Hi,
My grandmother was Alice Pickess, she was born in London's East End in 1916 to Florence Pickess (father unknown), and later married Ernest Wright in West Ham in 1916. Her eldest son (my uncle) was born out of marriage and still carries the Pickess name and still lives in the East End. Alice lived through the blitz in Bethnal Green, after the war the family were moved to a newly constructed housing estate near Romford on the outskirts of East London.
The Pickess's came originally from Suffolk and seem to have moved down to London between the 1890's and 1910's.
Hope this adds something to your research.