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.