Frederick Charles Castle of Southborough and Tunbridge Wells

[chempat]

3) Frederick James Castle as he is always referred to in electoral records of Southborough has him as a resident of Southborough from the year of his birth in 1824 until 1895.

Kate Sinden is on the ER at Tressillian Road from 1891 to 1898, Frederick Sinden does not appear registered there.

[shirl100]

Have you ordered the marriage certificate for Kate Sinden, for further information?

I assumed the late marriage so that she would inherit what was rightfully hers, instead of a problem with the wrong surname.

I think getting the marriage cert is crucial, maybe she just took on the name and as you say wanted to make sure she got the inheritance so eventually married, that cert may hold some clues which will help sort out the facts

Shirl

[Smokey807]

Thank you for the 1881 and 1911 census details.Although the spelling of Sinden became Linden in the census (an understandable error by the census taker) everything else matches up reasonably well and there is no doubt its the right family.

No I did not order the marriage certificate as I cannot afford the expense.

So it appears the Frederick James Castle and Kate never married before they began to have children and for reasons we will never find the answer to took on the name Sinden, which became the registered surname of their children (baptisms etc) and as you suggest decided near the end of Fredericks life (perhaps they were aware of his failing health) to get legally married in 1896 for inheritance purposes. Isnt it mystifying however why they did not marry earlier like normal people do and why bother to "hide" behind the name "Sinden" . Frederick could have died at any time (hit by a lorry) and where would that have left Kate. The use of Sinden also put an end to the use of the surname Castle in the family line, not something most people want to do particularly when the children were males. An isn't it odd that their son Gordon Sinden could not provide his year and place of birth for the 1911 census-was he really that stupid or was he trying to cover something up also (maybe the fact that he was illegitimate). To me this is all very strange indeed!!

I think we have gone as far as we can or need to.......so thank you all for your great interest in and assistance with my inquiries.

[chempat]

Just reread your opening post:

'Frederick's probate record gave him of 63 Tressillian Rd, Brockley,Kent ,died May 15,1897. The executor of his 19,167 pound estate was his widow Kate Castle'

Tressillian Road is where the Sinden family were in the 1891 census, and Kate on the ER's.

Possibly they could not marry before 1896 because Kate was already married.

If they had been living as different people for 25 years they could invent whatever was reasonable to fit on the marriage certificate.

I had posted a birth for one of their grandsons, where the use of Castle as a middle name was shown.

It might be interesting to have a birth certificate of one of their sons to see what she claimed as her maiden name.

To point out - as long as there is no intention to deceive you can use whatever name you want.

[oldcroan]

Kate Castle was born Catherine Sinden to Sophia Sinden no father,around late 1840/41 in Brenchley, (hop country). Sophia later married next door neighbour Stephen Woodgate and daughter Rhoda was dressmaker assistant to Kate in London. Frederick almost certainly father to Kate's children and marriage might just have occurred for inheritance purposes.  He had a very busy property developer's life in Tunbridge Wells after his career in hops and she was busy being a court dressmaker.