Chesshyre family

[anglo-norwegian]

Searching for birth & parentage of Henry Thomas Newton Chesshyre, b.c.1818 -where? (Bath?,Cheshire,Lancs.?)
Also death - he died after 1872 (last found evidence)- somewhere he called 'C.H.'

[rosie99]

Hi

Welcome to rootschat 

I assume the Bath, Cheshire, Lancashire come from census as places of birth ...are you able to post details of a census where you have him please so we know who we are looking at 

Rosie

[anglo-norwegian]

He was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy from 1846 until 1853, inherited money from an aunt & then used up his inheritance in Norway 1853-57, then tried a settler's life in Canada. By chance he was in England at the time of the 1871 Census. That's how I found him (a lodger in Portsmouth) aged 53, so guess he was born c.1818.

He bought a property in Norway in 1853. In the document legalising his purchase it says he is from Bath, England. But the naval family of Chesshyres was from (now) Runcorn. An estate there passed in the late 18th-C  from Chesshyres to Newtons. Admiral John Chesshyre had many children...Henry could have been sent to the famous school in Bath where many naval officers had their education, especially if his parents died when he was young. From what I know of his life he never mentions any family in England - seems to be without family there. Later in life he drops the Thomas & the Newton parts of his name. He wrote 2 books.

[CaroleW]

The 1871 shows him as Henry Cheshire aged 53 - no birthplace shown - formerly officer in the navy.  Shown as unmarried

As he was unmarried in 1871 and aged 53 - what is your interest in him  Did he perhaps marry after 1871 and produce a child from whom you are descended?

[Ermintrude46]

Looks like he had some time in Canada too

Link to Google Books reference


Ermy

Moderator comment: link shrunk to avoid stretching the page!

[anglo-norwegian]

Thanks. Now its the beginning and end of his life that I haven't been able to find.
Do I have to come to England and search in Parish registers...then where...Bath had two parish churches in 1818 I believe, St. James and SS Peter & Paul (the abbey), but he need not have been born in Bath.
His family could have been from Admiral Thomas Chesshyre, of Warrington,Lancs (later Salford) who had 17 children
Of these, Edward b.1759 d.1842, Robert b.1768, Thomas b.1771 d.1850?, or Charles b.1779  could have been his father.
The son John, who became a Rear-Admiral was not his father.

[CaroleW]

Hi

As he was unmarried in 1871 and aged 53 - what is your interest in him  Did he perhaps marry after 1871 and produce a child from whom you are descended?

The counties of possible birth are very diverse with quite some distance between them so it could help if you could give us some reason for your research as it may help us to help you

There are too many "could have been's" re: parentage and it is a very unusual name

Have you tried this website http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~cprdb/

or this one as I notice you mention Salford  www.lan-opc.org.uk

[anglo-norwegian]

Yes, he wrote two books - the first being: 'Recollections of a five year's residence in Norway' which sold well after it came out in 1861 and earned him some much needed income.
His publisher urged him to write a book about Canada too, but he clearly didn't have the time - he lifted whole sections from Government publications about Canada and a lot of it is pretty boring reading!!
His attempt at farming in Canada failed. He ended up in Britain again. I wondered whether he could have earned his living finally by working as a teacher at Christ's Hospital (C.H.) which was in London then(1870s), but I never got any reply from the master in charge of archives...

[anglo-norwegian]

He did in fact get married- in Norway in 1855. He had 2 children. They and their mother emigrated to the US, as did several of her relatives.
I know all that is relevant in relation to this part of the story.
He is the one who disappears from the picture, basically because he apparently didn't manage to support them sufficiently, tho' he did pay for his wife's and daughter's journey across to reunite with his son in Nebraska.

I guess he did not declare his married state in the Census of 1871. The wife was his housekeeper and well below him in social standing. A letter dated 1872 makes it clear that he was in considerable financial difficulty.