Hurley on Thames lookup request

[adonis]

Hi,
Please could you look up a baptism in Hurley on Thames? I'm looking for John Bowers, who was born in 1802 or thereabouts. In the 1851 census he was living in Shoreditch, and gave his place of birth as Henley on Thames. A search through their baptism register turned up nothing, and it was suggested that I should try Hurley in case it was an enumerator's mistake. John's father may be a Peter, but finding this baptism should be able to confirm this.
Many thanks for your time!

[dee-jay]

Can you please give the census reference for his 1851 schedule, as I cannot find him indexed.

Update:  Since found on another thread!

In 1841 he was recorded in Shoreditch as a Draper born 'In County', i.e. Middlesex.  In this period folk were fearful of falling on hard times and being returned to their parish of settlement:  not surprising if they were economic with the truth - supposing, of course, that they knew it .....

[adonis]

Hi dee-jay,
Many thanks for the reply. I hadn't found John Bowers in the 1841 census, so would really love to know the reference you found!
In the 1851 census, for the Parish of Shoreditch, ecclesiastical district of St Mark's Old Street, he was living at 9 Charles's Square and has often been mis-transcribed as Bowens. The census reference is HO107 piece 1535 folio 683 page 22.

[dee-jay]

Hi adonis

You'll find the family here in 1841:

HO107 / 706 /  2 page 4 [Enumeration Schedule 6]
Borough of Tower Hamlets
Parish of St Leonards Shoreditch

Their 3 children present were baptized at St Leonards.

[adonis]

Many thanks again. I had found the baptisms of the 3 children already, so the 1841 census entry confirms all that I knew.
The birth place of John Bowers remains a mystery, with the inconsistency between what's recorded in the 2 censuses. Unfortunately, he had died before the 1861 census, so I'm running out of options of where to look. Perhaps I'll have a trawl through the St Leonard's register for him on the off-chance that he remained in the same parish. Do you have access to the baptism register for Hurley on Thames?
 

[dee-jay]

Do you have access to the baptism register for Hurley on Thames?

Afraid not, but you can find the extracted batches on this website if you select England;  Berkshire and then find the Hurley sets:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis/

However, if you've not already exhausted your search for the Uncle John's records, I'd be inclined to revert to his parish of origin, which hopefully will permit some lateral research and perhaps a process of elimination for his siblings?  His occupation 'Pensioner P. Office' is also worthy of pursuit, if you've not already ventured on that research.  See  http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/page/genealogy-mainsources

[adonis]

Many thanks for your help. The search of online Hurley records returned a blank, but I will follow up your suggestion of the Post Office records. I already know something about the Uncle John - he was a gentleman farmer in Suffolk - but this doesn't explain how he apparently had a Post Office Pension. As for the younger John, his actual place of birth will remain a mystery for now.