Orphanages

[dptb]

My gt gt grandad, Henry Leonard Graham, was born in 1860/61 in Brighton sussex. As only his mothers name, Amelia Graham, appears on the cert I am assuming that he was illigitimate.  I can find no trace of either him or his mother in subsequent census, he seems to have disappeared.

Has anyone any suggestions as to where I go from here ??

[avm228]

Hi and welcome to Rootschat.

Can you tell us what you know of Henry's later life - marriage, children, date and place of death? Any details you have may help in tracing his early life.

At what address in Brighton was he born? Was Amelia the informant, or someone else (in which case what was the informant's name and address)?

Your title for the thread is "Orphanages" - do you have reason to believe Henry spent time in one?

Anna

[patrish]

Wise advice Anna,

I cant see either of them in 1871, nor can I see a marraige for Amelia after Henry's birth nor a death 

Unfortunately Amelia could have been born anywhere, especially as he looks to be illegitimate, she most probably was sent away to give birth which was usual.

[avm228]

It looks as though he married Mary Jane Bissett or Sarah Willis in Brighton, Sep qtr 1886 (other groom on page William Henry Payne).

[omega 1]

Hello dptb

& Welcome to Rootchat

Could this be your Boy ?

Baptised at Lewes St Anne

Henry Leonard Graham
19 Dec 1869
Son Of Frederick & Amelia Graham

extra info
Esquire

Kind regards
omega

[patrish]

So he was baptised several years after he was born.

Sept q. 1860 Brighton, Sussex  2b - 176

Odd that his father is not named on the certificate 

[hugatree]

There is a Frederick William Graham listed in 1861 as a Lieut in the East India Army.  According to a tree on Ancestry Henry died in Meerut, Bengal, so there could be an India connection. 

[hugatree]

An Amelia H Graham was baptised in Madras in 1868, Henry's sister poss baptised with her brother?  According to the Ancestry tree Henry married Mary Jane Bissett,  So it looks like his marriage certificate could confirm father and father's occupation.

[Roy G]

Its a bit confusing, especially as you write giving a birth year of between 1860-1861, not the more precise date which you should have found on his Brighton birth cert issued in the Sept quarter of 1860.  Do you have the above or are you working from another document that only reveals the name of his mother and offers no name for the father?

The Lewes baptism 9 years later also for a Henry Leonard Graham, has no supporting birth on FreeBMD to accompany it, leaving you to deduce that that too is the same Henry who was finally being baptised some 9 years after he was born.  The use of 'Esquire' by the way, indicates the father was gentry, and the SFHG copy of this record also states that the baptising rector was an Augustus Parsons. 

If that was his birth and late baptism however, if his mother was unmarried, she seems to have not only avoided inclusion in the censuses, she has also acquired a significant partner, who (unless he is related) uses her surname not his.  It gets curiouser and curiouser the more you think of it.  So I wonder if you should be looking for a child who was not placed in an orphanage at all, but one who travelled extensively with military parents, perhaps even received a private education and was only baptised when his mother finally returned to the UK.   Roy G