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Yes, Ann was from Headlam, so Durham. I am thinking that Charles probably was too but obviously would consider further afield. The other possibility is that he was sent to one of the schools in that area from elsewhere but stayed on to become a teacher. The pattern of births and baptisms for their numerous children suggest that they moved around but only over a relatively small area. I have a hunch that he worked at the Chapman schools. I can't find any records for these. 

My 4x Great Grandfather married in Gainford (to Ann Wade from Headlam) in 1809 and died in Barnard Castle in the cholera outbreak of 1849. There is therefore only one census record for him. This seems to indicate that he was born in County Durham around 1792. The birth date is also confirmed by his death record.
He marries as Charles Mackay and uses this name on the census and for his children's baptisms, but dies as Charles Hopkins Mackay. He was a schoolmaster.
The baptism record of his and Ann's first child (in Staindrop) says that he is a native of Quebec.

I can find no relevant records in the period 1790-1841. Can anyone help?? where and when was he born and why Hopkins?

Thank you.
Edmund's birth ties in with the death of Harriet Golding Phillips, she died 7 days aftr his birth suffering from Puerperal Fever, so post child birth complications.
In 1861 Edmund is in Battle Workhouse with his 3 older siblings.
William Catt had two further children with Harriet Turner - David and Mark. Mark is already covered in this thread. He died aged 8 months, shortly after the death of his mother Harriet Turner (also in the Workhouse).
David is on the 1861 census living with his mother's younger sister Martha in Hastings.
I am still wondering whether William left earlier than 1856 although if he wasn't on the Ann Thompson, which Mary Ann Morris was, there's was certainly a whirlwind romance, so he probably was.
I am not sure what happened to the two children we've 'found' today. The 3 eldest with Harriet Golding Phillips all appear to have travelled to NZ, I'm not sure about Edmund or David.
As you said, the inclusion of Harriet - called Fuller, but not really! - his second oldest child, in the newspaper article about William's death, suggests contact before 1900.
More work needed! I'm not familiar with NZ records. I've been their twice, once to follow the Lions in 2017 and once just before the Covid epidemic in 2020, but I'm slowly putting the pieces together.
Thanks for your help.

Thanks everyone
I think I have it now......
24/4/1852 First wife Harriet Golding Phillips dies of Puerperal Fever (6 days) in Ore. Tis suggests another birth, as yet no registration found.
28/4/1852 HGP buried in Fairlight
23/8/1852 William Catt marries Harriet Turner in Whatlington (her home village)
30/1/1855 Mark Catt born in Ore (there may be another child in this period?)
24/8/1855 Harriet Turner dies in Battle Workhouse & is buried at Ore
11/10/1855 Baby Mark dies in Workhouse and is buried
15/10/1855 in Westfield

The info that you have provided proves that this is the same George - my bad re date on Wellington marriage certificate and William's father. The NZ certificate has the groom's name where the UK one has the groom's father.

William isn't present at Mark's birth (or doesn't report it, Harriet does) and isn't present at Harriet's death so maybe he did leave England early enough to be in Wellington for that electoral roll entry?
This was my source for passengers on the Ann Wilson.
Thanks again

I have a Harriett Catt, born in Sussex in 1848, in my tree. The daughter of William Catt and Harriet Golding (or Golden) Phillips. The mother, Harriet Golding/Golden Phillips died in Sussex in 1852 and in the 1861 census her 3 children with William Catt are in Battle Workhouse.

There is much info available about a William Henry Catt, born in England in 1825, who travelled to NZ in 1856/7 and married (as a bachelor) a Mary Ann Morris in Wellington.

I am looking for definitive proof that the William Henry Catt who married in NZ is the William Catt (never any evidence of any Henry) who was born in Sussex.

William Catt's daughter Harriet did emigrate to NZ in 1908 but to a different part. Knowing NZ, I am sceptical about this geography & also about why an abandoned child (if it is the same William Catt) would a) follow her father years later and b) then move to a different part of the country.

I am looking for evidence in either New Zealnd on England. TIA