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.