As Harriet is not my direct line, I have to stop somewhere when it comes to certificates.
I absolutely understand!
I believe this 1910 death of James Croxmore Venemore to be Harriett's husband.
I thought the GRO would send a link I could pass on, but it doesn't work that way! I have downloaded it, so if any of you is interested in seeing the original, pm me your email.
District of Leighton Buzzard Sub District: Leighton BuzzardWhen and Where Died
19 Jan 1910 at Thomas Street, Heath and Reach, RD Beds
Name and Surname (as they wrote it, with a space, as if it were a dual surname)
James
Croxford
Venemore
Male
29 years
Baker, journeyman
Cause of death
tubercular phthisis haemorrage certified by (Reg S ?) Pearson
Signature, Description, and Residence of Informant
S. Kempster, mother, present at the death
Thomas Street, Heath and Reach
Registered 20 Jan 1910James' father, George, died age 36 Q4 1890 Leighton Buzzard (b. 1853)
James' mother, Sarah, remarried to George Kempster, a widowed boot/shoe maker in 1894. He lived on
Thomas St. well before he married Sarah, and you can see them both there in the 1901.
George Kempster died in 1907,
I believe James returned to England before the birth of Percy. If you look at Percy's birth reg, an occupation of housewife was entered for Harriet. This line was only to be filled out if the mother was single/ widowed, or in Harriet's case, with no support. I looked well back and forward in the birth regs. to see if it could have been a slip, and I don't believe it was.
I read the entire 1906 new Immigration Laws looking for anything to help. The 1906 laws came in because at least 10 large charities in England were sending tens of thousands of people to Canada, most of which were not employable, and at that time there was an economic depression in Canada, and massive unemployment. Canada could not stop them from sending these people, so in the new laws, Canada could deport them for up to 2 years after arrival, and it was the shipping company that brought them over that would have to take them back to the port they left from.
If James had arrived sick, he would be DETAINED in the ship logs, not TO BE DEPORTED. So his "fyle" number, as it was called, could have been written on his passenger list anywhere up to 2 years after arrival. However, unlike a the zillion other passengers that were to be deported that I tried to trace, they all had dates on them. There was no date on James'.
Looking again at Harriett's return, she was on a mail/cargo ship, that could handle a small number of passengers. 3 of those other passengers listed were being deported. Harriet and children were not listed as such.
This leads to me to ponder if James fell into the small group of immigrants that ASKED to be deported. There was a small number of, in normal times, highly employable men that immigrated, could not find work, ran out of money while they looked for jobs, and by asking to be sent back, they could get passage home on the promise of repaying the government at a later date. The idea was, they would return to England, make some money, and either send for their family, or return and try again. It is the only thing that makes sense when the whole family was not sent back.
We will never know for sure, unless we can find his return passenger list with something helpful, but he may have gone back on some mail steamer that lost its passenger list, or is not transcribed. Or his name is just so badly spelled it is beyond the search engine's ability to find him.
Somehow, Harriet got word of James' death, and somehow she was able to get tickets home.
Sarah Kempster died later in the year of 1910, which is why I suppose Harriet had to resort to the Workhouse for a while.
Harriett certainly had a hard time right from the get-go. Very sad story.
I am sure I had some other minor tidbits that tied all this together, but this is enough for now!
