Streams in Lilley Catmore

[Mutley]

The birth certificate of Henry Thomas has arrived!
Registration in Ilsley, Wantage, Berkshire.

He was born on 17 April 1873, his mother was Martha Stream of Catmore and there is no father mentioned.

In 1871 she was a servant for a widowed farmer James Ricks in East Woodhay. Living with them is James's brother a writer on natural history. His name is Henry!
RG10/1245/50/14
Two years later she is back in Lilly Catmore to give birth to her son.

Am I likely to find anything in the parish records that could give me a clue who his father may have been?
Lilley Catmore was a very tiny place.

Martha born 1856 is the daughter of Thomas and Rachel.
1861 with parents and sister Emily (who also may go on to have illegitimate children). RG9/737/75/14

(I have Martha for the rest of her life (she goes on to marry a Taylor and Henry takes his name.) Henry's marriage certificate does not state a father.

[Jan1954]

Am I likely to find anything in the parish records that could give me a clue who his father may have been?

If you are lucky, there might be a reference to a father - as in "the purported father being....." or "Baseborn son of Martha Stream and .......". However, this depends upon the Parish Clerk/Minister of the day and how accurately/vindictively they kept their records.

[Mutley]

Thanks Jan,
I was thinking more on the lines of Parish Relief or Poor Law or stuff like that, rather than baptisms.
I doubt I would be that lucky to get a vindictive clerk.

Though at the moment I am struggling to find where the records are, I cannot seem to see them on the Berkshire Wantage CDs.

[Red Kite]

Catmore and Lilley are two separate hamlets in the parish. There is a tiny church at Catmore, I believe the registers are at the BRO. Catmore and its church belonged to the (Catholic) Eyston family of East Hendred, and still do as far as I know.

[Kerrywood]

Thanks Jan,
I was thinking more on the lines of Parish Relief or Poor Law or stuff like that, rather than baptisms.
I doubt I would be that lucky to get a vindictive clerk.

Though at the moment I am struggling to find where the records are, I cannot seem to see them on the Berkshire Wantage CDs.

Mutley, I think at this date what you need is not parish records, but records of the Wantage poor law union and/or of the Newbury petty sessions. Both seem to be held at the Berkshire Record Office.

Kerrywood

[Mutley]

Thank you Red Kite and Kerrywood,

This is a step family, several times removed from mine but it is an old and rather confused lady doing the 'Family History before I go bit'.

The birth certificate states born and resident at 'Catmore', there is not a full address.

I'll take another trip around the BRO.

Thanks for the pointers.

[Red Kite]

Catmore & Lilley are very small, just a few cottages, and you wouldn't get a specific address other than farm, pub, rectory and the like. They would have certainly come under Wantage Board of Guardians, with the registrar and relieving officer at East Ilsley. Petty Sessions were held at Ilsley.

But looking ahead to 1881, I see Martha's husband Henry Taylor's birthplace is given as East Woodhay, hmmmm. East Woodhay is the other side of Newbury, but just over the Hampshire border I think.

[Mutley]

Thank you.

As Martha was a servant at East Woodhay in 1871, I suppose either Henry who she married or Henry the brother in the household she worked in, could be the father. Of course, it could also be any other Tom, Dick or Harry that passed through

Maybe East Woodhay is the place to visit. Thanks again

[Red Kite]

Just out of interest, was the registrar William Tanner?

[Mutley]

Just out of interest, was the registrar William Tanner?

He certainly was. ?