Lydia Ann Huxtable - An old and very solid brick wall

[clb222]

...which is driving me nuts.
It concerns Lydia Ann Huxtable, born apparently in Middlesex between 1841-1845 (censuses say Kensington, Clerkenwell and Islington) but not apparently registered ten years either side of 1840 anywhere in the country. She shows up in the 1871 census as a stillroom maid in a club in Broad St, aged 27, but she's nowhere to be found in 1851 or 1861. She married in 1875 (age given as 30) and gave her father's name as William Huxtable, publican. She's in 1881, 91 & 01 under her married name - all giving date of birth as 1843 - and died in 1905 in Islington, having had one son, named after his father - no clues there. I am beginning to think she sprang into existence fully formed in 1871! - as I can find absolutely zilch on her before that.

I have systematically checked and tracked every Lydia Huxtable registered across the country, and a few unregistered ones who show up in 1841 & 1851, and they're demonstrably not her. I've tried umpteen variations on Lydia, & Hextable and Huckstable and H*le; no joy. I've tried pulling up all female Huxtable marriages between 1840 & 1861 in London & Mdx to see if any of them were widows, who might have remarried and resulted in a different name for Lydia in the censuses - none of them were (although there are a few without full data on ancestry).  If her name was an alias, it seems an odd one to choose.

I need some fresh eyes on the problem - can anyone think of anything else to try? Another angle of attack? Or is this definitely a dead end and should I stop bashing my head against it?

(NB: I have all the data on her after 1871. Only interested in finding any information before that.)

[Rosinish]

Hi clb,

Have you looked for marriages with her father's name in given areas?

It's possible she was illegitimate but took on her step-father's surname when her mother married.

Have you looked for him on census', have you found him?

An alternative would be to search all Lydia Ann's without surname in given areas in your time frame & then check whether the mother married a Huxtable or with a possible mother's forename maybe lived together as Huxtable?

Long way for a short cut but I see those as your only other routes?

Annie

[ciderdrinker]

Hi
I'm with Rosinish
There is a Lydia Ann Callagan registerd Mar 1843 Kensington 111 292
She appears on the census in Chelsea 1851
Lydia Allen widow 46 lodging house keeper Putney
Jane Allen niece  16 dressmaker Putney
Lydia Callagan visitor 8 born Westminster

In 1861 she seems to be working as a servant age 14 Middle Row St Margaret Westminster.

I can't find a baptism with her parents on but it be worth a tenner to find out if her father was William a publican?

Ciderdrinker

[Spidermonkey]

Do the witnesses to the marriage help at all?

[lizdb]

They seem to be Edward J Glassborow and Ann Cox

[clb222]

Ooh. I spotted Lydia Ann Calligan but because of the unusual name spelling, I assumed she was also the Lydia Callan who died in Kensington in 1859 (I've had Callan for Callaghan before). Definitely worth a follow-up. Thanks!

The mge witnesses were Edward Glassborow and Ann Cox. Edward G is likely to have been a professional witness, as he's on another marriage on the same page. Don't know about Ann, but I suspect similar as it was a quiet and hurried marriage.

I haven't found William, if he did actually exist. I've had a few tries over the years but there are rather a lot of them. eta: and not much to go on. Haven't found any publicans, or similar, amongst the ones I looked at.

[clb222]

eta re Calligan: not too sure about it though - I can see the mother remarrying and all the children being lumped under new dad's surname by the enumerator, but this lass has carried on calling herself Calligan.

[Spidermonkey]

Louis Dujardin seems to have downwardly revised his age - on the 1871 census (if I have the right person) he is 50, so by the time he marries Lydia in 1875 he has knocked 8 or so years off his age.  I wonder if there is a chance that Lydia increased her age so that the age gap between them narrowed

[clb222]

Both their ages are wonky on the mge cert - going by the census, she should have been 32, so she's revising down, if anything. But I did check all plausible earlier Lydia Huxtables too, with no luck. They were all in the West Country, which made me wonder a lot about those places of birth she gave - all very close to where she was living at the time.

eta: 31. *blush* brain not working