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The ancestry of my great grandfather in law, Leonard Garratt, is proving very elusive.

According to the 1901 census entry he was born in 1859/60 in Coventry. This age tallies with his marriage certificate, which also states that his father was called Samuel Garratt.

However, there is no birth registration for him at the GRO (in Coventry or anywhere else) or at the Coventry Register office. This family does not appear in the Coventry census for 1861 or 1871 either.

Does anyone have access to other Warwickshire censuses for 1861 and 1871? I wonder whether he was born somewhere close to Coventry, but outside of it.

Does anyone know of any other way that the birth may have been registered (bearing in mind I don't know the parish involved.) What if it was a workhouse birth or similar? I wouldn't rule out him making up the name of a father, so as not to lose face on his marriage certificate.

An added complication was that he was a comedian and used the stage name Draycott. He drowned in 1906 and was buried as Leonard Draycott. I've tried searching for birth and census records in the name of Draycott as well, but with no success.

Any ideas would be gratefully received. This man appears to have been a very colourful character, so it is frustrating not to be able to trace where he came from!

Hi,

I would be grateful if someone could look up the following families for me.

1) George Francis, a sawyer,with wife Ann and son John Thomas. Son was born in 1842. At the time of the 1841 census they were in Twerton.

2) William Ottway, a master painter,with a wife Ann and a daughter Martha Maria. The daughter was born in 1842.

3) John Pester, aged about 32/33, with a wife called Ellen/ Helen.

Many thanks to anyone who can help.

Hi,

I'm looking for a reverend John Donne, who I know died in Luton in 1857. He had a wife called Dinah.

If anyone can trace him and his family there in the 1851 census, I would be very grateful. I desperately need to know where he was born!

Many thanks to anyone who can help.

I am looking for John Edward Donne, Mary Ann Donne and family in the 1861 census I believe that John and Mary were the teachers at Wreslingworth National school.

Would also be interested to see if they were still there in 1871.

Many thanks to anyone who can help.