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I had a rather interesting discovery while doing some research. I was having trouble finding a birth record for Alfred Denhart, who was born in Hoxton about 1878, married in 1905, and had a family. Then I discovered that he and his mother and siblings went into the workhouse in St Mary Islington in 1885.

In September of that year, Florence Denhart, age 36, a charwoman by profession, entered the workhouse with her young children Florence (11) and William (9), from her marriage to her late husband, and Alfred (6) and James (5), who are noted as her illegitimate sons by one Thomas Shipman. In October they were ordered removed to the parish of St Leonard's Shoreditch.

I found Florence and her three sons in 1891, now living in London under the name Shipman and working as a laundress. She is listed as married but there is no husband present. I went searching for the birth records of her children. Her birthplace seems to say "Strasburg" (probably the city called Strassbourg in Alsace). As far as I can tell, Alfred and James have no birth records, not under Denhart nor Shipman. But I did find the birth records for her elder children, where her maiden name is quite unusual -- Merckling.

Alfred's marriage record lists his father as Tobias Denhart. Tobias Denhart did marry in 1872, to a woman named Salome Merckling. I believe I found her in 1871, working as a nurse in a household in Ealing, Middlesex. Her birthplace is given as France. I don't know why Salome chose to go by Florence, but it certainly seems this is the right woman.

Finally, I located her little family in 1881. Salome (now Florence) is living with William (not Thomas!) Shipman in Shoreditch with her two little boys and her daughter, Florence. William is working as a cabman. Florence's birthplace is again given as France, "British Subject". I don't know what happened to William Shipman, but in 1885, as I mentioned before, Florence and her young children would go to the workhouse.

At last, in 1901, Florence has reverted back to the Denhart name and is living in Fulham on her own. Quite a long way from Salome Merckling from Strassbourg!

Enoch was born about 1815 in Burslem, according to census records. Mary was about the same age but born in Haslington, in Cheshire. Their marriage was recorded in 1832; is a father for either of them on the record?

In 1841, aside from their own children, Enoch and Mary have a nine-year-old Elizabeth Nicklin staying with them. She is almost certainly a near relation of Mary's. In 1851, there's an unmarried 24-year-old woman, Elizabeth Wedgwood, and her two daughters, living in the Boulton household. She seems to be a lodger rather than a relation.

Thank you for your good help!

Hello all,

Are there fathers listed for Alfred and Harriett in their marriage record? I found Alfred living with his widowed mother Mary in the 1841 census, but can't find christening records for him so no idea who his father was. Not many candidates in the 1841 census for young Harriett either.

Any marriage record for them? If so, does the marriage record list parents for one or either?

In the 1851 census, we find John Warwick and wife Sarah, both 35, with a passel of children including the eldest, Frances Garratt, listed as "wife's daughter", aged 15. In the 1841 census, we find John and Sarah already married, with no Frances in sight, but they do have their eldest daughter together, Jane Warwick.

For some reason, I can't seem to find birth records in GRO for the Warwick children except for Elizabeth, born 1850. Her mother's maiden name is given as Garratt.

Was Sarah married before, to a Garratt? Or was Frances born out of wedlock? Where is Frances on the 1841 census? I did find what appears to be the right birth record for Frances in GRO under the year 1838, but there's no mother's maiden name listed.