Birketts, The Next Generation

Thomas Girtin, Carlisle Cathedral c.1795

The familysearch.org site of the Latter Day Saints indexes many parish records not available on ancestry.com. This is where I go to look for evidence of pre-1838 families outside of London. Today then, off to Carlisle, so to speak, and the report of a next generation of Birketts - actually a prior generation - the possible siblings and parents of John Birkett, solicitor of London. These dates are the furthest back I have gone for any family line, comparable to the Arnolds of Thoroughly Thoroly and Beyond. Beforehand, though, I offer this disclaimer; as with that post, the conclusions here are not as certain as I would like, based only on a single series of baptismal entries. But I also see some connections between the Birkett and Blow families.

Several months ago, in Meet the Birketts, I introduced the family of John Birkett, and his wife, Charlotte (possibly nee Lloyd). Their second-oldest daughter was Sarah Halton Birkett. At the time I speculated that Halton was a family name. Two generations later, Halton was one of my 2xgreat grandmother's middle names, Zoe Davina Halton Young Hanrott. (For more on the Young Hanrott story, see A Change of Name and How Many Ways to Spell Zoe).

Articles of Clerkship had revealed that John Birkett, solicitor of Cloak Lane, London was the son of John Birkett, Yeoman of Carlisle. So my first search was for any marriage record of John Birkett and Sarah Halton in Carlisle. I was in luck, since the parish records for St Mary Carlisle have just such a marriage dated 12 June 1762. Unfortunately, no fathers' names are recorded.

My next search was for baptisms of children belonging to any couple with names John Birkett and Sarah at this church from 1760 to 1800. The following list is the result. Note that all are children of John Birkett and, except for the first four below (as John Birket, no mother listed), have mother's name Sarah. The last has Sarah Halton as mother, that is, including her maiden name, which I have not seen much in England, but which is routine on this kind of record in Scotland. The dates are for their baptisms, except for the two burial dates.

     Margaret      27 Mar 1763 of John Birket
     Burial          12 Jul 1764 of John Birket
     Jane             3 Mar 1765, buried 2 June 1769 of John Birket
     Mary          24 May 1767 of John Birket
     Elizabeth    25 Mar 1770 of John Birkett and Sarah
     John           27 Sep 1772 of John Birkett and Sarah
     Jane              7 Apr 1775 of John Birkett and Sarah
     Henry          15 Feb 1778 of John Birkett and Sarah
     Sarah           22 Oct 1780 of John Birkett and Sarah
     Ann             12 Oct 1783 of John Birkett and Sarah
     Anna Maria  7 Jan 1787 of John Birkett and Sarah Halton

There is no guarantee that these are all children of the same parents, but this list certainly looks like the issue of a single family with the spacing between siblings I have come to expect. The sixth entry, John Birkett, would be my 5xgreat grandfather. As we saw previously, his Articles of Clerkship were filed in 1788. He would therefore have been 16 years old when he began it, which seems about right to me.

We could take this a little further, looking for marriages of Birkett children at St Mary, Carlisle, from which I found these two:
     Mary Birkett to Henry Pottinger on 31 May 1792
     Elizabeth Birkett to John Barnes on 2 October 1790

Nor are there guarantees that these are the same Mary and Elizabeth as on the baptism list above, since Birkett is a common name in the area. And perhaps we ought not go too much further on this path so speculatively. However, I find it interesting that one of the husbands is named John Barnes, who is possibly the attorney (or the son of the attorney) from whom John Birkett junior received his legal training, and the name he gave to his eldest son.
A marriage in 1762 suggests that John Birkett, senior and Sarah Halton were born about 1740. There are many John Birketts born 1735 to 1745 in the neighborhood of Carlisle, making it difficult to locate our specific John Birkett. On the other hand, I found only one Sarah Halton. She was baptized 4 Nov 1742 in Dalston, Cumberland, her father's name: Jeremiah. Again, this is suggestive without being conclusive.

You may remember that during one recorded bankruptcy in 1847, Messrs. Birkett, Taylor and Cox were working on the case in London, while Messrs. Blow and Relph were on the same case in Carlisle (where the bankrupt resided).  Note also, that John Birkett, junior had given Blow as a middle name to two of his children, suggesting, perhaps, a close professional, or even family, relationship. (By 1847, the Birkett of the law partnership is a son, Frederick Blow Birkett, his father John Birkett having died the previous year).

Raising the possibility of the record of a sister of Sarah Halton, St Cuthbert Carlisle records the double baptism on 13 August 1786 of Jeremiah and Mary Blow, the children of Edward Blow and Rachel Halton. Perhaps Sarah and Rachel are sisters, making Edward Blow and John Birkett senior, brothers-in-law. At St Mary Carlisle, Edward Blow and his wife Rachel (probably, the same Edward and Rachel), baptized the following:
     Jane        9 Oct 1774
     John      17 Aug 1777
     Edward  9 Apr 1780

At St Mary Carlisle, Jane and Jeremiah Blow, children of Edward Blow are recorded as buried 16 Dec 1796 and 11 Sep 1799 respectively, while one Edward Blow (father, son or whoever) was buried at the 14 Apr 1800.

The John Blow, above, baptized 1777, may be connected to the Blow of the law partnership in Carlisle. The more so since there are Articles of Clerkship between the father/son pair Edward and John Blow on the one part and John Barnes on the other, the same attorney with whom John Birkett (junior) had served his clerkship. Furthermore, the deponent witnessing the agreement is none other than John Birkett, Yeoman (that is, the senior)! These Articles describe Edward Blow as Innkeeper of Carlisle.

          John Birkett Senior of the city of Carlisle in the County of Cumberland yeoman
          Maketh Oath, that he this Deponent did see John Barnes one of the Attorneys
          of his Majesty's Court of Kings Bench Edward Blow of the City of Carlisle
          aforesaid Innkeeper and John Blow his son severally Sign Seal and as their
          several Acts and deeds in due form of Law deliver certain Articles of Agreement
          bearing the Date the Twenty Second Day of July last past [1791] and made between
          the said Edward Blow and John Blow his son of the one part and the said John
          Barnes of the other part.

Thus I am pretty sure that John Blow and John Birkett (junior) are cousins through their mothers, Rachel and Sarah Halton respectively. And it's possible that the father of these sisters is Jeremiah Halton. The father of Sarah Halton born 1742 is definitely Jeremiah; and then there is the possibility that the young Jeremiah Blow was named for his grandfather.

Some Loose Ends Tied

Among my objectives for genealogical research is to document the siblings of my direct ancestors. Not only does this put my ancestors' lives into perspective, but the documentation of siblings might yield clues pointing to the preceding generation. To this end, I never feel I can rest until I have a full set of BMD Index, parish and census data for an ancestor or a sibling. Or perhaps I'm merely rationalizing an obsessive impulse!

This post presents the available data - at least the data I've found - for Sarah Halton Birkett, wife of William Taylor, solicitor of 3 Cloak Lane, even at the risk of repeating some that I've already referenced earlier on the blog. These are my 4xgreat grandparents, and parents of Charlotte (who married James Denoon Young). At the same time, I will present available data for another of their daughters, Zoe Emmeline (who married James Bertrand Payen Payne). But some loose ends remain.

The post Meet the Birketts expands on Sarah Halton Birkett's family. I begin here with the record of her baptism on 21 July 1799 at St Stephen, Walbrook.

          Was baptized Sarah Halton Daughter of 

          John Birkett and Charlotte his Wife 

          Born 20th April 1799

          Note of the Parish of Stephen Walbrook

This is before the 1837 introduction of civil birth, marriage and death registers for England and Wales, as is the record of her marriage to William Taylor at St Thomas the Apostle in the City of London on 13 December 1821.

The marriage is also recorded in Pallott's Marriage Index:
     Taylor Wm b(St Faiths London)
          =  Sarah Halton Birkett
               p. lic[ence]
     St Thomas Apostle 1821

The baptismal register at St Michael Paternoster in the City of London on 2 March 1826 records their children William Lonsdale (born 19 July 1824) and Charlotte (born 15 January 1826), giving father's occupation as Solicitor, and address 3 Cloak Lane. William Lonsdale was apparently baptized twice, his first baptism on 1 September 1824 at St Thomas the Apostle gives the same name and birthday for the child, and same names, occupation and address for the parents. As previously reported, 3 Cloak Lane is also the address of the Birketts in 1828 (Articles of Clerkship) and 1848 (Post Office Book).

The next documentary appearance, I could find, is another baptism, this time at St Giles in the Fields Holborn on 27 November 1840 of Zoe, daughter of William and Sarah Taylor. His occupation is given as Solicitor, their address as 59 Gt Queen Street. Great Queen Street is close to The Rookery, Hogarth's inspiration for Gin Lane, but also closer to Lincoln's Inn and the legal district of London. I can find no BMD Birth Index entry for Zoe Taylor. However, Zoe Young proved hard to trace due to difficulties in transcription for the name Zoe, and I suspect that something similar has happened for her aunt. 

Great Queen Street is where I find them for the 1841 England Census. The reproduction of this census transcript is quite poor - although this may be faithful to the original - and I am rather relying on the index provided by ancestry.com.

     William Taylor   40    Solicitor      No [not born in the county]

     Sarah Taylor     45                      No

     Berbet Taylor   15                      No

     Charlotte Taylor 15                     No

But I note the absence of William Lonsdale and Zoe, which, without the St Giles baptism, would lead me to doubt that this is the correct family. William Lonsdale may have died by 1841; I have no further record of him. But I do have later records of Zoe, so she may be recorded elsewhere.

I'd suspected that Berbet (age is in the "male" column of the census return) should be Robert, or possibly Herbert. The equal ages of 15 years for the younger two Taylors does not require that they are twins. The 1841 census rounded ages down to the nearest 5 years. As we can tell from the baptismal record, Charlotte really was 15 at census time; but whoever "Berbet" was, he could have been born between 1822 and 1826.

Although there are Robert and Herbert Taylors of about the right age, none of them was constistent with other family data. Looking at the return again I thought to try Birkett as the given name, and found that Christ Church, City of London has a baptismal record on 22 November 1822 for Birkett Wilfred (or rather, Wilfrid) Taylor son of William and Sarah, Solicitor of Paternoster Row, born October 25, 1822. Also for Birkett Wilfred Taylor are Articles of Clerkship dated 1838 and a burial record for 8 July 1843 at St Thomas the Apostle, corresponding to BMD Death Index Dec1843 London 2 111. If I am reading correctly, the Articles of Clerkship bound him to Joseph Bebb for five years from 8 or 10 May 1838, so he died not long after completing his clerkship.

I have plenty of evidence that Zoe Emmeline Taylor is the sister of the Charlotte whose baptism I have presented above. The first piece is the 1851 England Census at 31 Michael Street, Kensington in the household of Edward Colnett, Boarding House Keeper:

     Sarah H Taylor    Wid  51  Annuitant     Middx, Walbrook

     Charlotte             Unm 25                     Middx, College Hill

     Zoe                     Unm 10                     Middx, St Giles

This return I have mentioned before. Interestingly it includes James Denoon Young, who would marry Charlotte a few months later. College Hill, by the way, is off Cloak Lane. William Taylor had died during the preceding 10 years. Finding the death record will be difficult because there are hundreds of recorded death for such a common name.

After this I had no more record until Sarah's death. BMD Death Index has Sarah Halton Taylor Dec1877 Brighton 2b 124 Age:76. This is a death certificate that may be worth having. Had she moved to Brighton? Who was she staying with?

It was in searches designed to find her daughter Zoe that I found her last two census records. I looked for a Zoe Taylor born in 1840 in Lincolns Inn. I found an entry on the LDS familysearch.org site for the 1861 England Census in Kensington for a "... Taylor". But this only shows an individual entry. Searching for the corresponding family group in ancestry.com, I found, at ?? (the return transcript is torn) House near Notting Hill Square, Kensington in the household of  Elizabeth England:
     Sarah H Taylor   Boarder Widow  61  Lives own Means
                                                                  Middlesex, Walbrook
     Zoe Taylor         Boarder  Un       20  Lives own Means
                                                                  Middlesex, Lincoln's Inn Fields                          

The ancestry.com index has them as Sarah H Gaylor and Lo?? Taylor, which is why I hadn't seen this return before. Having seen "Loe" as a transcript variant of Zoe, the next census entry came from an ancestry.com search for a Loe Taylor born 1839-1849. The 1871 England Census for the household of "James Bethany Bayne" at Grange Terraces Tempsford House has:
     James Bertrand Payne   Head   Mar       37  late? Capt Royal Artillery
     Zoe Payne                    Wife    Mar      29
     Sarah H Taylor             Mother Widow 75
     James B D  do              Son                  4
     Ralph S H   do              Son                  3 m

The address of Tempsford House, The Grange, Brompton is given as the address for J Bertrand Payne in the Catalogue for the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867. Also, Tempsford House was the scene in January 1871 (not long before the census) of a "Singular Boiler Explosion". In this return (it is actually the census enumator book, a compilation of the householders' returns), Zoe is written above a crossed out Emmeline, and should be indexed as Payne, not Taylor. Sarah H appears as Sarah A; she should, of course be mother-in-law, and only 72 years old, but who's counting. And the sons' last name should be Payne and not Taylor. But apart from that the return is fine!

The marriage of James Bertrand Payne and Zoe Emmeline Young is recorded in BMD Marriage Index Mar1864 St George Hanover Square 1a 387 (a certificate I reported in All These Gentlemen).

The 1881 England Census for 53 Camden Park Road for the household of Charlotte Dunn, I have reported before in Witnesses to a Wedding. Suffice to tell here that it includes Zoe Payne 35 and her daughter Mabel 7. The 1891 England Census return for Zoe also proved difficult to find. I already had the 1901 and 1911 returns, and was drawing a blank. So I searched for Mabel Payne, and found this return at 41 Handforth Road, Lambeth:
     James Payne    Head     M 55 Living on own means  London
     Emily Payne    Wife      M 47                                  London
     Mabel Payne    Daur      S  14                                  London
     Charles Penney Nephew S 29 living on own means    Liverpool

Emily may be the name she goes by at this time, although this may itself be a census enumerator's misreading for Emmy. Liverpool as place of birth for the nephew is certainly wrong, as the next two returns for Zoe (Emmeline/Emily) will show.

James Bertrand Payen Payne died in 1898 (BMD Death Index Sep1898 Fulham 1a 253 Age:65). The 1901 England Census finds Zoe Emmeline in the household of her nephew Charles Penney at 7 Aldebert Terrace, Lambeth:
     Charles Penney                    Head   S       39 Tutor             Dorset, Weymouth
     Zoe Emmeline Payen-Payne Aunt    Wid   58                      London, St Giles
     Mabel Zoe Payen-Payne      Cousin  Daur of widow 27
                                                         Clerk in Insurance Office  London, Kensington
     Plus a visitor and a servant.

And in 1911 at 22 Kensington Crescent, Kensington:
     Charles Penney                    Head  Single    49 Tutor  Weymouth, Dorset
     Zoe Emmeline Payen-Payne Aunt   Widow  70  Private Means
                                                                                    Lincoln's Inn Field, London
     Mabel Zoe Payen-Payne      Cousin Single    37 Clerk to Charity Organization
                                                                                    Kensington, London
     Plus a boarder and servants.

BMD Death Index has Zoe Payen Payne Dec1920 Greenwich 1d 1001 Age:80

In all this I have accumulated much documentation for Sarah Halton Birkett (married name Taylor) and Zoe Emmeline Taylor (Payen-Payne). But I lack an 1841 census for the latter, and her BMD Birth Index Entry. One lead, an Emmeline Taylor born in Islington 1840 turns out to be the daughter of John Taylor, Beer Seller (1841) and Licensed Victualler (1861). In this latter census she is a barmaid - not our Zoe Emmeline, whose BMD Birth Index record may be one of the 3 unnamed female Taylors born in central London registration districts Dec1839 to Dec1840.

We now have evidence for four children born to William and Sarah Halton Taylor:
     Birkett Wilfred          1822 baptized at Christ Church
     William Lonsdale      1824 baptized at St Thomas the Apostle
                                                                          and St Michael Paternoster
     Charlotte                  1826 baptized at St Michael Paternoster
     Zoe Emmeline           1840 baptized at St Giles in the Fields

It is most likely that there are other children - I would estimate from 3 to 6 - born after Charlotte and before Zoe remaining to be discovered. If any of them survived I might expect to find them in 1841 in the same household as Zoe. This may yield more clues to the family of origin of William Taylor, Solicitor of 3 Cloak Lane.

Meet the Birketts

Given names are sometimes clues in genealogy. Of mine, my mother tells me I am named after Alan Breck from the novel Kidnapped, and from my uncle Keith on the Kapadia/Stuart side, which was my father's middle name also. In turn, my children each have names with a family connection. Hopefully future genealogists will not have to piece together a family tree on such meager clues, but perhaps they can weave some kind of story around them.

Having found the baptisms of Mary Ann and Sarah Halton Birkett at St Stephen Walbrook, I set out to find records of the parents, John and Charlotte. (One hint was a marriage by banns for John Birkett and Charlotte Lloyd, the problem being that it was dated 1800, and located them as members of the parish of Hornsey Rise, Islington, some three miles away. It doesn't seem that likely they would have two children before getting married. But could there be two couples named John and Charlotte Birkett?)

I began by browsing the St Stephen Walbrook parish register for baptisms of children by parents named John and Charlotte Birkett. Here is the tally, all children of the same parents:

     Mary Ann      born 23rd January 1797     baptized 26th May 1799
     Sarah Halton          20th April 1799                        21st July 1799
     John Barnes           20th June 1802                         2nd September 1802
     Charlotte               18th November 1803                23rd February 1804
     Jane                       12th March 1806                      9th April 1806
     Eliza                       14th May 1808                        11th June 1808
     Henry Blow            10th June 1810                         8th July 1810
     Frederick Blow      15th January 1812                    2nd September 1812
     Edmund Lloyd        9th February 1814                   9th March 1814
     Emma                     2nd February 1816                  6th March 1816
     Alfred                    18th April 1818                         31st May 1818
     Ellen Frances         15th February 1822                  15th March 1822

The last four are from a different (sequential) register for the same parish, and contain the additional information that the Birketts lived at Bond Court, Walbrook, (later Cloak Lane) and that John was a solicitor. Note: a phenomenal twelve children over a twenty-five year span, and Edmund Lloyd - could that be his mother's maiden name in there?

All this made it easier to confirm Charlotte Birkett's 1861 death record in the England and Wales National Probate Calendar, since the named executors were Frederick Blow and Edmund Lloyd Birkett. She was 83 years old, and is buried in Norwood Cemetery in Lambeth. Frederick Blow Birkett also signed as a witness in Charlotte Taylor's (his niece) marriage to James Denoon Young.

An 1848 trade directory, out of a total of  eleven Birketts, has Birkett, John and Son, solicitors at 3 Cloak Lane, and Birkett, Edmund Lloyd, physician at the same address. The latter graduated from Caius College Cambridge, was an M.D. and F.R.S. Which of the sons is the solicitor here I cannot be certain, but Frederick Blow did follow his father into the profession. His articles of clerkship (1828), binding him to five years working for his father, begin...

"Edgar Cheesewright, Clerk to Messrs Birkett, Taylor and Cox of Cloak Lane in the City of London Gentlemen maketh Oath and Saith that by articles of agreement bearing date the fourteenth day of January instant and made between John Birkett  of Cloak Lane aforesaid Gentleman One of the attornies of His Majestys Court of Kings Bench and Common Pleas at Westminster and a solicitor in the High Court of Chancery of the one part and Frederick Blow Birkett son of the said John Birkett of the other part..."

I would hypothesize John's daughter, Sarah Halton wife of William Taylor, married either her father's law partner or his partner's son. Messrs Birkett, Taylor and Cox have left some records. William Taylor of the firm gave evidence in 1832 to the Commisioners of the Law Courts and Justice. The firm was also involved in bankruptcy proceedings. The London Gazette lists them as appointed by bankruptcy commissioners in the case of Matthew Robson of Cumberland; also appointed in Cumberland were Messrs Blow and Relph. I have yet to discover any family relationship, but the name "Blow" is surely significant.

Looking for connections in Cumberland, I found articles of clerkship, this time dated 1788 and for John Birkett himself:

"Esther White of Richergate in the county of Cumberland Spinster maketh Oath that she this deponent did see John Barnes one of the attorneys of His Majestys Court of Kings Bench John Birkett of the City of Carlisle in the said county yeoman and John Birkett his son of the same place... agreed that the said John Birkett son should serve the said John Barnes as his clerk in the practice of an attorney and solicitor for the term of five years..."

He gave this name, John Barnes, to his eldest son, whether for a family connection or as a tribute to his mentor I do not know.

A Change of Name

Changing one's name turns out to be easy (well, it did for me at least). My parents divorced, and subsequently remarried, so although my birth certificate and medical records have one name, that of my biological father, my school records were in my stepfather's name. When I turned 16, my grandparents paid for me to legally change my name to Stuart-Tilley, combining the two. This seems worth documenting to reduce the frustration of future genealogists wondering what happened to me! In fact my name had already changed by common usage to Tilley. However, on the change of name deed, I was changing from Stuart to Stuart-Tilley - the only time I have signed my name "Alan Stuart".

To return to Zoe Davina HaltonYoung. One question is when she acquired the name Hanrott. Another is her familial relationship with Mary Anne Dover Hanrott, listed in the same household as cousins in the 1871 census.

In the 1851 England Census, Charlotte Taylor was living in the same boarding house with her mother Sarah H Taylor (widow, age 51, born in Walbrook, Middlesex), and her future husband, James Denoon Young. On their parish marriage record her father is listed as William. Searching for a baptismal record of Charlotte Taylor, I found an entry for St Michael Royal, City of London for a double baptism on 2 March 1826 for William Lonsdale (born 19 July 1824) and Charlotte (born 15 January 1826), the children of William Taylor, Solicitor of 3 Clock Lane, and his wife Sarah Halton. Note that James Denoon and Charlotte name one of their sons Lonsdale Denoon; this is most certainly the baptismal record of Zoe's mother.

Incorporating this information, the next search (for a marriage record) revealed the marriage 13 December 1821 at St Thomas the Apostle, City of London between William Taylor and Sarah Halton Birkett, that is, Zoe's maternal grandparents. Looking for more parish register records of this name, I found what was labeled a burial, but on examination turned out to be a baptism, in fact two baptisms on May 26th and July 21st 1799 of Mary Ann (born 23rd January 1797) and Sarah Halton (born 28th April 1799), daughters of John Birkett and his wife Charlotte, of the parish of St Stephen Walbrook (Middlesex). These, then, are Zoe's grandmother, great-aunt and great-grandparents.

And so to research the wife of Howard Augustus Hanrott, the Solicitor,who turns out to be Mary Anne Dover Fearon, daughter of John Hodgson Fearon, Captain in the Army, according to the marriage record in 1862. By this time, he had been dead seven years, but has left to posterity some interesting records. The Asiatic Journal confirms his service in the 63rd Foot in Moulmein (now Mawlamyine), Burma, Mary Anne's birthplace. Another daughter had been born in 1836 in Madras. This is the period of the uniform depicted on Quality Street toffees (and, for privates, in the right-most illustration above). But in 1839, he left Burma on furlough for health reasons, and next shows up in copies of the London Gazette for 1843, seeking protection under the 1842 Act for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors. He was buried at St George Battersea in 1855.

Pallot's Marriage Index records the marriage of John Hodgson Fearon and Mary Ann Birkett in Croydon, 1833. Parish records, if they exist, could confirm these identities as the future Captain Fearon, and Zoe's great Aunt. If so, Mary Anne Dover Hanrott and Zoe Davina Halton Young were first cousins once removed, through the Birkett sisters who were baptized in 1799.

Mary Ann Birkett turns out to be a fairly common name. For example, one of the right age was an unmarried schoolteacher in the 1861 England Census. There is at least one other John Hodgson Fearon, baptized in 1825, possibly the son of the above from a previous marriage - although, obviously too young for an 1833 marriage!. Also the Pallot's Index has some anotations which have been transcribed as Esq. and Jas Wester. Esq[uire] could mean that he was "more than a gentleman", or that he was a lawyer, or many other things. But I wonder if the scrawled note is Ens[ign], the most junior infantry officer rank in 1833. I also wonder if the other words mean St Ja[me]s, Westm[inste]r, where the banns had been read, and then transferred to Croydon.

Having been unsuccessful searching the 1881 England Census for Zoe, I searched for Mary Anne Hanrott. The fuzzy-logic allowed for few enough possible hits for me to scroll someway down the first page to a "Mary B Henrott", Head, Widower, Age 42, Annuitant, born in the East Indies. In the same household, at 20 Edgerton Road, Greenwich, was ___ Henrott, Daur., Unm., Age 21. The ink is faint, but I can definitely make out "Zoe _ H Y Do", the "Do" being ditto for Hanrott!

Among the pleasures of genealogy are the historical snippets I discover as background information. A question has arisen of whether Zoe Young was adopted by the Hanrotts. Well, the legal answer would have to be no. I learned that adoptions were not formally recognized in the UK until 1926. However, historians also note that de facto adoptions must have been quite common given the mortality rate. According to probate records, when her father, James Denoon Young died in 1868, Zoe's mother was still alive. Zoe Young came to the Hanrott household before 1871 when she was eleven years old. I speculate that Charlotte Taylor died between 1868 and 1871. However she understood the adoption process, by 1881 Zoe had acquired the surname Hanrott, and Mary Ann reckoned her a daughter.

Howard Augustus Hanrott died in 1880, and so does not appear in the 1881 England Census. Mary Ann remarried in 1885 to Henry Cowland (the Legal Clerk who was residing at their household during the 1871 England Census, now an Estate Agent). 

One of the witness signatures to the wedding is that of Zoe Davina Halton Young Hanrott - in her own hand. In another year she would use this signature for the last time, as she married Ardeshir Kapadia.