Chatfield family missing from 1871 England census

[alivin]

Hi, I have been trying in vain to locate my widowed 3x great grandmother, Frances/Fanny Chatfield (nee Apps) and her 4 children in the 1871 census.

Frances' husband, Henry Chatfield, died in 1867 in Cheam, Surrey. In the 1861 census, the family was living in Cheam where Henry was a railway labourer. Frances remarried in 1876, to Charles Spice in Luton, Kent.

Frances was born in Rye, Sussex c. 1828. Her children were all born in Cheam - Frances/Fanny in 1857, Frank in 1858, Caroline in 1861 and Mary Ann in 1863. My 2x great grandmother, Frances/Fanny, emigrated to Australia in 1874. I know Caroline married in London in 1883, and I have been able to find Mary Ann working as a servant in Bognor Regis in the 1881 census.

I have looked at the entire 1871 census for Cheam but not found them there. I have also checked a transcription for the Epsom Union Workhouse census return and not found them there either. Tried searching the entire census on 3 different websites using first names only as well as surname only with wide birth date ranges but still no joy. Where is it likely that a widow with young children would have gone??

Any help or advice much appreciated!

[Milliepede]

My first thought was in the workhouse as well but as you've checked there 

I wonder if they were in a different workhouse in another area or one close by.

[alivin]

Yes I did wonder the same. I assumed a widow and children who couldn't look after themselves financially became the responsibility of the parish they lived in. As Frances married in Cheam and her children were all born and raised there, thought they would have gone to the Epsom Union Workhouse. Would another parish take responsibility for them if they moved to that area?

[alivin]

Had a small breakthough - found the children at the Lewisham workhouse in London at different times in 1872/1873, no sign of their mother though. Possibly children were deserted? Tried searching for them in Lewisham area in the 1871 census, but still nothing.

[youngtug]

She may have been removed to her parish of birth.

[alivin]

If that was the case, wonder why the children didn't go with her The two youngest appear to have been removed to Chichester, according to the discharge record for them at the Lewisham workhouse. Only reason I can think they went there was because their father was born there. Sad that they were all split up, bit of a mystery really!

[youngtug]

Removals were not for the benefit of the people removed but to place the burden/cost of keeping them on the the parish of their birth. Families were split up.

[alivin]

That being the case, wonder why the children ended up at the Lewisham workhouse without their mother when they were all born in Cheam (records say they were charged to the Lewisham parish). And why the two youngest were removed to Chichester, where their deceased father was born, and not back to the Epsom workhouse or to the one in Rye where their mother was born. Hence why it would be good to find them on the census before they entered the workhouse.

Thanks for your input

[youngtug]

Have you seen this site, it may be of interest;
              http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~chatfhs/genealogy-chatfield-uk-database.html

Home page;  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~chatfhs/genealog.html