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Lancashire / Shawcross, strange, but is it true?
« on: Friday 20 October 06 17:00 BST (UK) »
I posted a week ago about my troubles tracing my Shawcross ancestors. Shawcrosses seem to be problematic to all family members. Anyway, not being one to be put off easily, I continued my search in the Street Directories at the local library.
So, I now want to try out a different story to see if anyone can throw some light on the people involved. Even if it is not my family, it is a great story and I’ve enjoyed watching the tale unfold.
So, instead of Herbert (ggf) and John Shawcross (gf) being born in Manchester, this is what I have discovered.
First of all, William, Herbert’s father, was born in Barton in 1823. He went to Ireland and married a Mary Jane, who already had a son to a previous marriage, Robert Connick. William and Mary Jane had three children, Mary Jane b 1851, Henry b 1853 and Alice b 1856, Mary and Henry born in Ireland, Alice in Guildford. They are recorded in the 1861 census and William is an engineer. They all then disappear off the face of the earth until 1891 (please don‘t give up, I‘m getting there.)
In the meantime in the 1901 census I find a Henry Shawcross living in Liscard with his half sister Hilda b71 and half brother Herbert b74. Both Hilda and Herbert were born in Eastern Bengal. Henry is a civil engineer, educated at Queens in Dublin and Herbert is a soldiers mechanical/engine fitter on furlough.
So I go hunting for Henry and Herbert in earlier censuses and find no trace of Herbert but find Henry living in various addresses in Toxteth Park and working as a civil engineer.
So this is when I go off to the local library to continue the search and find Herbert William Shawcross, mechanic/engineer living at various addresses in the Wirral and Liverpool between 1905 and 1923, the last address being the one given on my grandfather’s marriage certificate (1922) as his residence. This was the only piece of documentation I had to begin with. You can imagine how excited I was, maybe this was it!
When I got home I then started looking for Hilda, Herbert’s sister - should have done that a while ago - and discover her in 1891 living in Toxteth Park with mother Rose, widow, and three other children, James b75, Rose b77 and George b 80, all born in Eastern Bengal. Rose is also in the street directory for 1894.
So this is where it could all go pear shaped, am I so anxious to find my Shawcross ancestors that I’ll steal somebody else’s family?
Checking through the various links on here I found some great web sites giving information about British people living, working and born in India. I found a Bengal marriage certificate for 1870 for William Shawcross and Rose Rasall. So did William go to India sometime after 1861, did Mary die and did he remarry Rose and have 5 more children. Did William then die sometime between 1880 and 1894 and did Rose come back to England, to Liverpool, where Henry was living? (I also found a Bengal marriage certificate for Mary Jane, Williams daughter, dated 1872.)
And, biggest question of all, did Herbert come back to Liverpool with Rose and the rest of the family between 1880 and 1894 and father a child, John, my grandfather. Did he then join the Army and disappear until 1905ish. The only records I can find for Herbert are the 1901 census and the marriage certificate.
Does anyone own this particular family or know anything about them? I would be really, really happy to hear from anyone with any information.
Regards, Rubyrose
So, I now want to try out a different story to see if anyone can throw some light on the people involved. Even if it is not my family, it is a great story and I’ve enjoyed watching the tale unfold.
So, instead of Herbert (ggf) and John Shawcross (gf) being born in Manchester, this is what I have discovered.
First of all, William, Herbert’s father, was born in Barton in 1823. He went to Ireland and married a Mary Jane, who already had a son to a previous marriage, Robert Connick. William and Mary Jane had three children, Mary Jane b 1851, Henry b 1853 and Alice b 1856, Mary and Henry born in Ireland, Alice in Guildford. They are recorded in the 1861 census and William is an engineer. They all then disappear off the face of the earth until 1891 (please don‘t give up, I‘m getting there.)
In the meantime in the 1901 census I find a Henry Shawcross living in Liscard with his half sister Hilda b71 and half brother Herbert b74. Both Hilda and Herbert were born in Eastern Bengal. Henry is a civil engineer, educated at Queens in Dublin and Herbert is a soldiers mechanical/engine fitter on furlough.
So I go hunting for Henry and Herbert in earlier censuses and find no trace of Herbert but find Henry living in various addresses in Toxteth Park and working as a civil engineer.
So this is when I go off to the local library to continue the search and find Herbert William Shawcross, mechanic/engineer living at various addresses in the Wirral and Liverpool between 1905 and 1923, the last address being the one given on my grandfather’s marriage certificate (1922) as his residence. This was the only piece of documentation I had to begin with. You can imagine how excited I was, maybe this was it!
When I got home I then started looking for Hilda, Herbert’s sister - should have done that a while ago - and discover her in 1891 living in Toxteth Park with mother Rose, widow, and three other children, James b75, Rose b77 and George b 80, all born in Eastern Bengal. Rose is also in the street directory for 1894.
So this is where it could all go pear shaped, am I so anxious to find my Shawcross ancestors that I’ll steal somebody else’s family?
Checking through the various links on here I found some great web sites giving information about British people living, working and born in India. I found a Bengal marriage certificate for 1870 for William Shawcross and Rose Rasall. So did William go to India sometime after 1861, did Mary die and did he remarry Rose and have 5 more children. Did William then die sometime between 1880 and 1894 and did Rose come back to England, to Liverpool, where Henry was living? (I also found a Bengal marriage certificate for Mary Jane, Williams daughter, dated 1872.)
And, biggest question of all, did Herbert come back to Liverpool with Rose and the rest of the family between 1880 and 1894 and father a child, John, my grandfather. Did he then join the Army and disappear until 1905ish. The only records I can find for Herbert are the 1901 census and the marriage certificate.
Does anyone own this particular family or know anything about them? I would be really, really happy to hear from anyone with any information.
Regards, Rubyrose