Hi, I just found this thread through Google and so have joined RootsChat
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I think there is little doubt that Edward Bishop Whitbread is the same person as Edward Whitebread Holtaway. Everything points in that direction. The Edward Whitbread b. Islington in 1857 is accounted for in another family.
"Bishop" is presumably the name of the reputed father although just possibly a family name from her mother's side (Eleanor Fogg). The 1861 census entry for Ellen Whitbread must refer to Eleanor (there is no other Ellen Whitbread who could account for her). Being in service, she was probably not allowed to keep her child with her, which is why we find Edward with his grandparents. She probably used the name Ellen at that time, rather than Eleanor, hence that name is on Edward's birth certificate, and her employers gave that name for the census. Eleanor possibly met William Holtaway only during the 1860s. Maybe she was his housekeeper and became his common law wife, without actually marrying him.
George Whitebread is probably not Eleanor's child, but one of her sister's (or possibly a brother). The birth certificate will obviously clarify that question.
You might like to join the Whitebread and Whitbread One Name Study Group on GenealogWise, where you will find this family in my Essex family tree #6 (ESS_06). Details are given there back to the late 17th century and it almost certainly links to another tree stretching back to the mid 15th century
http://www.genealogywise.com/group/whitebread_whitbread_ONSSteven W
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