Martha Jane Clark(e), born Hounslow or Richmond, 1827

[lucymags]

I've run out of ideas for this one - trying to find her birth family. I have a birthdate from her grave transcription as 02 Mar 1827, and the same record has a note that she was from Hounslow, Middlesex, but her official Death Notice says POB is Richmond, Surrey. Her birth name is variously spelt Clarke and Clark, with 2 official death documents at variance. (I think that Clark predominates.)

She gets married in Cape Town to James Bashforth (who resigned from the Royal Artillery to settle in the Cape) in March 1854, has 3 children and lives to a ripe old age of 88.

Unfortunately no actual marriage record (just newspaper report of a church marriage in Cape Town) and no baptism records for their children to check names of witnesses, so I don't know whether she migrated with her birth family.

I've looked in FamilySearch, Ancestry, FindMyPast, FreeCEN, FreeREG. No sign of an exact or close match. Are there any other London, Surrey or Middlesex resources which may show baptisms in Richmond or Hounslow?

If not, I'll just have to accept this brick wall. 

[rosie99]

There is a baptism 15 April 1827 at Heston with that birth date parents Thomas & Maria but name is Martha Clark (no Jane) - abode Hounslow

[rosie99]

Possible census for Martha in 1841
HO107/ 658 bk7 f8 p9
High Street, Isleworth
Martha Clark 15 born Middlesex

possible parents in Isleworth 1841
HO107/ 658 Bk8 f40 p40
Thomas   Clark    40   
Maria   Clark   40   
Charles   Clark    10   
Abraham   Clark 5   
Thomas   Clark   5
all born Middlesex   

1851 has a Thomas Clark & Maria with son Abraham in Isleworth
H0107/1698 f310 p33

The image for Marthas baptism is on Ancestry

[lucymags]

There is a baptism 15 April 1827 at Heston with that birth date parents Thomas & Maria but name is Martha Clark (no Jane) - abode Hounslow

Oh, thanks for that, Rosie. In the absence of anything else, I think that that one is worth recording as a definite maybe! 

[lucymags]

Oh, great - but I wonder why I didn't spot it on my Ancestry? (I joined up yesterday for 6 months when they were offering a big discount - the UK version.)

I'll have another look when I get back to my computer in a while. I think that I spotted a census record with a 15-yr old Martha who was a niece in the household, forget where.

Back in an hour or so...

[rosie99]

1861 has Maria & Abraham Clark as daughter/grandson of Thomas & Lucy Strange.
RG9/   772 f30 p9

I think that I spotted a census record with a 15-yr old Martha who was a niece in the household, forget where.

The 1841 when Martha would have been showing as age 15 does not give relationships

[lucymags]

Ah, bingo! I guess I'm just not used to Ancestry's search function. It took a bit of fiddling around to eventually hit upon that baptism, but very rewarding when I found it, because I see that it also shows the birth date on the l.h.s., which is March 2nd, so that must be her! Also, she calls her daughter Ann Maria, and one of the sons Thomas (although husband's father has the same name).

Thanks so much for being a better set of eyes on this one, Rosie. I will see how far I can get with those other names now. I will now have to see if I can find those census records - or are they in a different source, inaccessible to me?

Edit: Also, Richmond is not very far from Isleworth, so perhaps she lived there for a while before she left the country or something, hence mention of it on the death notice.

[rosie99]

Perhaps you are putting in too much information 

I started here
https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/
and just put in Martha Clark -birth 1827 Middlesex, England

From the results page I selected birth marriage & death including parish - she came up top of the list on the results

[rosie99]

When did she marry