Just going back to that 1883 marriage showing father as Thomas Street Lawrence -- maybe we can trace that Matilda a little that way.
"The 1883 marriage cert shows her father as Thomas Street Lawrence occ caulker and there is a baptism for a Matilda Julia Lawrence on 29.1.1858 at St Pauls Deptford - parents Thomas Edmund Lawrence - ship caulker and Susan Jane"
Thomas Street Lawrence aged 57 (c1814), death reg in Greenwich reg dist in June Q 1871.
A Thomas Street Lawrence birth was reg in Greenwich reg dist in Sep Q 1872 (too late to be his child), and he married in Stepney reg dist in June Q 1898. FS shows baptism Sep 1872, parents John Willm Lawrence and Isabel.
Interestingly, Thomas Street Lawrence the elder had a daughter named Julia Jane Lawrence baptised 1835 in Deptford, mother Matilda Elizabeth.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NLR5-5QMCould Matilda baptised in 1858 actually have been a daughter of that unmarried Julia Jane? It is not at all unheard of for children of unmarried parents to name their maternal grandfather as their father when they married, to avoid acknowledging their status, or to recognize their grandfather's role in their upbringing. Could the younger Thomas Street Lawrence also have been a child of hers? In 1911 he is in Limehouse.
The names certainly seem to fit, to some extent: Julia and Jane, and an older generation Matilda. Again, it was very common for unmarried women to name their daughter for their mother.
Thomas Street Lawrence and wife Matilda Elizabeth also had children James, Edmund Peter, Henry, William Henry, Thomas Edmund (1831), Matilda Mary Ann (1833), Matilda Elizabeth (1851). So it looks like maybe Thomas Street L was named as father on the marriage certificate, and his son Thomas Edmund L was named as father on the baptism. But who is Susan Jane on the baptism ...
Julia Jane Lawrence 1835 may have married in Lewisham in 1860, to Henry Goodchild or Henry John Saltwell. Per the 1861, Henry Goodchild married Eliza Jane (Seedman), so it was Saltwell. Here they are in 1861 as Sattwell, per Anc'y, in Deptford. No children with them.
Thomas E Lawrence, a shipwright, is in the 1861 census in Deptford with wife Susan J and daughter Susan J, aged 3. That has to be the Matilda baptised in 1858. But aargh, the only related looking birth is Susan Jane Harris Lawrence in Greenwich reg dist in 1854 ... and I looked at that one a little yesterday ... Son Harry in the 1861 was registered as Harry Lawrence in 1860 in Greenwich. FS shows the couple also baptising Mary Jane in 1856 and Thomas in 1865. Edit - and also Susan Jane Harris Lawrence born 12 July 1854, baptised 24 December 1854, daughter of Thomas Edward and Susan Jane -- and death reg Mar Q 1856.
I think the thing may be that Thomas Edmund and Susan Jane were not actually married. In 1871, Susan is shown as born in Brixham, Devon. And sure enough, there in 1851 is Susan Jane Harris (Harris being a name given to the first child in 1854), c1832, in Deptford, born in Brixham -- father a shipwright. I don't see a previous marriage for either Thomas or Jane, though. (Also don't see Matilda's birth reg as Harris, just in case.)
In 1871, the same child of Thomas (a wood caulker) and Susan Lawrence, aged 12, is called ... anybody's guess. Anc'y has it as Amma. It may be Susan.
In any case, that really has to be the Matilda baptised in 1858.
Yes indeed. In 1881, the family is visiting a Mr. Humphries in Deptford -- and the daughter is now Matilda, aged 23, occupation general servant.
So that, if you will excuse my wandering a little, is the backstory for Matilda who married Fred!
Baptised in 1858, daughter of Thomas Edmund Lawrence and Susan Jane Unknown (oops, now known to be Harris), called Susan in her first two censuses 1861 and 1871, and a general servant under the name Matilda Lawrence in 1881.
The Julia/Jane confusion would fit with this person, since she was baptised Matilda Julia, but seems to be been a "Jr." of her mother for the first part of her life, her mother being Susan Jane -- and she also had an aunt named Julia Jane.
Per the baptism record, she was born 10 Jan 1858. Could her birth be one of, in Mar Q 1858 in Greenwich reg dist, Blanche Julia Lawrence or Susannah Lawrence? ... But Blanche Julia died in Jun Q 1859. Susannah could be the Susan who died in Sep Q 1859; I don't see her otherwise in 1861.
