You're telling me it's not an easy one, Andrea!
I have traced the father Joseph, born in Cheshire in 1820 and I have his death certificate in Salford in 1866 from a heart problem - he worked at the local gas works, which tallies with the entry on Charles' marriage certificate and with the 1861 census.
Joseph was married to Ellen, who was born in Kendal.
There is a bit of a mystery here which I can't unravel - on all the censuses Charles is down as born in Manchester, but the only Charles I can find who fits the bill was born in Preston in 1859, the son of a Joseph Egerton (deceased) and Ellen (nee Lund), who was born in the Kendal area.
I got to thinking that must be my Charles, and for some reason he was born in Preston, a little out of the way considering the family was definitely in Manchester/Salford in 1851-2, 1857 and 1861.
And why would Joseph be entered as deceased on the birth certificate and parish register, when he did not die until 1866?
By 1861 Joseph, Ellen, Charles and his two older brothers were all living in Salford together - and the two older brothers were born in Manchester (c. 1852) and Salford (c. 1857).
That all points to a coincidence, that there were two Joseph Egertons, both married to ladies named Ellen from the Lancaster/Kendal area, one in Preston, one in Salford/Manchester, the first dying in c. 1859 and my Joseph in 1866.
The mystery deepens in the fact that the "deceased" Preston Joseph married an Ellen Lund, and I have found an Ellen Lund born in the Lancaster/Kendal area in 1830. There is also record of Joseph Egerton marrying and Ellen Lund, but at MANCHESTER Cathedral in 1850
I have been told that bigger coincidences exist, so I cannot take it as read that these ARE the same people and that for some reason Ellen was in Preston when she gave birth to Charles, and decided to claim the father was deceased.
Why would Ellen have entered Joseph as deceased on Charles's birth certificate, in Preston, and yet be back with him in Salford within two years?
None of it makes sense. The only thing I can think of is that maybe the child was someone else's and Ellen went to Preston to hide the birth from Joseph - and that they were later reconciled.
But how on earth can you prove that?!
I have been to Manchester register office but without details I don't want to be paying for an extensive search.