Hi Friends,
New to genealogy and the bug has already bitten. I’ve spent the past few weeks trawling Ancestry to look at my father’s side and so far I am finding his grandfather’s parentage somewhat of an enigma.
I’d really love some help with suggestions of resources I could go to for further research and more general help with social history, what was common at the time etc etc.
Grab a cup of tea while I try to surmise: The individuals I’m interested in are my great-grandfather,
George Charles Chiell and his parents.
Here’s what I know based on public historical records: 1911 Census: George is 14/15 and living with his mother and step father, who is named as such on the census. His mother is Clara Page and his stepfather is Frederick Page
1895: he is born at 25 Benwell Road. I obtained a digital image of the birth entry from GRO which names “George Chiell” as his father. The mother was the informant, and she is named as “Clara Chiell (Tovey)”
Rewind back in time ⏪ Searches on Clara Tovey1871 census: Living in
Mile End with her family, she is a baby
1881 census: Living in
Islington with her family as a young girl
1891 census: A Clara Tovey is named as a servant for a family in
Brixton. Here she is Aged 19, so she could’ve lied to her employers about her age by a year or two. Annoyingly place of birth on the census just says “London” whereas the others say “Lambeth”.
1895: she gives birth to her son at an address in Islington
1902: Marriage takes place between
Clara Tovey and
Frederick PageSearches on the father’s name: Searches for
George CHIELL born 1870 +/- 10 years don’t throw up much, but I did find a record for a George
CHEAL.
1891 census: George CHEAL is living in Brixton with his family just a 20 minute walk away from where Clara Tovey is working as a domestic servant as per the 1891 census which names her.
1891 census has George CHEAL’s occupation as a “Billiard Marker” - so one can assume he is going into wealthy families' homes and gentlemen’s clubs - places that might have billiards rooms and billiard tables to basically mark or re-mark the lines on the tables.
I’ve not yet found any record of a marriage between Clara Tovey or a George Chiell / Cheal
In 1922, George Charles Chiell (my great grandfather) marries his first wife, Edith Kate Quested/Questad. On the marriage certificate he names
Frederick Chiell as his father.
Here are my questions that I would love to find some answers to: 
1) Is it unreasonable to think that at some point between 1891 and 1895
George Cheal and
Clara Tovey met, either by him coming into her place of work or while about their business in the community of Brixton? In 1891 she was 19, he was 22.
2) Is it unreasonable to think she got pregnant out of wedlock? I would like to think this was because of a passionate love affair but if it was, why didn’t they marry? Could it be that George Cheal forced himself upon Clara?
3) Is it unreasonable to think she went back close to where her family were living (Islington) to have the child?
4) Could 25 Benwell Road, Islington be a kind of ‘safe house’ for young women to birth their children? How can I find who was living in that address or what that address was being used for at that time?
5) Was it common in 1895 for mothers to register the birth of children? Or was this “a man’s job?”
6) What “proof” of marriage (if any) would she have to provide to the registrar? Could she have lied about being married to George Cheal to avoid social stigma?
7) If she wasn’t well educated, could she have given the name “Cheal” to the registrar and not knowing how it was spelt - hence how it became “Chiell”?
If anyone can help with any of the general social history questions as well as the more technical genealogy questions of where to try and seek answers, that would be a huge help!!
