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I have read tales of people changing their surname for a varitey of reasons including covering up a criminal past or bigamy, but my ancestor appeared to have used two different surnames at the same time.

My grandmother was born under the surname Howard Wisby in 1914. This was always a source of amusement/curiosity to my brother and I as children. It was only when I started my family history research in the 1990s that I asked her why she had a double name and she didn't know. Her elder sister told me that her dad's family was called Wisby but they adopted the name Howard when her grandfather John Wisby "took over a shoe shop" (her words).

I believed this at first but it got complicated when I researched into the family. I expected to find the family under the name Wisby and a shoe making business under the name Howard which when taken over changed its name to Howard Wisby. However it turned out that my nan's great-grandfather used both the names Wisby and Howard two generations earier.

James Wisby was born circa 1809 in Great Wakering in Essex. He worked as a chaff cutter (farm labourer) in Essex. Her married in 1829 and had 11 children. The family moved to Lonon circa 1845 living in Marylebone to start with and the last 5 of his children were born in London. In 1851 they are still listed as living at the same address in Marylebone under then name Wisby with James working as a chaff cutter but the Census record from the same year shows the famly at an address in St Pancras working with James as a shoe maker (it says master Shoemaker employing one man).

I then wonderd if James Wisby's wife's birth name was Howard and that he used her name as the business name but her birthname was Murrells. I then wondered if his mother's maiden name was Howard but I later found out it was Bloys. On the 1841 census he and his family are in Great Wakering, Essex and next door are a James Howard and his wife Eadey (Edith).  Later I discovered that Eadey (Edith) was Mary Murrells' sister. So James Wisby's brother-in-law was called James Howard who also worked as a chaff cutter.

I did wonder for a while if they were one and the same person and James married bigamously because I can't find a birth record of James Howard that matches up with his age and place of birth on the census. However when I later searched the marriage records in Essex I found that the two marriages took place in neighbouring villages and the 1841 Census shows them living at the same address (or next door to eachother) so it seems unlikely that he could get away with such deciept. In London in the 1840s they are living very close to eachother in Marylebone.

I noticed that when living in London after 1850 whenever one of James' children were baptised he used the name Wisby but on the Census it was always Howard.

My theory is that as a humble chaff cutter after he moved to London he wanted to be a shoe maker having picked up how to make shoes (from whom I don't know) but he didn't want to, or was too old to, train as a shoe maker (you had to served 7 years as an apprentice). So he used his brother-in-law's name to front the business Howard being more commonplace than Wisby, which was probably why that name always appeared on the Census in case authorities asked questions but on birth, deaths and marriages he always used his birth name of Wisby.

This seems to have led to problems for his chlidren and grandchildren because by the time of my grandmother's generation some were born as Wisby, some as Howard, some as Howard Wisby (inc my grandmother and her siblings) and some as Wisby Howard. This is a nightmare for family history research as I'm sure you can imagine, especially with Howard being a popular name.

So my theory is that John Wisby didn't buy the shoemaking business as my great-aunt told me but it was his father James who borrowed/adopted the name Howard to front shoe making business to cover up the fact that he wasn't qualified. Has anyone else come across examples where someone has not just changed their name but used two names at the same time like James Wisby/Howard? And has anyone any theories on why someone might do this? And does anyone have any other theories about why James Wisby used two surnames?

I have been sent this lovely photo of my grandfather's mother, aunts, uncles and their children on a family outing to a beach. I'm guessing it dates from circa 1930 but can anyone be more precise. Also does anyone recognise the beach location from the pier in the background?
The names of the group are Ruth Lay, Ruth and Jack Cutler, Minnie Swingler and John Cutler (name of other child not known)

This is a signature and message written on an old photograph but we're not sure what it says. The photo is of an ancestor who was an actress in the early part of the last century. Her stage name was Mamie Stuart but her real name was Charlotte Holford (born Charlotte Webb), known to her family as Lottie. The photo was probably given to her brother and sister in law (John and Sara) as it ended up in the possesion of their daughter.
The first line looks like Yours sincerely but the second line doesn't say Mamie or Charlotte, can any one decypher what it says. NB She is in costume as a pirate in the photo so this may have some bearing on what she was written.

My ancestor was a barber/hair dresser working in Marylebone and is described as such on the 1851 census and on his first two marriage certificates (he was married three times). But the 1861 Census shows him listed as a Hair dresser and something else I can't read. Can anyone else work out what it says?

Also his last marriage certificate shows his occupation as a Cutler which as far as I know is a knife seller. Is there a known connection between that and hair cutting or might it mean something else?