My 2xgreat grandfather has caused me no end of trouble. He seems to have shuttled up and down the south coast from Plymouth to the East End of London. He indulged in a bigamous second marriage. His age in census returns and on marriage certificates varies wildly. His supposed occupations are similarly eclectic.
In the 1901 census he is recorded to be a lodging house keeper at 10 Octagon Street, Plymouth where daughter Hannah (aka Emma) and son Richard were also living (his second wife, Margaret had died by this time). Richard, then aged 9, was supposedly born in Wapping although I have, hitherto, been unable to find any birth registration for him.
The GRO's £6 PDF scheme has encouraged me to splash out on hunting down various relatives. Looking at the online index of births I spotted a Thomas William Richard Bawden, with a mother of the correct maiden name - Dunn, being registered in Caxton, Cambridgeshire. Could this me "my" Richard? I took a punt and, blow me down, it looks right! Father - William Bawden - naval pensioner (that's good) and publican (first I've come across this occupation for him). Mother - Margaret Bawden, formerly Dunn (bang on). But what on earth possessed them to head into Cambridgeshire?
Richard is nowhere to be found in the 1911 census so I took another punt, not such an unlikely one this time, on a Richard Thomas Bawden who died in Plymouth in the 3rd quarter of 1901. Absolutely bang on again - right down to the same address as in the census earlier that year.
It just goes to show that in this family history business you should never make any assumptions!
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