CLARKE, Elizabeth and son CLARKE, Richard CAMBRIDGE ELY c1840

[mudgeeclarke]

I'm looking into two issues in the Cambridge/Ely area and they are related in several ways so I wanted to put them in one inquiry.

I'm searching for the death record of Eliza(beth) HANCOCK or Eliza(beth) CLARK(E) in the period 1832-1856 but especially c.1832-1843 in or around North Witchford.  This Eliza CLARKE is possibly the wife of a John CLARKE, and the mother of my GGF and BRICKWALL, Richard CLARKE, b. c1832.

I am not certain that Eliza was married to John CLARKE, (although Richard put them as married on his own marriage certificate 1863), so I am looking for Eliza HANCOCK or Eliza CLARKE - as my GGF wrote several times that his mother's maiden name was HANCOCK.

And, of course, I'm looking for any information of a Richard CLARKE, "born Cambridge, worked on the railways there" (according to what he wrote in later years).

Richard Clarke, my GGF, in respect to his UK birth, parents, and life pre-emigration to Australia, has been a BRICKWALL since 1979.  I have a good record, even pictures, from his life in Australia.  His marriage and death certificates do not help with UK information.

A recent "find" is a Richard CLARKE, aged 10, in the 1841 Census for North Witchford Workhouse, and so it is possible that Eliza HANCOCK CLARKE, and Richard, was from that general location north of Cambridge, IF they were the same family, and she had died before 1841, or was very ill and unable to provide care.  There are three such names shown on some death records around N Witchford in that period.  If I can find these details with 'spouse', I may be able to discount this Richard, or have an eureka moment.

Of course, this is all just "detective" work, as she may have died up to 1856, as all I really have about her death is that Richard Clarke recorded on his November 1856 emigration/ships document that his mother was "dead".  His father, John, was "wherabouts unknown"?.


I might add that in the 1851 Census, there is a Richard CLARKE, aged 19, as a Lodger with a Sarah POOLEY in Cambridge.  I don't know if that is the same Richard from the 1841 Census, and he moved out of the workhouse and down to Cambridge (perhaps to "work on the railways").

Thanks in advance for reading this confusing story.  BRICKWALLS can cause this. 

Any help, tips, suggestions, or an entire history of the Richard Clarke family, will be appreciated.

Cheers, Colin

[bedfordshire boy]

Welcome to  Rootschat!

Cutting to the chase; if I understand you correctly, you’re looking for:
1.   the baptism of Richard Clarke, born c1832, who emigrated to Australia in 1856, and whose parents he gave as John and Eliza née Hancock, and their marriage
2.   Eliza’s death prior to 1856

If Richard said he was “born Cambridge” then I would be starting there rather than Cambridgeshire.

A good place to start is the Cambs FHS website at http://www.cfhs.org.uk/Search.html
But the baptism index throws up no Richard Clarkes that fit. Or Richard Hancocks.

Nor can I find a marriage between John Clarke and Eliza Hancock.

If you do a parents search on the IGI – just complete James Clark and Eliza – there are a number of births/baptisms in Cambridge:

27 Apr 1821 birth, bap 19 Nov 1848, Gray Clark son of John & Elizabeth @ St Paul (he was born Somersham Hunts per censuses)
14 Feb 1826, buried 19 Feb 1826 John Clark son of John & Elizabeth @ Holy Trinity (Burial Index shows him as 5 days old, of King St)
Jan 1830 birth, buried 9 Feb 1830, Elizabeth Clark dau of John & Elizabeth @Holy Trinity (Burial Index shows her as age 11 of King St. Birth is invented!)
*17 Dec 1831 birth Alice Clark dau of John & Elizabeth @ St Giles
*10 Aug 1834 bap Mary Ann Clark dau of John & Elizabeth @Holy Trinity (Baptism Index – age 6 mths, abode King St, parents John & Eliza)
13 Dec 1838 bap James Clark son of John & Eliza @ St Peters

All bar Giles are member submissions which are unreliable, but with complete dates they look reasonably authentic. But only those marked * are on the Baptism Index on the Cambs FHS site.

There is another:
*10 July 1831 baptism John Clark son of John & Elizabeth @ Holy Trinity (age 24 of Somersham Hunts per Baptism Index. Ignore him!)

In 1841 at St Giles Cambridge
John Clark 35 Journeyman baker
Eliza Clark 25
Alice Clark 9
Mary Ann Clark 7
John Clark 5
James Clark 2
Charles Clark 1
All born in Cambs except John senior

By 1851 John was apparently dead and Eliza, widow, gave her age as 38 b Horningsea Cambs with children Alice 19, Mary Ann 17, James 12, Charles 9, Caroline 7, Alfred 2, Elizabeth 3mths.

Just about room for a Richard to have squeezed in, but why wasn't he baptised if the others all were? I think these may be a red herring.

Odd, I can’t see a death of John 1848-51, but there are three in Cambridge 1846-7. Had he perhaps done a runner.

Are you sure that Richard was the only Clarke to have emigrated? ie did he have any siblings in Oz?

"... death certificates do not help with UK information" - Just found your 2003 post where you gave the additional information that his father was a labourer and Richard was born in Kent per his death cert. Which surely is a help?

His occupation seems to rule out the John and Eliza family in Cambridge, whose marriage I can't find. You need a look up in Boyds marriage index to find if there's a marriage of John Clark(e) and Eliza Han(d)cock

The Camdex site at http://www2.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/db/riddeaths.nsf/search?OpenForm sometimes gives ages at death which are not shown on the GRO index

David

[mudgeeclarke]

Thank you, David, for your kind welcome, and the great amount of detail.

I've been at this one task - finding Richard CLARKE son of ?john? and Eliza(beth) CLARKE nee HANCOCK - since 1979.  I have paid professional researchers, also to no avail.  In fact, I mostly got history lessons and maps from them.

The reason I discounted KENT as a birthplace after several years was that KENT was never mentioned by Richard CLARKE as far as I can see.  It only appears on his death certificate ... "unknown town Kent."  On the other hand, during his lifetime, he mentioned Cambridge more than once, and even wrote those "born Cambridge, educated there" words.

All the CLARKE's I ever found, in Kent, London, Cambridge and Cambridgeshire, including those you mention, do not have a RICHARD (he never said or wrote once that he had a second name).  He certainly never claimed to have any siblings in Australia, and none have arisen.  For that reason, I have become inclined to the view that he 'may' have been the only child or the only surviving child.  As he declared in November 1856, 'mother Eliza dead father John whereabouts unknown', I still wonder if the father 'did a runner' if indeed they were married.

The reason I am curious about the Richard CLARKE aged 10 in 1841 at North Witchford Union Workhouse is that it is only about ?15 miles? from Cambridge, and the age reasonably fits.  And as far as I can see, nobody has 'claimed' this Richard into a family.  Secondly, the Richard CLARKE aged 19 as a lodger in Cambridge, with Sarah Ann POOLEY, also is a mystery of sorts and again the age could mean they are the same person.  As for age, Richard stated he was 25 at sailing in 1856 = 10 in 1841 and =19/20 in 1851.  Of course, this is all magically put together by me, when they are perhaps not the same person, and not my Richard. 

And then there is the "worked on railways there' writing by Richard.  It seems that the train line ran through Cambridge via Witchford to Ely.  At least any Richard in that vicinity would have been aware of the old puffing billys of that era.

So, that's where I am at.  The last time I sought Cambs FHS help (several years back now) they found no parish records of births deaths marriages to help me.

A totally red herring is that I have seen on a map, a very small village of Cambridge, in west Gloucestershire I think, which has a railway close by, and in that area there are Clark(e)s and Hancock(s) abounding.  But I have never found a marriage or a baptism there, so far.

Hence, a BRICKWALL since 1979.  And it's not as if I'm searching for someone from the 1300s.  This is for my Great Grandfather's "life" before his departure from the UK in November 1856!!! 

Once again, thanks for the work.  Don't stop now.   

Colin

[suffolk*sue]

I can confirm that there isn't a Clark/e/Hancock marriage in Cambridgeshire on Boyds marriage index.
The only one I did find to a John and Eliza was in the 1780s in Middlesex, so therefore much too early.