Friday challenge?

[Phoenix]

Poor little John Chatterley: trying to get a potato from the oven and his flannelette clothing catching fire. The day before the Armistice. Do you suppose that that contributed to his parents splitting up?

[kiterunner]

Originally Posted by Merry

So, I'm looking for burial 28990

I have found:
Arthur Sharp 28981
Frank Swain 28982
Francis E Turner 28983
Mary A Ball 28985
Ann Parsons 28986
Elizabeth Collins 28988
Mary Ann Swash 28989

(from cross referencing the GRO index with the burial entries. I'm obviously almost in the right spot, but have to do something to eat now!)

Now you've done the hard work - Alfd (Albert on FreeBMD and on the GRO site) James Udy, age 2, parish St John, section A, Div 216, No. 29, depth 5, interment no 28990, date of burial 29/6/04, Observations: Catholic, 34071 Chatterley.

[kiterunner]

Of course I don't see an obvious birth reg for Alfred or Albert James Udy. There is an Alfred Lewis Udy birth in Bodmin district in 1901, but there is a likely death for him in 1955.

[Merry]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Poor little John Chatterley: trying to get a potato from the oven and his flannelette clothing catching fire. The day before the Armistice. Do you suppose that that contributed to his parents splitting up?

Maybe. Kathleen was pregnant when John died. She had that baby in April 1919 and then probably another with John Henry in Q4 1920 (though I can't be certain if they were together then).

Originally Posted by kiterunner

Now you've done the hard work - Alfd (Albert on FreeBMD and on the GRO site) James Udy, age 2, parish St John, section A, Div 216, No. 29, depth 5, interment no 28990, date of burial 29/6/04, Observations: Catholic, 34071 Chatterley.

Oooh, I was hoping my fairly godmother might find the right entry whilst I was slaving over a hot stove! I was getting jittery in case the numbers were going to hop straight over 28990.

The depth for Emily Chatterley was also five feet.

Would they normally put a Catholic with a C of E? Samuel and Kate baptised their Birmingham children C of E, but I wondered if Kathleen Rafferty (who should have nothing to do with Emily!) might have been RC.

Originally Posted by kiterunner

Of course I don't see an obvious birth reg for Alfred or Albert James Udy. There is an Alfred Lewis Udy birth in Bodmin district in 1901, but there is a likely death for him in 1955.

Of course - that sounds about right!!

[Merry]

There's an illegitimate John Udy reg birth Q3 1901 Exeter who I can't see anywhere else, but I don't want it to be him really.

[Phoenix]

I have a horrid feeling that he might be the son of Elizabeth Ann Udy, who was deaf and dumb from birth.

I can't see that the Udys are other than Cornish incomers. Unless there was a soldier's family and the mother simply called herself by her common law husband's name.

[Merry]

I think I'm just going to have to put the name Udy on the back burner in case it crops up later. Probably no connection, I suppose!

[Merry]

Oooh!! I made a mistake!

Somewhere in the dim and distant past I was looking at Arthur Bell Chatterley and his wife, May Edith Young (known as Edith).

I think I looked at the wrong family on the pre-marriage census records for Edith and therefore found a family with no sister called Kate.

Now I've done that again and this time (hopefully) have the right family and there is Kate (called Kitty, which I think was the name on one of her children's baptisms).

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interacti...nSearchResults

The above 1891 census has (May) Edith Young aged 14 b West Brom which is correct for Edith Chatterley and Kitty aged 5 b Birmingham which fits with Kate Chatterley on the 1911 census.

Birth registrations:

YOUNG, MAY EDITH
TINSLEY
GRO Reference: 1876 J Quarter in WEST BROMWICH Volume 06B Page 871

YOUNG, KITTY
TINSLEY
GRO Reference: 1886 M Quarter in BIRMINGHAM Volume 06D Page 171

I can't see a bap for Kitty in Birmingham, but the siblings born in West Brom are all baptised.

[Merry]

I've just found a tree on Ancestry that has the eldest child of Samuel Frederick Chatterley and Kate Young on it - Frederick Chatterley b 1904. (the tree has Frederick born in 1882 despite having his father born in 1874, but I'm sure the details below are correct as I'd already worked out the spouse and 1939 register etc before I found the tree.)

The tree has a copy of a 1937 marriage cert for Frederick which gives his father's name as Samuel Chatterley a commissionaire (not dec'd - the bride's father is noted as dec'd, so it would seem the Q was asked). Frederick and his bride both give the same address - a hotel in Westcliff-on-Sea - and Frederick is an under chef. It's tempting to think he was living in as a member of staff - in which case is there any significance that his father's job could also be in a hotel?

Frederick Chatterley was perhaps not the most reliable person - he spent a lot of his life in jail. The tree owner has one of his occupations down as 'criminal'! The following year he was sentenced to a few months in jail for petty theft in Southend. He pleaded with the judge to be allowed to have Christmas at home because 1) his wife was pregnant and 2) he had spent 14 of the previous 16 Christmases inside.

Of course the occupations - especially for Samuel - could well be made up. John Henry was dead by 1937, but only by a year or so.

I really need to know who John Henry is, if he isn't Samuel! If they are different people then I don't need to know about Samuel and his children etc because I'm looking at these families trying to work out who is my contact's grandfather. My contact is definitely related to John Henry Chatterley or Kathleen Rafferty - one of their immediate male relations is my contact's grandfather. However, the best candidate so far is a relative of Samuel! There are candidates in JHC's descendants, but though, like Samuel's relative, some were living in the right place at the right time they are pushing the boundaries for being too young to fit the bill.

The next can of worms will be trying to sort out Kathleen Rafferty's immediate male relatives as she was never born! *sigh*

[Phoenix]

How long is it until the 1921 census comes out?!! Hopefully John Henry is either at home or in prison: at least traceable.

Remind me: do we have proof that Samuel and Kate moved to Exeter?

The army records for all the Chatterleys are all very similar: men who were fond of drinking, gambling, fighting, and did not take well to regimentation.

Were the children in Exeter in and out of the workhouse? A settlement examination might provide some clues.