Cousins of Some Degree

Windsor Castle Lower Bailey - Joseph Nash 1848 

From time to time I do check my blogger stats. Occasionally among the data are searches that brought people to the site. One of these searches was for "Arthur Wallington Glen", which I googled in turn. The first two hits were for this blog (!), but, more interesting to me, the third hit was for the transcript of a recorded interview with Dr. John Wallington Glen, ice-physics researcher, and, it turns out, distant step-cousin of mine. In his interview Dr. Glen says:
     …my father’s parents were Arthur Wallington Glen and Laura nee Till[e]y who
     were I think second cousins once removed, my grandfather was a builder, he had
     a house in Davey Street in London and a country house rather oddly known as
     The Cottage ‘cause it was quite big, at Virginia Water…

His paternal grandparents signed as witnesses to the marriage of John "Jack" Tilley and Amelia Augusta Beresford in June 1914, for which I have the marriage certificate, Jack Tilley being a son of Llewellyn Tilley, and my step great grandfather. Given Dr. Glen's uncertainty as to the exact relationship of his grandparents before their marriage, I'll take it they're cousins of some degree.

With the thought that tracing known cousins back to a common ancestor can yield interesting information, this post is concerned with the parents and siblings of John Tilley who would be my step 3xgreat grandfather, the father of Llewellyn Tilley, confectioner and farmer of Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire. I start with the information above that his daughter Laura Tilley is a cousin of some degree of her husband Arthur Wallington Glen; and, from 1881 census data, that one Glen Tilley is a cousin of Llewellyn himself.

Ancestry.com searches for England censuses from 1881 confirm Dr. Glen's information; at 33 Davies Street, Hanover Square, London (1881 and 1901), and at Virginia Water, Christchurch, Surrey (1891 and 1911), suggesting he maintained them both; his occupation as Builder/Decorator Employing 11 men (1881), Builder (1891), House Decorator/Painter - Employer (1901), and Builder - Employer (1911); and his wife Laura (born about 1854 in Tredegar, Wales). Their children are: Laura Eleanor (1879), Ida (1881), Arthur Percy (1882), James Vivian (1885), Sara (1887), Charles Wallington (1889), and William Llewellyn (1891). All seven were still living in 1911.

According to the National Probate Calendar, Arthur Wallington Glen died 30 March 1930 with probate granted to Laura Glen, his widow, on 29 August. According to the parish register, he was buried in the parish of Virginia Water, Christchurch, Surrey on 2 April. The death register index is Arthur W Glen Mar1930 Paddington 1a 110 Age:78. His marriage to Laura Tilley is recorded in BMD Marriage Index Arthur Wallington Glen Mar1878 Dursley 6a 315.

Prior to his marriage, the 1871 England Census at 12 Princes Street, Soho finds him with mother, Sarah Glen, Dressmaker, born Kingswood, Gloucester, and siblings. The father is presumably alive, since Sarah reports her status as Wife, Married, but in fact, she is the head of household for census purposes. Arthur Wallington Glen, age 19, is a carpenter, born in Chippenham, Wiltshire. This would correspond to BMD Birth Index Dec1851 Chippenham 8 304.

The census in 1861 finds Sarah and some of the children at 7 Garden Place, Newington, Surrey. Still no husband, and, this time, no Arthur. Before Arthur's time, but in the 1851 England Census at 1 Lansdown Place, Chippenham, we have:

     William Glen       Head  Mar   37   Carpenter     Scotland
     Sarah Glen          Wife  Mar    33                      Glostershire
     Charles Glen       Son              10  Scholar        Somerset             (born about 1841)
     Ellen Glen            Daur             8   Scholar         Somerset           (1843)
     William Glen        Son              6   Scholar         Somerset            (1845)
     Elizabeth Glen     Daur             4   Scholar         Somerset            (1847)
     John Glen            Son              2                       Wilts., Chippnm.  (1849)

Other children in later censuses are:
     Arthur Wallington (1852)
     James (1853)
     Ellen is also known as Eleanor in the 1861 census.

Searching for a marriage among the BMD Marriage Indexes for William Glen and Sarah up to Dec1841 yields a single hit. Sarah Tilley and William Glen were both married in the same quarter and registration district: BMD Marriage Index Dec1837 Bath 11 8. I have not yet ordered this one, but it strongly points toward Arthur Wallington Glen's mother being Sarah Tilley.

LDS familysearch.org have two baptisms at the Independent Congregation, Kingswood, Wiltshire with parents William (or Wm.) Tilley and Mary Wallington:
     Sarah Tilley                        born 5 March 1818, baptized 12 June 1818
     Richard Wallington Tilley    born 9 July 1819, baptized 23 January 1820

Which would explain the given name "Wallington".

So much for one of the cousins. As to the other, the baptismal record for Laura Tilley (wife of Arthur Wallington Glen) is from St Mary, Islington, born 20 Sept 1853, baptized 21 February 1864, "Laura Daur. of Llewellyn and Elizabeth Tilley". To establish a definite connection, the Glen/Tilley 1878 marriage certificate from Dursley would be helpful. Llewellyn and Elizabeth Tilley were living in Bedwellty for the 1851 Census, and the BMD Birth Index for Laura Tilley is probably using the Welsh spelling, Lawra Tilley Dec1853 Abergavenny 11a 69.

The post, An Identity Revealed, cites the baptismal record for Laura's father, Llewellyn Tilley, found in the register of an Independent Congregation in Kingswood, Wiltshire (neighboring Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire), born 21 November 1823 and baptized 18 January 1824, of parents Jno. [John] Tilley and Hester Knight.

As noted in that post, the LDS familysearch.org site also have, for these parents at this congregation, Mary (born 2 December 1821, baptized 6 October 1822) and Daniell (born 22 May 1826, baptized 13 August 1826); and no more, suggesting the parents were unable to conceive further children shortly after this (most likely because one of them had died), or that the family moved, and so further records would be found elsewhere. Given Llewellyn's later marriage in Rhymney, Monmouthshire might be the place to look.

Since other trees on ancestry.com have made the same connection, I am comforted in assuming true the hypothesis of Laura Tilley, wife of Arthur Wallington Glenn, being the Laura (or Lawra), daughter of Llewellyn Tilley. If so, her paternal grandparents would be John Tilley and Hester Knight. So, what baptismal records exist for John Tilley in the neighborhood of Kingswood?

There are several, but I present the most promising here. Combining data from LDS familysearch.org and BMDregisters.co.uk gives the following, all children of William Tilley and Mary, all baptized at a dissenting congregation called The Tabernacle Calvinistic Methodist of Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire. Prior to this research I have never heard of the Calvinistic Methodists (now Presbyterians), who I now understand were/are a predominantly Welsh denomination descended from the ministry of George Whitefield (a Calvinist) - as opposed to the Methodism of John Wesley (an Arminian).

     John            born 26 January 1800, baptized 18 August 1803
     Mary Ann    born 19 November 1802, baptized 18 August 1803
     Joseph         born 31 January 1804, baptized 25 April 1804
     Charles        born 6 September 1806, baptized 29 October 1806
     Jemima        born 8 April 1808, baptized 10 August 1808
     James          baptized 30 March 1815
     Kezia          baptized 30 March 1815
     Rhoda         baptized 30 March 1815
     Maria          born 12 July 1816, baptized 4 July 1817

These are plausibly all siblings, spaced as I have come to expect from one family. How many William and Mary Tilleys might there be in a congregation such as this? The oldest, John Tilley, might be the future husband of Hester Knight, and father of Mary - born in December 1821, he would have been nearly 22 years old - and of Llewellyn and Daniell.

What if anything links these with the two baptized (sequentially after this) at the Independent Congregation in Kingswood? The most obvious connection is that the parents have the right names. But whereas the Independents thoughtfully included the mother's maiden name, the Calvinistic Methodists did not. Another part of the answer lies in the name Wallington.

The post Kid in the Candy Store shows the 1881 England Census for Llewellyn Tilley. Among his household is 19-year-old Glen Tilley, Confectioner's Assistant, a cousin, born in Bath, Somerset. And he would seem to be Glenalvon Wallington Tilley of BMD Birth Index Sep1861 Bath 5c 701, and baptized 16 July 1865 at St John the Evangelist, Hammersmith (born 8th July 1861), son of Richard Wallington Tilley, Draper, and Flora Charlotte (other records have Laura).

I have found records for three, possibly four, distinct Richard Wallington Tilleys. One of them, I have already mentioned above, baptized at the Kingswood Independent Congregation in 1820. He died 1846, and had a son of the same name, born in that year.

Richard Wallington Tilley, father of Glenalvon, I find in the 1871 England Census at 18 Hornton Street, Kensington, as a lodger. The return includes: Richard W Tilley, widower age 33, Traveller for a Mantle Manufacturer, born in Kingswood, Gloucestershire; son Glenalvon W age 9, and daughter Florence L age 11 (whose baptism in Hammersmith was recorded at the same time as her brother's). That the mantles in question were clothes and not gas mantles is confirmed by the parish register entry for Florence's marriage to William Henry Gregory 1 January 1881 at Trinity Church Stepney, where her father's occupation is "Costumier".

(Of a possible fourth Richard Wallington Tilley, the father of Glenalvon Wallington Tilley had a son - by a second wife - by the name Richard W Tilley about 1877 in Bristol according to the 1881 England Census, although I could find no BMD Birth Index for him. The W might be Wallington, but I have no further information).

For the future father of Glenalvon, the 1851 England Census at Long Street, Wotton-under-Edge has:
     Joseph Tilley     Head  Mar   46   Broker                 Kingswood, Glo'shire
     Maria Tilley      Wife   Mar   50                               Wotton-under-Edge, Glo'shire
     Sarah Tilley      Daur   U       19  Assist at Home      Kingswood, Glo'shire
     Sophia Tilley    Daur   U       17  Assist in Shop        Kingswood, Glo'shire 
                                                    (Scholar struck out)
     Richard Tilley   Son    U       13   Grocer                  Kingswood, Glo'shire
                                                    (Broker's Son struck out)
     Benjamin Tilley Son   U       12   Scholar                  Kingswood, Glo'shire

Benjamin Wallington Tilley came to light in a search for Tilleys in the London Gazette. He had died 9 July 1911, and the executors were looking for claims against the estate before distributing his assets. I have followed him back also to Joseph Tilley. On the marriage certificate for Benjamin Wallington Tilley and Fanny Saunder Self, 19 April 1876 at St Giles Camberwell, his father is Joseph Tilley, Furniture Broker. I am supposing that he is the Benjamin Tilley of this 1851 England Census.

All this is indeed consistent with John and Joseph Tilley of the Calvinistic Methodists being brothers. In that case, William and Mary Tilley would be grandparents to Llewellyn Tilley and great grandparents to Glenalvon Wallington Tilley. Llewellyn and Glenalvon would be first cousins once removed.

Arthur Wallington Glen and Laura Tilley were reported as possibly second cousins once removed. William Tilley and Mary Wallington are definitely the grandparents of Arthur Wallington Glen through his mother Sarah Tilley. That the Mary Tilley of the Calvinistic Methodists is the same person as Mary Wallington of the Independent Congregation in Kingswood is suggested by the use of the name Wallington as a given name among Joseph's family. If so William Tilley and Mary Wallington are also Llewellyn Tilley's grandparents, this would, I think, actually make Arthur and Laura first cousins once removed.

Another of the Calvinistic Methodist siblings, Kezia Tilley appears to have married John Roberts (BMD Marriage Index Sep1838 St George Hanover Square 1 19), since the 1851 England Census finds them living in the Winchester Tower at Windsor Castle, where he works in the office of the Lord Chamberlain.

Most interesting is a visitor, staying with them at the Winchester Tower, Mary W Tilley, Widow, age 73, born in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire. She may be the Mary Tilley of BMD Death Index Dec1859 Windsor 2c 268, and is possibly Mary (nee Wallington) Tilley, Kezia's mother, and my step 4xgreat grandmother.

Charles Dickens wrote of the bewildering array of flunkeys at a royal palace, such as Windsor Castle, in an edition of Household Words published 3 July 1858. By 1861, John Roberts was Inspector of Windsor Castle, still in the Lord Chamberlain's Office, whether the Inspector of Accounts or one of three inspectors of palaces, referred to by Dickens, I don't know. One of his children, Keziah Wallington Roberts was married in November 1863 to Charles Hatfield, at which time her father is reported as deceased. This narrows his death record to BMD Death Index Sep1861 Windsor 2c 242, and the National Probate Calendar confirms his date of death as 16 September 1861, with probate granted to widow Kezia Roberts 8 October 1861.

By 1881, Kezia Roberts is a Housekeeper at Kensington Palace. Her brother James Till[e]y, age 70, is staying with her. So, of the Calvinistic Methodist sibling group, John, Joseph, Kezia, and James are all likely children of William Tilley and Mary Wallington.

There are many records that could shore up this research, among them:

     Arthur Wallington Glen/Laura Tilley BMD Marriage Index Mar1878 Dursley 6a 315
          would confirm the names/occupations of the fathers of bride and groom.
     Mary Tilley BMD Death Index Dec1859 Windsor 2c 268
          might, if Kezia or her husband reported the death, give relationship details.
     Richard Wallington Tilley/Mary Ann Sams
          BMD Marriage Index Jun1845 St George Hanover Square 1 52
          might give occupational data for Richard Wallington's father William.
     John Roberts/Kezia Tilley
          BMD Marriage Index Sep1838 St George Hanover Square 1 19
          might give occupation for Kezia's father, William.
     William Glen/Sarah Tilley BMD Marriage Index Dec1837 Bath 11 8

          might give occupational data for Sarah's father, William.

I'm thinking the marriage certificate report of father's occupation might be consistent between children baptized by the Calvinistic Methodists and Independents, since our hypothesis is that the William Tilleys are one and the same. That is, Sarah and Richard Wallington Tilley's father (both from the Independent Congregation), and Kezia Tilley's father (of the Calvinistic Methodists), ought to appear on these records as one and the same. This could get expensive, with no guarantee of success. For example, Llewellyn Tilley is recorded as Confectioner in 1887 and Farmer (posthumously) in 1914, and these records clearly refer to the same person, being the marriages of John "Jack" Tilley to Maria Jane Jotcham in the first case, and Amelia Augusta Beresford in the second. And there remains the possibility of "deceased" in place of father's occupation.

Happily I am not alone in this research. There are other trees on ancestry.com, and these have been very helpful, both for direct reference, and also because the ancestry.com search algorithms are directed by what previous researchers have contributed. I am grateful for the work of these previous researchers. The documents I have found so far are consistent with William Tilley and Mary Wallington being my step 4xgreat grandparents. Indeed, I find the volume of circumstantial evidence pointing in this direction difficult to explain in any other way.

Ordnance Survey 1946