Hi Casalguidi
A really big thanks for that - I had got as far as this
"Thomas Murrell and Mary Walker married in late 1890 somewhere in the South Shields Civil Registration District (Oct-Dec vol 10a p1159).
On the night of 5th April 1891 they were living at 84 Marsden Street, Westoe, South Shields with their new born son, Thomas Murrell, born March 1891.
Thomas senior was a 31 year old coach trimmer from Sunderland. Also in the house was Thomas’s mother Jane Murrell, born Jane Parker in 1827 in Deptford, Sunderland.
The baby Thomas died in infancy, followed by another Thomas(?) in 1893. The third (?) Thomas, was born in Boldon Colliery on January 28th 1895.
Jane Murrell died in 1895, I think at the home of her second son William.
The following year, between July and September 1896, father Thomas Murrell died young, aged 39. Mary Walker (Murrell) was 12 years younger than her husband and was a widow at 27.
Just under 3 years later – April-June 1899 – the widowed Mary Murrell married mason Surtees Young in South Shields. Thomas VC was, therefore, less than 4 when his mother’s new man came into his life.
In early 1901 at the time of the census Mary and Surtees were living in Ryhope. They had a new baby, also called Surtees Young, born in 1900. By this time Mary was in her early thirties but on the census she lies about her age claiming to be 25, the same age as her husband. Ten years previously in 1891 she was recorded as being 22. If she were, when she married in 1890, she would have been only 14. Significantly, Thomas, at 6, is recorded as being Thomas Young.
Ten years later, in 1911, Surtees and Mary had 9 children in total, including Thomas who was still recorded as a Young. He was 16 and working as a miner, a driver below ground.
The family must have moved to High Spen shortly after this date as Thomas Young, the name he had used for most of his life, appears to have joined up from High Spen. In August 1914, 19 year old Tommy enlisted in the 9th Battalion of the DLI. "
The use of the name Young appears to have continued and been problematic - Thomas married as Thomas M Young - haven't seen the certificate - and his wife Rachel (Welsh)'s death is recorded as Rachel M Young - so I suspect that he called himself Murrell Young, probably worried about using a non-registered name but being 'famous' locally as Thomas Young.
His children that survive are known as Morrell, as are his grandchildren.His son married the cousin of my uncle who was also awarded the VC.