Firstly, Martha Cox, for whom I had noted a record in the 1881 Census as follows: "England and Wales Census, 1881," database, FamilySearch (
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X3PQ-LNT : 16 November 2014), Martha Cox in household of William Cox, Islington, Middlesex, England; from "1881 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (
http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing p. 64, PRO RG 11/231 / 63, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey; FHL microfilm 1,341,050.
- only FamilySearch tells me that the record is no longer available. Is anyone able to verify the following information, which I noted from that record?
"It lists her 4 children with the surname Collins, ranging in ages from 6 to 14. Her second husband is William Cox, but the children retain the name Collins." The 4 children I have created for her are James Frederick, Frederick Charles (died as an infant 1846 - records found), Ada L, Albert Edward and George H.
From other records I have surmised that she was previously married to Frederick Collings and the family turn up in Clerkenwell in the 1871 Census here:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VBD2-B9S, with 2 children, James and Ada.
Frederick dies in 1875
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2JK9-Q68, and she marries William Cox in July 1880 in Newington:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJ4Y-MR3The reason I am looking at this family in the first place is because the origins of an Albert Edward Cock-Collins, who turns up in Cape Town at the end of the 19th C, remain mysterious. There are no other recorded instances of this surname, save his descendants. One of the family stories suggested that he had connections to Cornwall, but previous research down this line (everything I could lay my hands on in Cornish records of that period) showed no evidence of this surname. We know that he (and his wife Martha Carter, from Cape Town) returned to London around 1904, where his third son Cecil was born in West Ham.
I happened upon the Cox/Collings connection in my last bout of research a year or two back, but got no further, and would like to revisit and build on this if possible. What do you think of the likelihood of this connection?
I have also made notes (possibly from records sighted on Ancestry or FindMyPast) that there was an A.E.Collins who made a passport application on 24 June 1894, and there's an A.E.Cox who was a passenger on the
Mexican on May 23rd 1896 (although no information about the destination).
If anyone can assist with that 1881 Census record, and/or offer any other suggestions or opinions on this matter, I'd appreciate it.