Lydia Southgate - born Holloway/Islington 1875

[hatofthecat]

I've had no luck finding a birth record for my Great Grandmother Lydia Southgate but I have a date of 6 Mar 1875 from school board admission record in 1884 (Cubitt Town School).

In 1881 she is in Poplar Workhouse with her mother, also Lydia Southgate (1854, Wix - Essex), and younger siblings Mary Ann Southgate (1876) and James Frederick Southgate (1880) neither of who saw the year out.  She is listed with place of birth Islington.  I'm pretty sure she and her siblings were all illegitimate as her mother is still using maiden name and is noted as unmarried.

In 1891, having taken her step father's name of Christie, she has place of birth as Poplar

In 1901, now a widow of Henry Abraham Norris, place of birth is given as Holloway.

She remarried in 1903 to a James Daden

Unfortunately she succumbed to TB before next census so that's all I have. Simples eh 

thanks for any help as this one has had me stumped for a few months now, Pete

[dawnsh]

Hi

have you found birth records or baptisms for the other children?

Dawn

[avm228]

I see the Andrews newspaper collection indexes the birth (11 Sep 1873, Mile End) of an Emma Flood, daughter of William Flood and Lydia Southgate.

Based on that I wonder whether this birth reg is worth a look for your Lydia?

Birth, Jun qtr 1875

Lydia FLOOD

Islington 1b 312.

[avm228]

...and possibilities for the younger siblings:

Mary Ann A FLOOD, birth reg Sep qtr 1876 Islington 1b 397
James Frederick FLOOD, birth reg Jun qtr 1880 Shoreditch 1c 164.

[hatofthecat]

That all looks very promising avm228 !!

Ancestry seems to be having a wobble at moment and not serving up any document images but I managed to find that Emma probably died in Islington

Name:   Emma Flood
Estimated Birth Year:   abt 1873
Date of Registration:   Jul-Aug-Sep 1875
Age at Death:   2
Registration District:   Islington
Inferred County:   London
Volume:   1b
Page:   135

This would account for her not being with her mother and the other children in 1881.  Obviously there could be a number of reasons for her mother being listed as an unmarried woman at the workhouse... 

Thanks for what could be a very useful lead, I'll get gnawing on those   

Pete

[avm228]

The deceased Emma Flood may be a different one (born Islington Sep qtr 1873 as opposed to Mile End Dec qtr 1873).

There's a Whitechapel-born Emma Flood (7) with grandparents in Islington in 1881: RG11/234/53/23.

[avm228]

These look promising:

Baptisms, St Columba, Haggerston

22 Oct 1878

Mary Adelaide
Lydia
Betsy

daughters of William (cheesemonger) & Lydia FLOOD, of 46 Ely Place.

1 June 1880

James Frederic (born 18 Apr 1880), son of William (cheesemonger) & Lydia FLOOD, of 36 Ware St.

...and possibly:

Baptism, St Thomas, Stepney

14 Dec 1873

Emma, daughter of William (shopman) & Lydia FLOOD, of Stepney.



N.B. There's also a William (clothier/bootcloser) & Lydia Flood baptising children at Islington St Mary from 1867 onwards but I think they're a different couple corresponding to the marriage of William Flood (bootmaker) & Lydia West at St Mary Islington on 25 December 1866.

[hatofthecat]

This is all hanging together nicely I think avm228 

I can't find any marriage for William Flood and Lydia Southgate yet though    she would have been still only 18 when first of these children (Emma) is born so perhaps they weren't ever married 

Importantly I have Lydia Southgate living in Mile End as a 16 year old servant in 1871 census so that ties in with daughter Emma being born there.

Location and date for birth for her daughters Lydia & Mary and son James all tie in correctly with 1881 census at Poplar workhouse.

Additionally and a strong indicator, daughter Mary has the rather unusual middle name "Adelaide" which is the first of name of her mother Lydia's older brother James' wife !

For additional daughter Betsy, I've found an Elizabeth Flood born Q3 1878 Hackney but also two 1 year olds of that name dying in 1879 (one Hackney the other Shoreditch, younger brother Frederick is born in Shoreditch a few months later in 1880). Which would explain why she like Emma not with her mother at the Poplar workhouse in 1881.

I've looked over the other William & Lydia Flood in Islington - luckily none of the children tie up with those found in 1881 in Poplar so can easily filter them out.

Right now I'm pretty confident this all nails down who the father of Lydia's children was.  The question reamains as to why, only a year after son Frederick is born, she is at Poplar workhouse under her maiden name and described as "Single" (meaning unmarried and not just shorthand for an abandoned wife - from scanning the census pages for the workhouse).  I can't find a death for William Flood so that would leave his running off OR Lydia leaving him with the spectre of domestic violence    I have found a William Flood convicted in Sep 1880 at Middlesex court of "malicious wounding" but there is a homeless man of same name in newspaper reports of an arrest for same in Aug 1880.  Without additional information for William I've not been able to track him after 1880.

thanks, Pete 

[avm228]

Hi Pete

William is a bit of a mystery, isn't he? If you can get access to the Poplar workhouse admission register it may assist on the circumstances of Lydia's admission.  It doesn't look as though they ever married - perhaps they simply lived as though married, she using his surname while they were together.