Barrister-at-law

The Old Bailey - before Ardeshir Kapadia's time

This is the fortieth post on the Generations Blog. You will notice side links to the right containing names of my direct ancestors. These should help you figure out which line each post is about. This post is about the Kapadias, my father's paternal grandfather's family.

That one my 2xgreat grandfathers was an immigrant to Britain from India, I had known for many years. He was of a Parsee family from Bombay, now Mumbai. I knew as well the surname, Kapadia. Thus, as soon as I could search the census books, Kapadia was high on my list. Kapadia is a fairly common Parsee name, but in late Victorian England there were extremely few of them, and his family is easy to trace. Ardeshir Kapadia is a common research interest of Duncan Bray and myself, and some of what I present here comes from several email exchanges, dating back to before Christmas. So many thanks, Duncan, for getting me started, and I direct the reader to his site dedicated to this ancestor of mine. Some of the record below overlaps with this site.

The census data covers three of the decennial censuses. The 1901 data was particularly hard to find on ancestry, having been transcribed as Rapadia, but here they are in chronological order. First, the 1891 England Census at 120 St Donatt's Road, Deptford.
     Ardeshir Kapadia Head M 26 Barrister at Law   India
     Zoe Kapadia        Wife  M 28                              Clapham, London
     Kenneth P            Son        4                                Kent, Goudhurst
     Douglas S            Son        1                                Kent, Lenham
And a 14-year-old female domestic servant.

Next, the 1901 England Census at 18 St Donatt's Road, Deptford.
     Ardeshir Kapadia  Head  M  34  Barrister-at-law  Bombay, India (British subject)
     Zoe Kapadia         Wife   M  37                             London, Clapham
     Keneth [sic] P        Son         14                             Kent, Goudhurst
     Douglas S              Son         11                             Kent, Lenham
     Eric R                    Son           7                             London, New Cross
     Hugh                     Son           6                             London, New Cross

And finally, the 1911 England Census at The Aldborough Grange, Aldborough Hatch, Ilford, Essex.
     Adeshir Kapadia   Head  47 Married  Barrister-at-law  Bombay, India (British subject)
     Zoe Kapadia         Wife   47 Married                             County of London, Clapham
     Douglas Stuart      Son     21 Single    Shipbroker's Clerk  Kent, Lenham
     Dorothy Phyllis    Daughter 19 Single                               Kent, New Cross
     Eric Roy               Son     17 Single Printer's Apprentice   Kent, New Cross
     Hugh                    Son      15 Single                                  Kent, Brockley
And two male servants who are listed as farm laborers.

Dorothy Phyllis should also be somewhere for the 1901 census. She is likely lost in "poor-transcription land", and some day we will find where she was on census night 1901.

Here are some BMD Index data, and other documentation for the children:

Kenneth Peston Kapadia
I followed Kenneth Kapadia's records to Canada and the United States of America in the post On The Trail back in November.
     BMD Birth Index Mar1887 Cranbrook, 2a 761
          (as Kenneth ?eston Kapadia)
     BMD Marriage Index Mar1915 Lambeth 1d 547
          (Kenneth P Kapadia and Hattie M Maxfield)

I have this certificate for the marriage solemnized by license at Lambeth Register Office 28 January 1915, which has the following data:
     Groom's name:                     Kenneth Peston Kapadia
     Groom's age and condition:  28  Bachelor
     Groom's occupation:             Colour Sergeant, 5th Western Cavalry Regiment  
                                                   (Canadian Contingent)
     Groom's residence:                Union Jack Club, Waterloo Road
     Groom's father/occupation:   Ardeshir Kapadia Barrister at law
     Bride's name:                        Hattie Mary Maxfield
     Bride's age and condition:     26  Spinster
     Bride's residence:                  Aldborough Hatch, Ilford, Essex
     Bride's father/occupation:     Joseph Maxfield, Non commision[ed] Officer
                                                  United States Army (retired)
     Signed:                                 Kenneth P Kapadia/Hattie Mary Maxfield
     Witnesses:                            Henry E Bowie/W R Moore

Some notes on this are in order. It is not true that Hattie was a spinster in 1915. In fact she was divorced from Oscar Wichert. This may explain why the couple have a second civil marriage registration in Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1922, on which Hattie correctly gives her name as Hattie M Wichert.

It is not surprising that Kenneth was staying at the Union Jack Club, which offered inexpensive accommodation for servicemen in London. I am surprised, however, that Hattie gives an Aldborough Hatch address, which is where the Kapadias were living in 1911. The family appears to have had little knowledge of what became of Kenneth, and if they were in on the wedding, I would have expected Ardeshir or one of the siblings to have witnessed the marriage. I suspect some estrangement between Kenneth and his family. Was Hattie in Aldborough Hatch to try to smooth things over? Or did she give a spurious address? Or is the address a coincidence?

The 5th (Western Cavalry) Battalion CEF was heavily engaged on the Western Front, during the Great War, serving as infantry in the 2nd Brigade, 1st Canadian Division. The soldiers came from western provinces in Canada, and this is consistent with the Kenneth Kapadiah, Laborer, of the 1906 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, being our Kenneth.

As to Hattie's father, I found records of a Joseph Maxfield born in Canada who had served with the 10th Vermont Infantry during the Civil War. After 1898 he was in and out of homes for disabled veterans. The records show he served as a Private (so not an NCO). His next of kin is wife Minnie, living in St Paul, Minnesota, where he had been discharged after the war. He died in 1917.

I think I can follow Hattie's family though census returns to find that Hattie had been born in Canada, and came to the US when she was three years old. But note that I have found US census returns quite inconsistent with respect to places of birth - much more so than English returns. In the US, respondents quite often downplay their foreign heritage. Hattie's Canadian origin explains why she would have had to naturalize as well as Kenneth, after they came to the US in the 1920s. Which they did under the names Kap and Hattie Kenneth. Kap died in Los Angeles, 25 September 1960. I have no record that the couple had children, beyond Hattie's son from her previous marriage, Hartland John (Wichert) Kenneth, who came to live with them.

Douglas Stuart Kapadia - my great grandfather
I have also posted about Douglas Stuart Kapadia in Remembering Those Lost in March. It is his change of name that is the Stuart in my last name.
     BMD Birth Index Sep1889 Hollingbourne 2a 742
For some reason the ancestry.com index cannot see this one, whereas the freebmd.org.uk has no trouble.
     BMD Marriage Index Sep1913 W Ham 4a 201 Douglas S Kapadia and Emily Strong
Which I have already reported.
     BMD Death Index Mar1965 Romford 5a 505 Age:75
     National Probate Calendar 9 March 1965 (death date: 4 January 1965)
He had worked for Reardon Smith Shipping Line, and, I am told, in his youth had raced at the Brooklands Motor Racing circuit. Unfortunately, there is no record of him in the archive there, but he may have belonged to one of the outside motor clubs that rented the circuit. I would love to see a picture of one of his trophies.

The children of Douglas Stuart Kapadia and Emily Strong are:
     Douglas Strong Kapadia became Stuart after 1922 (my grandfather)
          BMD Birth Index Sep1916 Epping 4a 920
          (which ancestry.com can find, but freebmd.org.uk cannot)
     Keith Kapadia became Stuart after 1922
          BMD Birth Index Mar1918 Epping 4a 667
     Bryan R Kapadia became Stuart after 1922
          BMD Birth Index Dec1919 Epping 4a 1011
   
Dorothy Phyllis Kapadia
     BMD Birth Index Sep1891 Greenwich 1d 1058
     Baptised at St Alphege, Greenwich 30 August 1891
          (date of birth 15 June 1891)
     BMD Marriage Index Sep1917 Romford 4a 925
          (Dorothy P Kapadia and William Stewart)
     BMD Death Index Feb1989 Bullingdon 20 2440
          (as Dorothy Phyllis Steward, date of birth 15 June 1891)
I can find one son: Colin F Stewart BMD Birth Index Sep1922 Hastings 2b 42

Eric Roy Kapadia
    BMD Birth Index Sep1893 Greenwich 1d 1090

     Baptised at St Alphege, Greenwich 2 September 1893 

          (date of birth 22 July 1893)

     BMD Marriage Index Sep1923 Romford 4a 1168 

          (Eric R Kapadia and Mabel P Manch)

     BMD Death Index Mar1962 Westminster 5c 525 Age:68

     National Probate Calendar 15 June 1962 

          (date of death 15 March 1962)

I find no children.

Hugh Kapadia

     BMD Birth Index Mar1895 Lewisham 1d 1232

     Baptised St Mary Lewisham, 25 March 1895

          (date of birth 16 January 1895)

     BMD Marriage Index Jun1925 Fulham 1a 

          (Hugh Kapadia and Rita E Emmett)

     BMD Death Index Mar1982 Canterbury 16 0212 

          (date of birth 16 January 1895)

I find no children.

Aldborough Grange, Ilford where they lived

Back to the barrister, Ardeshir Kapadia. I have already cited (Witnesses to a Wedding) his and Zoe DH Young Hanrott's marriage certificate, which I will not repeat here; and the Lincoln's Inn Admission Register, which I will repeat, with his date of admission:

     14 January 1885  Adeshir Rustomji Pestonji Kapadia, of Uny. of Bombay (20),

          o.s. [only son of] Rustomji Pestonjee K., of Bombay, general broker.

English language reports appear to use the "ji" and "jee" suffixes interchangeably. The Law List of 1904 has three Kapadias:

     Kapadia, Ardesheer Byramjee M. 18 Nov. 1872, Bombay.

     Kapadia, Ardeshir Rustomjee Pestonjee L. 25 Apr. 1888, 23, old-sq., W.C., Ind. appeals, privy council.

     Kapadia, Shaporji Aspaniarji, M.D., L.R.C.P., I. 17 Nov. 1893, 6, crown-office-row, E.C., Indian appeals, privy council.

The M., L. and I. referring to the Inns of Court to which they belonged, Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn and Inner Temple respectively. The dates are when they were called to the bar, the addresses presumably their chambers.

Shaporji Aspaniarji Kapadia is interesting in being both a barrister and a medical doctor. He also wrote about the Parsee religion of Zoroastrianism. You can find out more from Duncan's webpage. In the preface to The Teachings of Zoroaster and the Philosophy of the Parsi Religion, Shaporji Aspaniarji Kapadia extends thanks to  his "friend Mr. A. Kapadia, of Lincoln's Inn, for his kind assistance."

Admissions data for Ardesheer Byramjee Kapadia state that he was born about 1851, the eldest son of Byramjee Pestonjee Kapadia, merchant of Bombay. Among Parsees, a middle name is customarily the same as the father's first name. Were that custom observed in the families of Ardeshir RP Kapadia and Ardesheer B Kapadia, then their grandfathers would both be Pestonjee Kapadias, and just possibly these two (Ardeshir and Ardesheer) were cousins! Speculation, of course, but worth keeping in mind if we can ever trace the family's Parsee heritage in India.

The Straits Times, Singapore, 27 April 1927, page 10 has this announcement of Ardeshir Kapadia's death (BMD Death Index Ardeshir Kapadia Jun1927 Romford 4a 398 Age:61 - should be 63 from other sources).

     ECHO OF BABY FARMING CASE

     London, April 6 :- The death has occurred in Ilford of Mr. Ardeshir Kapadia, 

     the barrister who defended, at the Old Bailey, Mrs. Dyer, the notorious baby 

     farmer in 1896. Mr. Kapadia was the son of a Bombay Parsee and married an 

     Englishwoman, who died at Hastings in 1925, since when he has visited her 

     grave every week-end.

In fact, Zoe had died in 1923 (BMD Death Index Zoe DH Kapadia Sep1923). Ardeshir's weekly visits to her grave are touching, the baby farming case, less so.

Mrs. Dyer, the baby farmer, stood accused killing an infant she had taken in for adoption. This was a specimen murder charge, since she was suspected of killing many children. It appears she received payment as expenses for adopting out infants, and then killed them for the money. The Old Bailey transcript makes for harrowing reading. 

The facts of the case were not in dispute, and, defending, Ardeshir Kapadia attempted a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, based on her prior hospitalizations. Given the forensic evidence, this was probably his best strategy. However, under the M'Naghten rules, he would have to prove that Mrs. Dyer was insane at the time of the alleged murder, and unable to distinguish right from wrong. Expert witnesses for the defense had examined her during prior hospitalizations and declared her insane. The prosecution expert witnesses had examined Mrs. Dyer after her arrest, and could testify that she was not obviously insane. The jury retired for just a few minutes and returned a guily verdict. Mrs. Dyer was hanged at Newgate 10 June 1896.

And finally, a possible lead on Ardeshir RP Kapadia's father, Rustomji/jee Pestonji/jee Kapadia. One of the chapters in New Frontiers: Imperialism's New Communities in East Asia 1842-1953 edited by Robert Bickers and Christian Henriot contains a footnote with the name Rustomjee Pestonjee Kapadia, a Parsee merchant who did business in Shanghai. The chapter, by Claude Markovitz, investigates the Indian merchant community in China. And the footnote refers to a series of probate documents of Parsee merchants in Shanghai. Many of them traded in opium, a somewhat dubious occupation.

Unfortunately the exact reference in the footnote is incorrect, but I found the correct one by searching the National Archive website: FO917/766. It is filed under Rustomjee Pestonjee Kapadin, but I'll assume that Markovitz has read it and has the correct transcription. The document is from 1897, presumably the year that this gentleman died, and is not available online, although the original is stored at Kew. How unique the name is, I don't know, but so far, this is the only lead we have into someone who may be Ardeshir Kapadia's father.

Thank you for reading this far. I am quite interested to hear from live readers in the comments below. While I am sure I have much Russian referrer spam among the visits to these pages, I'm curious to know who are my the flesh and readers.

Witnesses to a Wedding

It's been a few weeks since my last post here, so here's hoping to return to a regular and more frequent routine. There is certainly enough material from research so far that I find interesting, and more certificates in the mail. Spurring me on are the well wishes of strangers, distant cousins, no doubt, who have written to me or posted after reading the blog. Here goes!

I have already written of the marriage of my 2x great grandparents Ardeshir Kapadia and Zoe Young-Hanrott, and extensively about the parentage and name change of the latter (How Many Ways to Spell Zoe? and A Change of Name). For completeness I thought to send for the marriage certificate for this couple, BMD Marriage Index Mar1886 Lambeth 1d 559, and was not expecting much more information from it than I already had. But it contains some interesting names as witnesses.

First, the certificate itself, for this marriage solemnized at the Lambeth registry office 11 March 1886. The groom, Ardeshir Kapadia, was 21 years old, occupation listed as Law Student, living at 68 Blackheath Hill (in Greenwich SE10), and that his father was Rustomji Kapadia, Tea Merchant. The Lincoln's Inn Admission Register have his date of admission as:
     14 January 1885  Adeshir Rustomji Pestonji Kapadia, of Uny. of Bombay (20),
          o.s. [only son of] Rustomji Pestonjee K., of Bombay, general broker.

The bride, Zoe Devinia Halton Young-Hanrott (other sources have Devina, and no hyphen), was 26 years old, living at 50 Guildford Road, South Lambeth, and confirms her father as James Denoon Young, deceased, Civil Engineer - implying that Ardeshir's father was still thought to be alive at the time.

The witness signatures turn out to be quite interesting - to me at least! The first is Zoe Emmeline Peyen Payne and the second Euphemia Chamberlain Young.

I had previously encountered a Zoe Taylor, as Zoe Young-Hanrott's aunt. According to parish records of St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, Zoe Taylor was baptized 27 November 1840, daughter of William and Sarah Taylor. Living at 59 Great Queen Street, her father was a solicitor. Zoe Taylor is listed as age 10 in the 1851 England Census, living with her mother Sarah Halton (nee Birkett) Taylor, widow, and her sister Charlotte age 25, at the same boarding house as the widowed James Denoon Young. I have not tracked down a BMD Birth Index for her yet. Peyen Payne is a distinctive, possibly unique, surname. A google search showed the author and genealogist James Bertrand Payen Payne, who married Zoe Taylor (BMD Marriage Index Mar1864 St Geo Han Sq 1a 387). For more on his background see this brief biography. The dispute with Mrs. Moxon referred to in the biography, hinges around Payne's management of the Moxon publishing house, which controversially lost Alfred Lord Tennyson as one of its authors in 1868.

The article claims a single son, James Bertrand De Vinchelez Payen Payne, but baptismal records from South Acton 25 September 1878 have records for Mabel Zoe and Ralph Stephen Hacon Payen Payne, both as children of this couple, and the added information that James Bertrand senior was a Colonel R[oyal] A[rtillery].

James Bertrand Payen Payne

Euphemia Chamberlain Young has a BMD Birth Index entry of Dec1862 Upton on Severn 6c 317, and I can locate her 1871 England Census as visitor in the household of Elizabeth Dredger at 50 Guildford Road, Zoe Hanrott's 1886 address before she married. Euphemia is possibly a daughter of James Denoon Young and Charlotte. I have sent for her birth certificate.

Now see this 1881 England Census at 53 Camden Park Road
     Charlotte Dunn     Head   W      45          London EC
     Euphemia Young  Niece  Unm   18          Worcestershire, Ripple
     Violet Young        Niece  Unm  16           Surrey? Battersea
     Zoe Payne            Sister  Marr   35          London W
     Mabel Payne        Niece             7           Middx, Islington

This household came to my attention as one result of a search for Violet Young, Zoe Young-Hanrott's sister. When I first saw this around Christmas, I ignored it as the other names were all wrong, and Young is, after all, quite common. But in the light of the marriage witnesses, this is worth another look. We see Zoe Payne (and her daughter Mabel) who is the Zoe Emmeline Peyen Payne of the marriage certificate. Here also is Euphemia Young (mis-transcribed here as Eupheria), along with Violet, listed as nieces to someone named Charlotte, although, at least for Violet, I would have expected daughter.

Could this Charlotte Dunn be Zoe Young-Hanrott's mother? Her father, James Denoon Young, died in 1868. I searched for marriage records of Charlotte Young with Dunn, and found the following. First, BMD Marriage Index has Jun1877 Kensington 1a 129 Jabez Dunn and Charlotte Young. Further, London and Surrey, Marriage Bonds and Allegations 15 June 1877 records the oath of Jabez Dunn, Esquire that there was no impediment to his marriage to Charlotte Young, widow. Jabez Dunn died not long after (BMD Death Index Jun1879 Brentford 3a 75 Age:41), leaving Charlotte a widow once more for the 1881 census. All this would seem consistent with Charlotte Dunn being my 3x great grandmother. In any case, I have sent for the Dunn-Young marriage certificate.

Violet Young ought to be Charlotte's daughter, rather than niece. There is a baptism 19 August 1874 at Greenwich, East Church of Violet, daughter of James Denoon Young, Civil Engineer and Charlotte, his wife. Her father had died in 1868. It doesn't give a date of birth, but I suspect BMD Birth Index Mar1865 Wandsworth 1d 487.

However, for Charlotte Dunn to be our Charlotte Taylor, born 1826, the ages are all wrong! This 1881 Census for Charlotte Dunn gives 45 when she should be 55. Also Zoe Payne, born about 1840, is given as 35. Here are age records for Charlotte, assuming they are all the same person:
     1826 Baptism shows birthday as 15 January
     1841 Probable census with William and Sarah Taylor                                 age as 15
     1851 Census with mother Sarah Halton Taylor                                           age as 25
     1861 Census as Charlotte Young with children and stepchildren                  age as 31
     1871 Census as Charlotte Young, widow daughter Violet Young                age as 37
     1881 Census as Charlotte Dunn, widow shown above                                age as 45

These are all I have found so far, but clearly as early as 1861 some fudging of age is going on. But I do see the same phenomenon with Zoe Taylor, although her census age catches up with her chronological age by the time of her death.
     1840 Baptism 27 November, age unknown
     1851 Census with mother Sarah Halton Taylor                                           age as 10
     1881 Census as Zoe Payne, shown above                                                 age as 35
     1901 Census as Zoe Payen-Payne                                                             age as 58
     1911 Census as Zoe Payen-Payne                                                             age as 70
     BMD Death Index Dec1920 Greenwich 1d 1001                                      age as 80

I am certain that the 1881 through 1920 dates are for the same Zoe (and quite sure that the preceding ones are, as well), and I do see under-reporting of her age. Thus the same is quite plausible for Charlotte. I expect that the certificates I have ordered will confirm the identity of Charlotte Dunn. In which case surely Violet should not be niece, but daughter - maybe a census enumerator error. And who are the parents of Euphemia Chamberlain Young? In any case I will learn more of the family of origin of Zoe Young Hanrott.

Remembering Those Lost

In the 70s during the summer break, I used to spend a week or so in Upminster with Nan and Granddad Green. While staying with them, I would also visit with Nan and Grandpa Stuart, and remember an occasion when Nan Stuart took me up to see the Tower of London. She also showed me the Tower Hill Memorial commemorating sailors of the Merchant Navy killed during World War II, and the name of a relative who had perished. The name and exact relationship I never remembered. For many years I had though it was a Stuart, but now that the internet lists the names of those sailors, I cannot find a Stuart who could be related. But, in working up the Strong family, I think now I know who the sailor was.

My great grandfather Douglas Stuart Kapadia (Grandpa Stuart's father) died when I was 19 months old, and while I do not remember, I spent at least a day with my family at his house shortly before that over Christmas 1964. His death is recorded in BMD Death Index Mar1965 Romford 5a 505 Age:75 and in the National Probate Calendar:
STUART, Douglas of 10 Maybush Road Hornchurch Essex died 4 January 1965 at Harold Wood Hospital Essex Probate 9 March Ipswich to Douglas Strong Stuart marine clerk.

Douglas Strong Stuart was his oldest son and my Grandpa. The death certificate for Douglas Stuart Kapadia records his name as Douglas Stuart - not the first Kapadia we have met who changed his name - such that his middle name became his last. Announcement of the name change appears in the London Gazette 7 January 1921, page 248.

Douglas Stuart Kapadia's wife was Emily Strong, and had died in 1946. The BMD Marriage Index (of which I have the certificate) has:
     Emily Strong and Douglas Stuart Kapadia Sep1913 W Ham 4a 201.

From the marriage certificate I can confirm the 1911 England Census household for Emily, one which had seemed the most likely all along. The lines of evidence in this marriage certificate (14 September 1913 at St Barnabus Church in Little Ilford) are:
     1) father's name: Robert Strong
     2) father's occupation: Engineer
     3) address: 241 Shrewsbury Road
     4) witness: Mary Janetta Strong (sister to Emily in the 1911 household)

Here is the census household at 241 Shrewsbury Road, Forest Gate:
     Robert Strong           Head                 54  Married
                                                     Driller L. T. & S. Railway      Greenock, Renfrew
     Amelia                      Wife                  48  Married                 Manchester, Lancs.
     Mary Janetta             Daughter           28  Single                     Barrow in Furness, Lancs
     Emily                         Daughter           27  Single                     Bowness, Westmorland
     Robert Abraham        Son                  20  Single 
                                                      Secretary of Public Company Carnforth, Lancashire
     Eva                            Daughter         12 Single  At School       Carnforth, Lancashire
     Abraham Hemingway Father-in-Law 83 Widower
                              Retired Loco Superintendant Furness Railway Halton, Yorkshire

The L. T. & S. is the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway which I remember taking many times from Leigh-on-sea to Upminster. The 1911 England Census returns available on ancestry.com are scans of the original householder copy, and you may click on the image below to appreciate Robert Strong's handwriting.

In 1901, with the father-in-law's household at Keer Villas in Carnforth, Lancashire, we have:
     Abraham Hemingway  Head          Widr 73
                                           Retired Railway Engineer         Yorks., Halton
     Robert Strong             Son-in-Law M    43
                                           Stationary Railway Engineman  Scotland
     Amelia                        Daur            M    38                    Lancs., Manchester
     Emily                          Gd Daur       S     14                   Westmd, Bowness
     Eva                            Gd Daur       S      2                     Lancs., Carnforth
     Robert Abraham        Gd Son         S     10                    Lancs., Carnforth

And in 1891 at 11 Hunter Street, Carnforth:
     Robert Strong  Head  M 34
                                     Driver Railway Stationary Engine   Greenock, Scotland
     Amelia             Wife  M  28                                           Manchester, Lancashire
     Mary J            Daur          8                                           Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire
     Emily              Daur         7 [should be 4]                        Bowness, Westmorland
     Robert A        Son           7 mos                                     Carnforth, Lancashire
     Jane Howarth Boarder    22  Dressmaker                       Preston, Lancashire

Carnforth, Lancashire was an important railway junction in the 19th century. More recently, the railway buildings operated for a time as a museum, and still service steam locomotives. Three of the Strong children were baptized at Christ Church, Carnforth. In 1911 the Strongs reported that 4 of their 5 children were still living. Here are records I have found so far pertaining to all five, including Amelia Strong who died in infancy.

Mary Janetta Strong
     BMD Birth Index Dec1882 Barrow in Furness 8e 826
Emily Strong
     BMD Birth Index Dec1883 Kendal 10b 672
     BMD Marriage Index Sep1913 W Ham 4a 201 to Douglas Stuart Kapadia
     BMD Death Index Emily Stuart Mar1944 Romford 4a 679 Age:60
     National Probate Calendar died 8 January 1944;
              probate to her husband "Douglas Stuart ship owner" 17 March 1944
Robert Abraham Strong
     BMD Birth Index Sep1890 Lancaster 8e 774
     Baptism at Christ Church, Carnforth 21 September 1890
     BMD Marriage Index Sep1915 Wellingborough 3b 363 to Winifred E Dunkley
     BMD Death Index Dec1918 Blofield 4b 431
Amelia Strong
     BMD Birth Index Sep1893 Lancaster 8e 783
     Baptism at Christ Church, Carnforth 3 September 1893
     BMD Death Index Dec1893 Lancaster 8e 578 Age:0
     Burial at St Oswald's, Warton 23 December 1893 Age:3 mos
Eva Strong
     BMD Birth Index Jun1898 Lancaster 8e 795
     Baptism at Christ Church, Carnforth 22 May 1898

Robert Abraham and Winifred E (nee Dunkley) Strong had a son: Robert M Strong BMD Birth Index Jun1917 Rochford 4a 1076. This appears to be the only Strong-Dunkley child in the index, which becomes easy to explain since a search for Robert A Strong in the BMD Death Index gives a death in December quarter 1918. A websearch for his name shows the photograph of a gravestone at St Michael, Pitsea recording 2nd Lieutenant Robert A Strong Royal Air Force, who died 1 December 1918 age 28, shortly after the war ended. The caption says he served with 273 Squadron which had been formed from flights of the Royal Naval Air Service. Air Ministry records at the National Archives, which I have not yet paid to read, index his date of birth as 2 September 1890 (Ref: AIR 76/488/87769). According to a discussion thread on one forum, his flying helmet is still extant! The couple would be my great grand uncle and aunt.

As for their son, we find 3rd Officer Robert Maxine Strong of the SS Empire Impala arriving in New York 4 July 1942, presumably as part of a wartime convoy which transported materiel for the Allied war effort. On 7 March 1943 SS Empire Impala, part of convoy SC-121 in the North Atlantic, was ordered to stop and pick up survivors of the torpedoed SS Egyptian, and was herself torpedoed by U591 and sank. All 46 crew were lost (and 46 of 49 from the Egyptian), among them Robert Maxine Strong who is listed on the Tower Hill Memorial Part XIV Panel 42 and in the remembrance book as the son of Robert Abraham and Winifred Ethel Strong (The Tower Hill Memorial has 11 March, although the convoy history in wikipedia has 7 March 1942).

The National Probate Calendar has:
STRONG, Robert Maxime [sic] of 23 Guildhall-road Bournemouth died on or since 11 March  1943 on war service. Administration Winchester 3 April to Winifred Ethel Strong widow.

Robert Maxine Strong would have been my Grandpa Stuart's first cousin. My grandpa told me he had served with the British 8th Army in North Africa, driving trucks. By early 1943 their adversaries, commanded by Rommel had retreated into Tunisia. Meanwhile the Battle of the Atlantic was about to turn in the Allies' favor, which, of course, was little consolation for all the losses. So now I can be fairly sure of the name Nan Stuart showed me all those years ago.

How Many Ways to Spell Zoe?

In my first week at grammar school, I remember my fountain pen leaking a mass of black ink, taking most of English class to clean up. My calligraphy skills improved however, under the tutelage of Mr. Jones, and with the use of a cartridge pen which seemed less apt to explode in my hands. Ball point pens and subsequently the word processor have all but reduced my handwriting to scrawl. It is comforting to know my scrawl is in good historical company, when I read handwritten entries to parish registers, census returns or the birth index, and find the whole range from beautiful penmanship to illegible scratching. Errors of transcription abound, and I can only make sense of some entries in relation to what I expect to see by looking at others.

And so it was in tracing the origins of Ardeshir Kapadia's wife. The BMD Marriage Index for Mar1886 Lambeth 1d 559 records the marriage of Ardeshir Kapadia to Zoe Davinia HY Hanrott. I could find nothing prior to that. There were the some possibilities: D might be Davinia or Davina, the H might be Halton, the Y possibly Yates. Zoe appears to be a particularly difficult word to transcribe. For example, the 1891 Census had "Loe". Perhaps the database searches came up empty because of mistranscription.

I was hoping to find Zoe hidden among the few families bearing the name Hanrott. The 1851 UK Census has Philip Augustus Hanrott senior, and a large household of grown children and minor grandchildren. Many of the gentlemen were solicitors, perhaps a link with Ardeshir Kapadia the barrister. One of those grandchildren Howard Augustus Hanrott (transcribed as Hansell) shows up on the 1871 UK Census with his wife Mary Ann Dover Hanrott (transcribed Mary Aaron Love Hansell) along with "Lee Devin Heston Young", which, with my eyes half-closed I could convince myself was Zoe Davina Horton Young, age 11, cousin of Howard's wife.

From here I found the 1861 UK Census with "Lan DK Young" age 1 living with mother Charlotte, older step siblings Jemima and James, and brothers Haydon C and Lonsdale D. And then her baptism, and census records associated with her father, James Denoon Young and mother Charlotte. In many records Denoon appears as "Denson". So here are the census returns for the Young family:

1841 Scotland Census at 7 High Street, Perth, Scotland

James DenoonYoung Head Age 30 Ironmonger

Jemima JessieYoung Wife Age 20

JemimaYoung Daur Age 1

Helen Dewar (60) Charlotte Murie (15) are F.S. (family servants?)

Jemima Jessie Young is James's first wife. She died before census time in 1851 since:

1851 England Census for Brompton

James D Young widower Age 40 Iron Founder and Engineer of Scotland

Sarah H Taylor widow Age 50 Accountant of Walbrook, Middlesex

Charlotte Taylor daur (of Sarah) Age 25 of College Hill, Middlesex

Zoe Taylor daur (of Sarah) Age 10 of St. Giles, Middlesex

And 23 December 1851 James Denoon Young, Engineer and Charlotte Taylor were married at Holy Trinity Church, Brompton. No sign of Jemima, the younger in 1851, but she returns to her father's household, along with her younger brother in time for:

1861 England Census for Brixton

Charlotte Young married Age 31

Jemima Young stepdaughter Age 21

James Young stepson Age 16

Haydon C Young son Age 6

Lonsdale D Young son Age 2

Zoe DH Young daur Age 1

(Eliza Shubert 22 and Anna Ling 21 are servants)

Zoe's BMD Birth Index entry is Dec1859 Lambeth 1d 406. I could not find it before because Zoe has been transcribed and alphabetized as "Joe" in the handwritten 19th century copy of the register! She was baptized 15 February 1860 in the parish of St Michael, Stockwell, Surrey; a modern transcriber wrote "Loe". There are also baptismal records for Haydon Charles and Lonsdale Denoon Young.

No sign of James Sr. in 1861. However, James Denoon Young died 19 April 1868 and was buried 25 April; he was 55 years old. I have yet to discover when Charlotte Young died, or how Zoe acquired Hanrott as a surname. But I do have Zoe's full name: Zoe Davina Halton Young Hanrott; and her parents: James Denoon Young and Charlotte Taylor. Charlotte Taylor's parents are William Taylor and Sarah H (could that be Halton?); James Denoon Young's father is James Young and mother possibly Denoon.

Needless to say, this is all written up as a word file alongside new transcriptions and digital copies of as many of the original records as I could find. But I'm thinking I should find an ink calligraphy pen to create a pedigree chart or family tree that would make Mr. Jones proud.

On the Trail

My great-great-grandfather, Ardeshir Kapadia, moved from Mumbai to London, some time before 1886, to study and practice law. I will post more information about him another time. He married Zoe Hanrott, and they had four sons and a daughter. Recent communication from a relative informed me of a story concerning one of those sons, who was believed to have traveled to India to find relatives, and was never heard from again...

However, I only heard of this story after the research I post here into the trail of Kenneth Peston Kapadia. Of the five children, he was the one I had heard least about. From English records, I had only his Birth Index entry Mar1887 Cranbrook 2a 761, and a marriage Mar1915 Lambeth 1d 547 to Hattie M Maxfield, and his appearance on the 1891 English Census return for the household of Ardeshir Kapadia. At this point I signed up for an account with ancestry.com.

An initial search revealed the following records. The 1906 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta lists Kenneth Kapadiah, born in England c1887, working as a hired man in Souris, Manitoba for the Johnson family. He had arrived in Canada that year. Another Canadian reference had a War Office citation for K Kapadia dated 7th August 1917. He is shown demobilizing as a military passenger on the S.S. Melita in March 1919, along with his wife Hattie. 

And then curiously a US Naturalization Certificate for Kap Kenneth, formerly Kenneth Kapadia, dated 9 Jun 1944. The California Death Index records that Kap Kenneth (born 12 December 1886) died in Los Angeles 25 September 1960.

Further searching for Kap Kenneth, born in England c1887 threw up 1930 and 1940 US Census returns from Los Angeles, California. Kap Kenneth, born in England c1887, arrived in the USA 1923 was living with wife Hattie (indeed Hattie M in the 1940 return) and a stepson Hartland (1930) or Hartmand (1940), and working as a building contractor on his own account in each case. Hartland was presumably Hattie's son, since they are both listed as born in Minnesota. Interestingly, in 1930 he had stated that both father and mother were born in England, when, of course, Ardeshir had been born in India.

How many Kenneth Kapadias could there be? Assuming, of course that Mr. Johnson did not know how to spell the name of his hired hand. And assuming that Kap Kenneth was concealing his father's true origins. Then, looking at only Canadian records, I came upon a 1921 marriage in Winnipeg, Manitoba between Kenneth Kapadia and Harriet Wickert. Now, Harriet can be the same as Hattie, but then perhaps there were two Kenneth Kapadias after all. So, I searched for a Hartland Wickert.

The 1910 US Census has Hartland Wichert, son of Oscar R and Hattie M in Minnesota. In 1920 he is living with his father Oscar, who has remarried Hazel. Further research revealed the marriage on 19 September 1905 in St. Paul, Minnesota of Oscar R Wichert and Harriet M Maxfield.

Conclusions

Harriet Maxfield, then, married Oscar Wichert. They had a son in 1907 and, not long after, divorced. Oscar went on to remarry; Hartland stayed with his father. Kenneth Kapadia arrived in Canada 1906. At some point he joined the military and met Hattie. They married in England in 1915. He demobilized in 1919, and the couple returned to Canada. They registered their marriage in Winnipeg in 1921, and moved to California in 1923. At some point Hartland came to live with them. By this time Kenneth Kapadia was known as Kap Kenneth. The couple lived out their days as US citizens in California.

So far, all the records from 1915 onward are certainly for the same person. The Kapadia-Maxfield-Wichert connection is clear enough, as is the Kapadia to Kenneth name change. Also, the War Office citation records the same service number as the demobilizing Kenneth Kapadia with Hattie on board the S.S. Melita.

Name, year and country of birth link all this to the hired hand of 1906 and the infant of the 1887 Birth Index. To confirm this latter would require the 1887 birth certificate with his date of birth, or 1915 marriage certificate with his father's name. The latter perhaps would be the better identifier, and would also contain the name of Hattie's father. At this point I am content to rest on the assumption of a single Kenneth Kapadia(h) born in England around 1886/7.

It would certainly seem that the "missing Kapadia son" of the family story was Kenneth. Did he ever get to India? Or, more likely, did he make straight for Canada? And why did he so completely sever relations with his family? A story unlikely to emerge unless there are some preserved family correspondence.