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Merry Christmas to all, have enjoyed this post.

SS

added, Am I right in thinking we still have to discover who Louisa is and son Alfred?

A merry christmas to you as well, and thank you for that image. So, a possible sister in the Bensham area. Makes we wonder even more why Violet was registered and not younger Florence the year before.

Yes, everyone is still donning their deerstalker hats for the Renwicks. I came up with that death at sea for an Andrew Renwick in 1883, but we can't definitively tie it in yet. Louisa's maiden name or indeed when and where they were married is still a mystery.

There many references to the arrivals and departures of the 'Elizabeth and Ann' under Captain Renwick in the newspapers until about 1883 when they cease as far as I can see.

There's a record on Ancestry for the death at sea of an Andrew Renwick in 1883. Steamer vessel Said, owned by Adophus P. Harrison. Entry says "Sailed from the Tyne coal-laden for London + not since heard of". It's dated 11 Dec 1883 and Andrew is one of 18 presumed deaths, age 50. However he's not the captain of the ship, only a "2nd Engr". The ship's master is William T. Chicken.

Which site are you using for newspaper searches? I'm using FindMyPast, but am not getting any results like that.

Not something I usually do....but I was so consumed with curiosity about this one that I got the pdf of Louisa Renwick's death cert.

This revealed that she was the widow of Andrew Renwick 'a ship captain'.

That would seem to preclude the Andrew Philip Renwick that was found being her husband, as he was a railway stationmaster. Pity, as the middle name seemed to fit the scenario that was building.

It's a little odd that none of the things she says about herself can be backed up with documentation.

One other item of interest: the school admission register for Louisa's son Alfred, who was with her in 1891 shows that he was admitted to the school on 13th November 1890 and that his date of birth was 23rd September 1882 (the 1891 census states his birthplace as London St Luke). Residence was the same as in the 1891 census, 16 Snowball Terrace, Gateshead.

St Luke's was in the Holborn district. There's 62 matches for Alfreds in that district in the third and fourth quarters of 1882. That's assuming she kept the same first name.

Just adding that the death took place at Beresford Road which was in Byker, 1892 Florence's supposed place of birth.

Yes, that clicked with me when I looked the address up. Beresford Road was next to St Michael's church, one of those streets long since demolished for newer housing. Since there was so much success from looking up the occupants of Elm Street, should we do the same for Beresford Road?

Wow, you've all been busy.

Have you tried "J"
Her children
William John 1913, Henry 1917 and Albert 1922 mother's maiden name Jerrell

Lilian 1914, Thomas 1919 mother's maiden name Gerrell

Yes, sorry, I checked the J spelling. I should've specifically mentioned that. I said in general I'd gone through a lot of different spellings, that was one of them.

As to everything else, I took a quick look myself and can't find any obvious GRO matches for Louisa Renwick's children. Neither can I find a marriage for her and Andrew Renwick. There's nothing that obviously links Louisa beyond living at the same address in different years, except possibly that her daughter Florence is roughly the same age... hmm.

There is a nurse child in 1901.
Could Florence have been a nurse child that Louisa decided to adopt? Perhaps Philip as well.

Interesting. Going back to that Florence Gerrel who died in 1894 for a minute, if she was the younger Florence's mother, younger Florence would've been 2-ish... it's a theory. You think Louisa adopted orphaned children when she could? It would mean younger Florence probably just made up a father's name so everything looked 'right'. Although as I said, I didn't find any likely census entries for older Florence in 1891, so it still looks like something of a dead end at present. But maybe it could lead to something.

Some interesting stuff to tell my friend for sure. I'll look forward to seeing what else you find out. It's more progress than I've made on this for months at any rate. Thanks everyone.