Need help : Ambrose SNOW

[iolaus]

One of the members of my family just seems to vanish and was wondering if any of you lovely Rootchatters could locate him.

Ambrose Snow was born 13 Apr 1866 to James Snow and Eliza Heddington
He was baptised on 29th April the same year in St Phillip and St Jacob in Bristol

He is on the 1871 census at 3 Frome Place, Bristol with his parents and siblings (transcribed as Disbro on ancestry)
On the 1881 census he is in the Barton Regis Workhouse with his father and younger brother William - his mother died in 1876

His father James died in the workhouse in 1883
His brother Williams turns up in Nottingham by the 1891 census as a railway porter and settles there

I can find no trace of Ambrose after this point.  Any ideas?

[Victor Harvey]

Hi,
Thought the following may be of interest.
Source: A Grim Almanac of the Workhouse by Peter Higginbotham
August 1891
The Revd Michael Arthur O'MEARA, chaplain of Barton Regis workhouse, Bristol, for the past 17 years, committed suicide on this day. The Revd O'MEARA, aged sixty-six, had been in bad health for some time and the guardians had recently granted him two months' leave to visit Ireland. His wife found him lying on his bedroom floor quite dead, having inflicted a fearful gash in his throat with a razor. He had written a note stating that he could endure life no longer.
Victor

[AMBLY]

Hmmm  :

Criminal Registers:
Edgar George MOUNTY
In 1892, he was imprisoned for 6 weeks for stealing a lamb.
Michaelmas Qtr Sessions in Wells, Somerset 19 Oct 1892.

News Reports:
Wells Journal - Thursday 31 August 1905
Western Daily Press, Bristol - Thursday 19 October 1905
Edgar George MOUNTY alias Ambrose SNOW, age 31, a Drover of no fixed abode, was indicted for having on or about the 9th August 1905,  stolen a horse valued $25 and a pony valued $15 from a farmer, Charles Bertram HOUSE, of Shepton Mallet.

A Horse dealer of Bristol, who had always know the accused as 'Ambrose SNOW, said he's seen Ambrose with the horse, and Ambrose had told him it was 'one which his brother Albert' had bought'.  The witness knew the brother as Albert SNOW whom he said was a General Dealer who lived at Old Broad Street in Bristol.

Albert SNOW was called as a witness. He stated he lived at 34 Broad Street, and said he 'believed' the accused was his brother Ambrose SNOW, saying he never knew Ambrose went by any other name.   'Believed'? A turn of phrase as reported in the paper, or did Albert not know for sure that man who said he was his  brother, was in fact his brother?

Edgar/Ambrose insisted he knew nothing of the events which saw him accused and  plead not guilty at his indictment. He was found guilty at trial and granted some mercy (recommended by the Jury), receiving 3 years penal servitude.

So was Edgar the lamb-burgler in 1892 the same person as Ambrose the horse-rustler in 1905? Or did Ambrose steal Edgar's identity? Or did Edgar steal Ambrose's identity? And is Ambrose your Ambrose, b 1866?

The age given for the Ambrose in 1905 is 31, indicating a year of birth about 1874.
There was a Birth registration for an Edgar George MOUNTEY in Frome in 1874.

Did your Ambrose have a brother named Albert?

There is an Albert SNOW born abt 1874 Heddington Court Bristol. He lived at 10 Pinnel Street in 1901 and was a Carter. He married Esther NUTT in 1894 Barton Regis.  He was no stranger to the courts either - just trying to gather items together to post - but is he the same Albert SNOW, brother of Ambrose SNOW?

Cheers
AMBLY

[AMBLY]

Looking good....the Albert SNOW who married Esther NUTT; his father was a James SNOW:

MARRIAGE: 25 Sep 1894, St Jude's Bristol
Albert SNOW, single, father: Jas. SNOW
Esther NUTT, single, father: Joseph NUTT
Both of St Jude's Bristol
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTSR-KLF
Court Cases involving Albert:

1892: Albert SNOW, Carter, plead guilty to the charge of stealing a brass scale, beam & weights, from his Employer, Parnall & Co, Brass Founders of Wine Street. The curate of St Jude's stood for him in court, saying Albert was impulsive and liable to be made a fool of by people he met, had thrown into 'evil associations' and had 'everything against him and everything to make life hard for a lad had been his lot'. Albert was found guilty, He was given the option of a 20s & costs fine, or seven days in gaol.
Bristol Mercury - Friday 14 October 1892

1893: Albert SNOW a young Carter, charged with ill-treating a horse by working it when it was unfit. It was his master, John BURRELL of St Paul's Bristol who was at fault however, compelling Albert to take out the horse even though Albert himself had pointed out the horse's bad condition the day before. Albert was acquitted and turned 'states evidence'. The master was found guilty and was fined.
Western Daily Press - Wednesday 01 November 1893

1899: Albert SNOW was charged with furious driving (abt 10miles an hour) in Broadmead, Bristol very nearly hitting a pedestrian and a tramcar, and didn't immediately stop when the Police shouted at him do so. He was  given the option of a 5s & costs fine, or seven days in gaol.
Bristol Mercury - Thursday 19 January 1899

1902:
Albert SNOW of 12 Pinnel Street, St Judes's Bristol at his own expense on 15 Nov 1902, published AN APOLOGY (obviously court-ordered) to one Edward James BRITT, apologising for slanderous statements he made against BRITT which were 'without foundation and untrue'.
Western Daily Press - Tuesday 18 November 1902

So need to find Albert in 1881 and 1891.... first trying to fully prove Albert SNOW  the brother of Ambrose SNOW / Edgar George MOUNTY is the same Albert SNOW who married Esther NUTT...

Cheers
AMBLY

[iolaus]

Yes my Ambrose had a younger brother Albert (born 1874 - which would also mean it's very unlikely that Ambrose/Edgar would have been born in 1874 as they weren't twins), his baptism shows he is also the child of James and Eliza.

The only Albert I can find is the one you mention (also baptised at St Judes), haven't found him on the first two censuses only the ones after his marriage to Esther - I assume due to the fact that he was 2 when his mother died that he went into an orphanage rather than the workhouse with his elder brothers and father.  There is no other birth for an Albert Snow in the Bristol area in 1874

This death of both his parents (when he was 2 and 9 respectively) would fit with the 'had everything to make life hard for a lad'

James was also in and out of prison a few times when younger, so it's not a major shock that his sons could well have gone the same way

Thank you so much for this