Who were their parents?

[KiwiChris]

I was looking for Sophia Bousfield in 1851 and there was no sign of her. Unless she is calling herself Minnie Anderson.
My reading of the diary was that it was his uncle Benjamin Richings, I assume he is a bother of Rebekah, so maybe a great uncle.

[kiterunner]

Originally Posted by KiwiChris

Ok, the library did not have much more than we have found unfortunately!
They did have his birth certificate, son of Henry Philip ANDERSON civilian in the East India company service and Sophia Minnie nee CUTHBERT, and Sophia was the informant. The address is 12 Oval Cottages Bethnal Green

That explains why various family trees have picked different Sophias as his mother! It must be Sophia Louisa Bousfield then.

[Merry]

So I wonder what led to her calling herself Cuthbert?

I saw some had Henry Anderson b Calcutta 1811 but I couldn’t see why.

Originally Posted by Merry

So I wonder what led to her calling herself Cuthbert?

I saw some had Henry Anderson b Calcutta 1811 but I couldn’t see why.

This Henry would be a lot older than Sophia/Minnie though.

UK, Registers of Employees of the East India Company and the India Office, 1746-1939

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discovery...ccessSource%27)

Oh and the very Henry Lacon Anderson

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discovery...499c6d4710036e

There is a lot of Henry Andersons no wonder all the trees online are a mishmash of Henry and Sophia Minnies.

Edit to say: I do realise the East India Service is probably a religious organisation and totally different but as a lot of trees have various Henry's a few are probably working for the East India Company rather than being in the Clergy.

Ahh it looks they were part of the East India Company.

[Merry]

As Sophia said her 'husband' was Henry Philip Anderson when she registered her son in 1848, what about this? (not sure where I'm going! lol)

I was looking in FMP newspapers and saw an entry in the Newcastle Journal 03 November 1849 for the death of a child (Mary) at Bath Terrace, Tynemouth, infant daughter of the Rev Philip Anderson, Chaplain to the East India Company, Bombay Presidency.

As he was both a Rev and working for the EIA, I thought it might be worth looking at this Philip a bit more closely, despite Tynemouth being a long way from London.

This would appear to be the death of the child:

ANDERSON, MARY 0
GRO Reference: 1849 D Quarter in TYNEMOUTH UNION Volume 25 Page 364

and this is her birth (EDIT bap Newcastle 1849, confirms parents):

ANDERSON, MARY POTTS
GRO Reference: 1849 D Quarter in TYNEMOUTH UNION Volume 25 Page 472

Philip Anderson m Dorothy Potts in Q4 1841, Gateshead.

So I hoped to find them in 1851...

I haven't found Philip and Dorothy yet, but I have found the household of Dorothy's widowed mother, Ann Younghusband Potts:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...n&pId=14899878

There are three grandchildren listed, who I'm presuming are children of Philip and Dorothy:

Ann Paschal Anderson 6 b East Indies (EDIT b/bap FMP 1844 confirms parents)
Dorothy Mary Anderson 5 ditto (EDIT b/bap FMP 1845 ditto)
Phillip Edward Anderson 3 b Haworth (can't find a b registration, EDIT but Newcastle bap 1848 confirms parents)

The next people in the house are Edward Hussey Adamson and hs wife Anne. Their eldest child is Cuthbert Edward Adamson aged 2. Did someone think, "Ooh, Cuthbert, that's a nice name"?!! Probably a coincidence!?

There's probably little chance of finding Philip and Dorothy Anderson on the 1851 census as on 22 Dec 1851 they had another daughter in Colaba, India (and more children in India after 1851).

So, did Philip and Dorothy and their young family pass through London on their way up north, with Philip causing havock? Probably not, but if there was just the one child for Sophia then I could just about believe it. Of course we don't know that both children had the same biological father.

Having said that, this:

And he mentions just after he married in 1874 that he received a letter from England with his fathers ring

....would seem improbable if the father was married and had another family etc, but on the other hand, who sent the ring? Maybe Sophia had kept it for years (whoever her son's father was, Sophia is likely to be the source of the ring, surely)?

Maybe I'm straw clutching lol

Thoght I should plod on in case anything else came to light, which it didn't!...

Philip's death is recorded here:

Norfolk Chronicle 13 February 1858

On the 13th of Dec, at Bombay, the Rev. Philip Anderson, Chaplain of Colaba, near Bombay.

The Homeward Mail gives his age as in his 42nd year and the civil record on FMP has his cause of death as 'disease of the liver'.

Philip was bap in Bombay 02 Jan 1818, aged nearly 2 years, parents Thomas and Mary. His dob was given as 25 May 1816. By his bap date, his father, Thomas Anderson, was dec'd. He is recorded as a Captain in The Honorable Company's Military Service.

Philip organised the building of this church:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Church

but missed the consecration by a few months.

That will do for now.....

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Merry

"Ooh, Cuthbert, that's a nice name"?!! Probably a coincidence!?

St Aidan, St Oswald and St Cuthbert are three saints of the North East. Wouldn't expect Devonian parents to choose Cuthbert as a name, but in Tynemouth it might spring readily to mind.

[Merry]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

St Aidan, St Oswald and St Cuthbert are three saints of the North East. Wouldn't expect Devonian parents to choose Cuthbert as a name, but in Tynemouth it might spring readily to mind.

In this case we have a woman using it as her maiden name instead of Bousfield for unestablished reasons! She was London-based.

[kiterunner]

My great-grandmother gave the surname Mascot as her maiden name on the birth cert for her fourth child and on her marriage to that child's father. We have no idea where she got that name from. There is nobody of that name in my tree. So Cuthbert may also be inexplicable.

[KiwiChris]

We will just have to hope that William Cheek Bousfield's will explains how Margaret Rebekah Clara Anderson is his niece. Hopefully it will arrive soonish.

I think that there is a fair amount of fibbing going on, so trying to work it all out is almost impossible!

There is absolutely no sign of a Henry Philip Anderson, or a Sophia Minnie Cuthbert on Ancestry, FMP or Family Search.

I am sure that the Sophia Cuthbert b c1830, daughter of Henry and Jane, is the wrong one as I have probably found her with her husband and father Henry in later census.

I actually used to know a descendant of Octavius Bousfield and we are trying to track her down, she probably does not know anything, but she might have had her DNA tested, so many people have these days. There certainly are a number of Philip Cuthbert Andersons descendants who seem interested in their family tree so there may be some of their DNA out there.

[Phoenix]

If the will doesn't, then the death duty records should, as tax was paid at different rates, according to the relationship to the deceased.

These have to be ordered in advance, but are available at Kew.