The man whose missing father causes a big gap in my tree, is Charles Ernest RODWAY, of Deptford (Greater London). I have been searching since 1977!
Charlie’s Royal Navy career, marriage, children, emigration to Canada, and death have all been documented.
According to his daughters (now all dead), their father was a posthumous child, born in Deptford on 21 July, 1879. They remembered his older sisters, named Sarah or Sally, Alice and possibly Fanny. His mother was crippled with arthritis, and died when Charlie was a young man in the Navy.
Charlies’s marriage certificate to Lily DAVIES, “widow” (née WHEELER), is dated 19 Aug 1919. The groom’s father is named as “John Rodway, (deceased) Furniture dealer.”
I have documented the family and history of this John RODWAY. He was at first a bootmaker, later becoming a furniture dealer. He married Sarah MURRAY in 1868. The couple had at least four children, one of whom died young. The surviving children were Sarah Anne, born 1868; Alice Jane, born 1875; and Florry Lily (aka Florence), born Nov 1877.
John RODWAY died in Deptford Hospital of smallpox, on 28 May, 1878.
The birth certificate for Charles Ernest RODWAY shows him born on 18 (not 21) July, 1879—fourteen months after John RODWAY died—“posthumous” indeed!
The birth certificate names the mother (also the informant) as “Sarah Rodway, formerly Murray”. The birthplace is “3, Stonebridge Villas, Lewisham” (not Deptford). The father is named as “Charles Rodway, baker”.
From official sources, I have traced Sarah and her children. On 11 July 1878, all three girls were admitted into the Greenwich Union Workhouse. The reason given was “Father Dead. Mother a Machinist. Mother in Guy’s Hospital. Destitute.” The two older girls were immediately sent to the South Metropolitan School. Baby Florry may have been removed from the workhouse by her mother after discharge from hospital, or she may have been taken immediately by her maternal grandparents, John and Sarah MURRAY. Florry is found with them in Leith, Scotland, in both the 1881 and 1891 censuses, and was the informant at the death of her grandfather a few years later.
At the 1881 census, Sarah RODWAY (machinist, widow, aged 33) and little Charles Ernest (aged 1) lived in a shared house at 96 Evelyn Street, Deptford. Daughters Sarah and Alice were still in care at the South Metropolitan School. They remained there for several years, until probably put out to service.
Apparently Sarah and her daughters Sarah (Sally), Alice and Florry remained in contact with one another. Sarah shared a home in Deptford with Alice at the 1901 census, and Sally was the informant at the death of her mother (“Widow of John Rodway, furniture dealer”) later the same year. All three girls married (husbands named SIMMONS, TOWNSEND and HARRIS), and lived near each other in the Evelyn Street, Florence Grove, and Windmill Lane area of Deptford.
The big question remains: Who is the biological father of Charles Ernest?
The possibilities I see for “Charles RODWAY, baker” are these:
I have been searching the first three possibilities for many years, and have many suspects, but nothing definitely connecting any man to Sarah RODWAY.
One possible culprit—and this is pure speculation on my part—is Sarah’s brother-in-law, James John RODWAY. He was a decorator and sign-painter by trade, living in Deptford / Greenwich, and had a son named Charles Ernest RODWAY, born Dec 1878. Why does the exact name occur in both families? Were their children named for some common ancestor (not yet found)? Or were the names simply highly fashionable? Or did James have a sexual relationship with Sarah after John’s death, and have the resulting son named the same as his own? This would help avoid him accidentally calling his own son by a wrong name, thereby arousing his wife’s suspicion. It is interesting that James and his wife also had a daughter (born Sept 1881) named Lilly Florence, almost the same as Sarah’s daughter Florry /Florence Lily.
The answer to who fathered Charles Ernest RODWAY (if it will ever be known) depends on what happened to Sarah RODWAY between the death of her husband John and the birth of her son Charles Ernest. So far I have not found a bastardy bond or a christening for her son.
Does anyone have suggestions as to what tactics I might use now? How can I find records for Guy’s Hospital?
Charlie’s Royal Navy career, marriage, children, emigration to Canada, and death have all been documented.
According to his daughters (now all dead), their father was a posthumous child, born in Deptford on 21 July, 1879. They remembered his older sisters, named Sarah or Sally, Alice and possibly Fanny. His mother was crippled with arthritis, and died when Charlie was a young man in the Navy.
Charlies’s marriage certificate to Lily DAVIES, “widow” (née WHEELER), is dated 19 Aug 1919. The groom’s father is named as “John Rodway, (deceased) Furniture dealer.”
I have documented the family and history of this John RODWAY. He was at first a bootmaker, later becoming a furniture dealer. He married Sarah MURRAY in 1868. The couple had at least four children, one of whom died young. The surviving children were Sarah Anne, born 1868; Alice Jane, born 1875; and Florry Lily (aka Florence), born Nov 1877.
John RODWAY died in Deptford Hospital of smallpox, on 28 May, 1878.
The birth certificate for Charles Ernest RODWAY shows him born on 18 (not 21) July, 1879—fourteen months after John RODWAY died—“posthumous” indeed!
The birth certificate names the mother (also the informant) as “Sarah Rodway, formerly Murray”. The birthplace is “3, Stonebridge Villas, Lewisham” (not Deptford). The father is named as “Charles Rodway, baker”.
From official sources, I have traced Sarah and her children. On 11 July 1878, all three girls were admitted into the Greenwich Union Workhouse. The reason given was “Father Dead. Mother a Machinist. Mother in Guy’s Hospital. Destitute.” The two older girls were immediately sent to the South Metropolitan School. Baby Florry may have been removed from the workhouse by her mother after discharge from hospital, or she may have been taken immediately by her maternal grandparents, John and Sarah MURRAY. Florry is found with them in Leith, Scotland, in both the 1881 and 1891 censuses, and was the informant at the death of her grandfather a few years later.
At the 1881 census, Sarah RODWAY (machinist, widow, aged 33) and little Charles Ernest (aged 1) lived in a shared house at 96 Evelyn Street, Deptford. Daughters Sarah and Alice were still in care at the South Metropolitan School. They remained there for several years, until probably put out to service.
Apparently Sarah and her daughters Sarah (Sally), Alice and Florry remained in contact with one another. Sarah shared a home in Deptford with Alice at the 1901 census, and Sally was the informant at the death of her mother (“Widow of John Rodway, furniture dealer”) later the same year. All three girls married (husbands named SIMMONS, TOWNSEND and HARRIS), and lived near each other in the Evelyn Street, Florence Grove, and Windmill Lane area of Deptford.
The big question remains: Who is the biological father of Charles Ernest?
The possibilities I see for “Charles RODWAY, baker” are these:
- a genuine person named Charles RODWAY or similar surname; or
- a baker with first name Charles or last name CHARLES; or
- a man named BAKER; or
- a complete fiction, invented for respectability.
I have been searching the first three possibilities for many years, and have many suspects, but nothing definitely connecting any man to Sarah RODWAY.
One possible culprit—and this is pure speculation on my part—is Sarah’s brother-in-law, James John RODWAY. He was a decorator and sign-painter by trade, living in Deptford / Greenwich, and had a son named Charles Ernest RODWAY, born Dec 1878. Why does the exact name occur in both families? Were their children named for some common ancestor (not yet found)? Or were the names simply highly fashionable? Or did James have a sexual relationship with Sarah after John’s death, and have the resulting son named the same as his own? This would help avoid him accidentally calling his own son by a wrong name, thereby arousing his wife’s suspicion. It is interesting that James and his wife also had a daughter (born Sept 1881) named Lilly Florence, almost the same as Sarah’s daughter Florry /Florence Lily.
The answer to who fathered Charles Ernest RODWAY (if it will ever be known) depends on what happened to Sarah RODWAY between the death of her husband John and the birth of her son Charles Ernest. So far I have not found a bastardy bond or a christening for her son.
Does anyone have suggestions as to what tactics I might use now? How can I find records for Guy’s Hospital?
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