Mystery of Great Grandfather Mc Laven

[carol8353]

And don't forget that good old Scottish surname McLaren.

Just incase the V was misread as an R many years ago.

I seem to recall that right back at the beginning of this post somewhere, being told that one of the sons was named Douglas- to me a VERY Scottish name.

Carol

[Tees]

Hi Carol,

Yes--you were correct that someone had said that Douglas is very Scottish name on this post.

Ragna,

I am giving you other possible spelling variants on Carol's suggested surname of McLaren.

McLaren
McLawrin
McLaurin
McClearn
Laring
McLaron

By the way, what was the age of your g grandfather on his marriage cert?

It is such shame that England was late in instituting the rule for a death certificate to contains a birth date & birthplace--surely, it would make your life a bit easier to find out where he was!

Have tried all variants on Edward McLaren marriages in the hope of tracing your Sydney through them. Could not find  him.

I think he may be from Ireland originally. I hope you did ask for all possible variants on the surname as well as his forenames--that will be extremely helpful instead of being wholly specific about his name in birth indexes.

But he named one of his children a Douglas is another issue to consider about!! It points us in other direction to Scotland or his Scottish connection via his parents. Does your g grandmother has any Scottish heritage?

Kind regards,

Tees

[Ragna]

Hello there all again 

Will go through the posts one by one.

Tees ~ I have contacted the Metropolitan London Archives today and they are checking to see if there is any information about Wandsworth Boys home. They will get back to me 
Still awaiting an answer from the Ulster site to see if he was possibly there.
His prefered name was definately SYDNEY because he is called that on the Marriage Certificate and on the Medical records they have put a (1) (2) against the names and Sydney is (1)
Yet, his death is FREDERICK GEORGE SYDNEY.
Age at marriage is 28 (both of them)

Josephine ~ I think that perhaps he is definately transcribed wrong on the 1901 census. Is it possible to check out an address 1 Acorn Place Peckham because this is where Fannys Sister at point lived (Sydneys wife) Having said that I think that perhaps at one time I have. Trouble is this has been going on for so long, you end up going round in circles.

Scotmum ~ Thank you so much. I did actually pay the £6 a while ago and checked it out but did not find anything that remotely matched. Might be worth double checking though again.

Carol ~ Yes the name Douglas definatley suggest Scotland. The sons were called Howard Sydney, Douglas, Lawrence and Frank Earnest.

Think the way forward is the Varients which I will start sifting through names tonight 

THANK YOU EVERYONE AGAIN 

Ragna

[Tees]

Tees ~ I have contacted the Metropolitan London Archives today and they are checking to see if there is any information about Wandsworth Boys home. They will get back to me 
Still awaiting an answer from the Ulster site to see if he was possibly there.
His prefered name was definately SYDNEY because he is called that on the Marriage Certificate and on the Medical records they have put a (1) (2) against the names and Sydney is (1)
Yet, his death is FREDERICK GEORGE SYDNEY.
Age at marriage is 28 (both of them)

Think the way forward is the Varients which I will start sifting through names tonight 

Hi Ragna,

Glad you already contact the Metropolitan London Archives. Hope they will give you heaps of information you are seeking!

Re: Sydney's forenames--I agree with you on all the points. Trouble is that we do not know which forenames in order his parents may had registered/baptised him under. I won't be surprised if he was under entirely different forenames! Let's hope it doesn't come to that!! It will only confuse you and us even more!

Varients on the surnames is the way to go in searching for him in the censuses.

I will keep eye on this post as it is very interesting to see how this research progresses--hopefully, a more experienced RCer like Valda and others will take on this as they did amazing jobs of smashing many brickwalls for many RCers here.

Sorry I can't be of more help at this point! Awaiting your findings from the Archives and the Ulster website with much interest!

Kind regards,

Tees

PS Why does my spell checker kept saying that my original spelling of varient was wrong and changed it to variant??

[Rian]

Hi Ragna
Have you seen this one in the 1891 census?
Does anyone know if you had to be a qualified teacher to be a school inspector?(I don't even know if the teachers had to be qualified). Is there a record of inspectors somewhere and when/where they worked? If he went down in the world and became a hotel assistant later....
Mother is a widow, but look at the grandson's name.
         
RG number:  RG12      Piece:  4021      Folio:  72      Page:  2       
Reg. District:   Middlesbrough   
Address:   Thornaby House, Thornaby Road, Thornaby

MCLAVEN, Ann Head Widow    F 64 Supported By Family Middlesex London
MCLAVEN, George   Son   Single M   24 School Attendance Officer Middlesex London
WILSON, Edward   Grandson M 13 Scholar South Stockton Yorkshire
WILSON, Annie Granddaughter F 9 Scholar South Stockton  Yorkshire

Also this one, but it does look like Mclay on the original:

RG12   Piece:82   Folio:29   Page:22     
St George Hanover Square   
St Margarets Westminster       
Address:
1, National Club, Whitehall Gardens, Westminster   
MCLAY, Fred   Servant   Single   M   26    Hall Porter b Chelsea London

Straws are being eagerly grabbed!
This is my tuppence worth for the day...
Rian.

[Tees]

Hi Rian!

Good finding!! Can you go backward to 1871 and 1881 to see if this 1891 Census info matches?

I think it is a good chance this George is Sydney.

I better wait until someone could confirm the info from 1871 and 1881 censuses!

I think Ragna would be very pleased with your findings.

Kind regards,

Tees

[Ragna]

Hi there 

That really does look like him !!! Thank you Rian, I am going to pursue this more tonight.

Wait for this one, I have been on a certain site for years and have just noticed that two of my mums cousins (McLavens) are on there...which is the missing one i was after, so I have contacted them this evening !! Keep fingers crossed they bring us more information.

Perhaps we are getting somewhere.

THANK YOU AGAIN (Gosh I seem to be doing a lot of this to you lovely people)

Ragna

[Tees]

Hi Ragna,

Here is 1881 Census info--dunno if it is any use to you:

William McLaren Head 51 Born Scotland School Warden
Ann McLaren Wife 52 Born Middlesex, London School Warden
George Alfred McLaren Son 14 Born Middlesex, London
Milk Seller

This can be found on RG11 Piece/Folio 4863/110 pg 16

Alfred can be "modified" as Frederick to suit his taste??

However, I like the Fred Mclay a bit better because he was porter according to your documents.

Will continue looking for a suitable McLaren.

Smile...

Tees

[Tees]

Hi Ragna,

I find two possible birth entries for you. Unfortunately, they do not match up with our findings!!

Here are:

Maclure Male in Mar Qtr 1866  Marylebone 1a 466

Maclaren Robert Archibald J in June Qtr 1867 Marylebone 1a 469 (This is possibly a May birth--worth a try to check the parentage out.)

I think this is one we should pay attention to:

McClaren George A in Dec Qtr 1866 Westminster 1a 368

I think you have two good candidates: one registered as Male and other in Westminster.

Good Luck,

Tees