Had a couple of weeks off which I used to do some research and then spent a week doing things other than family history! Who would have thought it, eh?
A few things I did do, however, were to make copies of the Watermen and Lightermen records for the Warners and Haleys, order a bunch of death certificates and take a visit to Islington Cemetery at Finchley.
I have scanned various certificates and documents in and will upload them over the next couple of days.
I did find out is that we have another suicide [possibly two] in the family which is rather depressing. Thomas Varney, the ginger beer manufactuer who is my Great Great Great Grandfather, drowned himself. There was an inquest so I want to try and get hold of a copy to see if it gives any idea of what happened.
There is also some question over both John Henry Bolton and Mary Ann Bolton. According to the 1891 census, Mary Ann was a widow living in Southwark with their son, George Henry Bolton. However, according to George’s marriage certificate of 26th April 1891, John Henry was still alive. I had not been able to find the entry for John’s death pre-1891 so I searched through post-1891 and found an entry of a John Henry Bolton of the right age registered in St Bride’s. According to this certificate his body was found in the River Thames with no sign of how he ended up there. Once again an inquest was held so I hope to get a copy to see if there are any clues to it definitely being our John Henry Bolton. I also found what seems to be Mary Ann Bolton’s death certificate which shows her as having died in a lunatic asylum in Barnet having been in Newington Workhouse. The workhouse records are in the LMA so I shall go and have a look there.
All in all there are some interesting things that have come up and need to be rasearch further.
Finally, having found no sign of Frederick William Besch’s death entry I decided to take a trip up to Islington Cementery which is at Finchely to look through the buriel register. I found an entry at the right date for a Frederick W Best, whose body was brought from St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Looks like they got his surname wrong! I did try to find the grave but didn’t quite have the stomach to go scrabbling over tombstones pulling ivy off! Maybe next time. 😉
When I got back home I checked the BMD Index and found the entry for F W Best and sent for the death certificate. It arrived today and it is indeed Frederick Besch! In fact, he was living with Fanny, George and young George Frederick at the time. That clears that mystery up!
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