You may well be right. I had the thought that maybe he was William's - even if he was he would have been registered as a Graham at birth I suppose?- and that because Jessie is listed as a widow on the 1881 census, she and William were estranged at the time - had she found out about Ellen and her family?- and Edwin went back to using his mother's maiden name because he wanted nothing to do with his father. So many of William's children had their mother's maiden name as their middle name too - Webb Hooper, Townsend Hooper, Swift Hooper - that he would be just like him to make the boy Graham Hooper after he married Jessie. But I'm just guessing. Obviously some time between 1881 and 1891 William and Jessie got back together.
To add to the fun, after William deserted Caroline Townsend, she went to live with a man who had originally been called Adam Sturgess. He came from Kintbury in Berkshire. But because he had a criminal record he took her name and became Adam Townsend - I've found their children were registered with surname Townsend and mother's maiden name Hooper. And William's two boys who came to Australia used the name Hooper Townsend.
To add to the fun, after William deserted Caroline Townsend, she went to live with a man who had originally been called Adam Sturgess. He came from Kintbury in Berkshire. But because he had a criminal record he took her name and became Adam Townsend - I've found their children were registered with surname Townsend and mother's maiden name Hooper. And William's two boys who came to Australia used the name Hooper Townsend.
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