The Diary of Nathaniel Bryceson (Part 5)

[Siamese Girl]

Well - I just think it shows that for many life really was a lot more innocent in previous times 

What I still find odd about Nat are all these people he knows - where did he meet them all and why does he know their names? Did he meet them when he was working for Mr Nodes? Just how friendly would you get with your customers as an undertaker? Nearly every time he goes out he meets someone whose name he knows but - put me right if I'm wrong here- whenever he goes out its either with Ann or one of the family. He is Nathaniel No Friends.  It's really weird.

Carole

[Ruskie]

Hello Carole.

Yes he does know a lot of people. He sometimes reveals how he knows them (I think he mentioned a school friend and a couple he obviously knows through working at Leas) - I suppose he mixed in small circles even though he lived in the big city. And it is strange that he doesn't seem to hang around with any male friends of his own age. He's a funny lad.

St Margarets:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Margaret's,_Westminster
(no wonder Nat was amused)

[nestagj]

I know it was a big city but do you think it was made up of smaller communities - yes they did move homes around but it did seem to be a around a smallish area so it would be possibly be similar  to the smallish town / large village I live in where everyone knows everyone else or someone who does know them !

Just spent an hour walking round our local cemetery (LLoyd George's grand son - the 3rd Earl Dwyfor had just been buried in their  family crypt on friday and as a friend had done the floral tributes we  thought we'd pop up and have a look - yes I know just like our Nat ! ) and amazed my husband as I walked around by telling him who the the people who were buried were or who's parents or husband's and wives were buried there !  Mind you Lloyd George was just an excuse - I love it up there its so peaceful !  Sorry I digress !

Nesta

[MaryA]

Mar 1847
Matthew Ward
St Pancras
vol 1
page 287

There is one burial on Ancestry for a Matthew Ward 23 Jan 1847 - he was living Marylebone age 75.  Is this the same Matthew Ward as the one from FreeBMD above? If so, I don't think he's our Matthew Ward. Age is way wrong too .....  Would a death in Marylebone be registered in St Pancras?

Unfortunately there is no way of having sight of a death certificate without purchasing it, only the burial, however with a burial date of 23rd January, 1847 I believe he must have died within a few days before.  The entry that you have found on FreeBMD is the only Matthew Ward for that quarter so it is the same one.

[Ruskie]

Mar 1847
Matthew Ward
St Pancras
vol 1
page 287

There is one burial on Ancestry for a Matthew Ward 23 Jan 1847 - he was living Marylebone age 75.  Is this the same Matthew Ward as the one from FreeBMD above? If so, I don't think he's our Matthew Ward. Age is way wrong too .....  Would a death in Marylebone be registered in St Pancras?

Unfortunately there is no way of having sight of a death certificate without purchasing it, only the burial, however with a burial date of 23rd January, 1847 I believe he must have died within a few days before.  The entry that you have found on FreeBMD is the only Matthew Ward for that quarter so it is the same one.

Just as I suspected ... maybe Mongibello might be kind enough to check elsewhere for Matthew Ward's death? 

[MaryA]

Deaths with a search of 1846 to 1851 in the London area are

Q1 1846 St George Hanover Square
Q4 1846 Bethnal Green
Q1 1847 Pancras
Q2 1848 Chelsea
Q3 1849 Stepney
Q1 1849 Wandsworth (Matthew Thomas Ward)
Q1 1851 Strand
Q1 1851 West London

The 1847 Pancras would seem likely and fitting in with location for Mary also but would mean he died first .... but we've already proved it wrong???

[Ruskie]

Deaths with a search of 1846 to 1851 in the London area are

Q1 1846 St George Hanover Square
Q4 1846 Bethnal Green
Q1 1847 Pancras
Q2 1848 Chelsea
Q3 1849 Stepney
Q1 1849 Wandsworth (Matthew Thomas Ward)
Q1 1851 Strand
Q1 1851 West London

The 1847 Pancras would seem likely and fitting in with Mary also.

Yes, but I wonder if FreeBMD records are like the Ancestry London PR's which are not complete and are only (mainly?) records held at the LMA. Westminster holds other records not available on Ancestry. 

[steve_gus]

Can't get past his mentioning her new straw bonnet at that point though...

Hairs on her coat?


or did I get that wrong?

[MaryA]

There is no guarantee that the indexes are 100% accurate, and transcriptions only add to the inaccuracies, this has been proven over the years and even books written about it, but overall it's the best that is available.  The only quarter during that time that hasn't been fully transcribed appears to have been Q3 1845, so we can't blame FreeBMD.