HENRY PARRY - Soapmaker, Deptford, Kent

[Nimchimpsky]

Hi All

Looking to find a billion to one chance here ... but if I don't ask, I'll never have that billion to one chance.

In the England 1861 census, Henry Parry (a soapmaker, living in Deptford, Kent) employed a servant by the name of Ann Kilby.
Henry lived with his nephew, Joseph Robbins and he also employed nine other men.

Ann Kilby had an illegitimate son, William (who took his mothers maiden name, Kilby) in 1865 and, in the 1881 England census, William appears (somewhat in 'disguise') living with his mother Ann (who has, by now married and become Ann Shepperd). William's birth place is shown as Deptford, Kent ... a fact that changes between census's due to him being illegitimate.

To get to the point (sorry) ... does anyone know of a possible father of William Kilby?, did you have a relative working for Mr Parry at that time, and know that they fathered an illegitimate child?, was the father Mr Parry himself - or his nephew Joseph Robbins?

I know this is a billion to one shot ... but it might be more of an 11/1 shot possibly (if the nine men employed by Henry Parry were known perhaps).

I only ask the question to solve a mystery (to me and my extended family) and not for legal causes, in any way shape or form.

Many thanks in advance of any answers.

[bearkat]

Do you have William's birth certificate or baptism entry?  It's possible, although unlikely, that a father is named.

Did William have a middle name?  Illegitimate children were sometimes given their father's surname as a middle name.

Does William give his father's name on his marriage certificate? (although fathers were sometimes invented to save face).

[Nimchimpsky]

Hi Bearcat

Thanks for your kind reply.

The answer to the three points you rasied are negative on all three counts.

The father's name doesn't appear anywhere and, over the course of William's lifetime (on all records), there is no evidence of any middle name.

Many thanks again.

[bearkat]

William's birth is too late for you to find a bastardy order but Ann may have applied to the court for an order to be made against a named father to pay for maintenance of her child.

[Nimchimpsky]

Thanks again Bearcat.

The story, that has passed down the family generations, tells that Ann's (later) husband 'spent all her money' ... which suggests that Ann MIGHT have been 'paid off' by someone, to keep matters hush hush perhaps?

This maybe proves why William's father is such a problem - Ann must have been a lady of her word.

[casalguidi]

I can't immediately identify him in any census apart from 1881, do you have him on any other census?

Similarly a birth registration or baptism?  Have you actually found these and, if so, when/where etc.?

Casalguidi

[Nimchimpsky]

Hi casalguidi, thanks for your response.

William appears on most census's as being born 'about' 1865 in Easington, Gloucestershire, England? ... to the very best of my knowledge, there is NO Easington in Gloucestershire (but there is one in Oxforshire) - another case of William's birth being confusing.
In 1894 William married Ellen Heath* (in Highworth, Swindon) and, having fathered ten children, he died (in Swindon) in 1938.
*The 'fathers name' on the marriage cert' has been left blank.

[casalguidi]

I wonder if it should be Eastington (in the Northleach registration district) Gloucestershire?

Casalguidi

[Nimchimpsky]

That would make more sense perhaps ... but still quite a way from where the rest of the Kilby family were centered, just outside of Cirencester (Ampney St Mary, Ampney St Peter and Driffield).
My thinking is that William WAS born in Deptford, Kent (where his mother, Ann, was a servant around that time) and, in an attempt to cover up the facts, William was 'allocated' a bogus birthplace ... which, interestingly, he maintains himself on all records in his adulthood.

The other mystery which MIGHT give a clue perhaps, is the where abouts of Ann Kilby in the 1841 census, this is the only occasion that she is 'missing' (or so it appears) ... maybe her location might be a further clue to William's birthplace (even though that was a further 24 years later than 1841) ... was Ann with relatives? ... in Easington, Oxfordshire ... or Eastington, Gloucestershire perhaps.

Whatever happened back then, it caused William to be living with his grandfather when he was aged 6 (and maybe from birth to approx 6yrs ... who knows) - but his mother Ann was NOT living with baby William or her father?

It's a mystery that has had the extened family tied in knots and we are clutching at straws trying to resolve matters.