'Wanted Person' Isabella Boyens

[Trevellian]

1841 Census  St. Anne, Limehouse

Robert Potts  30 Shipwright   Transcribed on ancestry a Petta
Margaret  20
Isabella 1

ADDED
GRO Index
Robert Potts reg. Stepney 1844 mother's maiden name Livingstone
------------------
Robert Potts married Margaret Louanstone 1839 reg. Stepney

Thank you for finding all this! I think we can be quite sure this is the right Isabella (as the mother of the 'wanted' Isabella in question) which makes her born c. 1840, the daughter of Robert Potts and Margaret Livingstone, where Robert must have passed (and Margaret remarried) before the 1851 census. On this note, a Margaret Potts marries a Thomas Floyd Q'2 1848 in nearby Poplar, which must be the couple we find on the 1851 census. You were certainly right that it was significant the two Potts children were called Robert and Isabella. I can't seem to be able to find a death entry for this Isabella b. about 1840, but it's her daughter who's the key focus anyway.

[Trevellian]

That wording is typical when solicitors are trying to trace a lost beneficiary to a will or other financial  benefit

That's really useful to know, thank you; I was hoping someone would be able to confirm or deny.

Robert Potts died 22 Feb 1894 in Bethnal Green workhouse. Address on the probate register was 24 Oakley St, Brick Lane. Administration of his estate was given to  Henry Boyens, engineer, in July 1895

Death registration gives his age as 45

That's definitely the right Robert Potts what with the Boyens connection, even though the age given would make him born about 1849, not 1844 or so as the 1851 Floyd census and 1844 Stepney birth entry would suggest 

[Trevellian]

There's a Henry Boyens b c1861 who is in the Mile End area in 1881, and is an engine fitter. Looks like he may also be the child of Henry and Isabella

Thank you I have got him too, I have found his birth entry as Q'3 1860, Whitechapel, MMN Potts, and likely corresponding death entry 1904, Edmonton, age 42 (only two years out).

[Trevellian]

It would appear that Robert Potts of 24 Oakleigh St, Brick Lane died 22 February 1894 at Bethnal Green Workhouse without leaving a will and Henry Boyens (occ Engineer) applied to administer his estate. His effects were £288.13.11d

Perhaps Isabella was no longer in contact with her father but there was to be a payment from this money to her

The slightly frustrating thing is this Henry Boyens could either be the father (born about 1830) or the son born Q'3 1860 Whitechapel, as while the son is still alive at this point as I have his death entry for 1904 (see previous reply) I can't find a death entry for Henry Boyens senior, so am unsure whether he was still alive. If they were both still alive, she must have no longer been in contact with the whole family to have been so unreachable.

[rosie99]

Maybe the administration document gives an address for Henry

[Trevellian]

Maybe the administration document gives an address for Henry

Good call and may well be interesting anyway. I have ordered the will - will update when it becomes available

[Mabel Bagshawe]

It would appear that Robert Potts of 24 Oakleigh St, Brick Lane died 22 February 1894 at Bethnal Green Workhouse without leaving a will and Henry Boyens (occ Engineer) applied to administer his estate. His effects were £288.13.11d

Perhaps Isabella was no longer in contact with her father but there was to be a payment from this money to her

The slightly frustrating thing is this Henry Boyens could either be the father (born about 1830) or the son born Q'3 1860 Whitechapel, as while the son is still alive at this point as I have his death entry for 1904 (see previous reply) I can't find a death entry for Henry Boyens senior, so am unsure whether he was still alive. If they were both still alive, she must have no longer been in contact with the whole family to have been so unreachable.

Probably the son - think this is the father's death

Henry Boyens
Age    42
Q4 1873
Bethnal Green, Vol   1c p   204

Added - have found a workhouse record for him. Admitted 14 Oct, died 28th. Address and occupation match 1871


I couldn't find birth registrations for Robert or Nicholas from 1871 either, as well as Isabella jnr

[Mabel Bagshawe]

I suspect the family may have been split up after Henry died.

Not sure what happened to Isabella the mother

Robert was also admitted to the workhouse in October 1873 and then sent on to Forest Gate school/home. He's a lodger in 1881

Nicholas looks to have remained connected to Henry jnr, as they are together in 1891 

[Trevellian]

I suspect the family may have been split up after Henry died.

Not sure what happened to Isabella the mother

Robert was also admitted to the workhouse in October 1873 and then sent on to Forest Gate school/home. He's a lodger in 1881

Nicholas looks to have remained connected to Henry jnr, as they are together in 1891

I think you may be right the family was split up, at least for a while. For Nicholas and Henry jnr. staying connected, it appears Nicholas was 'reunited' with his sister Isabella after Henry jnr. died in 1904, as in the 1911 census he is part of her household (though stated as a lodger, rather than brother-in-law to Isabella's husband, while the late Henry's two children (Emily) Elizabeth and Ernest are correctly stated as niece and nephew).

Going back to the original question about Isabella's involvement with Robert Potts' estate and being sought after by her brother Henry in relation to it, you would think given that she was at least reunited with their brother Nicholas that it did get resolved. However, there is that Isabella Boyens of London who appears on F. H. Dougal & Co.'s 'Unclaimed Money Registry' in 1910 - suggesting it was still to be sorted 15 years on from the original newspaper entry in 1895. Obviously by 1910 (December 16 1895 onwards) she was Isabella Dickens, not Boyens, but there doesn't seem to be another Isabella Boyens this could have been.