Fàilte! (Welcome!)

Fàilte! (Welcome!)
This blog is the result of my ongoing research into the people, places and events that have shaped the Western Isles of Scotland and, in particular, the 'Siamese-twins' of Harris and Lewis.
My interest stems from the fact that my Grandfather was a Stornowegian and, until about four years ago, that was the sum total of my knowledge, both of him and of the land of his birth.
I cannot guarantee the accuracy of everything that I have written (not least because parts are, perhaps, pioneering) but I have done my best to check for any errors.
My family mainly lived along the shore of the Sound of Harris, from An-t-Ob and Srannda to Roghadal, but one family 'moved' to Direcleit in the Baighs...

©Copyright 2011 Peter Kerr All rights reserved

Friday 25 June 2010

How Fred Met Fanny

I have been exploring a bit more into the backgrounds of Captain FWL Thomas and Frances Sarah Bousfield and a rather romantic penny has just dropped.

Frederick, unlike only-child Frances, had several siblings:
Children of George Thomas and Priscella Frimbly (m. 20Nov 1810 St George the Martyr, Southwark)
Frederick William Leopold b. 2 May 1816 bap. 2 Jun 1816 St George the Martyr, Southwark
d.25 Oct 1885 Rose Park, Trinity, Leith
George Howard b.12 Jan 1814 bap. 2 Jun 1816 St George the Martyr (cannot find his death)

Ellen Dinah bap. 10 Feb 1819 St Paul, Deptford, Lewisham (cannot find marriage or death)
George Hurd bap. 13 Mar 1820 St Paul, Deptford – Buried 30 Jul 1848 Kensington, London
Georgiana Martha Thomas 12 Feb 1823 St Paul, Deptford
Ellen Sarah bap. 13 Apr 1825 St Paul, Deptford ( m. James McBain, Surgeon RN, 13 Jan 1846 at St Paul, Deptford)

Firstly, of course, we notice the fact that FWL had an older brother who was baptised alongside him. This reminds us that the boys father was a naval surveyor. As is the case with the first sister called Ellen, I have been unable to find this older sibling again in the records but the repetition of the names George and Ellen is perhaps indicative that George Howard and Ellen Dinah did not survive for very long? The second brother, George Hurd, died at the age of 28 in 1848 but I have not found a record of him marrying.

However, it is Fred's sister Georgiana who provides the link with Frances for, in the 1841 census I had previously identified as living at Broomfield Place, St Paul, Deptford, Kent:

Sarah Bousfield, 30, Governess, b. elsewhere
Frances Bousfield, 20, Independent b. elsewhere (ie Surrey)

But I hadn't paid any particular attention to the next person on the census return:

Georgiana Thomas, 15, Independent b. In this county

Fred's sister was living with Frances, whom he would wed on the 2nd of December of that same year at St Paul, Deptford. I am allowing myself to imagine that it was on a visit to his sister, living away from her family (quite possibly at the Benevolent Home for Girls, the 1841 census is not clear on such matters!), that the uniformed young Royal Navy officer met the orphaned young lady who would soon become his companion for life...

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