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Mystery RODWAY of Deptford 1870s

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  • Mystery RODWAY of Deptford 1870s

    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:
    • 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?

  • #2
    The records of Guy's 1617-1996 ( 320 linear metres of documents apparently) are held at the London Metropolitan Archives , they have a guide to hospital records here :



    What you know for sure (assuming the dates are correct) is that John RODWAY was not the father, so he can be discounted - beyond that anything else is speculative. You are already looking at poor law/ workhouse records which might be the best chance of finding anything - some are on Ancestry, but there will much more that isn't.

    However, even if there is an hospital admission record for her, the chance of a father of the child being named are remote, but you may want to check - my suspicion is the father's details were invented, as you say for reasons of respectability. If she was presenting herself to the registrar as being married, then she had to give the father the surname RODWAY, but obviously couldn't use John as a first name without having the risk of awkward questions.

    I would certainly be looking for the baptism record though- many workhouses/hospitals had their own chapels where babies could be baptised, not sure about Guy's, but worth investigating.
    Retired professional researcher, and ex- deputy registrar, now based in Worcestershire. Happy to give any help or advice I can ( especially on matters of civil registration) - contact via PM or my website www.chalfontresearch.co.uk
    Follow me on Twittter @ChalfontR

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    • #3
      I agree with Antony that the chances of finding any hard evidence are poor and everything is speculation really.

      However, I wouldn't be too quick to assume that her bro-in-law might be the father. Another way of looking at things is that maybe her BIL was very kind to her after her husband died and the "same name" thing is a gesture of thanks. I have several people in my tree who I know were named after people who had done the family some favour or other. I would guess though, that Charles was probably the name of the father...but it's only a guess!

      OC

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      • #4
        Thank you both for comments and suggestions.
        Jane E

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