Hi Ian,
Here's the death notice:
Stephenson - At 44, Percy Street, Tynemouth, on the 13th inst., aged 70 years, Jane Stephenson (Gordon). Interment at Preston Cemetery on Wednesday at 2.30. [Shields Daily News - Tuesday 15 August 1916]
... and the burial referred to:
[Entry #] 615 - Jane Gordon Stephenson - Female - [Age] 70 yrs - Widow - [Where death occurred] 44 Percy St Tynemouth - [Date of burial] 16 Aug 1916 - [Ceremony performed by] P. Harrington Hart - Consecrated - [Grave#] 12108 - [From what township or parish] Tynemouth - [Registrar] Thos. Simpson [Burial register of Preston Cemetery, vol. 19 (22 Jan 1916 - 4 Dec 1918), folio 62]
Thanks for following up on the suggestion re Wm. Stephenson and Mary Layton. I' m not sure what odds we have on it bearing fruit but worth a try... Sorry I haven't got back to you yet on your email but I will do so shortly.
I fully agree with your comments regarding the use of both Stephenson and Gordon as surnames. We'll never know for sure. I think I based my suggestion on the fact that I have other ancestors who always went publically by their father's surname but who, because their parents were unmarried, registered GRO events using their mother's surname. But other Stephenson siblings didn't do this so maybe it was, as you suggest, more likely to be an attempt to stay under the radar.
I thought that I had already posted these two interesting obits but, based on your comments, perhaps I hadn't:
A harpist and singer, named Leonard Stephenson, but whose professional name was Samuel Gordon, and who was well known in many parts of the country, but particularly at Ipswich, as a frequenter of the river boats plying to and from Harwich, has died suddenly at Lynn. The Borough Coroner held an inquest on Tuesday evening, when Dr. Chadwick stated that he had made a post mortem examination and found that death was due to the rupture of an aneurism. Chief Constable Payne stated that among Gordon's effects he found a card written to Gordon from Ipswich, and giving the address of his sister (Mrs. Lyall) at South Shields. The police of that place, however, had failed to find her. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence. [Diss Express - Friday 14 February 1902, p5 col6]
Travelling harpist's death at Lynn ... Mr. E. M. Belcoe, Borough Coroner, held an inquest at the Town Hall, Lynn, on Tuesday evening, when Dr. G. R. Chadwick stated that he had made a post-mortem examination, and found that death was due to the rupture of an aneurism. William Benstead, landlord of the Empress Public-house, Queen Street, said Gordon had lodged with him for five weeks. On Saturday night, he went to bed at 10.30, apparently in his usual health. At 12.40 on Monday, as he was not down, witness called him, and received no answer, so entered his room, and found him dead, with blood on the carpet and elsewhere... A pedlar's certificate granted at Wisbech in 1901, showed Gordon's age at that time to be 61. Witness had known him for nine and ten years as a musician who travelled all over the country... [Eastern Daily Press (Norwich) - Thursday 13 February 1901, p6 col5]
And here is the burial record:
Leonard Stephenson alias Samuel Gordon - Queen Str. - Feb: 13 - 62 years - Gerald L. Morrell [PR, King's Lynn St. Margaret, 13 Feb 1902]
That reference to "Mrs Lyall" in the obit is especially useful as it proves that his sister is Indiana Lyall.
I'll get back to you on the Henry Layton Stephenson link in my email.
Jon
