no male head in the household.
Occupation at time of birth of Edith given as journeyman and toymaker. Occupation given as home decorator at time of Edith's marriage.
Information sent to Shirley by Ron Schaller: As a young man your grandfather was sent to Clark's College, these were private colleges whose students or at least their parents paid for entry, to study engineering. In Victorian England this was quite normal. These colleges issued their own "degrees". Later Thomas Huxley was to use these in the formation of the new London University (there were still Clark's Colleges about in the 1930's/40's). It was during this period as a student he frequented a café where he was to meet your grandmother who was working as a waitress.
Your grandfather attempted various businesses to support the family but I have no idea of the chronology. Many of the manufactured articles were still in the house at Alderney Place, all of which I have "played" with (and taken apart). The order below therefore is historic conjecture and may not be the correct.
I feel almost sure that the first venture described here was before the First World War, particularly the details of the "children" helping in the manufacture. Your grandfather began by obtaining a "town gas" engine to use as the power source for the machinery he was to develop. In fact he developed what would now be known as a "spindle router". This is a machine for shaping wooden parts and in its modern form is still very much in use in machine-built furniture making. In this case it was to produce "carved" rocking horses. These were large wooden rocking horses with elaborately carved heads and bodies. One assumes he had some artistic skills to be able to make the machine templates which produced a machine-generated sculpture in wood. Some of the girls (your mother & Grace probably) helped to complete the painting and made the tack for these horses. This was not to be a financial success however. He also manufactured a four wheeled children's "cart" propelled by a lever and chain arrangement common in those days, I imagine this was also not financially successful. Your grandfather was to lose the tops of all his fingers of his left hand which he caught in the spindle routermachine. This injury and possibly other financial reasons led to the ultimate failure of this venture.
I assume all this happened before the First World War.
Your grandfather was interned as an enemy alien in the Isle of Man throughout the First World War and family life did not begin again until after it was over. There is no reason to believe that they saw each other during the war. The task your grandmother had of bringing up children with no regular income during the war I would think was a time of considerable poverty. After the war your grandfather continued in his attempts to start a profitable business and make the family's fortune and also incidentally to have several more children.
The years after the First World War saw the increased use of the motor car led your grandfather to produce and market an early "coil Ignition" device. It consisted of a properly dovetail jointed mahogany box (abt. 10"x8"x8") containing the "condenser". This was constructed of alternating aluminium strips and paraffin waxed paper, rolled into a cylinder placed in the box and more paraffin wax poured in. Two leads came out to form the connections. I believe the children of the family (probably girls I think) helped in the manufacture of this. The top of the box was closed with an Ebonite plateon to which a machine turned, polished brass spark gap mechanism was bolted. This provided the "electrics" by which the sparking plug was activated. If it had been taken up commercially it might have made a financial success. Unfortunately about this time a Mr. Lucas invented and manufactured the Magneto/Dynamo system that was to become the ignition system used by all motor vehicles from that time. There were about a dozen of these Condenser Ignition devices about when I was a small boy many of which I dismantled to see what they where made of.
Another venture was the manufacture of Pendulum clocks using electro-magnetic movements. Historically this must have been after the First World War. The prototype was made by your grandfather who then got the local clockmaker to complete the electro-magnetic movements (Messrs Masters who had a shop "round the corner"). Again I remember a cupboard full of these new and unused movements each packed in neat cardboard boxes and waxed paper. This venture was also unsuccessful. The production of the clock cases, dials etc must have made this more expensive than was at first considered. I imagine that using the modern explanation, the principle failure was due to the lack of "development capital".
After these manufacturing ventures he joined forces with a friend of his named "Fred", I cannot remember his full name but he was known in the family even in my time. They then planned to build a single storey shop with a flat over, starting with digging the foundations and the lot. I believe the materials were supplied by a building contractor known to your grandfather as Mr Shrieve. I imagine they had to develop the necessary skills bricklaying, plumbing, tiling, carpentry etc. and obtain the necessary tools, since your grandfather at least had no previous experience. He did however have a set of books teaching all the building skills, these were still about in Alderney Place in my time. The shop was built in Redmans Road, turning off the Mile End Rd. There is/was a picture of them standing in front of the completed shop. The shop did not sell quick enough to meet their debts and it was taken over by Mr. Shrieve, to cover the cost of the materials he had supplied. He then offered to employ your grandfather and his friend and Fred right up to the beginning of the Second World War. Mr Shrieve was a building contractor and owned housing property in Leytonstone, there is little doubt that he exploited his "two partners/workmen" who would have found it difficult to find employment in that period of the depression 1927 onwards. They were to work for him right up to 1939. At this time I was invited by Mr Shrieve to go regularly to his house on Sundays, a gloomy house with his equally gloomy Scots wife (they were both Scottish) who provided extremely strong coffee and rather good cakes (my first introduction to coffee!). His hobby was building radio receivers and amateur transmitting. He gave me loads of radio parts which I made into receivers under his instruction. This was the golden age of amateur radio construction from which I developed an interest in both radio and electronics. The parts we used, bright emitter valves and beautifully wound tuning coils, would be museum pieces now. This must have caused you grandfather some pain since he was familiar with the electronics of that time and would have probably liked to have supplied the radio parts if he could have afforded them.
Both your grandmother and grandfather where listed as enemy aliens in the 1939/45 war and although he/they were not interned they both could not travel any distance without getting police permission. Your grandfather was not allowed to move more than 3 to 4 miles I believe. They both had enemy alien identity cards, in those days the wife took up alien status automatically. When your grandmother was evacuated to Southport to live in the same house as did your mother and yourself, your grandfather had to remain in London with the Blitz so I suppose did your father (where was David?). They moved back to London after a short stay presumably to look after their husbands.
Your grandfather was in hospital up to the time of the "doodle bugs", the hospital was hit (he was not injured or affected by this) and he was evacuated to Scotland. He later returned to the same bombed hospital where he eventually died on the 21st January 1945. He was buried at Woodgrange Park Cemetery, aged 67 years. (G 7550) - Emil was admitted to South Grove School in what is now called Tower Hamlets, London, on 21 October 1889, aged 12. His birthdate was recorded as 2 October 1877. The address was 21 Grove Road in one record and 64 F Block, Grove Buildings in another. His father was Jacob Schaller. Last school attended was Caley Street. He left South Grove School on 27 March 1891 having reached standard V of I to VI in that year. Source: London School Admissions and Discharges 1840-1911 via Ancestry.
- I found him in the 1891 Census at Mile End, aged 13, born in Oberstein, Germany. There are several 'hits' for Oberstein on Google maps but the only place of any size I can find of this name is Idar-Oberstein in western Germany. Most of the others appear to be street names but Google maps show a place, very small, near Prockenbach, Regen, Bavaria, which may be a better match to what family legend says about the family. Both his mother, Polly, and his oldest sister, also Polly, were said to be from the same place, later children being born in London. There was no male head in the household.
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