Charles (b abt 1810, prob d 1880s) and Sarah (b abt 1817, d 1860s) ANTHONY of Plymouth and London
Revised (with little new info) 5 October 2014.
Links:
(ancestors unkown) - Immediate descendants: Edwin and Mary ANTHONY
The Anthony story - ANTHONY research notes
index of surnames
Actually, I'm not sure they are, biologically. Their connection to their son Edwin is established by census entries, birth certificate, and by continuities (such as birthplace and occupation as well as names and ages) between the documented young family in Plymouth and the later family in London. But for Edwin's doubtful paternity of the next generation, see his page.
Their parents are unknown and I am not pursuing this line with much vigour because of the doubtful ancestral status.
Charles ANTHONY seems to have been born about 1810 in Bigbury, Devon. The evidence for this is census returns. His age is given as: 40 (1851), 51 (1861), 63 (1871) and 71 (1881) - a birth date of 31 March to 3 April 1810 would make three of those correct but obviously other dates around then are perfectly plausible. His birthplace is given as Bigbury in 1851 and 1881, Devonshire in 1861 and Plymouth in 1871. Bigbury is a parish on the south coast of Devon, not that far from Plymouth, where Charles did live as a young adult. His baptism doesn't appear on the IGI but one could look directly at the actual parish records. Note: in 1841 there are no ANTHONYs in a surname index to the parish, though I think I came across at least one other census birthplace of another ANTHONY there - looks like they all left.
Sarah his wife seems to have been born about 1817 as a British subject in Bermuda. The evidence for this is also census returns. Her age is given as: 20-24 (1841), 33 (1851), 43 (1861). Her birthplace is given as Bermuda (British Subject) in 1851 and 1861. In 1841 it is N for not Devonshire, though there's no mark in the column for Foreign Parts.
They married quite young, so I don't think there would be much as adults other than their details at marriage and perhaps the start of Charles's career.
I don't think there was any.
Judging by the age of their eldest child, Charles and Sarah are perhaps most likely to have married in the mid-1830s; he would have been in his mid-20s and she would have been in her late teens or about 20. The GRO marriage index doesn't start until mid-1837: there is a marriage under the name of Charles ANTHONY late that year in Bristol, but no correspnding GALSWORTHY entry. There doesn't appear to be any marriage of this couple in the IGI in the 1830s.
Charles and Sarah had the following children (evidence from the censuses - details below):
Robert - about 1837 in Plymouth
Charles - about 1839 in Devonport
Edwin - 1841 in Devonport
Isabella - about 1843 in Devonport
John - about 1845 in Devonport
Richard - about 1850 in Devoport
Harry - about 1855-6 in Essex
Charles was a customs officer at least from 1851 until he retired about the 1870s - details at each census given below. He rose to a responsible position and his income seems to have supported the family - Sarah doesn't ever list an occupation and nor do most of the children. I could see if there is any public record of Customs officer careers.
In 1841, Sarah and the first three children are living at an address (58, from Edwin's birth certificate) in Monument Street, Devonport, in the parish of Stoke Damerel, Devon. Charles isn't there - my speculation is that his work with Customs has taken him away from home, perhaps even abroad - I can't find him anywhere in the British census. Or on the IGI worldwide with that birth date
HO107/0272/3/F179 - Monument Street, parish of Stoke Damerel
Robert Chinnock[??], 20 [in 1841 adult's ages are rounded down to end in 0 or 5] Tailor J [means Journeyman], N [ie not born Devon]
Emma ditto, 25, Y [ie born Devon]
Eliza Barnes, 60, Y
Sarah Anthony, 20, N [there is no mark in the column for Foreign Parts]
Robt ditto, 3 [looks a bit like a 5 but I'm reading 3 with a bit of help from later census information], Y
Charles ditto, 1, Y
Edwin ditto, 1 month[?], Y
Emila[?!] Worthy [?], 30, Dress M, Y
Charlotte ditto, 14, Y
Eliza ditto, 12, Y
George ditto, 10, Y
Ellen ditto, 2, Y
The 1841 census doesn't give relations to the head of household to help us sort all these individuals out, but I guess either the house is divided into 3-4 flats and each separately let, or the childless couple who head the listing let or sub-let rooms in their house to the various others.
I haven't looked much into the history and geography of the 19th-century suburbs of Plymouth, but Stoke Damerel was a parish, adjacent to Plymouth, in which the town/suburb of Devonport grew up. This map seems to show Monument Street within a fort-like outline which I think involved military barracks and such facilities.
If I'm correctly reading the children's birthplaces, and they are correctly recorded, it suggests that the family continued in Devonport until 1850 - unless Sarah just went back there for her confinements for some reason.
In 1851, the whole family is at an address in Plymouth proper.
HO107/1879/f318 - 7 Prospect Place, Plymouth, Devon
All ANTHONY
Charles, 40, Head, Officer of Customs, Bigbury Devon
Sarah, 33, Wife, Bermuda British Subject
Robert, 13, Son, Plymouth
Charles, 11, Son, Devonport[? - I think that is what it says; all the other children are ditto]
Edwin, 9, Son, Devonport
Isabella, 7, Daur, Devonport
John, 5, Son, Devonport
Richard, 11mo, Son, Devonport
The address appears to be in the civil parish of St Andrews but the ecclesiastical parish of St James. I can't find the street Prospect Place in modern maps - there's a Prospect Row near to Monument Street in Devonport and a Prospect Street in Plymouth, a bit north and east of the town centre shops. I did find 1860 maps of Plymouth and Devonport (rubric to the maps here) but I can't so far make out the key streets on either of them.
It seems that they moved to the London/south-east region after this, being apparently somewhere in Essex about 1855 - again, from a census birthplace (see below).
In 1861 they are in East London:
RG9/0292/f39 - 23 Holmes St, Mile End Old Town, Middlesex
All ANTHONY
Charles, Mar, Head, 51, Tidewaiter (Customs), Devonshire
Sarah, Mar, Wife, 43, Bermuda (Br Sub)
Isabella, Daur, 17, Devonshire
John, Son, 15, Shop boy, Devonshire
Harry, Son, 5, Scholar, Essex
There are two other couples, one with 3 children aged 9-20, listed as further households at the same address. I also noticed that a neighbour at the address listed above this one was also a Custom House Officer.
The family, as a couple with their resident children, ended by 1871; Sarah had evidently died by then, as Charles is described in that census as a widower (see below).
Charles does not seem to have remarried - see next section.
In 1871, Charles is a widower, living with his eldest son Charles (now a railway inspector) and his family in a respectable West End district.
RG10/0110/f93 - 18 Westmoreland Street, St George's Hanover Sq, London
All ANTHONY
Charles, Head, Mar, 31, Railway Inspector, Plymouth
Charlotte, Wife, Mar, 30, Lamberth [?] Surrey
Charles, Son, unm, 18Mths, St George's Hanover Sq
Charlotte, Daur, unm, 3, ditto
Charles, Father, Widower, 63, Customs Officer, Plymouth
There are three other households at the same address: a married woman and two sons, though not the father; a couple with a lodger; and a widower with two grown-up sons, a teenage son and daughter, and a young son
Westmoreland Street was (according to Charles Booth's Descriptive Map of London Poverty 1889) Fairly Comfortable (third category down out of seven) - a backwater to the grand squares and terraces of Marylebone.
In 1881 Charles is in what must have been a pretty grand house, 26 Cambridge Terrace, St George's Hanover Square - facing onto Regent's Park. There are four families living there. Charles seems to be the lodger of a young police constable with a wife and toddler. Charles is listed as Wid, 71, retired from custom, Devon Brigbury. Census reference RG11/0105/f35. The rest of the house is occupied by two more young couples and a woman a bit older, with between them four more children under 5 and three of school age.
I have only done a basic search for Charles in the 1891 census. I didn't find him and I would think it fairly likely that he died some time in the 1880s, aged in his 70s.
I have not looked for wills or similar.
Charles appeared to have left home by 1861. See the 1871 census above, from which we can infer that he married Charlotte in the mid-to-late 1860s and had two children by 1871, by which time he was employed as a railway inspector.
Robert and Edwin are also not at home in 1861, presumably likewise having left. Edwin has his own family page but I'm still keen to track him down in 1861. Richard is missing in that census too - he may have died or be at school somewhere; he's probably too young to be away working.
Harry went to Ontario, Canada - his death was registered 30 January 1927, York, Ontario, Henry Anthony, male, 71, born England, 24 November 1856, father Charles Anthony, mother Galsworthy.
If you are interested in this family I'll be pleased to hear from you. Click this link to email me at deletethis.ianwilliamson161@gmail.com but delete everything up to and including the first dot, leaving just my name and number @ service provider. Please do not delete the automatically-generated subject line, so that I know your email is not spam. You can add more to the subject but if you delete what appears I may not read your mail.
Links:
(ancestors unkown) - Immediate descendants: Edwin and Mary ANTHONY
The Anthony story - ANTHONY research notes
index of surnames
