"Charles RODWAY, baker"--did he exist?

[Jane Elderfield]

The birth registration of Charles Ernest RODWAY, b. 18 July 1879 in Lewisham, gives his mother as "Sarah RODWAY, formerly MURRAY" (which is right), and the father as "Charles RODWAY, Baker".

The mother had been widowed 14 months before (husband John RODWAY, furniture dealer, d. of smallpox at Deptford Hospital).

So far I have never found any other trace of this "Charles RODWAY, Baker", the father of little Charlie.

His name may have been a registrar's mistake (---- RODWAY, baker; or Charles ----, baker; or Charles BAKER, occupation ----; or Charles EARNEST, occupation ----; or ??)

Or, Charles RODWAY may be a total fiction "for the records".

Alternately there may have been a brief relationship with a Charles RODWAY, perhaps from far away. By the 1881 census Sarah and little Charlie are back in Deptford, and her two older girls are in care in the South Metropolitan School. (see BRICK WALLS forum May 20/09 for an outline of the story.)

Does anyone know anything about any Charles RODWAY, baker? Are there lists of bakers?

--Jane Elderfield

[Jane Elderfield]

Mystery probably solved. Update 15 years later (!)
I did a DNA test, found hundreds of matches, but just one who was based in London. Asked him if he had any wild-oats-sowing family member who could have fathered Charles Ernest RODWAY in October 1878. He suggested a MORGAN family that had 6 sons. They lived in the same street in Deptford as Sarah RODWAY did (on the 1881 census).
One son was around the same age as Sarah, and was named Charles. He is my best guess as to the biological father of little Charlie. Charles MORGAN never married (as far as I can tell) and worked in the hair-dressing / barbering trade his whole adult life. But when he was in his teens, there was a bakery next door, so he may possibly have been a "baker's boy" in his youth.
So--probable answer is that "Charles RODWAY, Baker" is a partial fiction, for the records-- not RODWAY, and not usually a baker.
Jane E

[Lesley Robertson]

Just in case you feel the urge to do further checks, what do you know about John R's family? Brothers, Uncles, that sort of thing?

[Jane Elderfield]

Hello, Lesley, and thanks for your good thinking.
This has been a long, long search, now satisfactorily resolved through DNA.
The BRICK WALLS thread titled "Charles Ernest RODWAY ..." gives a summary of some of my hypotheses and findings over the years. (Note the dates on the postings!)

[Pam Downes]

This is the original Charles Rodway thread.
https://www.british-genealogy.com/fo...ghlight=rodway