I’m trying to trace Annie Sharpe born early 1850s in Clerkenwell.
The earliest definite record I have is her marriage to James Sheridan Johnson in 1879, St Pancras church. She names her father Henry Sharpe, watch maker. I also know she had a younger sister, Jane Sharpe, married to Charles Simpson in St Pancras in 1875. The marriage register does not give details about her father except ‘dead’.
The sisters are living next door to each other in the 1881 census in Clerkenwell: Annie born around 1854 in Clerkenwell, Jane born around 1855 also in Clerkenwell. They are consistent on Clerkenwell and roughly these dates of birth in subsequent censuses.
Because I’m descended through the youngest children of subsequent generations, Annie is in fact only my great grandmother. My grandmother remembered regularly visiting her aunt Jane Simpson in Islington around the 1900s.
Another thing my grandmother recalled: Girling is a family name.
From here things get a little more speculative.
I can find nothing promising in 1871. But in 1861, there’s an Annie and Jane Sharp (9 and 6 respectively) attending the Clerkenwell Workhouse School in Upper Holloway.
I have also found Ann Sharp (b. 1851) and Jane (b. 1854) baptized together in 1855 in St Philip Clerkenwell, living at 29 Noble Street. Their parents are given as Thomas, watchmaker, and Elizabeth. Civil registration records show that Elizabeth’s maiden name is Girling.
So my theory has been that Annie may have misstated her father’s name on the marriage certificate (or the clerk messed up): her father was Thomas, not Henry. But, of course, this isn’t very satisfactory without more evidence.
The recent GRO birth index has pointed me towards some younger children of Thomas & Elizabeth Sharp: James Henry born in 1840 (24 Union Buildings, Shoreditch), Emma in 1842 (20? Brewer Street North, Clerkenwell) and William in 1844 (16 Brewer Street, Clerkenwell). I can’t find their baptisms -- nor can I find these three younger children, or their parents Thomas and Elizabeth, in any census.
Just to make things more complicated, the 1845 Post Office Directory lists a Henry Sharp, watch finisher, at 19 Brewer Street North.
I keep coming back to this line but it’s proving a tough nut to crack. Any thoughts welcome!
Mike