Seeking Parents of Thomas Frederick William Lewis Hastings born 1864 St Pancras

[NicolleGoldman]

I've exhausted myself for a couple of years looking for the parents of Thomas Frederick William Lewis Hastings born 1864 St Pancras. 

I can not find a General Registrar Office entry for his birth, under the full name or any part name with any different surname (except possibly Thomas Frederick William Stride b 1864 St Pancras, who was left an orphan at age 2).  I can't find either of those boys in the 1871 Census, and I couldn't find any Hastings (or Stride) families who suddenly had a son born 1864 St Pancras.

Thomas Frederick William Lewis Hastings is in Censuses with "mother" Harriet Hastings.  She was born Harriet Burrell 1831 Tydd Saint Mary, Lincolnshire, daughter of William Burrell and Jane Rodwell.  In 1857 she married Richard Smith and is Harriet Smith with husband Richard Smith in 1861 Census.  In the 1871 Census she is Widowed and working as a nurse (with no children).  In the 1881 Census she is the Head, married, with her "son" but without her husband.  In 1891 Census, she is the widow Harriet Hastings.  I couldn't find a marriage source for Henry Hastings and Harriet.  I couldn't find a birth of a son under Burrell, Smith, or Hastings who could be Thomas Frederick William Lewis Hastings born 1864 St Pancras.  So I think she's a step-mother.

Here are the sources I've found for Thomas Frederick William Lewis Hastings:

- 1881 Census at Islington, London, with Head married "mother" Harriett Hastings (but no father)
- 15 November 1885 St Mark, Myddelton Square, Islington marriage with Mary Absolent, he is a Stationer and he gives his father as "Henry Hastings no occupation"
- 1891 Census St Luke, London - with wife Mary and two sons
- 1901 Freemason Membership Log entry
-1908 Passport (one tissue-thin sheet of paper with his name and age)
-1909-1911 London Electoral Registers with residence in Wandsworth, London
- ?1954 Death Registration Thomas Hastings age 89 Battersea, London? this is the only source I'm not 100% sure is him

In every source, he's born 1864, St Pancras.

Please, can people help me find any of his: birth registration, parents' names and marriage, and 1871 Census?  (and his proper death source if I'm incorrect on 1954 Battersea)

[mckha489]

1909-1911 London Electoral Registers with residence in Wandsworth, London

What address in Wandsworth? because there is another Thomas Hastings in Wandsworth who is married (apparently) to Ellen Mary née COPE.  They had sons Reginald John and Cyril Thomas who both when they married said their father was a paper merchant and while Cyril said his name was Thomas William Hastings, Reginald said it was Thomas Frederick William Louis Hastings

Have you found your Thomas In 1901 or 1911?  Added. I’ve found the family with the mother Harriet but no Thomas.  Mary says M. 1901

Place of birth of Thomas married to Ellen is Bridgewater, Somerset.

Are there two Thomas Frederick William Louis/Lewis Hastings?

[mckha489]

Mary and two youngest children are not in Wandsworth 1911.

I wonder if TWFL. Left that family and started another?

There are two other people in the 1939 who might also qualify as the Battersea death. I am wondering if you should be looking off shore for his death. After all, he had a passport.

[NicolleGoldman]

Oh, wow, Mckha489 -- you've solved another mystery I didn't mention because I didn't want to overload this topic (having already piggybacked in the Harriet Burrell angle!).  It is "family knowledge" that Thomas Frederick William Lewis Hastings had two families at the same time. 

Apparently, the secret came out when his will was read.  My side of the family was shocked to find they had to share the proceeds with a whole 'nother family they didn't know about.

I could not find anything about a will or probate or other death sources, so I couldn't verify the story.

I don't have him in the 1901 or 1911 Censuses.  I also don't know where he may have gone with his 1908 passport, but it seems to me he wouldn't have got a passport without a plan to travel somewhere.  (That's not in any online source; my family has the original tissue-thin paper document). 

His occupation was in the stationery/paper business, and also commercial traveler.  We have a hazy memory that he may have worked with the Bank of England... something to do with manufacturing the paper on which money is printed.

I think those sons Reginald John and Cyril Thomas Hastings must be his -- paper merchant and same five-part name.

Wow, again, THANK YOU!

[mckha489]

Well, Reginald married in Curacao,  https://www.wiewaswie.nl/personen-zoeken/zoeken/document/srcid/23357543

[avm228]

Thomas gives “Bridgewater, Wilts” as his birthplace in 1901 - wrong county but it reinforces the 1911 finding of Bridgwater, Somerset.

[avm228]

His second family:

Cyril Thomas Hastings, mother’s maiden name Cope, Sep qtr 1896 Lambeth
Reginald John Hastings, mother’s maiden name Cope, Jun qtr 1899 Lambeth

[avm228]

Ellen Mary Cope was born in St Pancras on 19 May 1864 and was with her parents John & Emma in Lambeth in 1891.  She doesn’t seem to have been married before meeting Thomas.

[avm228]

Cyril Hastings (an insurance official) was living in India in 1925, when he was due to sail on the Moldavia from Bombay to London.  His name is crossed through on the passenger list, so he may not have travelled.

Address in the UK: 56 Streathbourne Rd, Tooting.

Cyril Thomas Hastings died in Cirencester in 1970, and his wife Gladys Isobel died in Cheltenham in 1986.