Generation 6

Robert Finall - b 22/10/1768 bap 21/11/1768 in All Saints, Northampton, the middle of three known children of William FINALL (written as FINAL in many early registers) and Mary TEBETT (sometimes written as TEBUTT) who had married in Northampton on 3/9/1763. William was a shopkeeper in Northampton (1760s rates book & baptisms) born c1739 and died in Kingsthorpe, Nhants, in 1819 aged 80. Mary died in 1803 and is buried in All Saints.

On 12th Jan 1795 (correction from 1794 - church year problem in register transcription again) Robert married Charlotte BARFORD in Abthorpe, Northants (Abthorpe  is approx 3 miles SW of Towcester, so not far from Silverstone, and is sometimes written as Abethorpe or Abthorp). They had three children - see 7-6.1 below - the first of whom was baptised the same day as his parents married. It is believed that Robert at this time was in the leather trade and that he kept with this for a time after his marriage into the Barford family of farmers.

Tracing Robert's ancestry has proved to be most difficult as there were several Finall families in Northants  at the same time, all with sons called Robert. but the one above has been chosen as the most likely on several counts, not least his age best fits the 1841 census. Comparably there were two Charlotte Barfords baptised in Abthorpe within a year of one another. This has led some researchers to choose as Robert's bride the daughter of Valentine BARFORD & Elizabeth GIBBINS who was baptised there in Sep 1773  but sadly that Charlotte died two months later and was buried in Abthorpe on 12/11/1773.  

'Our' Charlotte Barford was instead the daughter of Robert BARFORD and Elizabeth HIGHAM of Silverstone who married at Whittlebury in the northern part of the parish of Abthorpe on 7/5/1770. Charlotte was baptised 7/10/1774 at St John the Baptist in Abthorpe. From at least the mid 17th to early 20th centuries, the extensive Barford family resided in Foscote, a hamlet a mile N E of Abthorpe on the road back towards Towcester. (Foscote is often confused with Foscot in Oxon or written as Firscote or Foscott). The Barford family were principally farmers and tenants of the Grafton Estate, latterly specialising in a Leicestershire breed of sheep. The hamlet was progressively abandoned during the late 19th century as the rural economy worsened and, of the last ones left, some emigrated to New Zealand in the 1920's taking their Leicestershire sheep with them. There is now little evidence left of the hamlet, even on aerial surveys. However, Charlotte's grandfather, Thomas Barford, lived for a time 'over the border' in Shenley, Bucks, where his wife Dorothy nee CLARE's family were farmers on the Grafton's estate there. Equally little remains of Shenley but this is because it has been swallowed up by the Milton Keynes conurbation.  

Although some birth or baptism records have been found for the other offspring of Thomas and Dorothy Barford, those for son Robert could not be traced so, as his marriage record doesn't give his father's name either, his parentage had not been proven. However, thanks to Mary Hulbert nee Barford of Abthorpe, it is now certain. There was a christening of a John Barfoot, son of Thomas and Dorothy Barfoot, in Shenley on 25th Feb 1739 and, taken in isolation, he appears to be a 'replacement' for the son John baptised there in 1723 who it was assumed had died. This has been disproved by Thomas's Will of 1769 in which John is mentioned as the eldest son and Robert as his Executor. Hence it seems that the 1739 'John' was actually 'Robert', an error having been made in the register or its transcription for the Bishop.

An at present not totally corroborated Pedigree on the Internet gives our Robert's forebears as follows (all locations mentioned are in Northants unless otherwise stated) and if it is proven correct, it takes us 3 generations further back that the Beckwiths ! .....

• Robert bc1739 - his (also John & Valentine's) parents (=Gen 4) were Thomas BARFORD (b1698 in Foscote, d 1769) who had married c1721 Dorothy CLARE of Shenley (abt 1698-1769).

• Thomas's parents (=Gen 3) were John BARFORD (b30/10/1673 in Foscote, dc1760 in Slapton (1m NW of Abthorpe) who had married in 1695 in Towcester one Priscilla RAMPTON (bc1672 in Rickmansworth, Herts, dc 1735 Slapton). Abthorpe baptism records confirm John's birthdate and parentage as well as listing siblings Alice (b1671), Valentine (b appropriately on 14/02/1676), Thomas (1678) and Mary (1679)

• John's parents (=Gen 2) were (another) John BARFORD (c1636 Foscote-1685, Northampton) who had married Mary PLACE (bc1647 in Slapton, d1718)

• There has been a suggestion that John was a son of Noah Barford (c1610-1645 at the battle of Naseby).

Going back to Robert and Charlotte Finall, they obviously initially stayed in or around Foscote as their children were noted as being from there but the couple left the area in the early 19th century and moved to London as they were in Holborn in the 1841 census - sadly in the Workhouse there where they both died within the following 4 years.  

Generation 7

Please note that the three children below are not listed in birth order 

William Finall b24/01/1796 in Northants, d Mar qtr 1862 in Islington

On 13/02/1832 at St George's Hanover Sq W1, married Hannah MACKENZIE (1807-1871) 

One source has said that, as a young man, William was in the service of the Earl of Musgrave, a governor of Jamaica. The obit in the NY Times for Constantine Henry Phipps, aka Lord Normanby, refers to him as 'Earl of Musgrave' and confirms that he was appointed Governor of Jamaica in 1831 (and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland two years later) but most other sources quote him as having been 'Earl Mulgrave of Mulgrave' (later also Lord Normanby). As the Mulgrave's estate is just north of Whitby, near Lythe and Sandsend, this would explain how he came to meet and marry a local girl (Hannah Mackenzie). Their first child (William) was also baptised in Lythe and the later censuses quote him as having been born there too so it is a bit of a puzzle how William and Hannah came to be married in London, and at St George's no less.  

In 1841 the family are shown at Chapel Street, Islington with William's occupation as 'Jeweller Journeyman' while in 1851 his occupation is still the same but they have moved to 18, Polliney (?) Terrace, Islington. After William's death, Hannah and (unmarried) son William moved to 20 Roman Road, Islington.

For details of their 3 children, please see 8-7.1 below

John Finall born Foscote Northants 1798, died 1801

Robert Finall born late 1794/early 1795 in Foscote, Northants, baptised in Abthorpe on 12th Jan 1795 (same time as his parents married), died 25/12/1857 at 24 Marshall St Westminster (PR).  

On Christmas Day 1817, Robert married Elizabeth POTTER,  also b 1795 but in Northampton itself. She was the daughter of John POTTER, a leather trader in Northampton, and his wife Mary SEABROOK who had married at All Saints, Northampton in 1792. 

Between 1818 and 1834 Robert & Elizabeth had 7 children, the youngest 5 of whom appear with them in the 1841 census in Waltham Cross, Cheshunt district, Herts, Robert shown as a Coach Trimmer and the family name mis-transcribed as 'Small'.

Elizabeth's death is recorded in her sister Ann's diary as having been on 23rd March 1843 aet 47 yrs with no place of death shown but the BMD entry for her  in Q1 1843 is in Berkhamstead, Herts. What she was doing there has yet to be established but there were Final families in the nearby Amersham, Chesham & Bovingdon areas.   

In the 1851 census, Robert is shown as Robert 'Finale', a 55 year old Coach Trimmer, born in 'Foscott, Northants' living at 3, Seward St, St Barnabus, Finsbury, London together with 3 of his younger children (Ann, Robert & John) and a 'wife' Mary Ann, a 45yr old book-binder from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. In fact 'wife' was a bit pre-emptive because the couple didn't marry until 27th July 1851 in St Lukes Finsbury, the brides full name being Mary Ann RUSHMAN, seemingly a spinster. Robert died in 1857 and during their 6 year marriage, no children were born to them.. 

In 1861 Mary Ann is shown as "Mary Ann Funnel" a widowed 56 yr old Bootmaker born in Bury St Edmunds living on her own at 7 Hollow Street, Westminster but indexed as 'son' of the family head (!). Sadly in 1871 she is shown as a 70yr old inmate of Westminster Union Workhouse in the Golden Square district, where she was described on entry thereto as "Ill & Destitute". She died there some four years later, in Sep qtr 1875 at the quoted age of 73 but the wide variety of quoted ages is not abnormal, particularly in institutions.. 

One IGI source attributes all manner of children to Robert & Elizabeth nee Potter, but para 8-7.3 below lists the seven positively traced..

Generation 8

William Finall baptised in Lythe (N of Whitby) on 29/06/1832, died Jun qtr 1888 in St Olave, London. He does not appear ever to have married.

In 1851 he is, at age 18, still living at home with his parents but is listed as an 'Architects Clerk'. After his father's death in 1862, he moved with his mother to Roman Road , Barnesbury where he is listed in 1871 as just a 'Clerk', but in 1881, almost ten years after his mother's death, he is an 'Architect' lodging at 2, Turle Road, Islington in the company of the Webb family, over a dozen young ladies as school boarders and a deaf housekeeper. He is shown as being born at "Sandsend, Whitty". No comment.

It will be noted (from Tree 1 notes) that his sister Eliza and her husband Thomas John Beckwith also lived in Roman Road in the 1860's and had connections with St Olave parish in the 1880's  

At home with parents in 1841 and 1851 censuses, she then seems to have spent the rest of her life in service in various parts of Islington (usually with misspelled or mis-transcribed name and "optimistic" age in the censuses) although from brother-in-law Thomas John Beckwith's diary for 1865, it does seem that she was living with them at that time. 

In 1861 she is a Servant to Mr & Mrs Mullett at 57 City Road,  in 1871 she appears as a 34yr old Servant / Housekeeper to Mr & Mrs Lawrence Mercer, a grocer, at 404 Camden Road, Islington while finally in 1881 she is shown as Mary A Fennell, a 42 yr old Cook and Domestic Servant to Mr & Mrs John Stephens at 34 Marquess Road.    

Married in St Pancras on 5th Dec 1858 Thomas John BECKWITH

For more details of her life, please see her husband, Thomas John Beckwith ; for a photo of her please see the Beckwith Index Page and for details of her nine children, please see Tree 2

Married in June qtr 1842 in Blaby, central Leicestershire, Alice CARTWRIGHT (1819-Mar qtr 1881 in Pancras)

In the 1861 census, they are shown as both aged 40 and living in London together with their 6 children: Elizabeth (18 - b Blaby), William (16 - b Blaby), Alice (12, b Northants), Fanny (10, b Leics), Martha (6, b Congleton, Cheshire) and Samuel (9mo, b London) .... so they had obviously moved about rather frequently in the preceding 20 years. Also with them is William's younger brother Robert (shown as aged 18 rather than 28) and he's a coach painter just like both of the Williams.

In the 1871 census (where the family has been mis-transcribed as Tinall) they are at 19 The Grove, St Pancras where William is a 52yr old Coal Porter while Alice, also 52, is a Cap Maker. Also present are Alice 21 and Samuel 12. 

Their daughter Elizabeth had or took the middle name Barford (according to descendent Eva Davies) and married George EAMES (1838-1878) on 25/05/1863 in Pancras. They had two children, Wm George (b1866) and Henry (b1876, d1915 in Tufnell Pk). By 1881 both her parents had died as had her husband too so she is listed as Head of the household at the parental home (now shown as 19 Grove St, Pancras) and as a Charwoman.

Coincidence ? A William FINALL married a Fanny EAMES in Bovingdon, Herts on 5th Sep 1830

In 1841 she is listed (as Charlotte Ferrall) as a female servant in a school in Cheshunt, Herts, the town to which her parents had also moved. Two years later, on 19th Mar 1843, and by then in Marylebone, she married  James RAPLEY from Edmonton who was 19 years her senior and described as a 'porter' although after his death, their daughter described him as having been a 'carman' (tram driver). 

The couple subsequently lived beside the railway arches in Grange Street (now Haven St) off Grange Road (now Castlehaven Road) in the Chalk Farm part of Kentish Town/Camden Town, London and had 5 children between 1844 and 1854 - Charlotte Sophia 1844-1844, James Samuel 1845, John 1847-1848, Rebecca Mary 1849 and Mary Ann in 1854 so only James (with John's age) and Rebecca are listed with their parents in 1851.

Three years after husband James died in 1858 Charlotte married again. On 1st April 1861 in St Pancras she married George COX, a groom from Gt Beddow in Essex who, in a reversal this time, was 8 years younger than Charlotte. No children of this union have been traced.. In the 1861 census, when they were in Leybourne Road, Camden (literally round the corner from their previous abode) only James and Mary Ann are with them as Rebecca Mary was a pupil at a school near St Pancras Station..

According to her aunt Ann Potter's diary kindly transcribed by Eva Davies, Charlotte died on 1st May 1869 and this neatly ties in with the burial record of a Charlotte Cox from Kentish Town on May 9th in Edmonton. As for George Cox, he was still at number 5 Leybourne Road in 1871, now living with his younger brother, another 'carman' (and in the next door apartment to step-son James Samuel, now a railway clerk, plus his new Cornish wife and their baby daughter) but he re-married in 1876 one Sarah Pickett (b1830 in Marlebone) and moved back to Gt Beddow where, in 1881, he was mine host at the Bell Inn with Sarah and her son. George died in Chelmsford district in 1913 aet 83..

For the 3 children who survived into adulthood, please see 9.12 below

According to her Aunt Ann's diary she died in October 1854 'age 48' but no death record can be found,  she hasn't been traced in 1851 the census and she has proven not to be the Mary Finall who married in Amersham in 1852. A mystery girl ! 

In Northampton on 27th July 1845 she married Lawrence Murphy who, according to censuses, was born in Ireland c 1825. He is listed in 1851 at 2 Berry Court, St Andrew Undershaft, City of London as a Boot Closer but in 1861 now in Haggerston it is Elizabeth who is the Boot Closer while he is a Leather Cutter.

The couple had no children and he died July 22nd 1880 in Mile End Old Town district (Ann's diary gives date, BMD the location) interestingly giving aet 50.  

Elizabeth has yet to he traced in 1881 but in 1891 she is living with her brother Robert and his wife Kate at 56 Hanningford Road, Islington. However she must have returned to Northampton soon after as she died there in 1893. The probate of Elizabeth Potter Murphy was granted on 5th December1893 in the sum of £67.10s to James Bradshaw (Shoe Foreman) (see Robert below) and Robert Henry William Finall (Clicker). Her address at death is given as 45 Adnitt Road, Northampton. 

She married Samuel Crocker RICH (1828-1902) in the Strand on 4th Sep 1854. The couple were still at his pre-marriage address in Soho in 1871 but by 1881 they had moved to the more enchanting London suburb of Peckham where he is shown as a "Boot Maker, out of work", Ann with no occupation and 28yr old niece Mary Rapley is a "Needle Woman".

The couple had no children and according to her Aunt Ann's diary, Ann Potter Rich died on 25th March 1884 aet 53, which is confirmed by the BMD entry in Q1 1884 for Whitechapel, E London. Samuel seems then to have returned to his native Bath, Somerset, where he died in 1902.

It seems that he then moved north to the family's original Northampton home as he married Emma CARVELL (bc1837 in Everdon, N'hants) there in Mar qtr 1865 and their first child, Emma, was also born there in Mar qtr 1866. However, it was back south again for their 2nd child, Robert, who was born in Hammersmith in 1868 while Robert snr died there on 4th May 1877. In 1881, 4 years after Robert snr's death, the remaining family is listed with that of Auguste Herschell at 4 Clifton Villas, Clifton Rd, Hammersmith, with Emma snr (44) as 'Charwoman', Emma jnr (15) as 'Domestic Servant' and Robert (13) as errand boy. 

A move back to Northampton again then seems to have been made as Emma jnr (shown as Emma Ann P Finall) married a James BRADSHAW there in Mar qtr 1890. Emma (snr) went to live with the Bradshaws for a time as she's listed in 1901 at Hoddesden, Herts with James Bradshaw (34), Emma (35) and their 3 daughters, Florence, May and Violet. Another return to Northampton seems to have been made by Emma snr as she died there in Dec 1914 at the age of 76.

Noted above as living at home in 1851. In 1861 he is listed in Crown Court, Westminster, age 24 from Leighton Buzzard and a 'Coach Trimmer' with 'wife' Emma (age 20, b Middlesex) and 8 month old son John. The birth of a John Robert Finall is recorded in Sep qtr 1860's BMD for St James, Westminster (= Golden Sq area) with the parish register recording a baptism on 2nd Nov 1861 at St Thomas, Regent St (handy for Hamleys) but, inexplicably, the birth date in this entry is 17/07/1859 which doesn't make sense. It should at least be 1860.

Emma then disappears so she's a total mystery as there's no record of the death of an Emma Finall in the early 1860s. Moreover, there's no record of any marriage to John and when he marries Catherine (Kate) Mulkern in 1866, he describes himself as a Batchelor. Birth records of that era don't give Mother's surnames so without her surname, it's impossible to trace her. 

In 1871 a John Finall is listed in the census as 'Jno' Finall, age 35 and a 'Coach Trimmer' from Leighton Buzzard, living at 4 Phillips Buildings, Pancras with wife Kate (29, b Paddington) and son 'Jno' (12) born St Pancras. Similarly in 1881 he is at 71 Kenton Street, Bloomsbury, working as a 'Coach Trimmer', (still) married to Kate  (born in Paddington 1843) and now with 3 children all born in 'Middlesex': John (b1861), Robert (b1874) and Anne (b1878). Ten years later, not too much had changed - they are at 54 Hemmingford Road, Barnsbury, he a 56yr old Coach Trimmer, Kate a 48yr old housewife, Robert (17) a china packer and 'Annie' (12) a scholar but there's no sign of John jnr.

Ten years on again, 1901 finds almost no change other than address and yet another dubious age for John snr - they are at 58 Arundel Sq, Lower Holloway, London, he a 68 year old coach trimmer, Kate a 58 yr old housewife, Robert (26) a bricklayer and Anne Catherine Sophia (22), a school teacher and there's still  no sign of John jnr. By 1911 though Anne had married an Archibald Thomas Lee (b1878) in Edmonton in 1907, Robert has left home and their parents had changed their allegiance from Arsenal to West Ham (smart people) with Kate now listed as 'Catherine' .... but still no sign of John jnr. The final dubious age for John snr comes at death when it is quoted as 86 (in 1913) but this could be a transcription error for 80. No death has been found as yet for Catherine 

The disappearance of John jnr from the records may be explained by another census entry found for 1881 aboard HMS Terror which seems to have been stationed in Bermuda at that time. It is unusual for someone to have two census entries in the same year but not unknown, especially where the armed forces are involved, because the forms are often completed a few days before census day in anticipation of what the situation will be on the day but they don't get changed if things don't go to plan. Although the age is spot on and the birthplace of Bloomsbury is plausible, it is possibly not him.

What happened to Robert is not currently known but he is believed to have died in 1952. Annie and husband Archibald had 4 children then retired to Hove on the Costa Geriatrica where both died within weeks of one another in 1960.

End Note - Arundel Sq is close to Highbury Corner (High & I station) so is literally within yards of where Surls & Beckwiths resided - and in the same era.    

Generation 9

On 18th Nov 1867 he married Mary Ann(e) KESLAKE at Holy Trinity church, Haverstock Hill. She was born in 1846 in Mylor parish near Falmouth in Cornwall and in their 12 year life together, they had 3 known children - James William Rapley (1870-1943), Florence Sophia Rapley (1872-1915) and Ellen Bessie (1877-1884).

James died on 24th Jan 1879 in Chalk Farm, Kentish Town so in in the 1881 census Mary Anne is shown as a widow with the 3 children at 20 Clarence Road, Kentish Town, a property that was to remain in the family's occupancy for many years to come. In June 1881 Mary Anne married Frederick Edward REES b1844 in Carmarthen, Wales,  and they had three children together between 1884 and 1887. Mary Anne died at 20 Clarence Road on 18th Sep 1916 while Frederick survived there until Dec qtr 1925

Strays

On 2nd October 1870 a Henry Finall married a Mary Ann TARRANT in Pancras Old Church - is this the same Henry (with Mary Ann being mis-heard as Marion by the census enumerators or vice versa at the church) ? 

More importantly, the profession of  'Coach Painter' and birth in Leicestershire does seem a tad familiar .... but how was he related ? 

Coincidentally, just two weeks earlier in the very same church, a Henry Hugh FINALL was baptised (having been born on 30/08/1870). No father's name is recorded in the IGI birth or baptism entries but the mother's name in both is Alice Finall. To quote an old song title "Who's Alice?" Most likely would seem to be Alice b1849, daughter of William Seabrook Finall (8.11). Whatever, young Henry died shortly afterwards (Dec qtr 1870) and there's a marriage entry for an Alice Finall, again in the very same church, on 19th May 1872 when she married one Hugh MORRIS.