William Babbage

[Redroger]

Whilst I appreciate the point about officers and gentlemen,Valda, there is of course the fact that the sergeant was also a Land Surveyor, which I believe could be classed as a profession suitable for a gentleman, plus the undoubted fact that some sons wanted to make their own way, entirely independent of parental patronage. No doubt time will tell whether or not there is a connect to this Babbage and the inventor of the difference engine.

[jennifer c]

Looks like he is in Croydon in 1901 aged 41 land surveyor

Jennifer

[Valda]

Hi

If he were the son of a Lieutenant Colonel and began a career in the army then in an earlier period a commission would have been bought for him (abolished 1871 under Cardwell's reforms) but you would still expect him to attend a military college and enter the service as an officer. It would certainly have been a disgrace for the family if he had wanted to enlist in the army in the ranks (working his way up to sergeant) and what gentleman in the C19th would want to? If you wanted to make your own way in the world as an educated young man from the best private schools you would hardly want the life of an ordinary soldier in the C19th.

Cardwell's reforms of the 1860s and 1870s which eliminated such punishments as flogging (finally in 1880) were designed to 'attract good quality recruits by ensuring the private soldier's life was better than a kind of penal servitude.'


Charles Babbage family's children all seem to have had two first names at least as you would expect with a wealthy family including Henry Provost Babbage's son Henry Whitmore Babbage who appears to have been his only son.


This looks to be the likeliest marriage for William Babbage (the 1891 census says S? R E survey - I can't get surveyor out of that first word) and his wife Mary A from the 1891 census. Mary A Babbage on the 1891 census gives her birthplace as Dulverton and her age as 32. On the 1881 census there is a Mary A Lyddon aged 22 unmarried born Dulverton and working as a servant - a cook in Westbury on Trym which is covered by Barton Regis registration district. Emma Lyddon niece born Dulverton is with the family in 1891.

Marriages Sep 1881
AVERY  Edwin    Barton Regis  6a 199   
BABBAGE  William     Barton Regis  6a 199   
INSALL  Anna Maria     Barton R.  6a 199   
LYDDON  Mary Anne     Barton R.  6a 199

see also
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/espenett/index1a.htm?pafhtmd/ballard/index.htm&3
for the surname Babbage


Regards

Valda

[Redroger]

Not quite giving up yet, Valda. It is well known that families had both rich and poor branches. With 734 instances shown in 2002 on the ONS website, it is likely that there is a connection, the problem as usual is to prove it.

[Valda]

Hi

Charles Babbage's only surviving sibling seems to have been a sister. His father Benjamin was a wealthy banker.

http://www.babbagethemovie.com/page5/page5.html

His grandfather also called Benjamin was a goldsmith and mayor of Totnes

http://www.devonperspectives.co.uk/babbage.html


From the experience of researching a one name study I known not all lines necessarily go back to one source, but on the 1851 census the index of those transcribed as Babbage (Babage) numbers 384, with the majority giving Devon as a birthplace. Also spelt as Babbidge - with 24 on the 1851 census
An Ann Babbage spinster of Totnes left a PCC will. She might be Benjamin junior's sister (from the IGI - though it seems he also had a surviving brother John who was a surgeon, who died in 1792) it might be relatively easy to track the family back to the generation of Charles' uncle and aunts and cousins through Ann's will.

http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/babbage/family.html

Charles Babbage's great grandfather John may also have left a PCC will in 1748 - another goldsmith.

Regards

Valda

[Redroger]

Those that have left traces all seem to have been well off, it may of course just be a coincidence of the name, but with a scarce name like this unusual in itself.