A lazy journalist at FMP has written their Christmas article based on festive names: Mary Christmas Mr Tinsel! It contains poor research and fact checking.
"There may have been no room at the inn on the very first Christmas Eve, but in 1871 there was certainly room at 196 St Thomas Road, Mile End. There, Mary, Joseph and their young son Jesus would have spent the night warm in bed rather than in a stable complete with manger.
According to the 1871 census, 196 St Thomas Road was not the sight of some holy event, but rather the home of the Horn family. There Joseph Horn, a rope maker from Bow, lived with his wife Mary and their son Jesus who was not born in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago, but Plaistow in 1863."
Er, not quite. It's more likely Jesse looking at the page.
FMP transcribed as Jesus
Ancestry - transcribed as Jesse and quite clearly Jesse on the 1881 census.
I suggest that they should confirm or refute it by obtaining the birth certificate.
Jesse Horne 1862 Oct-Nov-Dec West Ham
Next, they write:
"In Plymouth, an Abraham Grinch was baptised in 1868 and while the date and place of his baptism are clear to see, his opinion of the festive season remains a mystery."
Er, no. Wrongly transcribed as Abraham Crinch, it's actually Abraham French (6 March 1686 not 1868)
In another paragraph it says:
"Our census records contain yet more seasonal themed names. There was probably little Christmas cheer at the Lewisham Road Workhouse despite the presence of 8 year old inmate, Ivy Holly in 1892."
Wrong again. It was the 1901 census - she was born in 1892.
A Christmas lesson for us all.
"There may have been no room at the inn on the very first Christmas Eve, but in 1871 there was certainly room at 196 St Thomas Road, Mile End. There, Mary, Joseph and their young son Jesus would have spent the night warm in bed rather than in a stable complete with manger.
According to the 1871 census, 196 St Thomas Road was not the sight of some holy event, but rather the home of the Horn family. There Joseph Horn, a rope maker from Bow, lived with his wife Mary and their son Jesus who was not born in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago, but Plaistow in 1863."
Er, not quite. It's more likely Jesse looking at the page.
FMP transcribed as Jesus
Ancestry - transcribed as Jesse and quite clearly Jesse on the 1881 census.
I suggest that they should confirm or refute it by obtaining the birth certificate.
Jesse Horne 1862 Oct-Nov-Dec West Ham
Next, they write:
"In Plymouth, an Abraham Grinch was baptised in 1868 and while the date and place of his baptism are clear to see, his opinion of the festive season remains a mystery."
Er, no. Wrongly transcribed as Abraham Crinch, it's actually Abraham French (6 March 1686 not 1868)
In another paragraph it says:
"Our census records contain yet more seasonal themed names. There was probably little Christmas cheer at the Lewisham Road Workhouse despite the presence of 8 year old inmate, Ivy Holly in 1892."
Wrong again. It was the 1901 census - she was born in 1892.
A Christmas lesson for us all.
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