Ancestor possibly using an assumed name?

[Jackiemh]

My ancestor Henry Plume and his wife Frances (nee Lyons) both changed their first names for the 1911 Census to Charles John and Susan Jane. Their addresses changed with each census.
I managed to trace them through Henry's occupation (consistent with 1891, 1901 and 1911 census) and their son Lewis Samuel Plume who used both sets of names during his life.
I have no idea why they did this - I just wonder if they were in debt.
Jackie

[sparrett]

A couple of observations here.

1911 census
GLEN states married 7 years
The marriage of Sophia to Henry HUMPHREY was 1901= 9/10 years prior to census.
If GLEN, (who states born 1886/7) were the father of Lewis, the child of the union  referred to in the census as deceased, he would have been 14 or 15 at the child's conception.

I see a 1910 record on Ancestry which mentions seaman James GLEN born 1887.It  has his signature.  I do not know if it is the same man as in your case, but the signature does not match the one at the foot of the 1911 page IMO.

Sue

[paganmogwai]

A couple of observations here.

1911 census
GLEN states married 7 years
The marriage of Sophia to Henry HUMPHREY was 1901= 9/10 years prior to census.
If GLEN, (who states born 1886/7) were the father of Lewis, the child of the union  referred to in the census as deceased, he would have been 14 or 15 at the child's conception.

I see a 1910 record on Ancestry which mentions seaman James GLEN born 1887.It  has his signature.  I do not know if it is the same man as in your case, but the signature does not match the one at the foot of the 1911 page IMO.

Sue

Hi Sue,

Yes I agree about the signature.  I have that naval record from Ancestry and in it James GLEN gives his DOB as June 1887 and his parents as James and Sarah and says he was b in Newcastle upon Tyne.  I've not as yet found any records to confirm that.  I am suspicious that Henry James altered his details if he decided to assume the name James Glen.  Looking at his naval file there I don't think he was actually in Liverpool the night the 1911 census was taken which makes me wonder of Sophia filled it in.  So many questions and sadly all contact with the branch of Dad's family ceased in 1945 so there's no one I can even ask.  Thanks.

[paganmogwai]

My ancestor Henry Plume and his wife Frances (nee Lyons) both changed their first names for the 1911 Census to Charles John and Susan Jane. Their addresses changed with each census.
I managed to trace them through Henry's occupation (consistent with 1891, 1901 and 1911 census) and their son Lewis Samuel Plume who used both sets of names during his life.
I have no idea why they did this - I just wonder if they were in debt.
Jackie

Hi Jackie - Debt!! I hadn't thought about that possibility.  The drama queen in me was thinking of something more sinister tbh.... Thanks for that.

[paganmogwai]

I found a mother and child who "vanished" when the son was very young. Fortunately I had the son's two Christian names, and the mother's first name, and both came from the same small place in Wales. After a LOT of searching, and with wonderful help from a now departed researcher, we found the pair with a new male, under the very original name of "Smith" in another part of the country. We couldn't find Mr Smith before then, either.
Long story cut short, they seem to have gone off with him, he left his wife and family, and they stayed together until his death. The together had another child, and after "Mr Smith" died,  when he reverted to his original surname, which his younger son adopted..... and his "wife"s older child, the actual relative I was seeking, resumed  an alternation between his mother's original surname, and the surname of her original partner, almost for the rest of his life. (We've never been able to find an actual marriage between his Mum  and that partner ).
It happens!
It's marvellous what you manage to find them and prove it, though.
Took us years, but it shows - never give up!

There's hope for me yet so!  Thanks.

[paganmogwai]

Hi
As you say,concealment is often the motivation for a name change but there are other possibilities too.
How about that Henry, aged bout 30 and married to Sophia, discovered a truth about his own birth and parents.

That the surname GLENN was indeed more truly his name.

How much research have you made into his parents and his early life?


Sue

Hi Sue, I have his birth cert and I know what happened to his parents - a very tragic story, his father was killed in an explosion at a powder mill in Tonbridge in 1885, his mother relocated by 1891 to near Hounslow (it seems her mother may have come from there) later remarried and had more children with her second husband.  I've tracked them through the 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses and have relevant birth marriage and death entries for all, plus some of them are on the 1939 Register.  But of Henry James, no trace at all.  Thanks.

[sparrett]

Hi
In reply#7 Debra has asked a couple of questions.
Can you help?
Sue

[Dundee]

Did Henry sign his full name on the marriage cert and if so have you compared the 'James' with John's signature on the 1911 census?  He uses a distinctive 'J'.

You should also be able to tell from the signature on the marriage cert if Sophia filled out the 1911 census.

There is a child missing.

Debra 

[paganmogwai]

Four children born to Sophia in 1901, 1904, 1906, 1909, then nothing until three children also born to Sophia in 1920, 1922 and 1926.  Is that correct?

What was Henry HUMPHREY's occupation when he married?

Did Henry sign his full name on the marriage cert and if so have you compared the 'James' with John's signature on the 1911 census?  He uses a distinctive 'J'.

Debra 

Hi Debra, I made a typo on my earlier post, the first child was born in 1902, but yes those are the birth dates of the children.  From James GLEN's naval record, he seems to have been at sea most of the war which would explain the gap in the children's birth years.  As for the marriage cert, I paid for a certified copy from the GRO but its all completed in the same hand, so I've no idea.  He signed it H.J. Humphrey but its not his handwriting. Is it possible to get a copy of the actual cert do you know?   Thanks.