An 1870's burial of Alice KERSHAW, 69, formerly of 14, Charterhouse Square, in Sheffield

[Keith Sherwood]

Willsmum,
You're a star!
No obvious family connections at first sight, but I'm looking into it now…
Many thanks, Keith

[Goughy]

Willsmum,
You're a star!
No obvious family connections at first sight, but I'm looking into it now…
Many thanks, Keith

Did you notice Samuel Vaughan was a "visitor" in the Kershaw household (Alice was a Boarding House Keeper)  in 1851 census - acknowledge this  doesn't help in tracing if they were related but it confirms "a connection"

[Keith Sherwood]

Goughy,
What a good spot that is!  Surely there must be some significance in what you have so cleverly noticed.  Now I need to put two and two together and come up with some kind of accurate answer…
Very many thanks,
Keith

[Keith Sherwood]

…this could be quite an interesting puzzle to find the connection between the individual called Samuel VAUGHAN, aged 46 in early April 1871, and Alice KERSHAW who had been 69 when she'd died at the Parsonage about 5 weeks earlier.
In 1851 he had been a boarder in her boarding house at 14, Charterhouse Square, aged 26 and then merely a scholar.  At some stage in the next 20 years he became a priest and was the incumbent of St Mark's Dewsbury (Kirklees?), which according to something I read had not been completed as a building until as recently as 1865.  At some stage, presumably in about 1868 he had been widowed, as he has two children aged 8 and 3 in the household in 1871.
I wonder whether Alice had had some family connection with him, taking him under her wing as a boarder when he was a young man in London - and perhaps when he was widowed she came up to Yorkshire to help him bring up his two small children.
Surely it's the wrong way round in terms of ages for there to have been some kind of love interest - but I could be entirely wrong.
I think I need to send away for Alice's death certificate to see whether she suffered a sudden and unexpected death; and I also need to see whether Samuel VAUGHAN has an entry in Crockford's; plus finding out whom he married so briefly - his wife may have had some kind of family connection to Alice.
His elder child was born in Wrentham, Suffolk in about 1864, so perhaps he had a living there before Dewsbury.
A complete mystery to me at the moment…!
Keith

[dobfarm]

From The Sheffield Independent 03/03/1871.

Kershaw - February 25th at the Parsonage, St Mark's, Dewsbury, Mrs Alice Kershaw, aged 69, late of 14,Charterhouse Square, London. Friends will kindly accept this intimation.

The fact that the newspaper entry does not mention where the service/burial is held for friends to go to the funeral -it a good assumption that it was at ST Marks Dewsbury.

St Marks Church, corner of West Park street & Halifax road Dewsbury had a big graveyard but now grassed over and it appears that the burial registers are missing for St Marks church (See link)

http://www.archives.wyjs.org.uk/documents/archives/Collections%20Guide%201.pdf

[Keith Sherwood]

Dobfarm,
Thanks so much for clarifying things for me, and precisely locating where Alice was buried whenever I come up to Dewsbury in the future - though as you say, nothing would remain of her grave!
But I've done a little digging to find out more about Samuel Vaughan:
That in September quarter 1857 he married a Hannah SWIRE in the Altrincham reg. area
That in 1861 he was a curate in Wrentham, Suffolk, with his new wife and children Charles aged 2 and Samuel aged 11 months (I think it says) and Hannah's sister Sarah.  Both SWIRE sisters were born in Ashton  under Lyne.
I notice now that in the 1871 Census in Dewsbury, having perhaps moved there soon after the church was built in 1865, that the children are Reginald aged 7 and Gertrude aged 3, so perhaps neither Charles and Samuel survived childhood, although Reginald could have left home by then at 17.
That there's a burial entry for a Hannah VAUGHAN aged 40 in March quarter 1870 in the Dewsbury reg. district
And finally, when I picked up Samuel in the 1881 Census he's a clergyman of the church of England, in Layton with Warbreck, Lancashire, but there's a note that says he has "paralysis of the left side".  Not sure whether he was an active priest still, but he has with him his children Reginald aged 17, Gertrude aged 13 and a Hannah M. aged 11.  So I presume the very young Hannah must have been being looked after nearby by a neighbour or family member on the night of the 1871 Census in Dewsbury.
I've also now sent away for the death certificate of Alice KERSHAW, which may not give us anything new, but you never know - that will probably arrive early in the New Year.
But still no obvious connection or reason, apart from the fact that Samuel was a young lodger in Alice's boarding house in London in 1861, why Alice passed away in Dewsbury…
Keith
P.S And if there is anyone who is privy to the St Mark's Dewsbury registers, I would be very interested to hear about any burial entries for Hannah Vaughan, 1870, Alice Kershaw 1871, and perhaps a small Vaughan child or two (though this might have occurred in Wrentham Suffolk)

[Goughy]

So I presume the very young Hannah must have been being looked after nearby by a neighbour or family member on the night of the 1871 Census in Dewsbury.

Daughter Hannah Mabel is with a Holmn family in Batley in 1871 Census

RG10  Piece 4586 Folio 5   Page   3

Not sure it helps but another bit of the jigsaw.  The wife Hannah Holmn born 1819 London Middlesex

[Keith Sherwood]

Wow! Well spotted with Hannah M., Goughy.
This is becoming like one of those (bought as a gift for Christmas?) jigsaws where you're trying to fit together similar pieces of sky or background around the edges before you get to the important details of the figures in the middle...
But, certainly, that London connection could be significant.  The far reaching tentacles of the Church, London boarding houses, not sure where to begin searching for that vital link, but it's a good teaser to have on the go over the Festive Season...
Keith

[Jomot]

The Dewsbury connection may well begin with James, as I note that in the 1841 census neither he or Alice are born in county.   There are also adverts in the Leeds Intelligencer for Kershaw's Commercial & Private Boarding Establishment, initially at 22 Ely Place (1841) and later at 14 Charterhouse Square (1844).