I can't make sense of this .........

[GillianF]

A bit of a mystery.  I have been researching the Hume family for many years.  My husband's great uncle was Roderick Stuart Hume born 5th August 1884.  In the 1901 census he is in school with two of his brothers and it makes sense, fits with the family folklore.

Recently, Ancestry threw up a record of an R. S. Hume born 5th August 1884 as an apprentice in the railway records for Cheadle Hulme Station Coaching Section.  The record says he entered service on 14th March 1900 transferred from Handforth on 1st December 1900 and resigned 19th January 1901 - if I understand it correctly.

I have asked Roderick's grandson if he has any memory of hearing of this in the family and he says it makes no sense to him, he has never heard mention of it.

So, I'm wondering if there can be two R. S. Hume's with the exact same birth date or is this the same man giving an apprenticeship a try or on some sort of early work experience scheme?


Gillian

[Milliepede]

What kind of school was he in?  Just thinking he would have left school before then in those days.

I guess there could be another R S - can you find any evidence of another one?  Pity we don’t know what the initials are on the railway entry.

[louisa maud]

How about going back to check the birth records online.

LM

[GillianF]

The school in the 1901 census was Wem Grammar School in Wem, Shropshire and makes sense as 'right' as he is there with his brothers and Wem was the home town of their father's second wife.

I have looked at the birth records on line but with only initials of R. S. the GRO site doesn't throw up anything.  I'm not sure if family history websites would throw up records using just initials and no place of birth?

[BumbleB]

The 1901 Census entry for the three Hulme brothers shows birthplace as Ireland.  Address is Grammar School, High Street, Wem.

RG13/2552, folio 5, page 2

[mckha489]

I cannot see another R.S. Hu*me in the 1901 census.
It does seem most odd, especially given his subsequent career as a bank manager.

[Neale1961]

I would look at the circumstances of the father at this time. Did he have some loss of employment in pre-1900, and then recover financially by 1901. This might be why the son was first apprenticed to the railway (to help support the family), and subsequently sent to a Grammar school which must have required some cost to this father.

I see his father was previously in the army, and had been discharged in 1890. What was he doing  from then until 1901? Perhaps it was not until 1901 that he started to earn a larger income, which then allowed him to give the boys a grammar school eduction.

[Kiltaglassan]

Have you the birth record of your husband's great uncle?

Born at Barrack Hill, Armagh, father Edward Winter Hume, a warrant officer in the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Mother Cathrine nee O'Hanlon.
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/files/civil/birth_returns/births_1884/02683/1988068.pdf

[wilcoxon]

Name Roderick Stuart Hume

Jul-Aug-Sep Birth Date1884
Birth PlaceArmagh, Ireland
Birth Registration DateSep 1884
There is nothing similar in UK.