St. Wilfrid's RC, Hulme

[Wilbur]

Hi

Does anyone have easy access to the baptism registers of St. Wilfrid's RC, Hulme, Manchester?

I am looking for details of the baptism of a Mary Jane BURNETT, daughter of Thomas & Elizabeth BURNETT, who married at St. Wilfrid's on 15 Jun 1851.  Mary Jane's birth was registered at Chorlton during the June quarter 1852.

Thanks in anticipation

Wilbur

[Luzzu]

Hi Wilbur,

I can only see one Mary Jane Burnett baptised at St Wilfrid's but she was the daughter of Bernard Burnett and Eliza (maiden name not given).  The baptism was on 18 April 1852 (date of birth 27 March 1852).

The marriage on 15 June 1851 has been transcribed as Barnett not Burnett  and Elizabeth's maiden name is given as Kain. However on the FreeBMD it is indexed as Burnett.

Can't see any baptisms at St Wilfrids for children this couple under either Burnett or Barnett.

Luzzu

[alpinecottage]

You can check Manchester Catholic baptisms, marriages and burials on www.mlfhs.org.uk and click on  online data on the toolbar at the top.  Then select public data.  You will find everything Luzzu has given apart from the actual dates but you may find it useful for other relatives too.  It also has a free summary of the recovered data from the Manchester 1851 census which was badly damaged by floodwater and which is not on Ancestry, FindMyPast etc.

EDIT you will find the census at www.1851-unfilmed.org.uk  Apparently it is on Ancestry now but the index is free on this site

[Wilbur]

Many thanks Luzzu and alpinecottage

I have a copy of the original marriage certificate for this couple and the names are quite clearly Thomas BURNETT and Elizabeth CAIN (though Elizabeth's name was first written Kay and crossed out).  Thomas and Elizabeth emigrated to Australia in 1853 and I know that when they arrived they had with them an infant daughter named Mary Jane who had been born in England.  Saddly, having survived the long voyage, Mary Jane died at the quarantine station.  I must admit that I had assumed [always dangerous!!] that the Mary Jane BURNETT whose birth was registered at Chorlton in the June quarter 1852 was the daughter of Thomas & Elizabeth.  Seems like I'll have to look elsewhere for her.

Thanks for the links - I'll have a look now.

Wilbur

[alpinecottage]

Wilbur, do not let the name Bernard and Cain/Kain discrepancies put you off thinking this is your family. Thomas's confirmation name may have been Bernard (confirmation is a Catholic service whereby a person becomes a full member of the Catholic church when they are old enough to make their own decision about their faith and they choose a confirmation name - I don't know why because this new name is never usually used), or whoever recorded the marriage  may have made a mistake when filling out the register.  If Thomas or Elizabeth couldn't read or weren't confident about challenging the authority of the registrar, they may have just accepted whatever was written down.  The dates and phonetics fit together very nicely and the fact that this couple had no other children baptised at St Wilfrid's supports the idea that they had emigrated soon after.

A double check would be to see if you can find a Bernard and Eliza/Elizabeth Ba(u)rnett still living in Manchester in 1861 with a 9yr old Mary Jane or their deaths before that date if not.  As a last resort, you could buy that Mary Jane's birth cert......

[Wilbur]

Hi alpinecottage

Being a 'left footer' myself I am fully aware of confirmation names but I've never come across one being used instead of the first Christian name.  My Thomas Burnett was reasonably well educated and he signed his marriage certificate, so it's unlikely that he would not pick up an error in his daughter's baptism record.  It is of course possible that the record was entered into the register after the event and the parish priest made a pigs ear of it!  As you say, a copy of the birth certificate might throw some light on it.

It's also possible that Thomas and Elizabeth moved to Liverpool after their marriage (that's where they sailed from for Australia).  I haven't found a likely birth registration yet - but I'll keep looking.

Wilbur