Hello everyone. I've been lurking but I'm going to be cheeky enough to make my second post a plea for help!
I'm doing pretty well with our family tree, but there are two mystery men on whom I'm really focusing. I'll split them over 2 threads for clarity.
The first is my maternal great grandfather's father. The family were all from the Romford/Upminster/Leytonstone area of Essex. According to my great grandfather's marriage certificate, his father is listed as a William John Edwards with occupation of Doctor of Medicine. Family legend says (and appears to be corroborated by the censuses) that he and my GGF's mother never lived together, although he had been referred to in the family as "Dr Edwards". His granddaughter (who never knew him) postulated that maybe he had been an apothecary rather than a doctor, but we can find no trace of him - either now with online resources, or 40 years ago at Somerset House.
My GGF's mother was one Elizabeth Enever, born 1846, and in the 1871 census she is listed as living with her parents, brothers and my GGF's elder (by 10 years) sister Lizzie Enever, age 7 months. By 1881 Elizabeth is living in her own household, her surname is by this time Edwards, and with her are living her 10-year old daughter Elizabeth Edwards (surname changed) and her twin 1-year-olds, Harry George (my GGF) and Lily (in fact they were triplets, more of which later) and she is listed as a widow. By 1891 and 1901, the household comprises these three plus 2 younger sisters - also surname Edwards - and Elizabeth (nee Enever) is still listed as a widow.
Now my problem is can't seem to find any record of a marriage for Elizabeth Enever to William John Edwards, nor can I find birth certificates on Free BMD for Harry George and Lily (Harry George died in November 1955 at the age of 76 - we have his death cert). We do have among our paperwork a death certificate for a William John Edwards who died in Whitechapel in 1891, aged 51 - right area, right age - whose occupation, however, is given as "2nd engineer of the SS Times, late of Commercial Road, Limehouse" and whose rather colourful cause of death is given as "Violent compressions of the brain & fractured skull caused by a fall on the pavement while under the influence of alcohol". I have also ordered the birth certificate for the youngest sister in the hope that it may corroborate the father's name and maybe shed more light on his occupation.
So my questions are:
1. Is it possible that Elizabeth Enever and William John Edwards never actually married? That she just used his surname and called herself a widow for the sake of respectability? The Enevers were all agricultural labourers, according to the census, so I don't suppose there'd have been much money for a wedding. If he were indeed at sea, it could explain why they never lived together
2. Failing the free BMD, where else can I look for birth certificates for Harry George and Lily? (My great aunt, Harry George's daughter, tried to get his birth cert from Somerset house 40 years ago with the name info we have, only for it to be rejected)
3. I would really like to find out at least the sex of the triplet who, family legend has it, died before the family could claim a bonus for a triplet birth. Can anyone tell me what this bonus might have been?
4. Where should be my next avenue to find out whether the drunken sailor (or rather engineer) was the right William John Edwards? I'm assuming that Harry George is likely to have given his father's name correctly at the time of his marriage, even if he might have exaggerated his social standing (especially if he was dead and couldn't dispute it!)
5. Are deed poll name changes kept online anywhere? It would be interesting to be able to corroborate that my GGGM did indeed change Lizzie's surname
I'm doing pretty well with our family tree, but there are two mystery men on whom I'm really focusing. I'll split them over 2 threads for clarity.
The first is my maternal great grandfather's father. The family were all from the Romford/Upminster/Leytonstone area of Essex. According to my great grandfather's marriage certificate, his father is listed as a William John Edwards with occupation of Doctor of Medicine. Family legend says (and appears to be corroborated by the censuses) that he and my GGF's mother never lived together, although he had been referred to in the family as "Dr Edwards". His granddaughter (who never knew him) postulated that maybe he had been an apothecary rather than a doctor, but we can find no trace of him - either now with online resources, or 40 years ago at Somerset House.
My GGF's mother was one Elizabeth Enever, born 1846, and in the 1871 census she is listed as living with her parents, brothers and my GGF's elder (by 10 years) sister Lizzie Enever, age 7 months. By 1881 Elizabeth is living in her own household, her surname is by this time Edwards, and with her are living her 10-year old daughter Elizabeth Edwards (surname changed) and her twin 1-year-olds, Harry George (my GGF) and Lily (in fact they were triplets, more of which later) and she is listed as a widow. By 1891 and 1901, the household comprises these three plus 2 younger sisters - also surname Edwards - and Elizabeth (nee Enever) is still listed as a widow.
Now my problem is can't seem to find any record of a marriage for Elizabeth Enever to William John Edwards, nor can I find birth certificates on Free BMD for Harry George and Lily (Harry George died in November 1955 at the age of 76 - we have his death cert). We do have among our paperwork a death certificate for a William John Edwards who died in Whitechapel in 1891, aged 51 - right area, right age - whose occupation, however, is given as "2nd engineer of the SS Times, late of Commercial Road, Limehouse" and whose rather colourful cause of death is given as "Violent compressions of the brain & fractured skull caused by a fall on the pavement while under the influence of alcohol". I have also ordered the birth certificate for the youngest sister in the hope that it may corroborate the father's name and maybe shed more light on his occupation.
So my questions are:
1. Is it possible that Elizabeth Enever and William John Edwards never actually married? That she just used his surname and called herself a widow for the sake of respectability? The Enevers were all agricultural labourers, according to the census, so I don't suppose there'd have been much money for a wedding. If he were indeed at sea, it could explain why they never lived together
2. Failing the free BMD, where else can I look for birth certificates for Harry George and Lily? (My great aunt, Harry George's daughter, tried to get his birth cert from Somerset house 40 years ago with the name info we have, only for it to be rejected)
3. I would really like to find out at least the sex of the triplet who, family legend has it, died before the family could claim a bonus for a triplet birth. Can anyone tell me what this bonus might have been?
4. Where should be my next avenue to find out whether the drunken sailor (or rather engineer) was the right William John Edwards? I'm assuming that Harry George is likely to have given his father's name correctly at the time of his marriage, even if he might have exaggerated his social standing (especially if he was dead and couldn't dispute it!)
5. Are deed poll name changes kept online anywhere? It would be interesting to be able to corroborate that my GGGM did indeed change Lizzie's surname
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