A history of a rogue and ladies man, Grenville MIALL

[Malcolm33]

    For some months a small band of us with distant connections to a certain Grenville Miall have been unearthing the progress of Grenville Miall and what a story it has turned out to be.    It is still not finished because we cannot find out what he was up to in 1871, why he used the assumed name of Walter Charles Washington when he actually did get married in 1873 or whether he was really deceased by 1891.

        Grenville was born in the New Forest Workhouse at Eling Hampshire in the second quarter of 1848.     His parents George Horatio and Jane Miall who had not been long appointed to the positions of Master and Mistress of the Workhouse when on the 9th January 1848 there was something of an uprising in the Workhouse by many of the inmates.   Those who may be interested in the long story of the uprising can find it in the Hampshire Advertiser of 15th January, 1848.    Grenville’s older brother George Pellew Sallaway Miall who was born in 1832 was fortunately not in the workhouse at this time but may have been living with his grandparents in Portsea.

Births Jun 1848
Miall    Grenville New Forest  8  210

         In 1861 the 12 year-old Grenville was living with his brother George P S Miall who at the age of 28 years was a National School Master living at Midhurst near Chichester, Sussex.

        At this point of time we can only guess where Grenville may have been for the 1871 census.  If he was telling the truth when he married Mary Jane Deakin/Dakin in 1873 then he might just have been a Soldier of the 5th Dragoon Guards, stationed at Hulme, a suburb of Manchester very close to Mary Jane’s home in Ardwick.     On the other hand, the name he assumed at that time was totally different for he was calling himself ‘Walter Charles Washington’ and his father, now a Gentleman, had become Horatio Walter Washington.

[Malcolm33]

To continue...

        Did Mary Jane really believe that that was his name at that time?   We can only wonder, for the very next year when daughter Julia Jane Miall was born to the young parents, she had clearly learned his true name which appears as Granville Miall on Julia’s birth certificate but as Grenville Miall in her baptism register.    Strangely his regiment, if he was ever in one, is now Dundalk, near Dublin in Ireland.   That could be for the Dragoon Guards were stationed at Dundalk for some years around that period.

       One year later in November 1875 and on Guy Fawkes day, a son, Granville Oratio was born to Grenville and Mary Jane, in the Kensington district of Paddington in London.   This is important to note as later on in life, judging by birthplaces in Census’ neither Julia Jane, nor Granville Horatio were certain whether they were born in London or Manchester.     But now Grenville gives his occupation as a Silver Smith.

       Sadly it appears that Mary Jane died giving childbirth at this time.

       Grenville didn’t grieve for his lost Mary Jane very long, for only some 4 months later at the most, he married Agnes Keay on 5th February, 1876 in a Kensington Register Office while both bride and groom were living in Paddington where Grenville has now become a Jeweller and his father though deceased has regained his rightful name of George Horatio Miall, still a Gentleman.

        In April 1877 Agnes gave birth a daughter Harriet Agnes Miall naming Grenville as the father. However this birth apparently took place in Enfield Middlesex somewhat farther out of town.   Then in 1881 Agnes Miles is still living in Enfield, but sadly Harriet Agnes had died in June 1878 in Enfield.

        As for the little Miall’s, Julia Jane/Ann and Horatio G, they were now living with their grandfather John Dakin in Manchester in 1881, but not for long.

[Malcolm33]

Grenville's history continued...

        Now it does look like Grenville may really have operated as some kind of Jeweller for we find him listed in a London Directory of 1885 as Grenville Maill, a jeweller of London SW.

        Well that didn’t last.   Grenville was soon on  the move again, and to Wednesbury Staffordshire of all places where he was now with Rosetta Miall nee Hoskins for the birth of their daughter Annie May Miall in 1886    The jewellery business may have been put to one side since Grenville now appears on Annie May’s birth certificate as a Clock Maker.

        About the same time, it very much looks like Grenville was having an affair with a lass called Annie Conibear who was from Ilfracombe in Devon.    The most surprising point then is that Rosetta knew all about Annie.   Perhaps not at first, we can only surmise on that.   But most definitely a year later in 1887, when Annie gave birth to a son Grenville Ashworth Miall in Birkenhead, near Liverpool, because Rosetta is named on the same birth certificate as having been present at the birth.   However perhaps in deference to Annie having taken on the surname ‘Miall’, Rosetta then called herself ‘Rosetta Miller’.    This was not the end of Rosetta’s assumed names for the next record we have of her and of her daughter ‘Annie May’ is that both have become ‘Allen’.     On Grenville Ashworth’s birth certificate his father has become an ‘Electrician’.

       We have no further findings for Grenville.    He may have become deceased for in the next census of 1891, Rosetta claims to be a Widow.   Though we have never found any marriage of Rosetta to any Allen or similar name, perhaps she did have a partner of that name and he was deceased?

       The friendship of the two ladies, Rosetta Hoskins and Annie Conibear continued as they were living in the same household - NOW IN NEWCASTLE upon TYNE, in 1891.   Annie Conibear Miall was the new spouse of Stephen Doughty who may have been known to Rosetta in her early days in London.     Again, the sad news is that the little 3-year old Grenville Ashworth Miall died in 1891 in Newcastle and is buried in the Elswick cemetery.    His father is described as an Electro Plate maker, deceased.

        Then in 1892 Rosetta married my great grandfather James Currie Draffan and in due course they moved to Stockton on Tees where James died in 1920.

         A few last points.    We just can’t tell what took Grenville and Rosetta to Wednesbury after a number of years in London.   Perhaps it had something to do with his former Keay relations who at a much earlier date had lived in Wednesbury.     As for the move to Birkenhead it might have been because that was where another branch of the Miall Family ended up having lived in London and Liverpool.    Then the Newcastle move could have happened because Rosetta possibly knew Stephen Doughty.

   Malcolm

[ShaunJ]

A Walter Washington did serve in 5th Dragoon Guards ( a Private, number 1229). He bought himself out of the army in January 1875 on payment of £30. However the discharge record shows only one year of service.

[IgorStrav]

Fascinating story, Malcolm.

I particularly liked your phrase

"He may have become deceased"

which perfectly encapsulates the possibilities that either he actually died or that he decided to do something else entirely, and that was just the description given by his abandoned 'wives' and children

 

[Malcolm33]

A Walter Washington did serve in 5th Dragoon Guards ( a Private, number 1229). He bought himself out of the army in January 1875 on payment of £30. However the discharge record shows only one year of service.

   Thanks Shaun.   He does come up as such in Ancestry military, but I couldn't open his records because Ancestry just divert one to Fold and they want more subscription.   One heading that comes up in Ancestry is 'Disciplinary Action',  are you able to see what that was about?

   Of course with all the various occupations he claimed I don't think this could be Grenville, though chances are it is because of naming his father 'Horatio' which it was.

    Malcolm

[Malcolm33]

Fascinating story, Malcolm.

I particularly liked your phrase

"He may have become deceased"

which perfectly encapsulates the possibilities that either he actually died or that he decided to do something else entirely, and that was just the description given by his abandoned 'wives' and children

 

    Thank you Igor.    It is amazing how many such stories come up in our searches, but I think the story of Grenville takes the cake.    Malcolm

[ShaunJ]

One heading that comes up in Ancestry is 'Disciplinary Action',  are you able to see what that was about?

It seems that Walter Washington of 5th Dragoon Guards was court-martialed in Dundalk on 16 December 1873. No I don't have access to the underlying document.

[Malcolm33]

Thanks Again Igor for taking a look.    Looks like we shall have to take a look at all his records for his date of birth and maybe next of kin could confirm whether this was really Grenville or if he knew someone called Walter Charles Washington that was in the Dragoons.

I've just noticed something new - who knows could be Grenville again, but what is strange is that these details just do not come up in Free BMD -

Walter Charles Washington
in the Kent, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1538-1914
Kent, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1538-1914 No Image
Text-only collection
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Name:         Walter Charles Washington
Gender:      Male
Spouse:      Louisa Charlotte Washington
Child: Lilian Margaret Washington

Cheers Malcolm