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Thanks Osprey

No, unfortunately I don't know anything about Bertha at all.

I have found a Bertha King, aged 19, b 1882, born at Houghton, Essex  on the 1901 census RG13 2815/52/14

Maybe this is her.

I had a quick look on Fibis but couldn't find anything relevant, but will keep looking at some of the links from there.

If we assume that Frank and Bertha stayed at Aston-on-Carrant until their deaths, the district I think we probably need is Cheltenham.  I have had no joy at all with any of my Richings family on FreeBMD and have no idea when either Frank or Bertha died.

Cello

Good to see Molly is emerging thanks to Osprey. I ran the information about the Aston under Carrant connection around my Richings relatives in Gloucestershire and not surprisingly drew a complete blank.

Houhgton the village is in Cambridgeshire near Huntingdon but there is a Houghton Manor near Brentwood in Essex. I imagine it was a pretty rural area at the time so perhaps Bertha was a country lass or a domestic servant.

At first sight the mis- transcription of Houghton to Loughboro' seems a bit unlikely but if one is a bit careless with the H they both appear to start Lough and to squashed together easily looks like a b

Hi Ishtat

Thanks for your posting.  Maybe you can help me with a search I am stuck on.  Just to summarise a few bits from my research which are only relevant to two sons:

John RICHINGS & Mary COOK (m. 26-04-1838) had among the 9 children that I know of:
A first born son, John RICHINGS who married Sarah Ann BLIZARD on 31-01-1860 (then later deserted her and scived off to NZ)
and a third born son, William RICHINGS who married Marianne HOPKINS on 01-11-1866.

John and Sarah had a son John Blizard RICHINGS (B. APPROX. 1864) who (I think) married Elizabeth Mary PERRETT on 30-12-1885, and their second child was Mabel RICHINGS, born about 1889.

William and Marianne had a son Frank Edward RICHINGS (B. 30-11-1876), who was the first cousin of John Blizard RICHINGS.  Frank married Bertha KING on 22-06-1910 and one of the witnesses was John B. RICHINGS.

I am assuming that the witness John B. was Franks first cousin John Blizard RICHINGS.

As Frank and Bertha were married in 1910 with John as the witness, and John's daughter Mabel was married in 1910, maybe Frank and Bertha attended Mabels wedding.  If possible, could you please check your photos for me when you have time.

My search has stopped with Fank and Bertha's wedding.  I cannot find them on the 1911 census.
My great-grandmother was Frank's sister Charlotte and I have correspondence from both Charlotte to my grand-mother, and from Frank to their brother Charles, implying that Frank had a daughter named Molly.

I cannot find Molly anywhere (or indeed any children from the marriage of Frank and Bertha), but the letters also say that Molly married and also had at least one child. Sadly all my efforts to put the letters into some date context have failed.  It is possible Molly was Bertha's child prior to marriage to Frank.  I have looked at all Birth records on BMD from just prior to the marriage up to 1930.  After Sep 1911 the BMD records show mothers maiden name but I have found no reference to KING.  The children born between 1910 and Sep 1911 I have double-checked as may as possible - hunting them down on 1911C but with no luck.
Franks' (undated) letter to his brother Charles implies that Molly is about 16, and Frank was living in Aston-On-Carrant, Gloucestershire. I can only confirm that the letter was written AFTER 1923 and before 1948!!!

If you or your mother can help me in any way to identify Molly I would be most appreciative as Molly's child/children could still be alive today and I would dearly love to find them.

Regards
Cello
PS - It is lovely and sunny today in Oxfordshire! I'm getting homesick for Aus!

John Blizard Richings b Thornbury 29 Dec 1863 d 24 Jan 1941
He married Elizabeth Mary Perrett (b 19 May 1864) his first cousin on 30 12 1885 she died 24 Jul 1948.

Assumption about John B is correct, plenty of JR's but only one JBR.

I understand that Mabel b 8 Sep 1888 d  6 Jun 1966 married Fred Grimes on 10 Sep 1913.

The Photo is probably not helpful but I will Email you a copy anyway with a key which identifies about half those present. The photo appears to include only immediate family of the wedding party - and that was a fair number.

Molly Richings definitely existed . She ran some sort of riding establishment in Dursley in the 1950's and my wife took riding lessons with her. My wife's out at the moment but will see if she can remember more later today.

If you can pm me an Email address I will send the photos and give you a couple of good Richings contacts in UK.

Ishtat

 My wife has returned and all she remembers is that Molly Richings had a modest riding operation which she ran from the stables of the old Rangers House in Dursley . This big House was demolished in the mid to late 1950's to make room for a council estate. My wife who was perhaps 8 or 10 at the time remembers Molly as a woman perhaps in her 30's possibly 40's and she is fairly sure she was single.

I know a couple of people in the UK who will definitely know her and will ask them.

Hi ishtat

Just having a little giggle about "the coffee shop adulterer".         Well, I wonder what became of this Isabella ... perhaps we can find her too ?   (Mmmm ... now I'm getting ahead of myself).

It sounds like you have some wonderful information - and thanks, would dearly love to have details of anything you care to share.         

I have John's New Zealand Death Cert., a copy of his 1881 bankruptcy file;  the Letters of Administration record (he died intestate and seemingly penniless).   (Nothing exciting, but "records" nevertheless).    There is also a Coroner's report (1898) - fairly well covered in a newspaper article (I think there is probably a reference to it on the AUS thread)?     Archives New Zealand have this report on film, but because it was written up on blue-coloured paper, it has not photographed well and is virtually impossible to read.   (I can/must, send a request to the Chief Archivist, to ascertain whether I can view the original - though it possibly carries no more detail than the newspaper article).

And, Aunt Nora's diary ... what a delight to have a treasure such as that.     Oh yes, absolutely, it's contents should not be divulged.

So ...  looking forward to this new information  ... and who knows, by marrying some of this up with what we already have, there may even arise, some new developments ?
(Perhaps I'm being overly optimistic ?) 


Ah, RICHINGS  ... what a family !

Lu

Sorry I forgot to mention on my previous post that Isabella Underhill was christened at Thornbury Glos on 30 May 1841. The town where John Richings had opened a butchers business after his marriage to Sarah Ann.

ishtat

I found my copy of the divorce papers for John Richings/Sarah Ann Armitage formerly Richings nee Blizard this afternoon and realised I had made a mistake in calling the coffee shop adulterer Amelia Underhill . Her name was in fact Isabella.

Looking quickly through my files I believe that I probably have a fair bit of information and documents, birth, marriage certs, coroners reports etc. you may not have. Nothing earth shattering but it will fill in a few gaps. However, I am going away for a few days and will not be back in Sydney until after the weekend; I will then look through to see what might be useful.

I have lived in Sydney for 32 years but am very familiar with the WUE family as I often visited there as a child and have recently spent 2 years in UK at Berkeley and Uley, both about 7miles from WUE..

My Aunt Nora 1915 to 2000 kept a diary in which amongst other things she wrote down comments about various relatives which she had been told by such people as John Richings sister and Sarah Ann herself who didn't die until 1926. I cannot give you a copy of that because some of it is very personal but I can quote from it some of the thoughts of Sarah Ann about her first husband.