This post confirms the hypotheses made in Witnesses To A Wedding. I have received three birth certificates and two marriage certificates which I report here. The frequency of the reported occupation of Gentleman on these suggests some preoccupation with status. Just what it meant to be a gentleman, I'm not sure, but presumably it means some kind of occupation which pays fairly well, and doesn't involve getting one's hands dirty!
Charlotte Dunn is Charlotte Young (nee Taylor). Zoe Emmeline Payen Payne is Zoe Taylor, Charlotte's sister. And as I suspected, Euphemia Chamberlain Young is the daughter of James Denoon and Charlotte Young. Which suggests to me that all is not lost when census details are incorrect. In this case the inconsistencies were relationships to head of household and ages, although the names appeared to make sense. Conversely, however, I am less inclined to rely on census details if that is all I have.
Here is the information from the marriage certificates, first BMD Marriage Index Mar1864 St George Hanover Square 1a 387 for Zoe Emmeline Taylor/James Payne:
Solemnized 12 March 1864 at the Parish Church of St George Hanover Square
James Bertrand Payne, Full Age, Bachelor, Gentleman, of 44 Dover Road Fulham
father: James Payne, Gentleman
Zoe Emmeline Taylor, Full Age, Spinster, of 44 Dover Road Fulham
father: William Taylor, Gentleman
Witnesses:
Walbanke Baker Barber
Jane E Barber
I'm not sure of James Payne senior's occupation, but his son was a managing editor for the Moxon publishing house, of which more in the prior post. Zoe's father William Taylor, now deceased had been a solicitor.
As far as I can tell, no relation to our family, Walbanke Baker Barber was baptized 26 July 1826 at St Philips, Liverpool, son of Charles and Bell Barber, and died in Stoke Newington aged 49 on 17 September 1874. He was appointed Master Extraordinary in the High Court of Chancery (London Gazette Dec 1850), listed as an attorney (1851 Census), Solicitor's Managing Clerk (1861 Census). He married Alice Lloyd Little in 1863. Their marriage certificate shows his father was Charles Barber, artist. In fact, his father was Charles Vincent Barber, landscape artist and art teacher, who, with his brother Joseph Vincent Barber, founded an art academy which became the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and Birmingham School of Art. At his death, Charles was president of the Liverpool Academy of Arts and had exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy in London. Walbanke's paternal grandfather was Joseph Barber, another prominent artist and member of the Birmingham School of landscape painters. Jane E Barber is Walbanke's older sister. Although the Barbers are not blood relations of Zoe, their witness signatures give some indication of the circles in which the Paynes and/or the Taylors moved. I am thinking here of Zoe's family ties to the legal profession, and James Bertrand Payne's literary and artistic connections.
And then BMD Marriage Jun1877 Kensington 1a 129 for Charlotte Young/Jabez Dunn:
Solemnized 16 June 1877 at the Parish Church of Kensington
Jabez Dunn, Full Age, Bachelor, Gentleman, of Lee Terrace Blackheath
father: Richard William Samuel Dunn, Gentleman
Charlotte Young, Full Age, Widow, of Brompton Road
father: William Taylor, Gentleman
Witnesses:
James Bertrand Payen-Payne
Herbert Playshed
Curiously, I can find no records pertaining to a Herbert Playshed, through either ancestry.com or familysearch.org. Obviously James Bertrand Payen-Payne is Charlotte's brother-in-law.
Jabez Dunn, as noted previously (Witnesses to a Wedding), was possibly an attorney since his marriage bond gives him the honorific of "Esquire". His family was from Gillingham, Kent, his father a shipwright, although on the marriage certificate described as a gentleman. The 1861 England Census finds him with his brother Alfred James Dunn and a large number of single males (hospital, hostel?) in the Baynard Castle ward of London, and gives his occupation as "Warehouseman" - not quite an attorney! As luck would have it, I can find a partial transcript of his 1871 England Census in Lee, Lewisham, Kent (along with his mother, and some siblings) on the familysearch.org site, but no occupation. Frustratingly, I cannot find this return on ancestry.com. Maybe the index entry is incorrect for this census return. I am not, however, vested enough in this family to browse through the returns of the six registration districts in Lee. If I did, I might expect to find an occupation closer to justifying his title of "esquire" and "gentleman".
The birth certificates I have just received are for the three daughters of my 3xgreat grandparents James Denoon Young and Charlotte (nee Taylor). In chronological order, the first of these is Zoe, my 2xgreat grandmother.
BMD Birth Index Joe Davina Halton Young
["Joe" is a 19th century transcription error]
Dec1859 Lambeth 1d 406
Born 2 October 1859 Vernon Cottage Stockwell Park Road
[Z]oe Davina Halton, Girl
James Denoon Young, Engineer
Charlotte Young (formerly Taylor)
Reported by Jas D Young, father, Vernon Cottage Stockwell Park Road
11 November 1859
BMD Birth Index Euphemia Chamberlain Young
Dec1862 Upton upon Severn 6c 317
Born 14 September 1862 Ripple
Euphemia Chamberlain, Girl
James Denoon Young, Gentleman
Charlotte Young (formerly Taylor)
reported by Charlotte Young, mother, Ripple
14 October 1862
BMD Birth Index Violet Young
Mar1865 Wandsworth 1d 487
Born 16 January 1865, 2 Harley Street
Violet, Girl
James Denoon Young, Civil Engineer
Charlotte Young (formerly Taylor)
Reported by Jas D Young, father, 2 Harley Street Battersea
When Charlotte reports Euphemia's birth, she reports her husband's occupation as Gentleman. In the two cases where the father is the informant, he signs Jas D Young, and reports his occupation (more modestly?) as Engineer. I wonder how important was the status of "Gentleman". His 1841 Scotland Census lists his occupation as Ironmonger, whereas his England Census return for 1851 has Iron Founder and Engineer. He held a couple of patents for improved production of iron, suggesting he had a deep knowledge of his trade. I suspect the family aspired to be loosely "gentlefolk". However the London Gazette contains several items pertaining to bankruptcy proceedings against James Denoon Young during the 1860s. When he died - I am beginning to think, a death certificate worth purchasing - the family was left with no income, as we will see.
The 1871 England Census shows the family somewhat dispersed. Of the girls, I find Violet with her mother in lodgings, Euphemia a visitor in another household, Zoe with the Hanrotts (later to be adopted, it appears). Of the boys, Haydon might be recorded at 6 Vigo Street, Westminster in the household of Benjamin Criddle, while Lonsdale is most certainly a pupil at Christ's Hospital School, Christchurch, London, otherwise known as the Bluecoat School on account of their distinctive uniform.
Charles Dickens, Junior wrote of this school, founded in the reign of Edward VI to provide education for poor orphaned Londoners:
Presentations to Christ Hospital can only be obtained from governors under certain regulations. It is generally understood that the principal requirements are, briefly, that children must be presented when between eight and ten years of age, and must be free from active disease, as well as from any physical defect which would render them unable to take care of themselves; that their parents (if one or both be living) have not adequate means of educating and maintaining them; and that the children have not such means of their own. A written statement, showing the amount, or average amount, of the parental income with particulars of its source or sources, the total number of children in the family, and how many of these are still young and dependent, and any other relevant circumstances, is in each case required to be made in the petition...
Christ's Hospital school still exists although its campus has moved to Horsham, Sussex. It is still an independent boarding school with a mission to provide educational opportunities to families in need. Through their website I enquired of their archives. Almost immediately, a volunteer responded to confirm Lonsdale Denoon Young's enrollment at the school. A week or so later, the same volunteer sent me information on Lonsdale's family in the possession of the school. Most of this confirmed what I had already discovered, but there are two fascinating items. The first on Lonsdale's application, made shortly after his father's death, Charlotte wrote that she was:
a widow without income and having five children totally unprovided for; that her husband who was a civil engineer and contractor has died in the present month of April only, and consequently at this time she can hardly see where or how to provide for the education of her children, the eldest being only in his 14th year
The school register shows Lonsdale's admission in 1868 at the top of page 291 left-hand page, and his discharge in 1873 on the right-hand page opposite. Sir William Anderson Rose was the presenting governor of the school through whom Charlotte made her petition. He was an Alderman of the City of London at the time, sometime Lord Mayor of London. There is no evidence that he knew the family.
Sir William Anderson Rose Knight (?) Aldm
[signed] H.C. Young
Of the brothers I have no more record after 1873. Presumably they emigrated or otherwise escaped documentation before they died. They are not listed in the BMD Death Index, which suggests they did not die in England and Wales. A google search showed an ancestry.com genealogy of unknown source suggesting Lonsdale Denoon Young died in 1879. Prompted by this I made an ancestry.com search among a wider variety of death records which offered a gravesite on the Isandlwana battlefield in South Africa of one Lieutenant L. D. Young of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment of the Native Natal Contingent. For those not conversant with British military history, the Battle of Isandlwana 22 January 1879 was a British disaster during the Anglo-Zulu War, depicted in the movie Zulu Dawn, in which a little over a thousand-strong detachment of British and Colonial soldiers was overrun and destroyed by a much larger Zulu army. The Native Natal Contingent was raised from indigenous Africans and officered by Europeans, although the white settlers didn't trust black Africans with firearms, so they were equipped mostly with spears.
I am particularly interested in this suggestion, since in all the years 1837 to 1863 there are very few L Youngs recorded in the BMD Birth Index. There are 11 L (and not D, that is, with some other middle initial) Youngs, who can be ruled out; 36 L Youngs (a few of whom might have had a D for a middle initial); and only 2 L D Youngs. One of these is Leonard Douglas Young (no relation) for whom I can find a census return for 1891 and thus rule out; the other is Lonsdale Denoon Young. Now, the dead officer at Isandlwana might have been born before 1837 (when the Index begins), or he may have been born outside England and Wales (which is its coverage), but, all the same, it seems worthwhile to look for more evidence. The National Archives in Kew has the WO12 series of muster rolls which claims to cover colonial units up to 1878, but it's not clear that this must include the Natal Native Contingent. Otherwise I do not know where I could search for the name of the lieutenant buried on the Isandlwana battlefield in South Africa. I would like to rule him in or out as our Lonsdale Denoon Young.
Next up, some more about James Denoon Young, Lonsdale's father, and my 3xgreat grandfather...
No comments:
Post a Comment