This past year I made 3 whole-day visits to the Family Records Centre (FRC) in Myddleton Street, London. My time was divided between searching the Birth and Marriage index registers (to identify potental entries of interest, and then order certificates) and the microfilms of census entries for 1841, 1861, and 1871.
I have also made extensive use of other sources, in particular computerised resources available on CD-ROM or via internet sites:
· 1881 Census CD-ROM set for whole of UK, purchased from LDS.
· 1891 Census Index CD-ROM for Hampshire (excluding IOW), purchased from HGS.
· 1901 Census for whole of UK, on the Public Records Office web site www.census.pro.gov.uk (Index search free, full entries by online payment). After crashing on its first day in January 2002, it eventually became available again in September.
· 1891 Census Index for a few districts of Hampshire (including Droxford and Soberton), on FreeCEN web site. This site is still very incomplete.
· Birth/Marriage/Death register index searches on FreeBMD web site. This site is incomplete, but is still useful as an alternative to visiting the FRC. However, absence of a searched entry does not mean that it does not exist in the registers, since it may not have been entered in the web site yet.
· Hampshire Burials index CD-ROM, purchased from HGS.
· 1851 and 1891 Census Index booklets for various districts of Hampshire, purchased from HGS.
My main area of research this year was the brothers and sisters of my grandfather Emmanuel James Lutman (i.e. the children of Alfred Lutman and Elizabeth Randall), and their spouses and children. I had previously identified all of Emmanuel’s sisters, but in addition I have now discovered:
· An older brother William Lutman born 1867 who died aged only a few months old.
· An older half-brother John William Randall born 1860, who was the oldest son of Elizabeth Randall. He was also known as Thomas (e.g. in 1881 Census), possibly to avoid confusion with Elizabeth’s brother John William Randall born 1848.
· A nephew also called John William Randall born 1883, the son of Emmanuel’s half-brother John William Randall.
· A nephew James Thomas Randall born 1887, a son of Emmanuel’s half-sister Mary Randall before she married Fred Mellish. This is possibly the ‘Jimmy’ who wrote postcards to ‘Aunt Annie and Uncle Emmanuel’ which my mother now has, although he was only 7 years younger than Emmanuel.
· The husbands and marriage dates of all Emmanuel’s sisters (except Jane who was unmarried).
· Those children of Emmanuel’s sisters who were born before the 1901 census.
· An aunt Eliza Randall born 1836, the older sister of Elizabeth. Previously I had assumed that entries for Eliza born 1836 and Elizabeth born 1838 referred to the same person with age inaccuracies. However, it is now clear that they are different persons, since Eliza is listed with her husband and children in the later censuses.
· The marriage of his uncle John William Randall (Elizabeth’s sister) to Emily Scott in Herne Bay, Kent, in 1880, and the birth and death in 1883 of their son John.
However, despite much searching, I have completely failed to find any evidence of a younger nephew ‘Tommy Randall’ (the son of John William Randall born 1860 alias Thomas) who Mum says is shown aged about 10 in Granny’s wedding photo in 1906. John William Randall is listed as a widower in 1901 census living in Portsmouth with his son John born 1883 in Herne Bay, Kent. This son would be much too old (23) in 1906 to fit the photo. In fact, I can find no evidence for any marriage of this John William Randall, or for any children at all.
This research was complicated by the fact that the surnames Lutman and Randall (or Randell) were sometime used at different times for the same individual. For example, Mary Randall is listed as Mary Lutman in 1881 census, but as Mary Randall in 1891. Also in 1891 her 3 year old son is listed as James Thomas Lutman, and in 1901 as the 13 year old James T Mellish. Similarly, Emmanuel’s sisters Emily and Elizabeth Lutman are listed as Randalls in 1891 when they lived in Portsmouth with their half-brother John William Randall.
I have also discovered some more distantly-related Lutmans, and made email contact with several new 3rd cousins. These include :
I have also made some small progress on the family of Harriet Mainer born 1800 in Southwick, who married my great-great-grandfather James Lutman born 1795 in Soberton.
From the 1901 census I have identified the Faithfull families then living in Southwick. These are my great-grandparents George and Harriet Faithfull, George’s parents John and Emily, and George’s brothers John, Thomas, and Arthur. His other brother William Fowler Faithfull had died much earlier.
Actually, Thomas also seems to have died just before 1901 since his wife Mary is a widow. She is listed living in the Post Office in Southwick. From a newspaper cutting recording the death of their son Alfred Charles Faithfull in 1965, I know that Thomas became sub-postmaster in 1898, and Alfred joined the post service in 1906. Presumably Mary ran the post office after her husband’s death until her son took over. This was also a sweet shop. Thomas and Mary had 2 other sons, Arthur and Horace.
John and Sophia Faithfull had a large family, but by 1901 only 2 unmarried daughters remained at home. One of these is Ada May born 1898, so this clears up the mystery of the Ada May Houghton (nee Faithfull) who spoke to Frank Pearson and asked about his mother Lydia. Ada would be 1st cousin to my Granny, but 14 years younger, and about 10 years older than Lydia.
Arthur and his children I already knew, and he is the ancester of Sally Cleal. Both the 1891 and 1901 censuses confirm that his first wife’s name was Jane, although Sally’s mother thought she was named Rose.
It is interesting that of my great-grandfather’s generation, three out of five brothers died quite young. Is this an indication of a genetic condition ? I suspect that my great-great-grandmother Emily nee Fowler may have had no living male relatives, since one of her sons was named William Fowler Faithfull, and when he died young a grandson was named William Fowler Faithfull, who also died aged only 45. On the other hand, both my Uncle Ted and Aunt Lydia lived into their eighties, and my mother is now 92 and still very lively.
Earlier in the 19th century there were some other related Faithfull families living in Southwick, but these seem to have moved away to Boarhunt and to Iping in Sussex, so none of their descendants (at least in the male line) remained in the village by 1901.
From the 1881 and 1891 censuses I have identified the families of the siblings of my great-grandmother Harriet Faithfull (nee Pearce).
Harriet’s mother was Eliza Money, two of whose sisters married Durant brothers. There are several other marriage connections between Money, Ware, and Durant families. Harriet’s oldest son (before she married George Faithfull) was named William Ware Pearce, so I conjecture (but have no evidence) that William’s father was a Ware. Several Ware families lived in Southwick; one Ware family lived next door in 1881.
During the year I received from Roger Hobbs a copy of the book written by David Durant (born 1807) about his exploits as a Hampshire poacher, which Mum read as a child.
There are also several Houghton connections to both Faithfull/Pearce and Lutman lines. During the year I have made email contact with several new Houghton distant relatives in Canada: Bob and Bruce Houghton, and Cam Longhurst. Bob sent me some photos of his ancestress, my great-great-aunt Louisa Lutman, and a copy of an interesting letter written from Canada to Lutman relatives back in Boarhunt.