Mary Jane Elizabeth Darling

[Phoenix]

This is NOT the handcuff queen, but William George Hawkins' wife.

She was born 26 April 1877 (I had a copy of her birth certificate)

Her father was a sailor who died when she was tiny and her mother remarried to Thomas Morgan.
Here she is in 1881:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7572/images/HAMRG11_1151_1154-0568?pId=6599500

and 1891:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/6598/images/HAMRG12_864_867-0642?pId=12650489

She married William George in 1897 from 2 Wingfield St:
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=S2%2FGBPRS%2FPORTSMOUTH%2F103772558%2F00 054&parentid=GBPRS%2FPORTSMOUTH%2FMAR%2F00190992%2F2

and her sister Maud was a witness.

The first baby, Mabel, was born in 1901, but Mabel and Mary are both invisible on the 19011 census.

Her next three children are born in Grays, Essex but by 1911, she is by herself in the Workhouse:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/2352/images/rg14_09994_0012_29?pId=53205426

Then a gap of eighteen years, until she turns up at her husband's inquest to take a pound from the poor box.

William died 8 June 1929, and she administered his estate 6 September 1929, and their sons 23 November 1929:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1904/images/31874_222499-00141?pId=886475

And then she disappears....

I looked for Mary J born 26 April 1877 on the 1839 and found this:

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=TNA/R39/1733/1733J/016/38

Mary J Baker married to Edward Baker, a ferry away from Essex.

And this:

Marriages Sep 1929

Baker Edward Hawkins Gravesend 2a 2221
Hawkins Mary J Baker Gravesend 2a 2221

So, did she waste no time in marrying someone she might have been shacked up with for years? Or is this a pure coincidence?

[kiterunner]

Possible death for Edward 1950 Chatham district (included Gravesend at the time) age 83.

[Phoenix]

I have decided to order the admons. That should provide addresses for Mary before I plunge in with a marriage cert.

[Phoenix]

For the record, the most likely candidate for Edward is the son of Charles and Elizabeh Ann born 25 February 1867 (28 Feb per 1939) Ifield, Kent.

I have found someone with pictures of Edward Baker, so I've emailed them, in case they can shine a light on his second wife.

The death you found, Kite, is the correct one as he and Mary J were buried in Gravesend from the same address as the 1939.

[Merry]

It looks like the Edward Baker from Ifield/Singlewell, Kent married Harriet Emma Tompkins in Q2 1891 Strood district, had two children by 1901 (Edward George 1892 and Reginald Victor 1897) in Gravesend, and later they moved to Canada...

1911:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8947/images/e082_e002038496?backlabel=ReturnSearchResults&queryId=f4817fb957813f90e315b0ac9ae70550&pId=6721774

1921:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8991/images/1921_099-e003052090?backlabel=ReturnSearchResults&queryId=8b415aeb0ae8b680b41ede47297589ce&pId=3314155

1908 passenger list:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1263/images/IMCANQC1865_T493-00283?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=a0fed8e43f2807b4734455431bcc01db&usePUB=true&_phsrc=WEQ6581&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=5750575

(My OH forked out for a Worldwide sub and then forgot to tell me - just discovered this today!)

Edward, Harriet and Reginald returned in 1921, giving an address in Meopham where Harriet was from:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1518/images/30807_A000696-00479?backlabel=ReturnSearchResults&queryId=0c4049dc6098fef9b54b93f70f4aa561&pId=27479067

After that I loose them as there are just too many Bakers! There's an Edward and Harriet on the 1939 register, but he is a bit old and a retired shepherd, which doesn't sound right. I was hoping to bump off Harriet so Edward could more easlily be the one you have the marriage for in 1929.

[Merry]

There's an Ancestry tree that has son Reginald married a Smith in Canada in 1925, so I looked for him travelling back there between 1921 and 1925, in case he took his parents back too! Can't identify him at the moment.

[Merry]

There are a few trees with this Edward Baker and Harriet Emma Tompkins, but only one with a death record for Edward. Unfortunately, the tree with a death for Edward (not the death Kate found) is a complete muddle, merging this Edward and Harriet with another couple called Edward and Maud H Baker who were living in Bermondsey in 1911. I think I can ignore the death they have offered!

[Phoenix]

That explains why I could not find them in 1911! Thank you Merry!

A Harriet E Baker died in 1924:

Deaths Sep 1924
Baker Harriet E 61 Gravesend 2a 614

So I wonder if they stayed initially with her relations and then moved back to old haunts?

[Merry]

The 1924 death is Harriet Elizabeth, not Harriet Emma. :(

[Phoenix]

The 1924 death is Harriet Elizabeth, not Harriet Emma. :(


Damn. It was all so nice and respectable.

[Merry]

I've searched the GRO index for Baker, second forename Emma, from 1921 until the cut off in 1957. This is the only fit for that period:

BAKER, HARRIET EMMA 75
GRO Reference: 1945 M Quarter in SURREY NORTH-EASTERN Volume 02A Page 171

However, there's a Harriet E Baker in Richmond in 1939 with husband William, and a likely marriage for them in 1890 - bride, Harriet Emma Rixon aged 20 in 1890.

So, Mrs Edward Baker either dropped her middle name, or died after 1957, or ran off with the postman, or 101 other things.........

[Phoenix]

She is in over 50 trees, and none are providing a date of death. Perhaps he buried her in the back garden...

[Merry]

Let's how the person with the photos of Edward Baker comes up trumps!

[Phoenix]

Meanwhile, I have for once in this tale (I think) found the the right Mary Jane Elizabeth.

When she gets administration of her husband and sons' estates, she is living at 72 Clarence Street Gravesend. This is not an insurmountable distance from 19a Brunswick Road. I rest my case.