Mary Ann Hamilton

[KPM]

Hi

I am trying to find out what happened to Mary Ann Hamilton after 1871.  She was born c1830 in Portsmouth and married Edward Hamilton in 1852 in Kingston.  Mary and Edward led a somewhat colourful life and I have spent a very enjoyable (if not shocking) afternoon reading about them in the Surrey comet.  I had initially found a report some years back about poor old Mary who had been assaulted by her husband and who was in fear of her life.  Edward died shortly after this report and I breathed a sign of relief for this poor woman who was obviously the victim of domestic abuse.

However, I have been forced to re-evaluate my opinion after finding in excess of 20 different articles where they appear to have taken it in turns to assault each other, in between verbally abusing and often assaulting friends, neighbours and complete strangers - more often than not in a drunken state! 

I have found them both in Horse Fair in 1861 and Mary in 1871 (shortly after Edward died), however my trail has now run cold.  I cannot find a record of Mary's death or a re-marriage (She was only 40 when her husband died) or any later census records. 

Any help in tracing her whereabouts after 1871 would be very much appreciated!

Regards

KPM

[louisa maud]

Have you any idea what her maiden name was?

Louisa Maud

[KPM]

Hi Louisa maud

Her maiden name was Cook.  I have found some newspaper reports referring to her as Cook in 1855 but so far nothing in the census.

Regards kpm

[louisa maud]

It did occur to me that she might have reverted to her maiden name, on 1881 a prisoner born same place as your Mary, shown as Mary Brown was in prison,  I then checked on 1871 and same woman is in prison,  whatever she did she was in for a long stretch, but if you have found them on 1871 it can't be her

Louisa Maud

[KPM]

Hi

Thanks for your reply Louisa Maud.

However, the plot now thickens!!

It would appear that this was quite a family!  I have since also found numerous articles about Edward's brother Richard and his wife Julia - two of Mary and Edward's sparring/drinking partners and they all seem to have disappeared.

I know Edward died in 1871 and I know Mary's whereabouts in 1871.  However, Richard (born 1827, died 1893 aka Richard Laming Hamilton) is nowhere to be found after 1861.  His wife Julia can be found in 1871 with her mother Mary Leary (also a frequent subject in the Surrey Comet for fighting and drunkenness!) and her two children Richard (born 1857) and Mary Ann (born 1862).

And that's it!  No sign of Julia Hamilton dying, marrying or in any other census.  So in summary, my missing family are:

Mary Ann Hamilton after 1871
Julia Hamilton (nee Leary) after 1871
Richard Hamilton after 1861.

At the moment, the Surrey comet only appears to have been digitised until 1879, but everything seems to have gone quiet after 1870 with the last report about the Hamilton's on 24th December 1870.

I am going to order Edward's death certificate in case there was any 'foul play', but I think this is unlikely as there were no reports in the paper.

Can anyone out there can help me locate these three rogues in the census records?

Regards

Anne-Marie