I have uncovered some more evidence in the mystery of Sarah Clear & Jane Collins being described as Aunts in the 1881 census. As I wrote before, as well as appearing in John Robertson Walker's household in 1881, Sarah & Jane also appeared in the household of Charlotte Jones in earlier censuses alongside other women, where they are described as nieces. I thought that might be a subterfuge but it turns out to be close to the truth.
The women that stayed with and probably worked for Charlotte according to the censuses were:
- Jane Collins
- Sarah Clear
- Maria Clear
- Ann Rawlinson
The following indented lines show the relationships. Each indentation represents a previous generation. In brackets you can see the birthdate and FamilySearch code. The last line is the latest, common ancestor of all the people of interest, Charles Collens & Mary Boxall of Headley, Hampshire.
Ellen Clear (1839, L1FX-JPG)
Daniel Clear (1809, 9SZ1-K3Z) & Sarah Jane Barnes (1813, 9SZ1-K32)
Maria Clear (1828, 98M2-NJH)
Sarah Clear (1826, L1VF-6XL)
Charles Clear (1804, MJYV-8HG) & Ann Arnold (1804, KG3Y-SB2)
Charles Clear (1778, LWCS-9W2) & Ann Collens (1781, K24M-3SB)
Ann Rawlinson (1845, L1KZ-BJB)
William Rawlinson (1816, MSB6-RJF) & Maria Collins (1821, MSNK-S2R)
Jane Collins (1818, MD1J-CQV)
Edward Collens (1784, MJYZ-K6C) & Anne Fullrick (1785, LJX8-ZCK)
Charlotte Jones (nee Collens, 1790, KVBS-8RH)
Charles Collens (1742, K2WB-XLH) & Mary Boxall (1747, K2WB-XL6)
- Charlotte Jones, the old lady that originally ran the Court Plaster manufacturer, is a daughter of Charles Collens & Mary Boxall. Unfortunately, I can't figure out who she married to become a Jones but presumably it contributed to her having a nice address in London.
- Jane Collins is a daughter of Charlotte's brother, Edward Collens, so she is a proper niece.
- Sarah Clear and Maria Clear are sisters and they are grandaughters of Charlotte's sister Ann Collens. Is great-nieces the proper term?
- Ann Rawlinson is a grandaughter of Charlotte's brother, Edward Collens, via Maria Collins making her another great-niece. She is also a niece of Jane Collins, Maria being Jane's sister. Ann is also a second cousin of Sarah Clear and Maria Clear.
So, niece only accurately describes the Jane Collins relationship. The other three women should be described as great-nieces. Great-niece may not be allowable on the census form so niece would be a reasonably close approximation.
And now we have a real payoff. A big surprise. In 1863, Ellen Clear (top line but not yet mentioned) married a toff, Robert Wilson, complete with an entry in Burke's Families. He died five years later, leaving her as a widow with 4 young children and another on the way (and only four servants to help). In 1882, only a year after the 1881 census, she re-married John Robertson Walker, the very same man that started this whole Aunt business. She was 43 and he was 23. From the indented names above you can see that Sarah Clear and Ellen were cousins. The relationship between Jane Collins and Ellen is more twisted. Maybe somebody can tell me the proper nomenclature for it.
Who did John meet first, Ellen or Sarah & Jane. If it was Ellen first, did she suggest that John get into the Court Plaster business? If John took over the business first did Sarah & Jane then introduce him to Ellen?
The Court Plaster business didn't continue for much longer. John became a church minister in the mid-1980s. In 1891, Sarah & Jane were listed as retired Court Plaster manufacturers and living together in Lambeth only 400m away from the house they'd shared with John 10 years earlier. It looks like Jane died in 1893 and Sarah in 1897. They had been together for around 50 years.
TL;DR; The use of Aunt as a description in the 1881 census was as I suggested before - an extension of a previous practice. There was no blood relationship between John Robertson Walker and Sarah & Jane at the time. Sarah & Jane were 33 & 41 years older than him. It would be ridiculous to describe them as nieces. I don't know why he didn't just describe them as employees. Maybe the women themselves were not used to being regarded as employees. However, the following year he married Ellen and they did become officially related.
Phew, that was a lot of work. Nearly 4 whole days. The Collens and Fullrick families were unbelievably prolific. I've merged hundreds of records to obtain this result. Is somebody now going to tell me that this was all worked out seven years ago?