Hi Errol (and Carolyn and Graeme),
Nice to hear from you. The trail on Charles Smith has run a bit cold for me lately. Yes, I too have wondered how a young man listed as a 'Plumber' (going by the 1881 census) could turn out to be such a talented musician. Maybe in Brighton it was just his 'day-job'?! I recently returned from a trip to the UK where I went to all the places where my ancestors came from including Charles. I went to Send & Ripley (in Surrey) where Charles's father George Smith came from and to Brighton where Mary Ann Jefferies was born and where the family later lived (where Charles was born and grew up). It was very interesting. (I also went to Swannage in Dorset where the Jefferies' come from.) I went to the Archives center at Woking, but could not get any breakthroughs regarding the family (particularly George's father who I'm sure is Thomas Smith, but could also be James Smith as I have conflicting information).
Errol, I think we can contact each other via the Personal-Messaging system on this site? Bye for now .... Scott (son of Kingsley Smith who is the son of David Smith).