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Author Topic: Immigrant from France early 19th C  (Read 112 times)
cire
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Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Immigrant from France early 19th C
« on: Saturday 13 October 07 22:08 BST (UK) »
One of the families I am researching is that of the descendants of Francis Constant. Francis was born about 1800, and his place of birth in various censuses is:

    1841          foriegn
    1851          Normandy
    1861          Normandy  British subject
    1871          Normandy

Francis married in Cheltenham around 1828, so he must have come to England in the first couple of decades of the 19th C.---- the time of the Napoleonic wars.

Could he have been a French prisoner of war who  stayed & settled in England? The 1861 census says he was a British subject. Was there a naturalisation process at that time? Are there any records which might help me find his place of birth and his parents, and perhaps some of his history before coming to England.

Eric
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Beeston, Whithead & Towle
Allesley, Bloxham from c. 1815
Foleshill, Gee (Jee) Adams Millerchip
Burton Dassett, Bloxham to c. 1815
jorose
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Re: Immigrant from France early 19th C
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 13 October 07 23:54 BST (UK) »
There were naturalisations at this time - you can see some of them on the National Archives catalogue - but I don't think it was particularly common at this time among the general public as it was relatively expensive and didn't give much benefit.  And it doesn't specify 'naturalised British citizen' so he may have been the son of an English family born in France.

There are also some scattered records at the NA relating to foreign entry into the UK, but I haven't ever dug through those.

Is he the Francis Constant on the 1881 census in London? Listed as born 'France', a pensioner?  (died 1882?).  Did he marry twice? There might be a marriage in 1867 - Francis Constant, Susannah Brett, that matches the Francis b. France around 1800 and the Susannah listed as his wife in 1881.  If this is yours, then you can at least get father's name from the marriage certificate.

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,252272.0.html - I see someone has confirmed the marriage date of the 1827 marriage, what you need now is original copies of the marriage record, for witness names, confirmation if he was a bachelor or previously married, it should also tell you if he was o.t.p. or not.  That might just give you the hint you need.
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Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
cire
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Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Re: Immigrant from France early 19th C
« Reply #2 on: Sunday 14 October 07 17:57 BST (UK) »
Thanks for the reply. "My" Francis Constant was living in Winchcombe in 1841. I had thought the  Francis you mentioned in London was the one I was looking for in 1881, but found that mine died in Warwickshire in 1871, shortly after the census.

Thinking more about it I don't think he could have been a French prisoner of war as he would have only been 15 - 16 when the war ended in 1815. I've had a look on the National Archives web site but didn't find him listed. I thought it unlikely that an English family would have been living in Normandy around 1800.

I'll have to try to see the marriage entry in the Cheltenham St. Mary register for his marriage in 1872, and hope it might give some more information.


Eric
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Beeston, Whithead & Towle
Allesley, Bloxham from c. 1815
Foleshill, Gee (Jee) Adams Millerchip
Burton Dassett, Bloxham to c. 1815
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