Woolwich, St Nicholas

[jkgla]

Does anyone have access to the registers of Woolwich, St Nicholas? (or know where they are available online)
I am looking for several things and would be most grateful for any help

1.  Marriage of Robert Mcfarlane & ?, Woolwich St Nicholas, 17th Dec 1815     

2.  Baptism of Sarah Kemp c 1815 & George Kemp c 1819
     I don't know if these baptisms took place at Woolwich St Nicholas, but both were
     born in Woolwich (from census) and weren't baptised at Woolwich, St Mary     
     Magdalene, so I'm stuck.  Parents were Anthony & Susannah Kemp.

3.  Burial of George Kemp, Feb 1871 (he died 17th Feb 1871)
     Again, I don't know if he was buried at Woolwich, St Nicholas, but cannot find his   
     burial anywhere else.

Thank you very much in advance to anyone who can give me any clues to the above.

Joan

[casalguidi]

The parish church of Woolwich was St Mary Magdalene - St Nicholas is Plumstead.  You should be able to find the marriage of Robert in Plumstead on Ancestry.

Casalguidi

[KGarrad]

Looking through the indexes for Greater London Record Office (which is where I presume you found the mention of Robert McFarlane), the only other entries dated 17th December 1815 (so far ) are:

Corewell, Fanny   17 December 1815
Richel, Antonia    17 December 1815
Verren, Elizabeth 17 December 1815

[Nick29]

Joan, I have a copy of the St Nicholas, Plumstead, parish registers on CDs, and there are no Kemp baptisms between 1813 and 1818.

Unfortunately the burial registers on the CD only go up to 1859.

There are no marriage registers in my set.

You can get the CDs from the North West Kent FHS, or The Parish Chest

Re: George Kemp, do you have any census details for him, showing where he lived, and who he was married to ?  It's not wise to assume that because someone died in Woolwich, that he was buried there, because his body may have been transported to be buried alongside a spouse or parents.

[jkgla]

Dear Nick & KGarrod,

Thank you very much for taking the trouble to check this. 

George Kemp was born in Woolwich c 1819 (1841 & 1851 census.  Unfortunately the 1861 census for Woolwich Arsenal is misssing).
He died at his granddaughter's house in Plumstead on 17 Feb 1871, but true-to-form, I cannot locate his burial.

If you really want to hear this tangled tale.....
I don't think George was ever married!  His only child, William George Kemp, was born to George Kemp & Mary Ann Kemp (nee Griffiths) in Boraston (nr Tenbury Wells) Shropshire in 1843 (I have the birth certificate).
However, George was living in Newington with Mum in 1841, and with Mum, his son & his sister in 1851, where he is described as 'unmarried' (definitely unmarried & not widower). The PR for Boraston states 'confined in Borsaton but normally resident in London'
I can find no further trace of his putative wife, Mary Ann Griffiths - presumably she went off & married someone else, or even died shortly afterwards - though I haven't found any indication of this and it is difficult to prove or disprove
I suspect strongly that Mary Ann Griffiths 'found herself with child', vanished to the wilds of Shropshire where she had family, in order to have the babe, and that he was brought up by George's kind Mum, Susannah.
I have lost count of the number of hours I have spent trying to make any further headway on this. 

Many thanks for listening!!

Joan

[Nick29]

Quite a difficult story, but you do need to bear in mind that mistakes were sometimes made on censuses, and if someone is listed as 'Unmarried', that could be an error.  It's always best if you can find something else that corroborates what you see.  Have you considered that Mary Ann may have died giving birth to another child ?  Death during childbirth was fairly common in those days, and it's quite possible that the child died too.

I wish you luck with your research 

[jkgla]

Thanks, Nick

That had crossed my mind, and I've looked for a suitable burial; but the other fact is that I have been unable to trace any marriage between George Kemp & Mary Ann Griffiths, even allowing for many surname variations.  Its a jigsaw with rather a lot of missing pieces!!

[casalguidi]

George KEMP buried Woolwich Cemetery 22 Feb 1871 could be him
The details are available online (pay per view) and there does look to be one other person buried with him (hopefully it's a relative!) https://www.deceasedonline.com

Casalguidi

[carol8353]

George KEMP buried Woolwich Cemetery 22 Feb 1871 could be him
The details are available online (pay per view) and there does look to be one other person buried with him (hopefully it's a relative!) https://www.deceasedonline.com

Casalguidi

OOo looks like you've nailed it 

He died in Woolwich in March 1871 age 52......ie born 1819