7. Family Confusion (it’s all in a name)

As you already know some of F.A.I.s aunts and uncles were French born (British Subjects) around the Brittany area, Brest in particular. The rest of them were born in London. Of the French fraternity there was:

Emily who died of TB in 1873 aged 35 years in Romford. In 1871 her sister Maria and her were running the Bangor School for Ladies.
Caroline who died in 1872 aged 30 of Morbis Cordis.
Josephine who was only ever mentioned once in the 1851 census.
George who married Harriet (no children)
There is possibly a ‘Frederick’ he doesn’t appear on the census records with the family but he was born in France (at the time the family were there) & was a School Master, so certainly fits the criteria. As it stands he is unconfirmed!
There is also Maria and Matilda.

On investigating the burial place of F.A.I.s grandfather at Camberwell Old Cemetery it was discovered that interred in the same grave was his wife Caroline (died 1884), Caroline Matilda Maria (died 1909) & chap named Edgar(died 1903). Who on earth was Edgar and which daughter was Caroline Matilda Maria?

Maria had been Maria through the entire census’s as Matilda had been Matilda. So who was in the grave? Maria or Matilda?


To add confusion even further, when I was on holiday in France a couple of years ago I chanced upon the ‘Marie’ in Morlaix and with my school girl O’level French (and my Penguin phrase book) I managed to ask whether it would be possible to look at the birth records of that area C1835. What joy they said yes!
The old beautiful books were presented to me and within them I saw the birth registrations of two of the children
Caroline Mathilda 8th September 1835 and Emilie 8th July 1837. It told of the time they were born, their parentage, where they lived, a page of information on each child plus my great great grandfathers signature.
My brother photographed the pages and we went on to find Rue de Ploujean where they had lived 170 years previous. We sat in a beautiful 19th Centaury café, drinking coffee, in the glorious French sunshine both in true amazement about what we had seen. What a day!

So back to who was in the grave?

To cut a long story (and search) short, Matilda, who we had seen through out the census’s I had assumed was the Caroline Mathilda as seen in France ( I just thought that she had lied about her age on census returns!). Anyway I was wrong, the birth I had seen in France was Maria’s. Maria was the name her parents had called her. This has happened so many times in this particular line of my tree, they really don’t want this to be easy.
It was discovered that Matilda had married Edgar. Edgar was the brother of Matilda’s father’s brother’s wife (hope you got that?).
They married in 1885 after her parents had died (I feel maybe they may have not approved of the marriage, she was 45, he was 56 and had been married previously).

It appears that Matilda had sacrificed her place in the grave for her sister, Maria. Matilda lived on until 1926 at the family home were she had lived with her husband and sister, The Hawthorns, Vincent Road, Croydon.

One cold, bleak October day a couple of years ago, I visited Camberwell Old Cemetery with my cousin PM from Oz and an ancestor from my great great grandfathers brothers side. It was drizzly, damp and dark (the sun never came up), perfect conditions for visiting a neglected Victorian Graveyard.

Our ancestor’s headstone had fallen so between us (and I am afraid not very ceremoniously) we raised it.
As it has been face down for so long the inscription was broken up but we could just make out who was in there plus the words …………..

DR WATTS...JESUS HOLDS MY TITLE DEEDS...CROSS AND BLOOD SECURE........HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS MEETS ALL MY NEEDS.......AND MAKES MY PATHWAY SURE..........EDGAR F……….

Reserching Edgar’s life we found that he had been a scripture reader & organist at St Jude’s Southwark (he had also been the owner of a Fancy Repository & a Toy salesman too!!). Holding on to the thought he was musical it would seem Edgar had added another verse Oh God Our Help In Ages Past words written by Isaac Watts

(Don’t know if you have noticed but Caroline features a lot in F.A.I.s life…. Both his grandmothers ( what a co-incidence!), his mother, two aunts and his sister all had the name, I guess they must have liked the it!)

Paternal Grandmother Caroline