Emily Ada Kilby (Kilbey)

[Brock]

Emily Ada Kilby (Kilbey)

Emily Ada Kilby was born in Deddington, Oxfordshire in 1847.
The 1871 census shows Emily working as a domestic servant in Paddington
which comes under the Kensington district of London. This places her close
to Edward Kensington Devonshire as he lived in the Kensington area along
with his wife Maria Schild & their children. Edward was a commercial
traveller.
It seems that Emily & Edward had a relationship & Emily became pregnant.
She moved to live in Birmingham where she gave birth to her daughter
named Ada Florence Beatrice on 14/9/1871. Emily registered the birth
recording her own name as Emily Ada Kilbey, domestic servant.
The father’s details were registered as George Kenington, commercial
traveller.
Emily had a son named Edward George Kensington Devonshire who was
born in Birmingham on 27/5/1873. Again, it was Emily who registered the
birth this time showing her name as being Emily Ada Devonshire, formerly
Kilby. The father’s details were shown as Edward George Kensington
Devonshire, commercial traveller.

Throughout the census entries Edward is shown recorded in his family home
in London along with his wife Maria & their children.
Maria died in 1888 after which Edward can be found as a lodger in the
home of the Kent family in London.

Emily called herself Mrs Devonshire but she & Edward never actually
married. Sometime in the later 1870’s Emily forged a relationship with a
man named Edwin Coldrick who was a widower who lived in the same
street. She & her children moved into Edwin Coldrick’s home & she then
began to call herself Emily Coldrick as though they were married although
no marriage entry has ever been found.
Emily remained living with Edwin in Birmingham & they had three sons
together, the first being born in 1876 & the last in 1886.

Until recently, we only knew of Emily having one child fathered by Edward
Devonshire but I have just discovered about the birth of their daughter Ada
Florence Beatrice. Previously, I thought that perhaps Emily had moved
away from London on discovering about being pregnant which is when she
moved to live in Birmingham. I thought that she possibly had to cope with
her pregnancy & the birth & raising the child alone as the census entries
indicate that Edward remained with his wife & family. The discovery of
Ada’s birth obviously means that Emily & Edward continued to have a
relationship resulting in the birth of their son in 1873. This has made me
wonder whether any other children might have been born to them between
1871 & 1876 which is the time period when Emily seems to have begun
living with Edwin Coldrick.
It’s difficult to search for births as Emily adopted the use of different
surnames but if anyone has an ancestor in their tree who was the son or
daughter of Emily Ada Kilby I would be very grateful please if you could
make contact with me so that we could share information & learn from each
other.

Thank you.

[christanel]

Hi Brock
There are two private and one public tree on ancestry. Have you seen them/is one of them yours?

[Brock]

Hi Christanel, I wasn't aware of this ~ thank you for informing me of this information, it's much appreciated.