elsabels wrote:On the baptism dated 28 May 1851 of Alice b 18 May 1851, Jane is given as a spinster, of Carlton Terrace the baptism immediately above is for 'sister' Jeanette b 4 April 1848 .
The 1861 census also states Jane is unmarried.
Maybe Conway is the name of the father of Jeanette!
Many thanks Elsabels!
This is very exciting as I've never stumbled across this baptism information for Alice from 1851 before. But I can't find it in the Westminster Baptism records on Find My Past. Or on Ancestry. Please can I ask you what the exact reference is for the record and on which website you found it?
Best, Leo
UPDATE: Ah, yes, I have found it now on Ancestry...
London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Board of Guardian Records, 1834-1906/Church of England Parish Registers, 1754-1906; Reference Number: p87/mry/032So it appears that Jeannette, her (half?) sister, was baptised twice?! First on 21 May 1848, just after she was born, at Westminster St Annes (where the record lists her father as "Henry Richardson", a printer on Porter Street, and her mother as Jane Richardson). And she was then baptised again on the same day, 28 May 1851, as her new-born sister Alice at Paddington Green St Mary. But, as you say, there is no mention of a father for either of them, with their mother Jane being listed as a "spinster".
Why would Jeannette be baptised twice? Was that common in those days? Maybe Jane was never actually married to a "Henry Richardson" (I can't find a marriage cert, or a death cert for a Henry from 1848-1851) at the time of Jeanette's birth in 1848, and that was written down to help "legitimise" her on the official records? Was he a totally invented person, perhaps?
But what adds to the intrigue is that in the 1851 census, Jane, the "head" of the house, is listed as a "widow". A 4-year-old "Jennett" is listed as living with her at 163 Carlton Terrace, along with two male lodgers. The census must have been taken just before Alice was born.
So it seems that Jane was filling out these various forms with conflicting information, perhaps to cover the trail that the father(s) of her two daughters was/were not married to her? It's quite a mystery?!