Is this the Henry Shepherd who you think may be James Howe in later life 
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=774093.0
yes... member lemur41 has been in touch on pm, she uncovered the truth!
james howe married eliza knight in derby in 1872. i could find no trace of james howe before this date but in the 1871 census it was noticed that living next door to eliza knight was henry shepard. lemur41 did some digging and couldnt find any further trace of henry shepard.
she looked under births 1846 london, where the 71 census says h shepard came from and found he was a 'nurse child' on the 51 census.
his 'parents' were william and hannah mower, they were in the workhouse along with their kids. it is supposed that one of the mowers daughters, either hannah 1824 or maria 1826 had the illegitimate henry and their parents took him on.
in the workhouse at the same time, in 1841, was a james shepard, so its likely he knew the mower girls.
hannah mowers maiden name was ........ howe .....
henry shepard lived a rougish life by the look of it, joining the navy, living in canada, marrying, deserting them, returning to london and fathering another child marrying again (?) before deserting them moving to derby, meeting eliza knight, and changing his name to avoid detection!
he chose his real fathers name james, and his (grandmothers) name howe. he said his fathers william on the marriage cert to eliza.
i have not located a birth certificate for henry shepard, but he died young in 1893 (47) from 'dropsy' i have his death cert (well my mum does).
think theres a book and film in this!
