The Surrey record office in Woking is a real gem of a place. Lovely open modern building, lots of lovely records to lose yourself in and enthusiastic helpful staff.
I was on the trail of the family of William Fitz-Henry and Martha Eagles of Ashtead. I wanted to know where William was buried to see if a gravestone would give me any further clues about his ancestors. I'd looked in the graveyard of the parish church of St Giles when I visited Ashtead earlier in the year, but hadn't found a gravestone.
The first bonus was finding that the parish records of St Giles weren't on fiche - this meant I got to look through the original register. And what a splendid register it was, all leather bound and gold tooled. I have got photos of it, but the copyright declaration that I had to sign said I would put any of the photos on t'internet. Sorry.
So who did I find in the register?
William and Martha's first two children (Hester and Rowland) were born before they settled in Ashtead, but I did find the baptisms of:
Harry Duncombe Fitz-Henry christened 8 May 1882
Son of William FH (Captain Retired full pay) and Martha Elizabeth.
Woodfield Duncombe Tighe Fitz-Henry born 26 January 1883, christened 6 May 1883
Son of of William FH (captain in the Army, retired full pay) and Martha Elizabeth.
William Fitz-Henry, born 30 October 1885, christened 19 August 1886
Son of William (Captain in the Army) and Martha Elizabeth.
Harry Duncombe died in infancy, but neither he nor his father William (died November 1885) were buried at St Giles. One of the records office staff suggested that one or both of them may have been buried at the new municipal cemetery in Leatherhead (the nearest big town). This would mean a trip to the cemetery itself to consult their records.
As a stroke of fortune, the records office also had some editions of Kelly's Directories for Surrey on fiche. Amongst the "Private Residents" were
1885 edition, Fitz-Henry Capt. William at Oakfield Lodge
1886 edition, Fitz-Henry Mrs. at The Shaw.
I had previously thought that she had gone back to be near her family in Buckinghamshire straight after she was widowed, but the christening of William and the Kelly's entry showed that she was still a fixture in the village for at least another 8 months. Oakfield Lodge was still shown on the Ashtead map of 1932, but the current Google map shows some modern houses on the site in what is now Balquhain Close.
So... why was baby William's christening delayed for so long after his birth? This was answered the following day at Guild of One Name Studies lecture in Dorchester. In short, a woman did not re-enter society after the birth of her baby until she had been "churched" - going to Sunday service at her church a month after the birth. Often the baby was taken along and was christened at the same time - not before, unless the baby was very sickly. However, Matha's husband died before she had baby William christened and she entered her six month period of "deep mourning". To have the baby christened during this time was considered at the very least disrespectful, and at worst it would have brought misfortune on the child. Hence Martha had baby William christened when the mourning period was over.
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Showing posts with label Martha Eagles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Martha Eagles. Show all posts
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Friday, 22 August 2008
"Willy" Fitz-Henry - the lost child at the orphanage 1891
One of the nerdy pleasures of doing a one-name study is linking a "stray" to one of your established families.
In the English 1891 census, according to Ancestry.com there is a Willy Fitzhenry aged 3, born in Bearstead, resident at the All Saints Orphanage in Lewisham, South London.
On the actual scan of the handwritten page, the age is 5 and the birthplace is Banstead.
"Banstead, isn't that near Ashtead in Surrey?" I hear you ask.
Yes. It is.
And spookily, at the orphanage is a Rowland Fitz-Henry, born Banstead, aged 11.
There can't be too many Rowland Fitz-Henrys in the world - the only one I've got on my entire database was the son of William FH and Martha (nee Eagles) who lived at Ashtead in Surrey.
Now Rowland wasn't born at Banstead, or even at Ashtead (he was born in Chiswick, London), and the only William in the GRO indexes born in that time frame was born in Paddington, London.
There was only one thing to do - send off for the birth certificate.
And here's what it said:
Martha herself died in 1889 of "alcoholic poisoning and coma", having moved back to her family in Aylesbury. She was only 43.
Of her surviving children, Hester Cordelia went to live with Dr Woodfield Eagles (Martha's brother), Woodfield disappeared from view until the 1901 census when he turns up as a shipping clerk, and Rowland and William ("Willy") went to live at the orphanage.
So... more questions.
Why did the boys go to the orphanage rather than being taken in by the large and wealthy Eagles family?
Why did the boys go to an orphanage so far from either their family home or from the Eagles family in Buckinghamshire?
Where was Woodfield in the 1891 census? He wasn't at the orphanage.
And what happened to Willy?
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In the English 1891 census, according to Ancestry.com there is a Willy Fitzhenry aged 3, born in Bearstead, resident at the All Saints Orphanage in Lewisham, South London.
On the actual scan of the handwritten page, the age is 5 and the birthplace is Banstead.
"Banstead, isn't that near Ashtead in Surrey?" I hear you ask.
Yes. It is.
And spookily, at the orphanage is a Rowland Fitz-Henry, born Banstead, aged 11.
There can't be too many Rowland Fitz-Henrys in the world - the only one I've got on my entire database was the son of William FH and Martha (nee Eagles) who lived at Ashtead in Surrey.
Now Rowland wasn't born at Banstead, or even at Ashtead (he was born in Chiswick, London), and the only William in the GRO indexes born in that time frame was born in Paddington, London.
There was only one thing to do - send off for the birth certificate.
And here's what it said:
William Fitz-HenryWilliam senior died on 25 November 1885 after suffering a hemiplegic stroke. I'm not sure why Martha went to London to have her baby - perhaps she had hired the services of an obstetrician there.
Born 30 October 1885, 74 Cambridge Terrace, Hyde Park, London.
Son of William Fitz-Henry (deceased), a landowner and retired army captain and Martha Fitz-Henry nee Eagles.
Registered 8 December 1885
Martha herself died in 1889 of "alcoholic poisoning and coma", having moved back to her family in Aylesbury. She was only 43.
Of her surviving children, Hester Cordelia went to live with Dr Woodfield Eagles (Martha's brother), Woodfield disappeared from view until the 1901 census when he turns up as a shipping clerk, and Rowland and William ("Willy") went to live at the orphanage.
So... more questions.
Why did the boys go to the orphanage rather than being taken in by the large and wealthy Eagles family?
Why did the boys go to an orphanage so far from either their family home or from the Eagles family in Buckinghamshire?
Where was Woodfield in the 1891 census? He wasn't at the orphanage.
And what happened to Willy?
Why not subscribe to this blog and get the updates sent to your inbox? Or send me an email about your Fitz(-)henry family stories and history.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
A big hello to the Canadian Fitz-Henrys!
It shows that sometimes it pays to go back over all those old posts from places like Genforum and Rootsweb from the days when the web was new and shiny and all text was in the hideous Courier font.
Back in September 2000, Garry Fitz-Henry of Ontario left a message asking if anyone knew about the provenance of the names "Woodfield" and "Eagles" in his family.
Two weeks ago I came across that email again, and now have four contacts from the family of William Fitz-Henry and Martha Eagles (see this post for more about William and Martha). Brilliant!
So a big hello from the nerdy world of the "Fitz-Henry Family History" blog to Garry and his wife Laurie, Brian Dulcombe Fitz-Henry and Annabella Fitz-Henry. If there are any other descendants of William and Martha lurking out there, come and join the group hug!
Back in September 2000, Garry Fitz-Henry of Ontario left a message asking if anyone knew about the provenance of the names "Woodfield" and "Eagles" in his family.
Two weeks ago I came across that email again, and now have four contacts from the family of William Fitz-Henry and Martha Eagles (see this post for more about William and Martha). Brilliant!
So a big hello from the nerdy world of the "Fitz-Henry Family History" blog to Garry and his wife Laurie, Brian Dulcombe Fitz-Henry and Annabella Fitz-Henry. If there are any other descendants of William and Martha lurking out there, come and join the group hug!
Monday, 28 April 2008
The missing Winchester and Aylesbury Fitz-Henrys
I've been piecing together two Fitz-Henry families over the past few months, one based in Winchester, Hampshire and the other in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
The common link is William Fitz-Henry, a soldier born in Dublin in 1830 whose father was a lawyer called Hester Fitz-Henry.
William came to the Winchester Peninsular barracks sometime around 1859, when his regiment the 60th Rifles was stationed there. His wife Barbara was a Scottish woman whose maiden name was Morrison, and had previously been married to a man called Le Sautair (or so it looks on the birth certificate - it would fit as this is a French sounding name and William and Barbara's first child was born on the island of Jersey so they might have met there).
They had seven children but only four survived
Henrietta b. 1855 on Jersey
George b. November 1859 and d.1st quarter 1860
Alexander b. 1st quarter 1861 and d. 2nd quarter 1862
William George b. May 1862 - became a surgeon
Charles Robert b. 1st quarter 1864 and d. 4th quarter 1865
Norman b. June 1865 and still alive in 1881
Annie Eliza not registered but christened in October 1867. At least that's what I thought until this evening when I was scouring the fantastic facility that is FreeBMD, and having put Annie, Winchester and 4th quarter into the search engine it turns out that she had been registered as Annie Eliza HENRY.
Barbara died in 1877 and by the end of the year, William had married again to the splendidly named Martha Eagles from an old monied family in Aylesbury Buckinghamshire. I'll do more about the Eagles family and their legacy to the Fitz-Henry family with regard to their names in another post.
William and Martha had another 4 children, and then seemed to disappear off the face of the earth after the 1881 census.
The children were
Hester Cordelia b. 1878
Rowley Steavens b.1879
Harry Duncombe b.1882
Woodfield Duncombe Thomas b.1883
However, having persuaded myself that William had been posted abroad and died overseas, tonight I've found both him and Martha safely ending their days in the south of England via the FreeBMD search engine. William died in 1885 in Epsom and Martha in 1889 in Wycombe. Somehow I had missed them both when I was hand transcribing the indexes at the Family Records Centre in London. Their certificates have been ordered!
The common link is William Fitz-Henry, a soldier born in Dublin in 1830 whose father was a lawyer called Hester Fitz-Henry.
William came to the Winchester Peninsular barracks sometime around 1859, when his regiment the 60th Rifles was stationed there. His wife Barbara was a Scottish woman whose maiden name was Morrison, and had previously been married to a man called Le Sautair (or so it looks on the birth certificate - it would fit as this is a French sounding name and William and Barbara's first child was born on the island of Jersey so they might have met there).
They had seven children but only four survived
Henrietta b. 1855 on Jersey
George b. November 1859 and d.1st quarter 1860
Alexander b. 1st quarter 1861 and d. 2nd quarter 1862
William George b. May 1862 - became a surgeon
Charles Robert b. 1st quarter 1864 and d. 4th quarter 1865
Norman b. June 1865 and still alive in 1881
Annie Eliza not registered but christened in October 1867. At least that's what I thought until this evening when I was scouring the fantastic facility that is FreeBMD, and having put Annie, Winchester and 4th quarter into the search engine it turns out that she had been registered as Annie Eliza HENRY.
Barbara died in 1877 and by the end of the year, William had married again to the splendidly named Martha Eagles from an old monied family in Aylesbury Buckinghamshire. I'll do more about the Eagles family and their legacy to the Fitz-Henry family with regard to their names in another post.
William and Martha had another 4 children, and then seemed to disappear off the face of the earth after the 1881 census.
The children were
Hester Cordelia b. 1878
Rowley Steavens b.1879
Harry Duncombe b.1882
Woodfield Duncombe Thomas b.1883
However, having persuaded myself that William had been posted abroad and died overseas, tonight I've found both him and Martha safely ending their days in the south of England via the FreeBMD search engine. William died in 1885 in Epsom and Martha in 1889 in Wycombe. Somehow I had missed them both when I was hand transcribing the indexes at the Family Records Centre in London. Their certificates have been ordered!
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