India: Rosanna Armstrong, born 1869

[kittynettles]

Hello Rootschatters!

I'm trying to discover more about my ancestor Rosanna Armstrong, and her father William Armstrong. The 1891 and 1901 censuses put her birth place as India (no other details) and her birth year as 1869. I cannot find her on any other English censuses prior to this date so I presume at this point she was still living in India. She died in Mar 1910 in the Woolwich district.

Rosanna married George Henry Lockyer at St Nicholas Church, Plumstead, Kent on 23 Nov 1888. Her father is listed as William Armstrong (deceased), a Sargeant RA (Royal Artillery?). I have attempted to search the FIBIS Database (http://www.fibis.org/) and there are no results for a Rosanna Armstrong, and quite a number of individuals called William Armstrong - as would be expected for such a common name. I cannot find a definitive link between any of them.

Please could anyone be of any help? Unfortunately I do not have her mother's name, and I could not find any births for a Rosanna Armstrong in the specific years in India via the GRO. I'd appreciate any info available.

Thanks in advance 

[..claire..]

Hi

...and welcome to Rootschat 

Well, she is hard to find !!!

There is this family that may be worth checking out, although fathers name George

ROLANNA Armstrong bn. 22 September 1866, bap. 14 October 1866 Meerut, Bengal, India.
Parents: George and Mary

and a son

WILLIAM George Armstrong born 16 February 1864, bap. 5 March 1864.

Marriage cert. on Anc* puts her DOB c1867, she is aged 21 on that.

claire

[ShaunJ]

Looking at the register page for that 1866 baptism (the Catholic church at Meerut) , it does look like Rosanna with a long "s". Father George was a Bombardier in the Royal Artillery.

[ShaunJ]

I think her father may have died in India.

There is a marriage in Meean Meer, Lahore, on May 9 1871, of Mary Armstrong, a widow and James Brandley, a corporal in F/F RHA. Mary's father was Thomas McQueen

James Brandley (born Plumstead around 1839) was invalided out of the army in the late 1870's and can found as a widower in Plumstead in the 1881 census (with a widowed daughter Margaret Christey aged 26 born in the East Indies, and two daughters Maude Christey 8 and Florence Christey 6 born Manchester );

Also in Plumstead there is a servant at 127 Sandy Hill Road in the household of John Smith: Rose Brandley aged 16 born Marut, India.   

[ShaunJ]

Re the Christeys:

- Per Lancs BMD, Maude Christey's mother's maiden name was Cavanagh
- Margaret Cavanagh 18 married William Osborne Christey in Meean Meer on January 31st 1871. Her father was John Cavanagh
- One of the witnesses to the marriage was Mary Armstrong

[ShaunJ]

There is a death for George Amstrong, aged 41, Corporal 4/22 RA in Peshawar on October 6th 1869. Cholera

There is a death in Woolwich RD in Q/e Dec 1879 for a Mary Brandley aged 51

[ShaunJ]

It looks like Margaret Cavanagh/Christey was Mary's daughter from a previous marriage.

Gunner George Amstrong 27 (Bengal Artillery), married Mary Cavanagh, 24, a widow, in Meerut on 19 March 1855. Fathers Robert Amstrong and Thomas McQueen respectively

[kittynettles]

Wow, thank you ever so much, that was quick work!

It looks like she was working at 127 Sandy Hill Road in 1881, met her husband who lived on the same road, and moved into no.96 in 1891.

So would I be right in thinking that her father's name was wrongly transcribed on her marriage certificate?

[..claire..]

Hi

Yes it looks like it could be an error.

Or maybe because her father died at such a young age, having an older brother William to look up to was a reason to put William.

Hope that makes sense 

claire