Weddescendants - pafc01 - Generated by Personal Ancestral File

   

The Wedderburn Family - 2

jamaica - england - south africa - australia - new zealand

 

More information? Peter Garwood

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GA Wedderburn & Co.
Southampton: Tel (+44) (0)23 80 227645
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Research on the Wedderburn family continued on the basis of the following information from our previous research:

Jabez Wedderburn, son of Robert Wedderburn of Long Acre in London, was apprenticed for seven years on 7 March 1811 to a blacksmith, William Lewis Nicholl. He later became a scalemaker (being the first known member of his family to do so) and married (although no record of the marriage has been found) Sophia Clarkson or Surrage, the illegitimate daughter of James Clarkson and Phoebe Surrage, who had been born in Hackney in 1802. Jabez and Sophia lived in Spitalfields in the early 1820s before moving over the river to Bermondsey in about 1827.  They were of West Street, Bermondsey in 1832 but had not been found in the 1841 or 1851 census returns of Bermondsey (which are unindexed) and we therefore did not know where Jabez had been born. Searches had been made for his birth or baptism in indexes to English and Scottish parish registers without success.

 

Jabez and Sophia had six children. Their son Jabez, born 1827, married Harriet Bassom in 1846 and was also a scalemaker. We had also been researching a more modern branch of the family who settled in Southampton to set up a scalemaking business there.  It was known that this family descended from a George Alexander Wedderburn, who moved to Southampton in the 1870s and had sons Herbert, Lionel and F W V Wedderburn and died in 1917. We had suggested that George Alexander could probably be identified as the George Wedderburn, son of Jabez and Harriet, born in 1855/6 at Golden Lane (St Luke's, East London) but this needed confirmation. To confirm the identity of George Alexander Wedderburn who set up the Southampton business in the 1870s, we first made a search for the birth certificate of George Wedderburn, born in about 1855/6 in the Golden Lane area, son of Jabez and Harriet, to see if his middle name was Alexander. This proved to be the case and the connection was thus made certain (see Appendix i):

 

Registration District East London

Sub-district Cripplegate

City of London

3 Aug 1856 George Alexander [son of] Jabez Wedderburn Master Scale Maker [of] 8 Little Arthur Street, London [&] Harriet Wedderburn formerly Bassom

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The family was living at Little Arthur Street (Jabez senior had lived at Great Arthur Street, Finsbury St Luke in 1822). These are two small streets running parallel to Old Street, between Golden Lane and Aldersgate Street (see map at Appendix ii).

 

We now wished to find George Alexander Wedderburn and his family in a census, to clarify the family relationships of the younger generations. The 1881 census has recently been indexed by county and so we began by looking at the index for Hampshire, but there was no entry for George (Alexander) Wedderburn. We checked the Middlesex index for both George and his parents Jabez and Harriet Wedderburn but again the result was negative. We looked at an 1871 directory and found the following:

 

London Directory

Jabez Wedderburn, scalemaker 35 Upper Queen Street; Islington, N

James Wedderburn, scalemaker 5 Berkley Street, Lambeth Walk SE

 

James was presumably the brother of Jabez, baptised in 1824. We looked at the 1871 and 1881 census returns of Upper Queen Street but the family was not to be found there or in the surrounding enumeration district. We now tried the 1881 census index for Surrey but found only Jabez William Wedderburn (son of Jabez and Harriet) and his uncle Robert:

 

Census 3 April 1881

SRD Camberwell, RSD Peckham

PRO RG II 681 ED 7fol 77r

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73 Summer Road Peckham

 

Jabez Wedderburn                             Head mar                              36            Scalemaker                           London

Ruth Wedderburn                              Wife mar                               36                                                           Bedfordshire

Jabez Wedderburn                             Son                                        13            Scholar                                  London

Ernest Wedderburn                           Son                                        12            Scholar                                  London

Walter Wedderburn                           Son                                        10            Scholar                                  London

Ruth Wedderburn                              Dau                                        6             Scholar                                  London

Florence Wedderburn                       Dau                                        2                                                            London

Beatrice Wedderburn                        Dau                                        1                                                            London

John Bryant                                                                                        19            Apprentice                           London

 

This census return had been noted in the starting information with which we had been originally provided, but 'Summer Road' had been misread.

 

Robert and Martha Wedderburn were living at 108 Commercial Road and this census return had already been examined (see our previous report, page 2).

 

Returning to the Hampshire census returns we found George Alexander at Bernard Street (his address in 1917) in 1891:

 

Census 5 April 1891

Southampton

PRO RG 12 920 ED 48 flOOv

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12 Bernard Street

George Alexander Wedderburn         Head m                  34  Scale maker employer                   London

Florence Ada Wedderburn                 Wife m                  31                                                           Jersey

Florence Louisa Wedderburn            Dau                        7                                                             Southampton

George Herbert Wedderburn              Son                        4                                                             Southampton

Harriett Maud Wedderburn                Dau                        2                                                             Southampton

Kate Spencer                                        Serv                        15                                                           Southampton

 

Presumably Lionel Wedderburn was born after 1891.

 

Returning now to the earlier generations, we looked at the 1851 census of the Golden Lane area, Cripplegate, where Jabez and Harriet were living in 1856. There was a chance that Jabez Wedderburn senior might also have been living there. We found Jabez and Harriet:

 

Census 30 March 1851

SRD East London

RD Cripplegate

PRO HO 107 1525 ED 4fol 534v

 

8 Little Arthur Street, Liberty of Glass House Yd

Jabez Wedderburn                23            Scalemaker            Kent St South

Harriott Wedderburn            21                                           Old Kent Road

Jabez Wedderburn                1                                             St Lukes

Harriott Wedderburn           3                                              City

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The record was not complete and Jabez's birthplace was rather cryptic (he was baptised in Bermondsey) but there is a Kent Street in St Saviour's parish, Southwark, near St Olave's. The London liberties were areas which fell geographically outside the City of London but which enjoyed the same privileges. Interestingly, Harriet now said she was born in the Old Kent Road; the 1861 census (see our previous report, page 4) would seem to have been defective since it also gave an incorrect birthplace for Jabez. We now turned to the International Genealogical Index. This has been recently issued in CD-ROM format which enables us to make a quick search of all English counties, rather than searching the county indexes individually. We made a search for the marriage of Jabez Wedderburn and Sophia Surrage or Clarkson, but this was not found.  We then made a search for the baptism of Jabez, son of Robert Wedderburn but again there was no relevant entry (we checked also the section for Wales, and 1994 addenda). Looking in detail at the London/Middlesex section of the IGI, we noted the baptism of four children who seemed likely, from their names, to be siblings of Jabez Wedderburn senior. We followed up these entries in the original parish registers:

  

St Katherine Creechurch, Leadenhall Street

Original Registers

Baptisms

31 Mar 1790 Maria Weatherbourn daughter of Robert and Elizabeth

born 4 March

I Jul 1791    George son of Robert and Elizabeth Weatherboume

born 2 June

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Holborn Lying In Hospital, Endell Street

Original Registers

Baptisms RG 8 59 No 81

27 Jul 1786              Came in Labor Eliz. Weatherbum wife of Robt occupation taylor;

age 33, settlement Kingstown Jam"

Delivered 24 July, boy and girl baptised 27 July Robt and Eliz.

discharged 11 August

Recommender Montrose Dutchss

 

This last entry was particularly interesting. Holborn Lying In Hospital is in Endell Street, at right angles to Long Acre where Jabez's father was living in 1811 when he was apprenticed. Robert's parish of settlement was Kingstown in Jamaica; this had to be given in case the family fell in need of parish relief and needed to apply to their home parish for assistance (although it seems fairly unlikely that they would have been shipped back to Jamaica in this instance).

 

St Katherine's, Creechurch is some distance to the east, but it may have been Elizabeth's home parish, for here the couple were married:

 

St Katherine Creechurch

Original Registers

Marriages

5 Nov 1781 Robert Wedderburn (X) of this parish bachelor and Elisth Ryan of this

parish spinster

Banns

Witnesses: Abrm Gore, Wm Brown

 

Robert could not sign his name; Elizabeth could.

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Jabez Wedderburn would have been about thirteen or fourteen when he was apprenticed in 1811.  We searched the registers of baptism of St Katherine's Creechurch from 1791 to 1811 but found no further Wedderburn baptisms. Although we did not have proof of the connection, Jabez named children Robert and Elizabeth and the name George was used in subsequent generation. The name Wedderburn was not common in London and it therefore seemed reasonable to assume that Robert Wedderburn of Long Acre was the husband of Elizabeth Ryan and the father of Robert, Elizabeth, Maria and George.

  

We turned to probate sources, to add to our knowledge of the family and in particular to look for the will of Robert Wedderburn or Weatherbourn that might identify his children.  Before 1858, probate matters were dealt with by the local ecclesiastical courts, as wills were historically regarded as religious documents. We searched the probate indexes for the following courts:

 

Commissary Court of Surrey 1752-1858

Archdeaconry Court of Surrey 1752-1858

Commissary Court of London 1800-1858

Archdeaconry Court of London 1781 onwards

Dean and Chapter of St Paul's 1749-1837

Prerogative Court of Canterbury 1750-1800

 

The Prerogative Court of (the Archbishop of) Canterbury, which was in London, had superior jurisdictions over all the local ecclesiastical courts and was used where a testator died overseas or had property in more than one diocese; it was also used in a general way by wealthy families, especially those living in or near the metropolis. Unfortunately there was no sign of a will or administration for Robert Wedderburn.

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We then looked at the indexes to the Principal Probate Registry which has dealt with wills and administrations since 1858, and has annual indexes for the whole of the country. Jabez William Wedderburn, husband of Ruth, died in 1915 but did not leave a will; administration of his estate was granted on 24 June 1916 to Frederick William Wedderburn, scalemaker, his estate being valued at �317 9sh 7d. Frederick William was his nephew, one of the Southampton Wedderburns; all Jabez's children had emigrated to Australia or New Zealand. We found the will of Jabez Wedderburn, husband of Harriet (see Appendix iii):

 

Will of Jabez Wedderburn 1882

This is the last Will and Testament of me Jabez Wedderburn of Nos 46 and 48 Blackheath Road Greenwich in the County of Kent Scale Maker

I give devise and bequeath all my real and personal estate and effects whatsoever and wheresoever to my dear wife Harriet Wedderburn for her absolute use and benefit and I appoint the said Harriet Wedderburn Executrix of this my Will and hereby revoking all former Wills I declare this to be my last Will and Testament In witness whereof I have set my hand this twenty first day of October One thousand eight hundred and eighty.

Signed Jabez Wedderburn

Witnesses: H Howard Solicitor, J J Salter

Proved 13 February 1882 by the oath of Harriet Wedderburn widow

 

This explained why we had not found Jabez and Harriet in the 1881 census indexes; they had moved to Greenwich in Kent. We now found them in the census:

  

Census 3 April 1881

SRD Greenwich, RSD Greenwich West

PRO RG II 722 ED 22fol 54r

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46 Blkheath Rd                   

Jabez Wedderburn                             Head mar               54            Scale Maker          Surrey  Bermonsey

Harritt Wedderburn                           Wife mar               53                                             do         Kent Road           

George Wedderburn                          Son  U                   25            Scale Maker          Middx    London

Frederick Wedderburn                      Son  U                   21             Scale Maker                         London

Mary Wedderburn                             Dau                       18                                                            London

John Wedderburn                              Son                       16                                                             Middx   

Albert Wedderburn                            Son                       10            Scholar                  Kent       Deptford

James Buckler                                      Visitor                 19            Butcher                 Devon

William Ayles                                      Serv U                16             Servt gen                             Unknown

                                                                                                             Scale maker

 

This provided us with the names of three further children. Albert was born in 1871 and we obtained his birth certificate, as this would give us an address (see Appendix iv):

 

Registration District Greenwich

Sub-district St Paul's Deptford

Counties of Kent & Surrey

 

8 May 1871 Albert Edward [son of] Jabez Wedderburn Scale Maker (Master) of

9 Deptford Bridge, Deptford [&] Harriet Wedderburn (X) formerly

Bassom

 

We found the family in the 1871 census:

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Census 2 April 1871

SRD Greenwich, RSD St Paul Deptford

RG 10 289 ED lfol 4r

 

9 Deptford Bridge

Jabez Wedderburn              Head      mar         45            Scale Maker                         Surrey    Bermonsey

Harriett Wedderburn          Wife       mar         44                                                           do           Kent Road

Harriett Wedderburn          Dau        Un          20                                                           City        London

Robert Wedderburn           Son         Mar        18                                                           City        London

George Wedderburn           Son                        16                                                           City        London

James Wedderburn             Son                        14                                                           Middx    Poplar

Frederick Wedderburn       Son                        12                                                           Middx    Poplar

Mary Ann Wedderburn    Dau                         9                                                            Middx    Poplar

John Wedderburn               Son                        5                                                             Middx    Poplar

 

It was here stated that James and Frederick were born in Poplar, but in 1861 their birthplaces had been given as Islington, which seemed more likely as the family were living in Islington in 1861. London Post Office Directories showed Jabez Wedderburn still at 35 Upper Queen Street, Islington in 1871 but at 9 Deptford Bridge from 1872 to 1877. In 1873 Queen Street, Islington in 1871 but at 9 Deptford Bridge from 1872 to 1877. In 1873 and 1874 he was also at 85 Queen's Head Street, Islington.  James (William) Wedderburn, scalemaker (brother of Jabez) was also shown at various addresses:

 

London Post Office Directories

1871  James Wedderburn     scalemaker       5 Berkley St Lambeth Walk

1872  James Wedderburn     scalemaker       5 Church St Lambeth

1874  James Wedderburn     scalemaker       124 Rodney Rd Walworth

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At this point research had to come to a halt. Although we lack absolute proof, it appears that Jabez Wedderburn's father Robert can be identified as a tailor of Kingstown, Jamaica, who married Elizabeth Ryan in London in 1781 and had children Robert, Elizabeth, Maria and George, all older than Jabez. Before looking at Jamaican sources it would be prudent to make further efforts to find the baptism of Jabez Wedderburn. Finding him in the 1841 or 1851 census would be extremely helpful. His eldest daughter Sophia Phebe married in 1838 and we should look at her marriage certificate to see where she was living. We should recommend looking at the entry for Mary Ann Wedderburn noted in the index to St Luke's, Middlesex in 1851, to see if this was his daughter, as this might reveal further clues. James William Wedderburn could also be searched for in case his father went to live with him; we have an address for him in 1871. Further work in directories might also be helpful. Failing this, further searches could be made in churches around Long Acre for the baptism of Jabez Wedderburn: Long Acre belongs to the parish of St Martin in the Fields, which is indexed into the IGI, as is the nearby church of St Paul's, Covent Garden, but it would be worth checking the original registers for the years 1796-1798 when Jabez is likely to have been born. Once these sources have been examined we can then turn to Jamaican sources, which are quite well preserved.

  

Sources Consulted

Civil Registration

General Register Office, St Catherine's House, London

Birth George Alexander Wedderburn 1856

Birth Albert Wedderburn 1871

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Census Returns

Public Record Office, London

1871 Census Upper Queen Street, Islington (negative)

1871 Census 9 Deptford Bridge, London SE (Jabez and Harriet Wedderburn)

1881 Census Index Hampshire

1881 Census Index Middlesex

1881 Census Index Surrey

1881 Census Index Kent

1881 Census: Upper Queen Street, Islington (negative)

1881 Census: 73 Summer Road, Peckham (Jabez and Ruth Wedderburn)

1881 Census: 108 Commercial Road, Peckham (Robert and Martha Wedderburn)

1881 Census: 46 Blackheath Road, Greenwich (Jabez and Harriet Wedderburn)

1891 Census: 12 Bernard Street, Southampton

 

Parish Registers

Guildhall Library

St Katherine Creechurch   Original Registers  Baptisms 1790 - 1811

Marriages 1781

 

Public Record Office, London

Holborn Lying-in Hospital Original Registers  Baptisms 1786

 

Probate Sources

Principal Probate Registry: Indexes 1861-1882; 1915-191'

Will of Jabez Wedderburn 1882

Admon of Jabez William Wedderburn 1916

Probate Indexes:

Commissary Court of Surrey 1752-1858

Archdeaconry Court of Surrey 1752-1858

Commissary Court of London 1800-1858

Archdeaconry Court of London 1781 onwards

Dean and Chapter of St Paul's 1749-1837

Prerogative Court of Canterbury 1750-1800

 

Miscellaneous

International Genealogical Index (1992): CD-ROM England & Wales; Microfiche London/Middlesex

Commercial and Street Directory of London 1871

London Post office Directories 1871 1872 1873 1874 1877

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