RootsChat.Com

I have the banns with Louis Hamilton/Gurd and I read a few articles about the murder, but didn't come across one that said she was raised by her grandparents - so thanks for that piece of the puzzle!

So the story seems to be that Florence was the daughter of Jane/Kate Richards & William Adams, born in London. William died when she was an infant and she was subsequently raised by her grandparents in Melksham, after her mother remarried John McAuley and moved to Kent. Her estranged fiancé then killed her uncle (mother's younger brother) and she then moved to Portsmouth and met/married George Staniforth.

(On a side note: her marriage certificate to George lists William as her father, which I never doubted, I just wasn't sure that he and Jane/Kate were actually ever married - but census 1871 corrects that assumption).

THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!

Just to say it would have helped to have the McCauley information even if you were doubtful.
It would have saved a lot of searching.
If you purchase the marriage certificate, you will have the right parent hopefully.

Sorry, I didn't mean to waste your time. The information just seemed completely irrelevant when I made my original post and I didn't anticipate everyone going above and beyond to help me with this.

And great spot with Uncle Henry. I completely missed that.

Quote from: avm228 on Monday 29 April 19 19:51 BST (UK)

I thought the Jane=Kate theory had been based on the fact that Jane had been found in London in 1871 and until this thread Kate had not, so it was thought/hoped they might be one and the same?

On the other hand, a Jane Adams marries John McAuley, Dec qtr 1873 Medway, and turns up in subsequent Kent censuses with him showing a birthplace of Melksham c1847-9, and a clutch of children with mmn Richards.

E.g. Mary Alice McCauley, mmn Richards, Sep qtr 1874 Medway.

So I take it all back . Looks entirely possible that Kate was really the daugher Jane belonging to that Melksham family, and Florence was their granddaughter rather than their niece.

No doubt the 1873 marriage certificate would be illuminating as to who her father was.

Mega sleuth! I was holding some info back because I didn't want to overcomplicate things, but I'll lay all my cards on the table as you're catching up to me.

I've spoken to another descendent of Jane/Kate, and she believes after William died Jane remarried the McCauley chap and moved to Kent (apparently she's listed as a widow on the marriage cert), and Florence was sent to Melksham. I didn't buy it, because I couldn't find evidence that Kate & William were ever together; but as you've all debunked that, the other descendent could be right.

With regards to the Janes: there is a Thomas Richards (older brother of Henry) who also has a daughter called Jane, born within a couple of years of Henry's Jane. At the moment, I believe Thomas is Florence's grandad... but I'm ready to be proved wrong again!

Just to complicate things even more, though, I recently discovered there were TWO Richards families in Melksham, and both had sons called Henry... so I think I need to go through all those parish records with a fine tooth comb to confirm that Thomas is the brother of the Henry that was Florence's uncle.

(And for anyone who's interested, I've pieced together Florence's life from 1881 onwards: 1881, living with the Richards in Melksham; 1891, working at Wiltshire Lunatic Asylum; 1892, gets engaged to another colleague at the Lunatic asylum, but then calls it off on her Uncle Henry's advice, so the jilted lover goes and murders her uncle in revenge(!); moves to Portsmouth and works as a barmaid; meets George Staniforth who is in the Royal Marines and they marry; 1899, family moves to Hull.)

I really appreciate all the help you're all offering me!

She is in the 1939.  Birth date is one week earlier than the baptism stated, so someone goofed up on the baptism or whoever supplied her birth date for the '39.
Her daughter (?) is listed as the 9th, maybe they mixed them up and she should be the 2nd.

Also - 2nd June is the date on her birth cert. And her birth was registered 3 weeks before she was baptised, so think the baptism record is wrong.

Quote

Except this Richards family don't have a daughter called 'Kate', nor sister nor niece (Florence is listed as the niece of the head of the family).

'
They do actually but she is only 13 in the 1881 census.

Henry Richards    59
Ester Richards    57
Ellen Richards    22
Henry Richards    17
Kate Richards    13
Florence Adams 10 niece.

I wonder if an older sister may have 'borrowed' the younger sister's name?

There was a theory that another descendent had that 'Kate' was actually Jane - and there are two Janes in the Richards family of Melksham that were cousins and born a couple of years apart, so would make sense if one of them had a nickname so as to avoid confusion. So I'm starting to think that the Jane living in Chelsea in the 1871 census that I originally thought was Florence's mum was actually her mum's cousin.