Please help.... Smith (hard I know!)

[jahall]

I posted this in the English Forum but it was suggested that I post here.

In summary looking for a

thomas william portland smith b at sea 15 May 1841 - suspected going from Ireland to England? does the  name Portland mean anything?

It is the parents I cant get anything else about.

father Robert Smith occ Policeman Arbour Square Stepney in 1841
Barbara b around 1820 in Ireland....

Can anyone give me some pointers as to where I could find details of the service of my great grandfather Robert SMITH? At his son's christening at St Thomas Stepney in October 1841 he is shown as a Policeman, living at 13 Arbour Square Stepney.
I have had a researcher look at the records at the PRO at Kew, and she found several Robert SMITHs, most of whom could be eliminated because of the timeframe or because they were not married. Is there any other source of information I could try?
I have searched the 1841 census and found his wife Barbara, born in
Ireland, and the baby Thomas William Portland SMITH, born at sea, along with a four year old child Anna HICKEY, also born Ireland, but Robert himself was not shown. Would he have been on duty and if so, would he have been recorded somewhere else?

He arrived in NZ in 1868/9 and married in 1872.  Unfortunately his marriage cert isnt any good as parents records werent recorded until 1874.

His death cert. gives his father's name as Thomas!! and his occupation as a surgeon. The information was supplied by Dunlop,his eldest son, and I'm sure that's what he believed, but it's a bit different from Robert, a policeman!

Anyone got any ideas?


Here is the link to the orginal post:

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=285606.new;topicseen#new

[jahall]

also forgot to mention he was in the Royal Irish regiment when he came to NZ if that helps!  he discharged himself in Hobart in 1870.