How likely is this? (or What am I missing?)

[Christine in Herts]

I have been aware, without quantifying them, that there were some big gaps in my paternal g-g-parents' family - assuming I've been picking up the correct records on the way.

George BENNETT m Hannah BOOTH 14 Dec 1862 Tipton, Staffs
~~ 9 years ~~
birth of child: Mary Hannah BENNETT 1871q4 Bolton, Lancs
birth of child: Arthur BENNETT b Nov/Dec 1873 Masham, Yorks
~~ 7 years ~~
birth of child: Harry (George) BENNETT 3 Jan 1881 Glossop, Derbys
~~ 6 years + ~~
birth of child: Leonard BENNETT 6 Mar 1887 Handsworth, B'ham

I feel I should be having a look at these, but it gets complicated because of the combination of a not-unusual surname and a lot of moving around. These are the only ones who show up on the census. Hannah was widowed in 1898, and there is (correctly) no entry in 1911 for years of marriage, nor for numbers of children alive/dead.

Any ideas?

Christine

[Smiley Sammy]

No children on the 1871 then?

[JayG]

Hi Christine

Do you know how long they stayed at the places they had children?

Have you looked at the PR's for those place before & after a child was born.

There definitely looks to be children missing but I can see a easy way to find them.

[Christine in Herts]

The 1871 "hits" I have, at the moment are:

George BENNETT (bap: 5 Jan 1840 N Kilworth, Leics):
* RG10/4132 fo47 p26: age 31 (b Kilworth, Leics), mar, outdoor labourer; lodger 142 Bridge Mills, Whitworth, Spotland, Lancs

Hannah BENNETT (b 17 Feb 1846 Alton Common, Staffs): [this is the most plausible "hit" so far]
* RG10/4088 fo78 p48: age 15 (b Staffs), servant; head Daniel BERRY, Unitarian minister; Prospect Pl, Stamford Rd, Ashton-u-Lyne
no marital status specified; but I can't get the age to be 25, however hard I look.

Christine

[Little Nell]

Bear in mind that gaps in children might be due to father's absence (work; prison etc); illness on the part of either parent, miscarriages, stillbirths, or abstinence as a form of contraception.

My gt grandmother had a gap of 6 years in between children. I know that her daughter told my mother that she'd had 9 pregnancies, so 3 missing pregnancies fitted this nicely.

[Christine in Herts]

I did think that some of the gaps could be down to absence to get work - but there are such big gaps - and more than one. If it's prison, it'll be hard to identify my George BENNETT amongst all the rest!

I've been playing on the Local BMD search, and found quite a number of mmn=BOOTH births in the likely timeframes. Now I have to go back to the GRO (and censuses, I guess) to make sure (hopefully) that [a] the Quarters don't clash, and [b] that there are explanations for where they all went.

I started out looking at the IGI. There are a number of plausible ones, but then I remembered that they were inclined to be non-CofE, so I may have trouble finding them anyway there.

Christine

[Olde Crone Holden]

I think the Hannah you have found in 71 is probably not her - yours gave birth in Q4 of the same year and is unlikely to have been a live in servant to a clergyman in that condition, married or not.

OC

[Christine in Herts]

I think the Hannah you have found in 71 is probably not her - yours gave birth in Q4 of the same year and is unlikely to have been a live in servant to a clergyman in that condition, married or not.

OC

I hadn't actually found her, myself. I forget who did, but it seemed plausible at the time. As you say, the arithmetic makes it much less likely.

Christine