Charles Hatter man of mystery

[lizdb]

By 1871, William and Mary Cottle have children of their own

No sign of Charles, Henry or Mary Hatter

I guess they are off making a life of their own - Henry in the army? And Charles, well maybe emigrating!

Still no proof this is 'your' Charles, but the life of this Charles certainly adds to the idea it is. And it certainly hasnt ruled him out.

[MargP]

Henry's Army Records are on FindMyPast, he Married a Jane Cottle 4 Feb 1885 Evesham, there are two children mentioned, Henrietta b 25/6/1887, Florence b 17/8/1891,

Margp

[MargP]

Hi

Christening Records for Charles and Henry

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N5TL-Q5Q

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N5TL-QFP

Margp

[dragonlady403]

Thanks so much everyone!  I really appreciate the rapid response and the input. 

To Reply:
1) No there is absolutely nothing on either the Death Cert or the Marriage Certificate about where he came from, or who his parents were. 
2) Thanks for the link to the christening records.  I will be in the UK in that area next month, is there a way to get copies of them?
3)Re Henry - well that seems to debunk the slim chance that Alfred Henry Hatter on the NZ probate docs was Charles' brother.  We are still trying to check into that.
4) I was pretty convinced the Devizes family was our ancestor.  If so, I knew he had a younger brother and a younger sister.  His father died quite young (can't find out why) and his mother apparently died 2 years later (also don't know how).  They turned up with the Cottle family.  The trail went dead after that. 
5) One thing that threw me for a bit of a loop was that an Elizabeth Hatter turned up in the census a few years after the supposed death of the mother as a servant in a household.  She seemed to be the right age to have been Charles' mother.  At this point I started to doubt myself and whether I had the correct family
6) I found a Lucy Hatter and ended up in a maze of Hatters and was totally lost.
7)Thanks very much for the information on Henry!  That might prove to be a valuable connection to pursue.
I have no knowledge of what happened to Mary
9) I wonder if either John/Jane Hatter was a sibling of Edmond.
10) It seems possible Mrs Cottle was related to one of Charles' parents - I will try to check into a marriage certificate for that couple.
11) I have been unable to figure out where Charles went after that census with the Cottles. 
Questions:
1) would he have been too old to go to a workhouse? Age 14+
2) is it possible he was one of the children "shipped off" to the colonies? Or
3) Could he have emigrated himself at the age of around 15?
He doesn't show up in NZ records (that I have found so far) until he is 27 (1876) and marrying Janet.  However, he was there before that because he had a home and owned a couple of parcels of land.

p.s. I was amused by the signature line about genealogy being a Pandora's box -- My mother requested that I start researching her family and therefore, set me on this path, and so far - it has mostly been a story of misery and hardship - no royalty here!!!!

[dragonlady403]

Also..MargP:
I checked into Florence Hatter as a child of Henry.  Interestingly, in 1901 she is listed as living with her Grandparents and stays with them until adulthood.  I am confused though because the grandparents were listed as  Joseph Cottle 57 and Elizabeth 55 (with a daughter Elizabeth M 7). 

Wouldn't her grandparents have been Henry's parents Edmond and Elizabeth?  According to the 1901 Census Joseph would have been born around 1844... how is that possible if Edmond was the grandfather (with the Hatter name) and was born around 1828?

[supermoussi]

If you search for "Charles Hatter", including the speech marks, on the British Newspapers Online Archives you get the following results, amongst others.

MARLBOROUGH DISTRICT ASSOCIATION
“... Dudmore Lodge. 4s. to Jamei Jones, (driver) 4th ditto of 15s. to Geo. Ruddle, servant to Mr. G. Gale, Duriey. 2s. 6d. to Charles Hatter, (driver). Class ploughmen ... ”
Thursday 22 June 1843 ,  Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette

Oxford Journal
Third BATTALION GRENADIER GUARDS
“... Slerguld Jose Pearce George Maslall Thoma 1.s Roadhig John Harrison Jacob Youligs George Smith John1 Tomlinson Thomnas Rolfe Charles Hatter William Palmer Edward ... ”
Saturday 14 October 1854 ,  Oxford Journal ,  Oxfordshire, England

Salisbury and Winchester Journal
LIST OF KILLED AND WOUNDED AT THE BATTLE OF ALMA
“... James Pearce, icorge Maskall, Thoma* reading, John Harrison, Jacob Youuk, George Smith, Joseph Tl»omlitt*on, Tltomae Charle* Hatter, Samuel Itarrett. Edward ... ”
Saturday 28 October 1854 ,  Salisbury and Winchester Journal

Oxford Journal
[ill] OF THE KILLED & WOUNDED [ill] THE BATTLE OF THE ALMA
“... Jainrus Pearco George Maschall Tihuni as Roaditig John11 Harrison Jacob Young George Smith Joseph Tondinson 'TDomas Rolfo Charles Hatter Samruel Barrett Edward ... ”
Saturday 21 October 1854 ,  Oxford Journal

Its too old to be your Charles but could it be his uncle perhaps? I guess there must be references to other members of the Hatter family in Wiltshire & Oxon too.

You willl have to pay a subscription to read and download a PDF of the whole articles, or view the original at the British Library Newspaper Archive: http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search

[Shirley Sweetland]

Hi
A few things I found......

1848 Charles born Bromham/Chittoe, Wilts Reg: Devizes, Wilts (Freebmd.org)
1851 Charles is age 2 with family. Edmond & Elizabeth parents. Elizabeth (nee GRANGER)
1857 death of Edmond ( an Allotment Farmer) Reg: Devizes, Wilts covers Bromham (Freebmd.org)
1859   "      "  Elizabeth                                    "           "          "         "                 "        "
1861 Charles 12, Henry 11,Mary 3 with Wm & Mary COTTLE. Mary (nee GRANGER)
...............

Couldn't find any more on Christenings or travel to NZ. There are a couple of people on Ancestry.com doing Charles' tree.

Hope this helps
Shirley
Perth WA

[supermoussi]

Note that there is a Emigration board http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?board=136.0 People there will have a better idea of emigration records than us!

[lizdb]

Also..MargP:
I checked into Florence Hatter as a child of Henry.  Interestingly, in 1901 she is listed as living with her Grandparents and stays with them until adulthood.  I am confused though because the grandparents were listed as  Joseph Cottle 57 and Elizabeth 55 (with a daughter Elizabeth M 7). 

Wouldn't her grandparents have been Henry's parents Edmond and Elizabeth?  According to the 1901 Census Joseph would have been born around 1844... how is that possible if Edmond was the grandfather (with the Hatter name) and was born around 1828?

You have two sets of grandparents. Your mums parents and your dads parents.
We know Henry married a Cottle (see reply #10), so his daughter will have a set of Cottle grandparents (as well as Edmond and Elizabeth Hatter, who we know were deceased when Henry was little, so Florence would never have known).  Henry lived with a Cottle family, we dont know for how long, but if thgey brought him up then his daughter may look on them as grandparents too.