cant find Henry & Maria in 1881

[BlueSavannah]

My great x 2 grandmother Agnes Irons had two half siblings from her mother's first marriage.

They were Henry Fletcher born 1868c and Maria Fletcher born 1869c, both in Heanor, Derbyshire. Henry & Maria were baptised together at Heanor, St Lawrence on the 4th September 1870. They were children of Alfred Fletcher & Elizabeth nee Berrisford. Alfred died early 1870 aged 24. I have founded widowed Elizabeth and the two children on the 1871 census in Heanor.

Elizabeth marries Eli Irons in 1874 in Dronfield and on the 1881 census, there is no sign of the two Fletcher children. Until today, I had assumed (I know, should never assume) both the children had died as I couldnt find anything related to them at all.

Today, however, I got a match on ancestry for a WW1 record for Henry Fletcher born 1868c in Heanor, Derbyshire. I looked at this record and although it said it was a WW1 record, the record gave details of Henry's time in the army from 1883 to 1889. It gave his next of kin as; mother, Elizth Hirons of Coxons Yard, Draycott, Derbyshire. I think this is probably a mistranscription of Elizabeth Irons which would be correct as she was known as this now in 1883.

As this is likely to be Henry, I am wondering where Henry & possibly Maria were in 1881. I have searched Ancestry and not found a likely match for either of them. Maria still could have died.

Elizabeth Irons/Fletcher/Berrisford was in Selston, Notts in 1881 with Eli and three of her children to that marriage. In 1891, she was in Treflis, Wales, with three children whilst Eli was in Derbyshire.

Any help on the 1881 census would be very much appreciated.

[Merry]

I've not looked yet (eating! lol), but they might well be called Irons in 1881 if you've not ttried that yet.

[BlueSavannah]

ooh, hadnt thought of that Merry. However, had a look under Irons, tried variations etc and nothing has come up.

This family are causing me a few headaches, I spent most of yesterday looking for mother Elizabeth Berrisford with her parents on the 61 census and nothing for them either :(

[Phoenix]

When Henry joined the army, where did he sign up? (Just to narrow the field slightly!)

[BlueSavannah]

It looks like it says Bristol and he was in the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He was aged 15 when he signed up in March 1883. The pages are in poor condition. After the initial page, and the page which gave next of kin, all the other pages are lists of all his bad behaviour lol.

[Merry]

but they might well be called Irons

Actually they probably were not Irons as I see Eli very clearly states William Fletcher to be his step-son in 1881, so I doubt the other two were generally known as Irons if William wasn't!

Maybe they were temporarily staying nearby with family/friends etc and didn't get included in the other houshold?

[BlueSavannah]

William Edward Fletcher was born aprox 1872 so was not the son of Alfred Fletcher but was a couple of years before Elizabeth married Eli so isnt his son either. However, I think they were close even though Eli does clearly state step son.

On the 91 census, when Elizabeth and three children are in Wales, Eli and William are boarders in Derbyshire and he was listed as Irons then but I think this was given in error by head of household as William goes back to Fletcher when he married.

[Phoenix]

Cant see any likely Henrys born Hean* Henrys who are grandsons born Debryshire HFs etc

It's possible that he has run away from home in which case he might not be using his real surname, but he's rather young to be by himself.

Was he a labourer when he joined up?

[BlueSavannah]

he was listed as a shoemaker when he signed up which is rather odd because in Heanor, most of the men/boys were coal miners. I have found a Henry Fletcher on the 1891 census in Stapleford, Notts, that matches with year/place of birth and he is a coal miner. This Henry is living with a Bates family and next door is a Fletcher family headed by Edward Fletcher. I am wondering if I need to look at Henry's father's family to try and work out who the grandparents of Henry & Maria are on his father's side.

I did notice on the long list of incidents that Henry comitted in the army, one was fraudulent enlistment!