Clark - Lymington birth 1858 request

[Nobby Clark]

Can somebody assist with look-up of Lymington birth in 1858 for Katherine Elsie CLARK.

1881 census indicates aged 23 in 1881 and born Lymington.
It is not in FreeBMD (yet) and have looked between 1856 and 1859, as well as other possible areas. Also checked GRO register.

Father was William Robinson CLARK and mother Eliz(s)abeth Jane CLARK nee Higgins.

[CaroleW]

Hi

If you have checked the FULL BMD index and not found her birth, it was probably not registered.

Despite the legal requirement, many births went unregistered in those days

[Nobby Clark]

Carol W,
I note your comment, many thanks, and it may be possible.

However I should have said that her father was Reverend Professor William Robinson Clark, (a name web search will find him), who would usually have baptised his children as well as registering them.

I wonder if a mis-transcription, damaged register or lost register could be the cause. Anyone close enough to enquire about the original records maybe can assist.

[Little Nell]

Hi Nobby,

There are huge holes in the apparently "complete" BMD indexes.  Someone wrote a book about it (A Comedy of Errors by Michael Whitfield Foster - admittedly focussing on the marriage registeres but I'm sure many of his comments would hold true for both birth and death registers).

With a reverend for a father, I feel sure her birth would not have gone unrecorded.  Your best option may be to contact the local registrar's office  (this would appear to be the New Forest office, Public Offices, 65 Christchurch Road, Ringwood, BH24 1DH.
Tel: 01425 470150. Fax: 01425 489685)  and ask for a search for a certificate, giving her father's name and likely time frame.  However, that is more expensive than just ordering the basic certificate.

Otherwise, a baptism record might be an option, and for that you need some kind soul going to the records office in Winchester.  Do you know which church her father served?

Mmmm, just looked at his biography in the Clergy List and he was a curate at St Matthias in Birmingham 1857-58 and then was at St Mary Magadelen Taunton 1858 onwards.  Neither near Hampshire! How wide did you spread the net?  Might she have been born in Leamington for example?  Enumerator's error?

Just some thoughts.

Nell

[Nobby Clark]

Neil,
Many thanks for your comments and the contact info.

WR Clark was living in High Street, Lymington, Hampshire at the time of his marriage in 1855 at Salisbury. At that time he was an independent minister at the Independent Chapel in Lymington. He was not ordained until 1857 after which he moved to St Matthias, Birmingham about 1857 before moving on to Taunton about 1860.

His wife Elizabeth Jane Higgins was a scholar in Lymington in 1851 census (her family were in Salisbury where her father, Charles Higgins, was an inn-keeper/brewer. He was 36 and she was 20. I have the certificate.

The 1871 and 1881 census both refer to Lymington, Hants, although the 1891 census in London (she was the wife in the Petre family by then) says Birmingham!  As a long-shot I checked FreeBMD in Birmingham and Aston (St Matthias is in Aston parish) to no avail.

My original FRC index search was based upon the name rather than the location.
I think following up your suggested contacts will be my salvation.

[Nobby Clark]

P.S. You referred to his biography in the Clergy List.
What is this and where do I find it?

[Little Nell]

The Clergy List is a directory a bit like Crockford's.  It was published annually - I happen to have access to one from later in the century.  The information it contains is just the basic facts of his career.  A large reference library may have copies that you could consult.

Nell