Shaw

New page 13 October 2014.

This line traces back to Staffordshire, in and around Stoke on Trent in the early to mid 19th century, but then the last couple of generations move by circuitous routes to Hampshire, near Southampton in the later 19th century.

The generations of the SHAW line are:

7. Thomas and Sarah of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire in the early 19th century. More

6. Jonathan Bayley (1813-68) and Hannah (born about 1813, living 1861) of the Stoke-on-Trent area. Hannah had been a LEIGH, possibly from Wolstanton in the same county. More

5. Hiram Henry (b abt 1838, living 1898) and Ellen (b abt 1838, d 1891) who travelled round the country. Ellen had been a BEDSON, also from the Stoke area. More

4. Mary Ellen (b 1862, d around 1900) who married Edward Colin ROBINSON More

Further details

7. Thomas and Sarah

Thomas and Sarah SHAW lived in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, in the early 19th century. In 1813 they baptised their son, Jonathan Bayley.

6. Jonathan Bayley (1813-68) and Hannah (born about 1813, living 1861)

Jonathan Bayley SHAW was baptised in 1813 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire – so presumably was born there earlier that year. In 1836 he married Hannah LEIGH, in Wolstanton in the same county. Hannah was the same age as Jonathan and also from Staffordshire.

Jonathan and Hannah had five known children:
Thomas about 1837
Hiram Henry about 1838
James about 1845
William Frederick about 1848
Annie J about 1851

Jonathan worked as a blacking manufacturer, and possibly towards the end of his life a pottery manufacturer.

Jonathan and Hannah lived in various places in the Stoke area – on Clarence Street, Shelton, in Cobridge and at 20 Edmund Street, Hanley.

Jonathan died in 1868 and seems to have been buried in St Luke’s church at Cheetham in Lancashire. Why he ended up there I’m not sure - I don't have the death certificate yet.

5a. Hiram Henry (b abt 1838, d 1922) and Ellen (b abt 1838, d 1891)

Hiram Henry SHAW was born about 1838 (his age in censuses was erratic so it could easily have been a year either side; there’s a candidate GRO birth in Q3 1838 but I haven’t ordered it yet) in Staffordshire.

Hiram gave various occupations but they all involved selling things. In 1859 he gave silk mercer, in 1861 travelling woollen draper, in 1862 auctioneer, and then from 1871 to 1898 commercial traveller.

In 1859 he was living in Cheadle in Staffordshire. He married there Ellen BEDSON, though she was a girl his own age from his own home town of Hanley – she had lived as a child very close to the SHAWs so the families may have known each other. The marriage was witnessed by a Thomas and a Jane SHAW, who may have been Hiram’s older brother and his wife.

Hiram and Ellen had several children:
Tomas Byron T 1860
Mary Ellen 1862
Ada A about 1863
Gertrude about 1865
Edith M about 1872
George G about 1874

Hiram and Ellen moved around the country a good deal, sometimes together, sometimes apart.
In the 1861 census he is staying as a lodger in Macclesfield in Cheshire, along with his 16-year-old brother James, both travelling woollen drapers, but Ellen and little Thomas are back at Ellen’s family home with her mother and unmarried sisters.
In 1862 she gives her address as Wardwick, a street in Derby – I guess he was living there too, unless his work as an auctioneer took him away.
In 1871 they are both staying as lodgers in Deptford (I think in modern terms New Cross, actually) but the children (down to Gertrude, obviously) are staying in East Lulworth, Dorset, with relatives of Ellen’s (her married but childless sister Anne DONNELLY, her unmarried sister Myra and the sisters’ mother Mary).
In 1881 Hiram, Ellen and their family are together in Portswood in Hampshire (or at least all their names were given to the enumerator – Hiram is also mentioned elsewhere as told below).
In 1891 Ellen is in Millbrook, in a nearby part of Hampshire with the children but Hiram is elsewhere – see below. However when Ellen dies later the same year, Hiram registers the death, saying he was present and giving a similar or the same Millbrook address.

Ellen died on 27 December 1891, of bronchitis aged 53. For the rest of Hiram’s story, see below.

5b. Hiram Henry (b abt 1838, d 1922) and Myra (b abt 1846, d probably 1911).

In 1871, Myra BEDSON was working as a schoolmistress in East Lulworth, Dorset, and living with various of her extended family (her sister and brother-in-law, Anne and Thomas DONNELLY, her mother Mary, and four children of her other sister and brother-in-law Ellen and Hiram SHAW).

In 1876 she was living in Tunbridge Wells, and gave birth to a daughter, Hilda Agnes BEDSON. She gave no father at the registration.

In 1881 Myra (calling herself Maria) is living in Reading (at 22 Weldale Street) with Hilda, now aged 5. Also enumerated there is Hiram SHAW. I am sure it is the same man – a commercial traveller aged 42, from Hanley in Staffordshire. Maria is described as his wife, Hilda his daughter, and they all have surname SHAW. Note that this is the same census that Hiram is also enumerated with Elllen and her kids in Hampshire.

In 1891 Hiram, Myra and Hilda are living together, as lodgers in Bray in Berkshire. This time that is Hiram’s only appearance in the census.

In 1898 Hiram and Myra finally married, in a Roman Catholic church in Clapham. This was seven years after the death of Hiram’s first wife (and Myra’s sister) Ellen, but 17 years after Hiram and Myra were first enumerated in the census together and 22 years after Hilda’s birth. Hiram’s address at this marriage is given as Blagdon Street in Lewisham, and Myra’s as Burnley Road, Stockwell – both also in south London. Obviously one has to suspect that their having two addresses was a fiction to keep the priest happy.

Myra registered the death of Hiram and Ellen's son-in-law Edward ROBINSON in 1900, describing herself as his step-mother and giving her address as 13 Stockwell Road, S10 (Lambeth in south London).

The death of a Hiram H Shaw, aged 84, is registered in the Chelsea district of London in 1922. That must be him. Myra Shaw, aged 64, in the Marylebone district of London in 1911 is a bit less conclusive but still must be a good bet; it is certainly the best match in a search for deaths under that name 1900-40.

Research notes: 1901 census (not at 13 Stockwell Rd in 1901 and not turning up in name searches on TheGenealogist.com). When I have access to 1911 he's somewhere in London, 72, a waterproof goods dealer; there's also a Myra the right age. Would be interesting to see if Hilda keeps the name Shaw and what she says about her father at marriage, if any. Could try her in 1901 to see if she's still with her parents.

4. Mary Ellen (b 1862, d around 1900)

In 1881, Mary Ellen SHAW, aged 19, was living in South Stoneham in Hampshire with her parents (or at least her mother) and working as a schoolteacher. In 1888, she was living in nearby Shirley, and married there Edward Colin ROBINSON. He was from West Ham in Essex (part of the London urban area by then), but they later lived in Beckenham in Kent (now outer London) – see his page for details of their married life and family. I’m told by relatives that she died early, while her children were still young.

Contact me

If you are interested in this line I'll be very pleased indeed to hear from you. Email me at deletethis.ianwilliamson161@gmail.com though obviously you edit the email address before you send - leaving just my name and number @ service provider.

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