RootsChat.Com

Thanks for the extra info. 

I'm in a quandary as to whether to firmly link Henry Saunders born c 1824 to James Saunders as the Henry living with James and Mary appears to have been born 1826 from the census returns.  I'm not sure if it's safe to reconcile those different dates - 1824 supplied by Henry at his marriage so presumably correct and at burial birth year by deduction 1823. The lack of a baptism for him is frustrating. he also always consistently states he was born in Herstmonceaux.

I'd welcome thoughts on the link.

I know from Henry's marriage registration that his father was a James Saunders so I'll have another search around to see if any other James' come to ligh, I didn't find any in my researches some years ago..

Thanks everyone.

It looks like either Henry wasn't baptised or else for some reason his name was missed off the records.  I'll go with his birth year as 1824 as implied in his marriage record as being 24 years old.

The info on James is what I'd pencilled in but as I hadn't found Mary Tapp's baptism I was wary that the wedding took place at St Nicholas in Brighton which seemed some way away from James' haunts.  Her baptism at Framfield brings her back into the equation nicely so I'll go with That James and Mary Tapp. I wonder why St Nicholas - was there a 'marriage market' there for would be couples?   

I think I may have found James' first marriage, to Frances Gander on 21 July 1817 at Herstmonceaux. Looking for a burial for her I found one on 01 October 1819 at Ringmer aged 51 meaning she'd be c49 at marriage, James' age 44 - 41 - 39 - 36 depending on age at burial and the 1841, 51 & 61 censuses receptively. Somewhat confusing!   If this is the right first wife it would explain why no children. Any thoughts?

One of my ancestors death was registered by the coroner who conducted an inquest into my ancestor's death and then it was registered again five weeks later in a different town and county by one of the sons who alleged he was present at the death.

Both registrations contained errors, more so in the son's one.

The ancestor was buried before the coroner had registered the death.  This was in 1863.

(But in view of what happened to my ancestor, I'm not sure I approve of the laughter...)

Definitely not, Fred was laughing at himself I think in embarrassment.

Building always was a very dangerous occupation, building the castles involved spiral ramps upwards supported by cantilever timbers set in holes in the stonework below, no handrails not that that would have done any good if a large block of stone being dragged up broke free. It still is a dangerous occupation especially if the site management don't follow the rules and cut corners on safety and working practices. You only have to look at the records for constructions years ago to see how many man and boys were killed/injured, around the time of your ancestor's aqccident.

It might be worth trying second hand bookshops in the area. most have a database of what they've got in stock or if not a local area section where you could have a trawl through.