*completed with MANY thanks* Challenge- Shrewsbury artist

[J.J.]

 Hello everyone!
  Although he is not in my direct family line, I am interested in finding out more about the Shrewsbury artist Henry Blunt. I have written to the museum housing his work, (Shrewsbury Museums Service) and also the Darwin site which displays his work on-line.
I have received no reply from either. His daughter, Agnes, was also an artist of note.
   If anyone is up to this challenge, that would be great!


I cannot seem to find records of his marriage or death. There is little on-line
other than on my own website...( about his nephew Thomas Blunt )

Here is what I do have on him, so far...although mostly unconfirmed.

Parents Robert Blunt & Ann (Porter)  m.1802 Chesham
Henry Blunt : Artist & Chemist
Born 14 NOV 1806  Southwark Surrey d.___shrewsbury
Spouse: Martha ______born c1811 d.1900 Shrewsbury
children: Henry b. 1848 , Ellen c.1846,
Agnes c.1845 & Emily b.1843


Samples of his work:
http://www.darwincountry.org/explore/001561.html?sid=2981d338ba62b4a99fe236cda2393eda
(Please scroll down, as the first image is a painting OF him in 1840 by J. Pardon.)

[J.J.]

Oh, and I forgot this MAY be a clue... one of his paintings has the caption:
Interior view of Abbey, Shrewsbury. A view of the east end of the Abbey after Pountney-Smith's restorations of 1862-3 and before Pearson removed the neo-Norman east end on the left, to make way for his new chancel.
So was he still alive in 1862/3...??
Cannot find on ANY census...see my mystery?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This has since been disproven by the wonderful replies to come! read on 

[liverpool annie]

JJ

I wonder if you could get in touch with the Shropshire archives and find out about Henry through the house?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/history/2004/12/house_history.shtml

Annie

[Shropshire Lass]

Hi JJ

I'm assuming you have access to the census returns - if not, I'll copy out the details for you.

Found the children in the 1871 - the girls are on RG10/2777, folio 96, page 1, including an extra daughter, Anne, listed as an inbecile, living in Meole Brace, Shrewsbury.

This may be young Henry on RG10/1589, folio 125, page 29, a BA lodging in Cambridge, need birth cert to be sure.

What I don't understand is that the girls are the first entry of the first page and yet they are listed as 'daughters'.  Would the parents be on the last page of the previous folio?  They wouldn't really split a family up like that, would they?

Best wishes
Monica

[J.J.]

Hi, Annie!
 Can you get info from the archives gratus? Money is tight right now and
don't have extra for the genealogy...that's why I am loving the help on this
site. Thanks for the reply!    J.J.
 

[liverpool annie]

Hi JJ

Well I clicked on to the archives and then in the search typed in houses and there were loads of them - my thought was if you could find the house and that information - on the site I gave you - that might lead you to Henry!!

Read the site and see what you think!!

Annie

[J.J.]

hi, Monica...
  Don't have access to the census...just what I access free online. If you wouldn't mind copying the information down for me, that would be great. Thank you so much! Weird
that the family is split up, but maybe there are a great deal of people in the household? Don't really know much about the censuses...
Thanks so much for looking this up for me.  J.J.

[J.J.]

Dear Annie,
 The site looks intriguing...just at a glance, I am not sure I understand it...but will look at it closer tomorrow as others need to use computer. So are you saying that if I find the house they occupied, I can find something about them there???
Is this an indexed database like that, or am I misunderstanding?  Will get back to this tomorrow afternoon when I have time to really focus and understand better.
Many thanks!  J.J.

[Allie]

Hi JJ

This is from the 1861 census,

Meole Brace

Martha Blunt, H, Widow, 49, Fundholder, Chelsea Middlesex
Emily, Daur, U, 18, Shrewsbury
Agnes, Daur, U, 16, Scholar, Shrewsbury
Ellen, Daur, U, 14, Scholar, Shrewsbury
Henry, Son, 13, Scholar, Shrewsbury
Ann, Daur, 9, Scholar, Shrewsbury
Elizabeth Morris, Serv, U, 21, Cook, Llanfair Montgomershire

RG9/1874  Folio 97   Page 17

This may narrow down the death time span for you. I will see if I can find them in 1851 for you but I have to get ready for work so I may not get back to you for a while.

Allie