Good evening Violet May,
I'm sure you won't mind if I enjoy "putting you out of your misery". So here goes:
Chenies Parish Register, Burials, 1812 onwards, page 55, entry 436:
1864, December 30, Daniel Brown, of London, 84 years, by Coroner's order for burial.
Death Certificate, 1865, Reg District: Kensington, Sub-district Kensington Town.
No 267 (in register)
When and where died: 1864 December, No 7 Kensington Park Terrace, North Kensington
Name and surname: Daniel Brown
Sex: Male
Age: 84 years
Occupation: Milkman & Labourer
Cause of death: Rupture of the heart P M
Signature, description and residence of informant:
Information received from Jas Bird, Coroner for Middlesex, Inquest held 29th December 1864
When registered: Thirtyfirst March 1865
Signature of registrar: C R Banner(?) Registrar
Everything fits together, so it is "98% plus" certain that these two are the same person.
The only oddity is the occupation (at that age in those days, and after being in an almshouse for many years), and the age seems to be some 4 years too high, being, from the censuses for Chenies:
1841, HO 107/46/10, Folio 5, page 4, age 55 (but rounded down)
1851, HO 107/1717/4, Folio 468, page 9, entry 37, age 67
1861, RG9/848/4, Folio 8, page 9,entry 54, age 77
So he should be 80 in 1864, not 84.
We must also ask why, after being in an almshouse in Chenies for many years, he should appear in London.
What I have not yet checked (because I have only just thought about it) is who was living at the Kensington address in 1861.
Another little question is whether he was living alone in 1864, so that nobody knew the date on which he had died - which of course is the reason for the inquest.
A bit more to search for is the coroner's record (which rarely survived) and possibly a newspaper report of the inquest (first find which newspaper).
There is a marriage record, No 853, in St Leonard, Shoreditch, on 4/6/1812, of Daniel Brown, bachelor and Ann Gates, spinster, both in that parish, and both signed. Witnesses: William Gates x his mark, and Elizabeth Austin signed. There are two entirely separate register records of this marriage, but both have identical information, but one seems to be a (manuscript) copy of the other (the original).
You will recognise the Austin name in Chenies, so it is fairly certain we have the right Daniel Brown.
I also note that she is recorded as Ann, and so for all the christenings of their 9 (10?) children, sometimes Anne, but never Mary Ann (which has appeared on a record on the internet, without supporting evidence, and I am sure is pure guesswork, and very probably incorrect).
Of the children of Daniel and Ann, No 7 was christened, page 20, entry 160, 1825, April 17, Rosetta. Father recorded as Innkeeper. I have no other information for her, except that her name, and those of several sisters (also the Ann) were passed down to the children of the first daughter Matilda after she had married Thomas Pope Dickinson in 1830.
But I must stop, before we both get indigestion!
With kind regards,
George Dickinson.
