Amelia Cooksey born Bethnal Green in 1843?

[malcolm99]

I wonder if she was fortunate enough to have got a place at a school (?) within 6 days?

The Norwood Schools were part of the same "Poor Law Union" as the Princes Road Workhouse and so it would be natural and presumably normal to transfer children from the workhouse to the school. See here:
www.
workhouses.org.uk/index.html?about/addresses.shtml - then click on Lambeth

Everything points to her being an orphan.

[RobinC]

Everything points to her being an orphan.

Bearing in mind that Amelia was placed in the workhouse on the 4th October 1849, could one of these deaths be her mother?

Deaths Sep 1849
Cooksey Elizabeth Lambeth 4 463

Deaths Dec 1849
Cooksey Jane Lambeth 4 229
Cooksey Mary Lambeth 4 227

There is a death for a George Cooksey in the September qtr of 1849 but I'm not sure if he applies as Amelia didn't know her father's name at her marriage.

[RobinC]

I'm looking at this collection now to see if I can find her at the school.

https://
search.ancestry.co.uk/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1557&path=Lambeth.Lambeth.Admission +and+Discharge.Norwood+Schools%2c+Elder+Road%2c+We st+Norwood%3a+Admission+and+Discharge+Register%2c1 848-1859.4&sid=&gskw=&cr=1

No sign of her under the "C"s from what I can see.

[RobinC]

I've just found a female A.C. who is 19 in the 1861 census:

Class: RG9; Piece: 334; Folio: 1 (there is no page listed as part of the reference but the A.C. is on page 5, second line from the top and is listed as a "Persistant" in terms of relation to the head of household).

Census reference copyright of TNA

I can't make out what sort of institution it is but it is in Southwark which would fit with Amelia's marriage a year later.

Richard Stratford was lodging with the Isaacs family in 1861:

Class: ; Piece: 342; Folio: 23; Page: 5

Census reference copyright of TNA

[malcolm99]

I've just found a female A.C. who is 19 in the 1861 census:

Class: RG9; Piece: 334; Folio: 1 (there is no page listed as part of the reference but the A.C. is on page 5, second line from the top and is listed as a "Persistant" in terms of relation to the head of household).

Census reference copyright of TNA

I can't make out what sort of institution it is but it is in Southwark which would fit with Amelia's marriage a year later.

Looking at Stanford's contemporary map, the institution is the Magdalen Hospital.

[RobinC]

I think we might be getting somewhere now!

The 19 year old A.C. was residing at an address on London Road, Southwark and Richard Stratford was lodging in East Street, Newington St Mary. I have just looked at a map of London from 1868 and to get from London Road to East Street, you would have to walk down to a junction with 5 exits, go straight over to the Walworth Road and keep walking where you would find East Street on the left hand side.

If A.C. turns out to be Amelia then I can see how they would have met.

[malcolm99]

Richard Stratford was lodging with the Isaacs family in 1861:

Class: ; Piece: 342; Folio: 23; Page: 5

Census reference copyright of TNA

Well done. FMP has this transcribed as HERFORD!

[RobinC]

Well done. FMP has this transcribed as HERFORD!

I believe it's the right Richard as he's a mat maker according to the census and this tallies with his occupation on the birth certificate of his daughter Amelia.

[Coromandel]

listed as a "Persistant" in terms of relation to the head of household

Could that be "Penitent", Robin? It would fit with the nature of the institution (Magdalen Hospital) noted by malcolm99 from the Stanford map. Oh dear, are we heading for a skeleton in the Cooksey family cupboard? I had better beat a hasty retreat

[RobinC]

Could that be "Penitent", Robin? It would fit with the nature of the institution (Magdalen Hospital) noted by malcolm99 from the Stanford map. Oh dear, are we heading for a skeleton in the Cooksey family cupboard? I had better beat a hasty retreat

What is a penitent, when used in that example?