RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => London and Middlesex => Topic started by: Sandy_W on Tuesday 29 January 19 16:22 GMT (UK)
-
Hello everyone. I've hit a brick wall trying to find out what happened to one of my father's cousins. He was born illegitimately in the first quarter of 1893 in Clerkenwell as Lionel Claude Wright. His mother was Rhoda Hannah Wright. In the following quarter of 1893, Rhoda married Arthur Moreton and they had five more children.
On the 1901 census, the family were living in St Luke's, Finsbury and Lionel is listed as Lionel Moreton.
Rhoda died in 1903 and it appears that Arthur abandoned his children. I have found workhouse records on Ancestry which show that Rhoda's mother tried to take care of the children but when she became ill, the children were sent to Leavesden School. They were eventually split up. One of Lionel's siblings stayed at Leavesden, one was sent to Canada, and three were boarded out to separate families in Newbury, Berkshire.
On the 1911 census, Lionel was at Bridge Industrial Home, Witham, Essex, and is described as "feeble minded". He is again listed as Lionel Moreton. After this, I can't find any trace of him. I have looked on Ancestry, Find My Past, The Genealogist FamilySearch, freeBMD and the GRO, using both Wright and Moreton and variants but I can't find a death record for him, or any other trace of him.
I know from the National Archives website that the Bridge Home was closed in 1922 and the inmates were transferred to Darenth, so it's possible that Lionel was one of those.
I've traced all of his siblings through to the ends of their lives and it's so frustrating that I can't do the same for Lionel, so any help would be much appreciated. Many thanks.
-
One to rule out perhaps
Lionel F Moreton marriage Jun 1927 Camberwell to Rose P Davies
Can't immediately see a Lionel F birth that could have married in 1927 (there is one born but in 1924)
-
Thanks Milliepede. That did look promising but there's a Lionel Moreton on the 1911 census in Camberwell with his family, born 1904, so I think that marriage was probably his.
-
Yes I think youre right :(
-
London Metropolitan Archives has the following, which may shed some light:
Bridge Industrial Home: general files, 1895 - 1927 (MAB/2268-2272).
Contains Admission and Discharge registers 1911 - 1922, death register 1905 - 1922, chaplains' report book and papers relating to the sale of property.
Nothing of much use in the Darenth files though by the looks of it:
Darenth Schools and Asylums: general files, 1875 - 1929 (MAB/2307-2325).
Contains annual reports 1875 - 1885, descriptive notes about the institution, a catalogue of flat needlework, memorandum on proposal to empty Darenth for Smallpox cases 1902, reports of Visiting Commissioners 1901 - 1924, papers relating to the appropriate of land for use as a burial ground and legal papers.
-
Thank you Jomot, the Bridge Home files look as if they might hold some useful info. Unfortunately, I can't get to the LMA easily as I live a fair distance from London. I'll have to try and get up there during the summer and maybe go to the National Archives too as I think they also have some relevant papers.
I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that I'm not going to get any answers from internet records and that I'll have to do some good old-fashioned paper research!
-
There are a couple of private family trees on ancestry that have him listed - maybe you already know about them and they have no more info, but if not you could try messaging them.
-
Bridge Industrial Home
(for feeble-minded children)
Witham, Essex
Moreton, Lionel
born 1893
admission date 28 June 06
" from Schools
discharge date 23 Oct 1911
where to - Absconded
Moreton, Lionel
born 1893
admission date 26 Oct 1911
" from Recaptured
discharge 1 July '12
"where to" looks blank, but just possibly there may be a faint "Darenth" hovering there!
Entry above is Harry Gutteridge born 1894 and he was discharged to Darenth on that date.
John
-
And that is from
STPBG/191/002
St Pancras Board of Guardians
Register of Children Sent to Special Schools, Jan 1903 - Dec 1914
-
John, that's brilliant, thank you! So Lionel went on the run for a few days, I wonder what prompted that. He can't have been that "feeble-minded" if he survived on his own for three days. I wonder if he absconded again at some point in the future (from Darenth?) and either changed his name or came to a sticky end and no-one knew his name. I'll probably never know. Where did you find those records, by the way?
Milliepede, one of those private trees is probably mine ;)
-
Where did you find those records, by the way?
Hi
On ancestry
London, England, Poor Law and Board of Guardian Records, 1738-1930
https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1557
Lionel's record is here if you have access
My links don't always work though, hope for the best
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01nbr/
You do need to see what you make of the possible faint Darenth.
There's other Pancras stuff on there
Register of Children Boarded Out, 1883-1926
which is listed under
Camden/Pancras/Register of Children/Register of Children Under the Protection of the Guardians, 1891-1910
with the Moreton children on image 40
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01nbs/
Should be quite a bit of Leavesden stuff on there, including
Register of Children at Leavesden, 1895-1923
Moretons on a few pages, starting here
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01nbt/
EDIT It's find it yourself in the main. Apart from the workhouse A+D's, not too much of it has been indexed on ancestry.
John
-
Thanks John, I didn't even know those particular records were on there! I don't have an Ancestry subscription at the moment but my library has free access so I'll take advantage of that later in the week. Thank you for taking the time to look all that up for me, I really appreciate it.
-
Hello! I know this thread was initiated a little while ago, so I hope that @sandy_W you're still active on the board! I was wondering if you had any further info on Arthur Moreton, the man who deserted Lionel, Arthur, Herbert, and their siblings?
I've been trying to trace my great-grandfather, Arthur George Moreton (b. 1872? d. 1922), and there's a faint possibility that he may have been the same man as the Luton/London Arthur Moreton.
My great-grandfather first appears in the records we know of marrying his wife (Louisa Smith Buss, b. 1887) in 1915. He was a widower. However, before that, we don't know where he came from. We can't find him on any census pre-1921 with the details we know about him. He also seems to have lied on on the 1921 census about where he was from and on his marriage certificate about his father's name (none of this info checks out with any source I can search, inc. General Records Office).
Assuming he didn't lie about his name, I've traced all the Arthur Moreton's I can with available info, and the strongest candidate that remains so far is the Arthur Moreton, son of George Owen and Mary Ann Moreton and this the man who married Rhoda.
I've traced 'your' Arthur Moreton (Rhoda's widower) to Luton in 1911, living with his sister Gertrude Wood (nee Moreton). After that, I've no idea! If you have any idea about what happened to him, I'd love to hear it!
Other things I found out:
There was an Arthur Moreton, who acted in a play called the Klondyke Nugget between 1899 and 1904, touring the UK. The 1911 census has Rhoda's Arthur Moreton as being a 'comedian' by occupation. It's possible he may be the same one, as his touring coincides with the time he deserted his family. Bit of a guess though!
George Owen Moreton, Rhoda's father in-law, was charged six times with assault for beating his wife. An article in the Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette on Tuesday 12th April 1898, reports that:
"A policeman on duty in Luton on Saturday night was accosted by two little girls, who gave him the startling information that their father was killing mother. Happily an investigation ot the matter showed that the children, in their terror, had rather exaggerated the state of affairs. The father was only venting his drunken spite upon the partner of his sorrows and his joys, and when the constable interfered, he too received a blow in the face. At the Borough Police Court on Wednesday, the offender, George Owen Moreton by name, pleaded for leniency for the sake of his wife and children. He had previously been convicted six times for assaults, and the magistrates let him off with a fine of twenty shillings, including costs, or fourteen days in default. It is a pity that such fellows should be able to ill-use their wives and children, and then put forward the victims of their brutality as an excuse for lenient treatment for themselves."
Finally, an Arthur Moreton appeared in court in 1949 at age 78, for stealing a packet of tea in Nottinghamshire. He was described as a retired hatmaker from Luton, who had taken to the road as a traveller in the 1920s. I think this is a different Arthur Moreton to the one who left Rhoda as he wasn't a hatmaker (though his family all were), and there is another, younger, Arthur Moreton who was... but again, it's all speculation! Mind you, if the tea-stealer and Rhoda's widower *were* the same person, he couldn't be my great grandfather... so close and yet so far!
-
Welcome Simon, Sandy was online 10 days ago she will be notified of your reply by email ;)
Regards
Sarah
-
Hi Simon,
I couldn't find any trace of Arthur Moreton after that 1911 Luton census, so it's very possible that he and your Great-GF are one and the same. Your Arthur had the middle name George, which was my Arthur's father's name, so I think that lends a bit of weight to the theory.
Have you taken an Ancestry DNA test? I have a DNA match with one of Arthur and Rhoda's 2xGreat Granddaughters - so whether or not you match with her would give you your answer (well, that's assuming, of course, that Arthur Moreton was the father of all of Rhoda's children - I have no reason to suspect otherwise but you can never take anything for granted in genealogy!).
-
Thanks so much for your response. By chance your Arthur Moreton's birth certificate arrived yesterday, and he certainly wasn't registered nor christened with 'George' as a middle name - so my great-grandfather could have adopted that as an affectation... or been a totally different person!
Other circumstantial evidence is that on his wedding certificate my great grandfather claimed his father was a farmer Henry Joseph Moreton. I can't find anyone by that name that fits the bill date-wise in terms of occupation or location that he claimed to be from. But I note that your Arthur did have a son called Henry J! Coincidences?!
I've never taken a DNA test for this stuff before, but that's an intriguing suggestion! I'll have a think..