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Hi everyone,

I'm having great difficulty locating the birth of my g.g.grandfather William Henry Rawlins.  I've got an awful lot of information about him apart from concrete evidence of his birth (which is what I'm after).  I'll keep it brief and work backwards, as the more recent facts are most concrete:

Unknown date/place of death

1911 Census entry from Walthamstow:
William Rawlins   41 - Carpenter, born Woolwich
Elizabeth Rawlins   37
Leonard Rawlins   16
Olive Rawlins   10
Bernard Rawlins   4
Ernest Bolingbroke  32

1901 Census entry from Walthamstow:
William Rawlins   31 - Carpenter, born Woolwich
Elizabeth Rawlins   27
Leonard Rawlins   6
Olive Rawlins   9 Months
Ernest Bolingbroke   23

1891 - Marriage to Elizabeth Bolingbroke, occupation carpenter, address 10 Nelson Street, Woolwich, witnesses Annie Jane Webb & Walter Henry/Harry Webb.  Father's name - William Henry Rawlins, silk weaver.

Then, I lose him.  Having done a lot of digging around in the history of Annie Jane Webb, she was living at 10 Nelson Street in the 1891 census, with husband Walter, two children, and her mother Eliza.  She was born in 1866 Anne Jane Rawlins to Eliza Maria Rawlins (nee Bond) and Thomas Benjamin Rawlins, a silk weaver (!).  She was the youngest of 7 children, who were all born and baptised in Bethnal Green.  So William Henry Rawlins is her younger brother, right? 

Maybe.  Trouble is Thomas Benjamin Rawlins, her father, dies in 1865, way before William Henry could be conceived.     And I cannot find a record of his birth ANYWHERE.    Her mother, Eliza Maria, goes on to remarry an Irish solider Patrick Keough, born in Wexford in 1836, who is stationed at Woolwich in the 1870s.  But she doesn't marry him until 1873.  They also have two further daughters together.  (He dies in 1878 and she goes on to marry and be widowed a further two times, but that's another story!). 

The point is, William Henry Rawlins is born when she is an unmarried widow.  He thinks he's born in Woolwich, but I think he might have been born in Bethnal Green like his older siblings.  I've searched FreeBMD under Rawlins, Rawlings, Bond (her maiden name) and Keough.  I've also searched all of these names looking for Christenings.  Nothing. 

Two further points of interest:
1. I have the marriage Banns from Ancestry for all four of Eliza Maria's marriages - except her marriage to Patrick Keough.  For this I only have the FreeBMD Index.  Does this mean it didn't take place in a church?  Who knows. 
2. The two daughters she has with Patrick Keough - they are baptised shortly after his death in 1878, both at the same time, when they are 5 and 3 years old.  This makes me think maybe he was Catholic?  Or some other such reason why he didn't want to get married or have his children baptised at the church?  However - still no record of William Henry being baptised!!!

I cannot see William Henry in the 1891 census or the 1881 census, even though I can see his mother Eliza Maria and her other younger children - he is not with her.  There is a possibility he, his mother and four of his siblings are recorded under the surname Wood (a mis-reading/hearing of either Bond or Keough?) in the 1871 census in Woolwich.  I've searched births under that too but its too common a name for me to find anything useful.

Essentially my question is - does anyone have any ideas where I might look for a record of his birth?  He gives his name as Rawlins at his marriage, so I felt it was safe to assume that this was the name he was given at birth, but I appreciate that may not be correct.  I also know his birth may not have been registered at all given his status and the fact that it took place in 1874.  What would happen at this death if this were the case?  Also, where might I look for records of him in the intervening years?  Workhouses?  Poor houses? 

Please someone help - I feel like I've searched to the ends of the earth and back!!


P.S. I have already extensively searched the Rawlins tree and found no possible grandchildren, cousins or more distant relatives of either Annie Jane or Eliza Maria who could be William Henry.  There is also a William Rawlins born to Lewis and Eliza Rawlins in 1870 in Shoreditch - this is not him, as well as a William Henry Rawlings born in Mile End in 1870 - also not him (found this out the expensive way!!).