Smeed family mystery

[JeanH]

My friend does not have access to her computer at the moment so I am helping out.
William Champion Smeed born abt 1844 Dover Kent.   Parents Edward abt 1800 Kent and Eliz H abt 1803 Margate Kent.

William had siblings which at the moment we are not concerned about.

We found William Champion Smeed on the 1861 Census Christchurch Kent - age 16, an inmate in some kind of hospital.  Family said that even at this early age he had joined the Army.

He went on to serve in India and married there.  As the marriage took place abroad - we think - it is not possible to get hold of the certificate as we have no knowledge of which regiment he served in. Someone came up with the name Mary Ann but this is just conjecture - again, no proof.(William had a sister and daughter called Mary Ann)

William and possibly wife called Mary Ann had issue.
William Dady 1871 India (died 1893 England)
Ada Mary 1874 Gosport Hants (died the same year)
Henry Edward 1875 India
Frank Edward 1877 India
Ethel Jane 1879 India
Frederick 1882 India
Maurice James 1884 India
Mary Ann 1887 Plumstead London

On 1891 Census Christchurch Surrey, it shows Frank, Frederick and Maurice Smeed resident in some kind of school.  The only thing we can find out about this school is that one of the victims of Jack the Ripper had a son who attended the same school!!!!!

On the 1901 Census some of the children are living together, the youngest still being at school.

Not on any record can we find evidence of the wife of William Champion Smeed, who is supposed to have died in the Workhouse in London.  I did find a possible death record in 1900 for a William Champion Smeed age 55 Q1 vol 49 page 195 Greater London but not certain if this is correct.

We would like to know if it is possible to obtain either a marriage certificate for William Champion Smeed, or even a record of a marriage, given that we think he married in India - who was his wife, why the children were in the school, and why were the children all living together in 1901 without either parents.  I know it is a lot to ask but apparently this mystery has been in the family for generations and it would be lovely if it could be solved.  Thanks to whoever takes on this tas.  Regards Maeve

[AMBLY]

Hi Maeve

With a name like William Champion SMEED born abt 1844. I would say you have the answer to one question:
He died 1900 age 55 (born abt 1845), registered West Ham district.   So you know why at least one of the children's parents is not present in 1901 

Marriage: William Dady SMEED -  Jun Qtr 1892 Woolwich
       Son born? : William Dady SMEED in Woolwich Sep Qtr 1893
       Son died? : William Dady SMEED  died  Dec Qtr 1893 Woolwich  age 0
Death: William Dady SMEAD age 22 (born abt 1871) died Medway Mar Qtr 1893

With 2 of the children being born in England (Ada and Mary Ann), a birth certificate of either would reveal the mother's name and possibly the name of the father's regiment.

However have found this:
http://www.curiousfox.com/history/hampshire_20.html
Ada Mary SMEED, born c 1874 believed at Gosport Barracks.
Father William Champion Smeed, Mother Mary Ann Williams both of Dover, Kent.
William was in the 104th Bengal Fusiliers who I believe were stationed at Gosport.
He married and had several children in India, plus others in this country

Cheers
AMBLY

Edit" William Dady SMEAD. death age 22 in 1893, as maeve had said 

[AMBLY]

Is this him or a relative?

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=846-queens&cid=2-4-6-6#2-4-6-6
SMEED, WILLIAM, CHAMPION AKA 'DADY' WILLIAM. 586. 81ST/2 LOYALS.  846/2.4.142  1874-84

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archon/searches/locresult_details.asp?LR=846

Cheers
AMBLY

[AMBLY]

He did serve in the 81st Loyals.
Looks like children Ada and William D have been registered twice (one may be a birth, one may a baptism, perhaps?)

Name - Place Year - Regiment - Vol / page
William D SMEED - Deolalee 1871 - 81st - 1121 / 71
William D SMEED - Deolallee 1871 - 37th / 1103 / 16
Ada M SMEED - Gosport 1874 - 81st - 1121 / 71
Ada M SMEED - Gosport 1874 - 37th - 1103 / 18
Henry E SMEED - Jullunder 1875 - 81st - 1121 / 75
Frank E SMEED - Dalhousie 1877 - 61st - 1121 / 81
Ethel J SMEED - Rawalpindi 1879 - 81st - 1121/ 85

And a couple of others later.....
Rose E SMEED - 1902 - A.C.C C&T - 632 / 67
George J SMEED - 1904 - A.C.C C&T - 632 / 67

Cheers
AMBLY

[Eyesee]

The IGI has a number of births and baptisms of children of William Champion SMEED and Mary Ann

Henry Edwards born 8 May 1875, bapt 2 Jun 1875 Jullundur, West Bengal
Ethel Jane bapt 7 Jan 1880, Bengal Presidency

These are extracted

There are a couple of submitted ones as well

Ethel Jane bapt 20 Dec 1879, Rawal Pindi
Frederick born 9 Jul 1882 Allahabad

William Champion SMEED bapt 30 Jun 1844, Saint Mary the Virgin, Dover, Kent, parents Edward SMEED and Elizabeth.
Edward SMEED married Elizabeth Anna OATES 18 Aug 1835 same church.

Two older siblings also on the IGI, Mary Ann 1837 and Elizabeth Matcham in 1839.

See also http://www.rootschat.com/links/04ek/.
Quite a bit here. Wife was Mary Ann WILLIAMS, married in India. He used name William DADY because he had deserted apparently.

Ian C

[JeanH]

What can I say?  This is the most fantastic response to my questions.  I never dreamt that all this information would appear, thank you so much to all who contributed.
It seems to be confirmed that William Champion Smeed's wife was called Mary Ann.  Given that William died in 1900, I cannot find her on the census.  Perhaps she died as well.  What is a puzzle is why the children were not with their parents, at least with the mother if the father was ill.  The school is also interesting, why would the parents put the children into this kind of establishment?  We did think at first that the School was an orphanage and that the parents were dead, which is not true of the father William. A suggestion was made that this was some kind of boarding school for children who's parents worked abroad, or were in the Army.  The Smeed family were not rich so this could be discounted.
Thank you all again for such a fantastic reply.  Regards Jean

[AMBLY]

Hi Maeve

BIRTH:
Mary SMEED - Jun Qtr 1887 - Woolwich

DEATH:
Sept Qtr 1890 - Woolwich
Mary Ann SMEED age 38
Born abt 1852

CENSUS 1891:
3 yr old Mary SMEED, b Woolwich -  is listed as a patient in Plumstead, Woolwich in what appears to be a Workhouse (I can't find the name of the institution)
RG12 /  Piece: 541 /  Folio 124 /  Page 2 /

It is likely to be the Woolwich Union Workhouse in Plumstead Road, Plumstead
http://www.institutions.org.uk/workhouses/england/lon/woolwich_workhouse.htm
http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/greenwich/plumstead/plumstead-1800-1900-04.htm

Very possible that the daughter Mary (has she ever been documented as "Mary Ann", she appears to be in 2 Census, as well as birth reg.  just as "Mary" ) was born in the Woolwich Union Workhouse. It at least looks like her mother Mary Ann may have died there in 1890 and wee Mary was (still?) there in 1891 Census.

Maurice SMEED joined the Army in 1902 age 18 yrs & 1 month,
He stated he was born Chelmsford Essex (as was also stated in the 1901 Census)
He gave his elder brother Frederick SMEED as his NOK, and also his sister Ethel - both of the same address (which is the same address he (and they) was at in  1901 Census, ie: that of the BRERETON family, his brother Frank's widow's family).
He served at Home until 1910. The transferred to the Army Reserves from 1910-1914.
He joined up for Short Service for the war, same regiment.
Looks like he married Violet ABEL in 1913 (freeBMD)

Cheers
AMBLY

[Numeruno]

Hello! I just came across this chat room by chance. I was looking for something completely different but saw my name mentioned so thought I'd say "hello"! I am a Smeed! 

Our surname seems to be very rare in England so I would have thought would be easy to trace. There were only 7 Smeeds in the London phone book last time I looked.

Here is some information given to me by my late grandparents:

I was told that the name Smeed originates from Norway.

There is a road named after us in East London called Smeed Road. Our family apparently owned factories there in years gone by.

One of our relatives (by marriage) designed Tower Bridge in London. He was the architect, Sir Horris Jones, who was also City Surveyor to the city of London. He also designed:

- various London markets, including Smithfield, Billingsgate and Leadenhall
- the Guildhall free library and museum
- the Guildhall Council Chamber
- the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

He was also president of the Institute of British Architects from 1882–1884.

I hope that's of interest.

Bye.

SMEED 

[JeanH]

Good morning Smeed
Thank you for giving us the information regarding the Smeed family.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I was doing this search for my friend.  I will pass on to her your information, I am sure she will be pleased.  This branch of the family were not easy to trace as most of the time the  family were in India and most of the children were born there.  We did finally figure it all out but it was a nightmare.
Maeve