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Research in Other Countries => Other Countries => Topic started by: blue jay on Thursday 19 October 17 03:15 BST (UK)
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Hi everyone. This is my first post. I'm hoping someone might be able to help me find the reason my Great-Great Grandparents went from Croydon, Surrey to India, sometime between 1859 and 1862.
Here's what I know already: my GG Grandparents, Thomas Roker (b 1838 Croydon) and Sarah Ellen Roker (nee Freeman, b approx. 1841 Dublin, Ireland) were married in Bermondsey, Surrey in December 1858.
They must have travelled to India sometime between 1859 and 1862, because their first child, Caroline Roker, was born in Allahabad, East Indies approximately 1862.
Their second child, Sarah Jane Roker, was born in Bareilly, East Indies approximately 1865. This is my Great-Grandmother.
Their third child, Thomas Roker, was born in Peshawar, East Indies approximately 1867.
The Rokers subsequently had two more children who were born in Croydon after their return from India. The information regarding the children born in India was taken from 1871 and 1881 UK Census records. On the 1871 Census Thomas is listed as a Gardener and on the 1881 Census as a General Labourer.
I'm wondering if there would be birth or baptism records somewhere for those three children born in India? So far I haven't had any luck in finding anything. I was in touch with the British Library some time ago, but they were not able to find any information regarding the Roker family.
Oh, one other bit of information - when Sarah Jane Roker eventually married (Arthur Bolton married 1882), her father, Thomas Roker, was listed as 'Pensioner' on the marriage certificate ( which I have).
Would be grateful for any further information anyone can give me.
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Welcome to RootsChat! ;D
Two places you could look:
1. FamilySearch has records from India.
2. FIBIS (Families in British India Society is well worth a look.
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A welcome from me too. Children Margaret and Clara are both shown on the GRO as having the mothers maiden name of Ingham. There is a marriage of a Sarah Jane Ingham to a Thomas Roker on the 4th June, 1860 at St. Peters Dublin. His father was Thomas Roker and hers was William Ingham.
A family tree online shows that his address was Portabello Barracks and her address as Percy Street.
Thomas was in the Army by the looks of it.
Mo
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The Indian Mutiny (aka India's First War of Independence) took place in 1857 and 1858.
Pre-1857, the Armies were all part of the Presidencies, and the Honourable East India Company.
Post-1858, The British Army took over, and many HEIC Regiments were disbanded.
Which would explain why he, and his Regiment, were sent to India.
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Here is the Dublin marriage. He was a driver in the Royal Artillery.
https://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/display-pdf.jsp?pdfName=d-45-3-14-097
I can't see any baptisms for the children in the India Office records on FindMyPast.
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Hmm ....there are Ingham baptisms to Thomas and Sarah Jane in India
1862 Hazaribaugh - Mary Anne (died in Allahabad in 1863)
1863 Allahabad - Caroline Esther
1867 Peshawar - Thomas Henry
Thomas Ingham the father was a private in 77th regiment.
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Did Thomas Roker desert from the Royal Artillery shortly after his Dublin marriage and join the 77th under a different name?
Private Thomas Ingham attested for the 77th in Dublin on 26 July 1860. Aged 20, born "Gilford" Surrey. A brushmaker by trade.
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Baptism at Bareilly 15 February 1865 ( Born 3 February) :
Sarah Jane Ingham daughter of Thomas Ingham and Sarah Jane; Private 77th Regiment
(Transcribed as Tregham!)
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The 1858 Bermondsey marriage is not your family. The ages are wrong ("full age"). He was a grocer and a widower, she a widow (maiden name Earle).
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The Ingham children's names, birth years and birthplaces fit exactly with the Roker children that were born in India so i think that, together with the wife Sarah Jane Ingham from Dublin, is fairly conclusive. Your great great grandfather served in the army under the assumed name Ingham.
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Good morning everyone! I'm in Canada, so just reading all the wonderful responses to my inquiry. It will take me a little while to retrace my steps and to process the new information. You have all given me a great deal of food for thought, not to mention a lot more researching!
With all the searching I have done on the family, I can't believe I missed checking the GRO for the two later daughters who were born in Croydon, which would of course have given me the maiden name of Ingham! I made a rookie mistake of being too focused on the one family member. My apologies to everyone for that omission on my part.
To add a little more information - my search started with my Great-Grandmother Sarah Jane Roker. Before both of my parents passed away (1991 and 2010), I had asked my Dad to write down as much family history, on both sides of my family, as he could. This was when I learned that my GG's maiden name on my Mother's side was Roker.
ShaunJ - thanks for all your help and information. I agree that there seems to be too many similarities between the 'Inghams' in India and what I thought were the Rokers in India for this to not be correct. The thing that confuses me though is that UK Census records for 1871 and 1881 show the 'Roker' family, with head Thomas, wife Sarah and the children born in India. Do you think he changed his surname back to Roker on returning to the UK from India? If Thomas was in the army in India (as Thomas Ingham) why might he change his name back to Roker upon returning to the UK? Would he not have been entitled to an army pension, under the name of Ingham?
Can I ask where/how you were able to access the baptism records for Sarah and the other children?
I'm so thrilled to have more avenues to check out and thank you all for your help and guidance :)
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He obviously felt able to return to civilian life as Roker but he did get an army pension under the name of Ingham, having been discharged early due to ill health.
The best place to look for the army records and the India baptisms is FindMyPast. Familtysearch.org has transcriptions of the baptisms but they do not have as much information as the original images. Remember that Sarah Jane has been transcribed as Tregham.
See https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FGZH-GF4