I wonder if anyone else has come across this family, or can shed any light on what happened to them? The only concrete evidence I have of them all together comes from the 1891 census in Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex, as follows:
Rupert Graham, head, married, 57, printer & publisher, Essex, Chelmsford
Emma Graham, wife, married, 33, Essex, Cold Norton
Cicely/Cecily Graham, daughter, 10, scholar, Essex, Maldon
Cuthbert Graham, son, 8, scholar, Essex, Maldon
Hilda M Graham, daughter, 5, scholar, Essex, Maldon
Harold V Graham, son, 4, scholar, Essex, Maldon
Leo Graham, son, 3, Middlesex, Sunbury
Percy L Graham, son, 3, Middlesex, Sunbury
Louis Graham, son, 1, Middlesex, Sunbury
With such distinctive names for the children, you’d think it would be relatively easy to track them down, but it seems not
I have found birth records for the three youngest boys, born in Middlesex -
Percy Leo S Graham and
Leo Vincent S Graham were twins, Leo died in 1892, aged 3, the death was registered in Tendring, Essex. The youngest son,
Louis Wilfred S Graham, surfaces again in Tendring in 1907, where he marries
Violet Castleton Johnson. He died in Chelmsford in 1958.
I believe Emma Graham could be
Emma Devenish, born in April 1858 to
Thomas Devenish and
Lydia Sach, but I can find no trace of a marriage between her and Rupert Graham, nor can I find her after 1891 (or in 1881 either, when she is presumably already married).
And that is pretty much the sum of what I have
No trace at all of the other children, nor of father Rupert Graham, either before or after 1891. The only other possibility is the death of a Rupert Graham of the right age in Cambridge in 1899.
The only other piece of information I’ve managed to glean about the elusive Rupert Graham is from random newspaper adverts across the regional press in the late 1880s, where he is advertising various publications for sale - the address is given as Holloway House, Sunbury, Middlesex - the address he appears at in the 1891 census. As a slightly curious twist, he’s also quoted as a testimonial in an advert for some ‘cure’ for rheumatism, where he signs as Rupert Graham, Graham & Son Publishers - same address as before…
Google has so far failed to provide any further information about Rupert and his publishing empire - Holloway House doesn’t appear to exist any longer, although the pub next door in the 1891 census - The Britannia - is still in French Street, Sunbury, now called The Jockey…
I fear I may be forced to get the 1899 death cert for the Rupert Graham who died in Cambridge in 1899, if only to rule him in or out...
Ruth