Lost English Ancestors - Bailey

[LostFamily]

My paternal Grandfather, William Bailey, died in 1903 in Vancouver, Canada. I, or any other surviving family member, know virtually nothing about him. From some digging I have determined that he came to Canada in the mid 1880's from England. On two different censuses he gave his birthdate as April 24, 1856. On his marriage record (in Ontario, Canada), he said he was born in Englalnd and his parents were English and named Stephen Bailey and Sarah Bailey. (His wife, Mary Jane Wilson Airey, came from Yorkshire - independently, I believe.)

William Bailey described himself as a "builder" or "plasterer" in some documents. He was the "Clerk Of The Construction" for a couple of stone edifices that are now heritage buildings. His brother-in-law, Albert Airey, was also a builder (carpenter). They moved from Ontario to Vancouver after a great fire deciminated the city in 1886, seeking reconstruction opportunities.

I have never been able to find anything consistent with the above information on any English census or BMD records. There is one possible match from the LDS site showing a Christening in 1856 for a William Bailey with a mother named Sarah, but no father is named and I can't find any other information on this family (in Cheshire).

My goal is to determine what family was left behind when my Grandfather came to Canada and ultimately determine if there are any relatives extant in England (or elsewhere).

Anyone have any suggestions?

[Wirral]

Welcome to the forum. :)

I've had a look at the censuses & the closest match I can find so far is in the 1861.
RG9/1747 folio 150 page 12, Clust Tything, Almondsbury, Henbury, Gloucestershire
Stephen Bailey head m 40 Ag lab, Gloucestershire Stockgifford
Eliza Bailey wife M 29 Gloucestershire Tarmurtton {??}
William Bailey son 5 scholar Gloucestershire Clust
Mary Thompson boarder 5 scholar Gloucestershire Clust
Robert Thompson boarder 3 scholar Gloucestershire Clust.

From freeBMD
I think the parents are Stephen Bailey & Elizabeth Fry, married December quarter 1854 Thornbury vol 6a page 347.
Birth of William Bailey September quarter 1856 Clifton vol 6a page 123.

I know the mother's name is incorrect, & this William's birth was registerd a little late (it should have been in the June quarter).

[Wirral]

Scrub that idea. :( I've now found that William in the English censuses through to 1901. Back to the drawing board!

[LostFamily]

The last time I looked on FreeBMD (in January) after searching for a marriage between a Stephen Bailey and a Sarah, it came up with a 1845 marriage of Stephen Bailey and a Sarah Cartwright in Wolstanton in 1845 and (perhaps), a marriage between a Stephen Bailey and a Sarah Rickards in Hackney in 1850. Noticing the propensity for firstborn children to be named after their parents, I suspect that William Bailey may not be a firstborn male, implying that his parents were married earlier rather than later.

Additionally William Bailey and his wife (Mary Jane Wilson Airey) named a daughter (who died shortly after birth) "Merica Bailey". This is a very unusual name that does not appear in the wife's family (which I have researched back to about 1820 successfully). I have thought that this name may provide a corroborating bit of data should a match be suspected.