In TH White's Once and Future King, the magician Merlyn has second sight because he ages backwards, or perhaps more accurately, he experiences time backwards. His past is our future, so to speak. This has advantages, but is inconvenient at times.
“You see, one gets confused with Time, when it is like that. All one’s tenses get muddled, for one thing. If you know what is going to happen to people, and not what has happened to them, it makes it difficult to prevent it happening, if you don’t want it to have happened, if you see what I mean? Like drawing in a mirror.”
Genealogical generations are like this. If I start at the chronological beginning, you, dear reader, would have an easier time following the life of my ancestors. But the order of discover in genealogy is the other way. We begin by experiencing an ancestor in middle or old age, and only afterwards do we find a marriage, and then records from their childhood. And then we start all over with a previous generation! After a few posts of speculation, we move to much firmer ground. In this post, we age backwards the ancestors of Minnie Mary Frances Byrne, Vivian Kennett Tilley's first wife.
Here are her BMD Index entries. I have not yet ordered the certificates:
Birth: Minnie Mary F Byrne Mar1905 Paddington 1a 76
Marriage: Minnie MF Byrne Dec1928 Paddington 1a 171
Death: Marion M Tilley Sep1946 St Ives 4a 246 Age:42
The parish records for Westminster, St Mary record her full name and baptism on 9 April 1905:
Minnie Mary Frances Byrne
parents: Roger Fannon and Matilda Mary Byrne Decorator of 29 Caird Street
I have little doubt that the death record is the correct one, and that she took the name Marion (as recorded by a previous Tilley genealogist - thank you). But she was baptized "Minnie", and her birth and marriage records use that name, as does her first inclusion on a census return.
Now working through the parents' lives backwards, their BMD Death Index entries would appear to be in the same calendar quarter, although not at the same time:
Matilda M Byrne Mar 1927 Paddington 1a 18 Age: 65
Roger F Byrne Mar1927 Paddington 1a 119 Age 66
The next record back is the 1911 England Census at 29 Caird Street, Queens Park, Paddington, London
Roger Fannon Byrne Head 50 Marr House Painter Eccles, Lancs.
Matilda Mary Byrne Wife 48 Marr Kentish Town, London
Minnie Mary Frances Byrne Daughter 6 Queens Park, London
The 1911 returns are the householder "autograph" copy, so we get to see the signature of Roger Fannon Byrne, and no editing or typos by the census enumerator that can occur in the Census Enumerator Books. From the census we also learn that Minnie is not merely the only surviving child, but the only child Matilda bore, which is less surprising when we learn they were only married ten years before aged 39/40.
The Parish Register for St Peter Paddington records the marriage on 6 July 1901:
Roger Fannon Byrne 40 Bachelor Decorator
32 Edbrooke Road father: John Byrne Labourer
Matilda Mary Capron 39 Spinster
32 Edbrooke Road father: John Capron Hatter
This corresponds to BMD Marriage Index Sep1901 Paddington 1a 143 for Roger Fannon Byrne and Mary Matilda Capron.
About three months prior to the marriage we find them in the 1901 England Census at 111 Third Avenue, Paddington. They must have moved house in the meantime. Mary Capron is Matilda's mother and Roger's future mother-in-law.
Mary Capron Head Wid[ow] 67 Living on own means Harpenden, Herts.
Matilda Mary Capron Dau[ghter] S[ingle] 39 Book keeper Kentish Town, London
Roger Byrne Boarder S[ingle] 38 House Painter Eccles, Lancs.
I could not find a census return or BMD Birth Index entry for Roger Fannon Byrne before these 1901 records. For Matilda Mary Capron I did find her name on 1871 and 1881 England Census returns.
In 1871 her family lived at 9 Ferdinand Street, Kentish Town, Pancras, London
John B Capron Head Mar 40 Hat Maker Middlesex, Blackfriars
Mary Capron Wife Mar 37 Laundress Herts., Harpenden
Matilda M Capron Daur 9 Scholar Middlesex, St Pancras
Maria L Capron Daur 7 Scholar Middlesex, St Pancras
These appear to be the only children they have. With 10 years from census to census it is possible that a child may have been born and died. After seeing so many large 19th century families, finding two generations of small families seems remarkable.
In 1881 John, Mary and Maria live at 31 Princes Crescent, but Matilda has left home. A 20-year-old Matilda Capron is a Domestic Servant in the Household of Thomas Burkill of 3 Stratford Place, Kentish Town, Pancras, and this is probably the same Matilda Capron, my step-great grandmother. And continuing backwards for Matilda, we have this BMD Birth Index entry - London, from cradle to grave, or, I should say, from grave to cradle!
Matilda Mary Capron Jun 1861 Pancras 1b 182
Matilda's father John B Capron died sometime bewteen the 1881 and 1901 census dates (I cannot find an 1891 census record). The BMD Death Index has this likely entry:
John Capron Dec1893 Pancras 1b 130 Age: 62
For the 1861 England Census, he and Mary lived at 2 Haverstock Road, Kentish Town, Pancras, London.
John B Capron Head Mar 30 Hatter Surrey, Lambeth
Mary Capron Wife Mar 27 Straw Plaiter Beds, Luton
Charles Camp Lodger Mar 23 Railway Porter Herts, Langley
I couldn't make out "Plaiter" until I consulted a list of 1861 occupations. A straw plaiter plaits straw for hatmaking, presumably the context in which she met John B.
Their marriage is recorded in the parish register of Lambeth St John the Evangelist for 1 Jun 1857
John Capron Full bachelor Hatter Cornwall father: Thomas Capron Hatter
Mary Allen Spinster Road father: Elisha Allen Labourer
Although John has signed his name: Jno Capron; Mary is unable to write, and next to her name is the notation: X Mark of Mary Allen, not uncommon for the time. This corresponds to BMD Marriage Index:
Jun1857 Lambeth 1d 447 John Capron and Mary Allen
This makes sense of the other household at 2 Haverstock Road for the 1861 Census, that of the in-laws:
Elisha Allen Head Mar 52 Coal Porter Beds, ??
Maria Allen Wife Mar 54 Straw Plaiter Herts, Harpenden
William Allen Son Un 21 Plate Layer Beds, Luton
Richard Deller Lodger Widr 27 Coal Porter Beds, Luton
So far I have not found more on John Capron, except for a baptism record at St Mary Lambeth on 8 May 1831:
John Bill Son of Thomas and Sarah Capron of Union Street Hatter
The B is for Bill. The lastname "Capron" is derived from someone who makes caps or hoods. I wonder how long the family had been in the headgear business!
There is more research for another post on the families of Elisha and Maria Allen, and Thomas and Sarah Capron. But somehow I wasn't ready to let the matter of Roger Fannon Byrne rest. Fannon might be a maiden name somewhere in the family line, but perhaps, like Zoe Young (Hanrott), Roger might have been adopted. A search for Roger Fannon born about 1861 in Lancashire returned the following two possibilities:
First there is the BMD Birth Index:
Roger Fannan Mar1861 Barton 8c 460
(Eccles would be in the Barton registration district).
And second, there is the 1871 England Census at 37 James Street, Eccles, Lancashire.
Margaret Byrne Head Widow 36 Ireland
Michael Byrne Son Unmarried 20 Buss [?] Guard Lancs, Liverpool
Bridget Byrne Daur Unmarried 22 Spoolwinder Lancs, Liverpool
Roger Fannan Boarder 10 Scholar Lancs, Patricroft
Patricroft is part of Eccles, which was one of the search criteria. The name of his host family is more surprising because "Byrne" was not part of the search, which is too much of a coincidence for him not to be the right person. Given their relative ages, Margaret would seem to be the step-mother of Michael and Bridget. Both Byrne and Fannan are Irish names, and whatever Margaret's maiden name, she is from Ireland, all reminders of the migration of the 1840's and the Great Famine that reduced Ireland's population by some twenty-five percent. Was John Byrne, who Roger Fannon gave as his father, the deceased husband of Margaret? And how are the Fannans related to the Byrnes?
Genealogical living backwards does not confer second sight, and the answers to these questions remain unanswered. As also the answer to the question of Vivian Kennett Tilley's grandparents, which I still await, and will report when I find out.
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