William Pratt of Portsmouth

[hazykay]

Hi, does anyone have any info on William Pratt who was born c1802 in Portsmouth, Hants and was a butcher in the town.  He married Jane Freeland Horne in 1824 and they had at least 10 children, but it's his parents I'm looking for.  A likely baptism is 15/9/1802 at the Wesleyan chapel of St Peters, Portsea, son of Thomas and Sarah, but who are they?
Any help very welcome

hazykay

[Little Nell]

Welcome to RootsChat. 

William and Jane married in Alverstoke.  Their children were baptised in the parish of St. Mary, Portsea.  Jane was baptised in Portsea as well - all Anglican. 

Is there any particular reason for lighting upon the Methodist baptism?  There are other possibles.  It seems that there were many Pratt families in the area at the time.

Nell

[hazykay]

Hello Nell, I have discounted the other baps for William for various reasons.  In 3 censuses W states that he was born in Portsea sometime between 1800 and 1806 and his death cert in 1875 puts his age at 73.  Of the 5 possible baps, those in Southwick and Boarhunt are duplicates (same area) and there is no evidence that this Thomas and Sarah would have had a child in Portsea.  Again with the Hambledon bap, Joseph and Sarah (too many Sarahs) stayed in Hambledon.  The 1804 bap in Portsea is tempting but W is with mother Martha in censuses when my W is elsewhere.  This leaves the Weslyan in 1802 - I have looked through the original records of this short-lived chapel and there are no other entries for Thomas and Sarah.  I wonder if they were local at the time and then moved closer to St Mary's so had other children bap there.  There appear to be 2 couples of that name having baps around the same time, just to complicate matters.  Possible marriages, both St Mary's Portsea, would be Thomas P and Sarah Compton 5.8.1787 and Thomas P and Sarah Savage 28.6.1796.  See my problem? 
hazykay

[Little Nell]

Got a slight difficulty - I cannot find any record of a St Peter's Wesleyan chapel in Portsea.  The Methodists don't dedicate their churches to saints 

May I ask, where did you find this record?

Ages on the census can be notoriously inaccurate!  The age at death is only as good as the informant's knowledge and the chances are that is based on what they remember rather than accurate knowledge.

It looks as if Thomas Pratt who married Sarah Compton was a confectioner and died in 1820.  He left a will but there is no mention of a William Pratt in it.  The children mentioned are Charles Compton Pratt, George, James, John Friend Pratt, daughters Elizabeth, Martha and Susannah.  So I think that one could be eliminated.

Nell

[Daisypetal]

Hi,

This link gives some info about the Methodist records in Portsmouth and shows that St Peter's Chapel was Wesleyan.

Not much help finding Williams parents though

Regards,
Daisy

[Little Nell]

Daisy - the link doesn't seem to be there!

I've been doing some digging myself today and finally found St Peter's - it was part of the Southsea Circuit and later known as Queen Street.

That's my excuse for the confusion on my part

Nell

[Daisypetal]

Oops, sorry Nell:-[

Here it is,

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/download/GB0042%20CHU81

It takes a while to load, but that could just be me.

Daisy

[hazykay]

Nell, Daisy, hi
I know St Peters existed as I've seen their original register in Portsmouth family history centre, and the baptism of William was also picked up on the LDS website and Find My Past.  There was no other mention of the name Pratt at all in the chapel registers, which makes me think there must be records elsewhere.  Daniel Street was a small road off Queen Street, which is within a mile or so of St Marys where the vast majority of Victorian Portsea BMDs took place.
hazykay

[hazykay]

Sorry, a bit quick on the post button.
William Pratt died in the Portsea Workhouse infirmary in 1875.  Again I have checked the original record, and he admitted himself and gave his age on admission.  But as you say, memory slips and people do lie... But the age on the death cert was probably based on that.
I agree that the Compton connection looks unlikely, but I'm struggling to unravel the two families.
h