Stephen Ashton Eaton (1870-1934) - Prison Officer Records

[ATGoldsmith]

I'm researching Stephen Ashton Eaton, and he was a prison officer. Therefore, I was wondering whether there are any possible prison records that would be available.

Here are some key dates about Stephen:

Born: April 1870, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
Christening: 1 May 1870, Holy Trinity Church, Bedford, England
Marriage: June 1891, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England
Death: 3 July 1934, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England

Listed as Assistant Prison Warder in 1901, and Prison Warder in 1911.

ATGoldsmith

[nanny jan]

Hi,

The county archives might hold staff records (assuming he worked in Bedfordshire):

http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/ArchivesAndRecordOffice/ArchivesAndRecordOffice.aspx


Nanny Jan

[suzlp]

Stephen Ashton Eaton was my Great Grandfather and I know he definitely was a warden at Pentonville Prison in 1911.  However I do not know whether he trained there or how many years he worked there in total.    After he married the family lived in London for some years and returned to the Leighton Buzzard area when he retired.  Before he became a prison warden I believe he was an unsuccessful coal merchant.  I hope this helps your research.  And if you any idea as to uncovering the identity of his Father I would be very interested.

Thanks
Suzlp

[bedfordshire boy]

If you purchase his birth certificate you'll get both parents' names and his mother's maiden name. Of course he may have been illegitimate, as in 1881 he's shown as the son of David & Ellen Catlin, although his baptism shows his mother as Sophia Eaton, so presumably he was illegitimate. Unless Sophia brought an action against the father you're unlikely to find his name.

Have you got his marriage cert which might name a father?

[johnP-bedford]

In 1871 census, Sophia Eaton b 1850 Stevington, Beds is with her parents Ebenezer & Barbara living in St Pauls Bedford & there is a 1 year old grandson Stephen born Cambridge

Davin Catlin married Helen Sophia Eaton at Bedford in June 1874   

As he was illegitimate perhaps his father was a Mr Ashton ?

[suzlp]

The story I was told was that his mother was in service to a "Dr Ashton" and my great grandfather was the result of a liaison with her employer.   The father is not named on his birth certificate, but I don't have a copy of his marriage certificate to check, however I assumed he either didn't know or kept the details to himself hence the vague story passed down through the family.  It was known though that Mr Caitlin was not his birth father.

I have done a cursory check in the census of the time looking for anyone in the Bedfordshire/Cambridgeshire area at the time by the name Ashton but haven't found anyone that would seem to fit the bill.  But I don't know how far away his mother would have gone to find work.  Also she was illiterate so I can't be completely sure that Ashton is actually correct, it could be Aston, or Ashdon or anything that sounds similar. Not to mention the story could be just that, a story to cover up a very undesirable liason. 

I was just grasping a straws really to see if someone else had found something that I'd missed.  It's just very frustrating to have this titbit of promising information that just leads to a huge dead end.

Thanks
Suzlp

[ATGoldsmith]

Thanks guys! Really interesting!

suzlp would you want to exchange any other information on Stephen and his family, as his half brother John was my 3x great grandfather?

Thanks

ATGoldsmith

Ps. Sorry for the late reply as I've been on holiday!

[suzlp]

Hi AT Goldsmith,

Yes we can share information, although I don't know that much more, about the family except just odd bits.  I don't know that much about this site as I only joined because I stumbled on your question while doing some searches, so do is it all right to continue here or is it better to do so by email or another method?

suzlp

[ATGoldsmith]

Sorry this reply took ages, I don't seem to have been emailed about your reply.

That's great, I'll PM you with my email and could you PM me your email so we could add each other as guests to our trees, (presuming you use ancestry). But if you don't I'll add you to mine and we'll work something out about the other way around!

ATGoldsmith