Prisoner of Debt (Morning Advertiser)

[toaster]

If you still have some credits on FMP you could try searching for John Lawton. There are quite a few criminal records and also some Poor House ones. Whether they are anything to do with your man or not I don't know. I don't have a sub so can only see the index.
Maybe Ira adopted the name John when he started having money troubles? And if creditors were after him he changed his son's name so there wasn't an Ira in the household. Or it may be the enumerator made a mistake and because of local accents he misheard the name.
The daughter Eliza is in Birmingham as a servant in 1861 from memory.
Christina
C

Thank you! I checked the records on FMP, and could not find the criminal ones, at least not in London! Do you have a link to the search criteria?

He very well may have changed names because of creditors. I wish there was more information about what happened. He got married after his first wife died, and he used his real first name of Ira to register the marriage, so perhaps he was hiding at the time around his first wife's death, but served time in prison and decided to improve upon his life afterwards? I'm not sure.

Seems like his life was up and down! From Tower Hamlets, to Tower of London!

[almach]

I have to go out now, so just a quick question, where did William get married, and was it a church marriage? I'm wondering if he married in Manchester?

[almach]

P.S, Last night I had found the John you mention (1851) on The Genealogist site, I did thnik he looked a possible for Ira as I'd worked out Ira children's names. Then I had to go to bed before looking further into it. I've had another quick scan this morning and I agree John is Ira.

[toaster]

I have to go out now, so just a quick question, where did William get married, and was it a church marriage? I'm wondering if he married in Manchester?

William; Ira's son? He got married in Southampton to Minnie Hubbard from Hampshire. In his marriage certificate, he said his father was Ira Lawton, and he was an engineer, and in the census records I found of William Lawton with Minnie Hubbard in Southampton (alongside my grandmother Dorothy Minnie Lawton),it said he was from London.

I'm not sure if it was a church marriage though. I have actually packed away many of my documents which I should have digitised!

[toaster]

P.S, Last night I had found the John you mention (1851) on The Genealogist site, I did thnik he looked a possible for Ira as I'd worked out Ira children's names. Then I had to go to bed before looking further into it. I've had another quick scan this morning and I agree John is Ira.

I have a feeling it's the same family too! As mentioned by Christina, I also wonder if they purposely changed the name to avoid trouble, or if the enumerator couldn't get past his northern accent. Perhaps he decided to change it because it was a little unusual, I have no idea!

[helachau]

Morning Post, 12 Feb 1855
POLICE INTELLIGENCE - SOUTHWARK
Mr Lawton, Engineer, of Emmerson-street, was next charged with not complying with the Act of Parliament. Mr A'Beckett said that, as the defendant had shown his zeal so promptly with the Act of Parliament, he should only fine him 40s and costs.

Burials in the Nunhead Cemetery of All Saints (address - Linden Grove, Southwark), Parish of Camberwell, 1854
Mary Ann Lawton, abode High Street Borough, buried 21st Sept, age 39

[toaster]

Morning Post, 12 Feb 1855
POLICE INTELLIGENCE - SOUTHWARK
Mr Lawton, Engineer, of Emmerson-street, was next charged with not complying with the Act of Parliament. Mr A'Beckett said that, as the defendant had shown his zeal so promptly with the Act of Parliament, he should only fine him 40s and costs.

Burials in the Nunhead Cemetery of All Saints (address - Linden Grove, Southwark), Parish of Camberwell, 1854
Mary Ann Lawton, abode High Street Borough, buried 21st Sept, age 39

That's very sad to see. It's sad stories all around on my mother's side of the tree, but now I can see it on my father's side as well!

[helachau]

1861 Map https://mapco.net/cross1861/cross29.htm

Borough High Street running south off London Bridge, Emerson Street top left corner

[toaster]

1861 Map https://mapco.net/cross1861/cross29.htm

Borough High Street running south off London Bridge, Emerson Street top left corner

Is it Emersons "Stairs"? Or am I being dim. I admit, alcohol may have played a part in my viewing of this map.

Edit: EmersonS must mean Emerson Street!

[christanel]

Because I can't find a suitable death registration for an Ira Lawton I started searching for a John Lawton death in Middlesex 1855 onwards. There are only two
LAWTON, JOHN age 79 (too old born c1781)
June 1/4 Quarter 1860 reg dist ISLINGTON Vol 1b Page 156

LAWTON, JOHN age 58 (again too old bon c1803 although discrepancies in ages do occur)
Dec 1/4 1861 WESTMINSTER Vol 1a Page 210

I changed the birthdate criteria on FreeBMD and this one turned up which is closer to the birth date.
Deaths June 1/4 1891
John Lawton age 77 reg dist Bethnal Green vol 1c page 208

Any of these could of course just be 'true' John Lawtons and not Ira in disguise. At this stage I am leaning towards Ira always using the name Ira and somewhere along the way it has been mangled but where is he after 1855?
Christina