Emily Robinson - Genealogists' Forum

kiterunner · #1 14-09-23, 15:10

Emily Robinson was born in 1867 in West Horsley, Surrey, daughter of James, a farm labourer, and Rose Anne / Rosina.

This is the family in 1871, in West Horsley:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...8?pId=13354969

And in 1881, still in West Horsley:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...2?pId=21351700

In 1891 the parents are still in West Horsley but none of their children are with them:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...e&pId=18113517

On the 31st Jul 1892, Emily married Hugh Lawrance Bristow at St Andrew, Haverstock Hill, London, giving her age as 25, a spinster, daughter of James Robinson, a farmer, witnesses her siblings Arthur James Robinson and Bertha Robinson.
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...05?pId=3541716

Her address is given as 20 Piercefield Street, but she is not there on the 1891 census.

Newspaper story:
30 Dec 1905
Surrey Times
A WIFE DISCLAIMED
At the County Bench at Woking, on Saturday, Hugh Lawrence Bristow, of Croydon, was summoned for neglecting to maintain his wife and four children, whereby they became chargeable to the Guildford Union on December 9th. Defendant said the woman was not his wife, although he had been through the marriage ceremony with her. He was at present out of work and could not support the family.
Mr J Martin, the relieving officer, said defendant's wife and four children became chargeable to the common fund on December 9th. This made the fourth time the woman had been relieved and she was allowed 6s. a week in out-relief.

Defendant produced two certificates, one showing that a person, whom he alleged to be the woman with whom he went through the ceremony was married to another man in 1889. His own marriage certificate showed that the second ceremony took place in 1892.
Col. Phayre said the Bench could not accept the certificates as evidence that the woman's former husband was alive when she married defendant.
Defendant admitted that the four children were his, and the Bench adjourned the case for 21 days to give him the opportunity of supporting the children.

Can anyone find the supposed first marriage, or find Emily on the 1891 census, please? In 1901 she is with her parents and her children are all Hugh's, none from before their marriage:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...39?pId=4568935
(Hugh is in Leatherhead as "Hugh L Rustan")

Phoenix · #2 14-09-23, 17:06

Ooh, I was at West Horsley yesterday - though possibly not in the surroundings Emily would have known. Off to hunt.

Phoenix · #3 14-09-23, 19:52

Nobody in 1905 could have produced a certificate from 1889 which would stand up in court unless it was genuine, surely? Freebmd shows 14 Emily Robinsons marrying. Would you buy 14 certificates in the hopes of finding one for a spinster with a father James?

Merry · #4 14-09-23, 20:34

I thought if this story is true, the most likely marriage might be the one in Lambeth Q4 1889. However, I have got absolutely nowhere with trying to pair up the two couples!

Marriages Dec 1889
Hard Henry Alfred Lambeth 1d 931
MILES Thomas Lambeth 1d 931
PETERS Alice Lambeth 1d 931
Robinson Emily Lambeth 1d 931

I noticed in one of the earlier newspaper articles about Hugh and Emily it said that Hugh had heard a story that Emily had been married to someone before him. So, did he get the certificate from her, perhaps after she admitted the circumstances, or did he do his own research? (The former seems more likely to me).

Merry · #5 14-09-23, 21:56

There's a Thomas Henry Miles with wife Alice (aged 49) on the 1911 census, married 21 years. Their children are mmn Keeble.

There's a marriage for Alice Keeble to William Frederick Peters in 1880 at Christ Church, Rotherhithe. Alice is 20 years of age.

Alice and WFP only had one child, who died young. I can't find a sensible death for WFP, but I also can't find them as a couple in 1891.

So... it's possible that leave Emily R marrying Henry Alfred Hard. The issue with him is that there's only one HAH (b 1850, Lambeth)and he has the same wife all the way through from 1872 when he married until his wife's death in 1906. She was Annie Ann Phillips.

kiterunner · #6 14-09-23, 22:06

Thanks, Merry. I had ruled the Henry Alfred Hard marriage out because there are Hard / Robinson births in Lambeth on the GRO index way past the date of Hugh and Emily's marriage, but I will check the 1901 census to make sure they belong to the right couple!

kiterunner · #7 14-09-23, 22:11

This seems to be the Hard family in 1901 although the father's name is down as Ernest! I checked one of the children's baptisms and it said Henry.
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...ce&pId=3375473

kiterunner · #8 14-09-23, 22:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Nobody in 1905 could have produced a certificate from 1889 which would stand up in court unless it was genuine, surely? Freebmd shows 14 Emily Robinsons marrying. Would you buy 14 certificates in the hopes of finding one for a spinster with a father James?

No, but Hugh ended up in the lunatic asylum so I'm not sure about how sound his mind was when all those court cases happened.

Merry · #9 14-09-23, 22:15

Ok, that's good - I was going round in circles!

Merry · #10 14-09-23, 22:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiterunner

No, but Hugh ended up in the lunatic asylum so I'm not sure about how sound his mind was when all those court cases happened.

I wondered about that too. TBH, I thought the court brushed off the supposed marriage cert, apparently suggesting that the cert didn't demonstrate whether the first husband was alive or dead when Emily 'remarried'. They didn't ask why Emily said she was a spinster using the name Robinson at the second marriage, which (if she had been married before) looks suspicious!

EDIT - I felt as if they didn't take him seriously.