William Percy BERRY

[avm228]

I have a sneaking fondness for my family's black sheep.   It is just so satisfying when you finally track them down.  Mine as it turned out had spent a couple of decades in South America hiding from creditors, authorities and mercenaries, as well as taking on an alias, so it was quite a quest to find them!

[keyboard86]

The 1911 census for Harriet states that she had 8 children: 5 living and 3 dead.

  Still looking, but here looks to be one of the children that showed as having died in the above 1911 census:-

Private Baptism at St Andrew's Earlsfield, Wandsworth Edith Rose Bellenger 17th November 1897 Father Christopher John occ Labourer ( Mother not shown) abode 32, Gratton? Road

Death Edith Rose Bellenger Dec qtr 1897 Wandsworth 1d 432
Her birth on Freebmd looks to be March qtr 1897 Wandsworth 747 as Bellinger

Keyboard86

[keyboard86]

  Right, possibly another trail to follow, look at this family in 1901 and the possible marriage & baptisms:-

1901 Census

Edward Bellinger 31 occ General Labourer b Cirencester
Rose 32 b Pontypridd, Glamorganshire
Rose 12 b Earlsfield
William 11 b Earlsfield
Jessie 4 b Earlsfield
Herbert 1 b Earlsfield
Residing at Burntwood Villas, Earlsfield
Census Ref RG13/487/67/2

Baptism Rose Veenie? Harding 16th June 1889 St Anne's, Wandsworth Father Stephen Mother Rose
Abode 15, Groton Road (Looks to be possibly the same Road mentioned above)?

Baptism Alfred Herbert Edward James Bellenger 12th September 1900 St Andrew's, Earlsfield Father Herbert Edward occ Labourer Mother Rose abode 21, FOSS ROAD, Lower Tooting

Marriage Herbert Edward Bellinger to ( on same page) Rose Harding Dec qtr 1898 Wandsworth 1d 1446

Stephen/Rose/Rose/William, Rose snr aged 30? b Wales (Pontypridd on original) are in Thornsett Road, Wandsworth in 1891 Census Ref RG12/449/23/40
Keyboard86

[keyboard86]

Hi again, well I only wish I could view all of the original pages of this guys Attestation:-

Herbert Edward Bellenger b 1868 Parish Stratton Town Cirencester Attestation 8th December 1886 Age 18 years and 5 months Regiment Queen's (Royal West Surrey) 2nd Foot, got to see a quick glimpse of possibly a tattoo in distinguishing marks, of E Parsons?

  Finally found something, Next of Kin Mother Emily Parsons 7, Stanley Terrace, Garrett Lane, Wandsworth.

Might be worth looking at the Parsons family in 1881 RG11/660/15/24 as their is a Christie aged 10 b Cittenham? Wilts wonder if it is Chippenham?, with other brothers, Father James Mother Emily ( Not sure, but worth a look)!

Keyboard86

[avm228]

Keyboard how intriguing!

I cannot see Herbert's record properly at the moment either.  If he is the same person as Herbert Edward Berry then I wonder what happened to the 1894 bride Annie?

[keyboard86]

  It kept loading/loading/loading, but found if you click on report image fault, miraculousy sometimes you saw the image, don't ask me why! But from what I saw he was "Home" quite a lot and he was discharged in December 1898!

Keyboard

[avm228]

So Herbert Edward Bellenger had a tattoo of either E PARSONS or F PARSONS, depending on which page one reads. Perhaps E for his mother Emily or E for himself as Edward Parsons?  Either way it seems an odd thing to tattoo 

His military record shows continuous service in "E. India" 7.9.88-23.2.94 which presumably explains his absence from the English 1891 census.

[Greaves]

Thanks for all the continuing detective work on my behalf, I really do appreciate it, though I am having difficulty putting it altogether in a coherent whole.

Marriage Herbert Edward Bellinger to ( on same page) Rose Harding Dec qtr 1898 Wandsworth 1d 1446.

If Herbert Edward Bellenger is Herbert Edward Berry then as AVM228 asked what happened to Annie Hill?

The link between the Berry's and the Bellenger's (various spellings) is looking more and more compelling. But how many families are we talking about? And how do they relate?

I need someone with experience to clearly lay this out for me, as I am getting more confused by the minute.

Nevertheless I will press on with the various lines of enquiry and see where they take us.

[Greaves]

Herbert Edward Berry married Annie Hill on 3 July 1894 at Worplesdon, Surrey. His father is named as James Berry. One Emily Sarah Berry is a witness.

Herbert Edward Bellenger married Rose Harding, Q4 1898 Wandsworth 1d 1446.

Assuming we are not talking bigamy, Annie Berry must have died between July 1894 and Dec 1898. Yet I can find no appropriate record.

According to Herbert Edward Bellenger's military record he came back from India on 24 Feb 1894, so would have been in the country to marry Annie Hill.

I'm no expert but do you think the signatures look the same. H E Berry's is from the Parish register. H E Bellenger's two are from his army attestation.