okay i couldn't wait and started reading the little family info dump before i finished my own research and lol i was missing a brother sorry archibald!!!!! for anyone interested in the little family, plz plz go look at the cold boys research central :D
i can't overstate how happy i am to be reading this, it's like getting a present! not only i feel self satisfied bc all things considered i did a pretty good job :) but i get more info!!!! like ohhhhhh that's where the children's names come from! also it took me until today that literally THREE of edward's relatives are called "cornelius hater" this is hilarious. I also didn't find the James C fleeing on horseback element in my own research and frankly? truly a mad lad this one
a couple things that i found interesting in my own search, but full disclaimer i didn't crosscheck this stuff nearly enough, so there's always the risk that it's just someone of the same name and similar enough location/dates.
The UK Poll Books and Electoral Register for 1834 lists Simon Little as owner of Fleetland Farm and a Mr. Edwards as his tenant, if i understood properly!
now the whole reason why i looked into this is blantantly to imagine more of my blorbo's life so here's stuff that made me go :'o
Edward starts as an officer on the HMS Donegal, in 1837. He's 26 yo! and his younger siblings are 22 (Charlotte), 20 (Archibald), 18 (Richard), 15 (Ridley) and just 13 for Janet! Jane Elizabeth, the eldest, is 35 for comparison.
So in the 1841 census, listed as living in the same house are both parents, Jane Elizabeth, Sarah Magdalen, Margaret Anne, Charlotte and Louisa. Like the info dump points out, none of sons are listed as living with them. What were they doing at the time?
Eldest son James Cornelius enlisted on the HMS Asia in 1828 (at 21), but by 1841 he's on the HMS Beacon as Paymaster just like dad. He also signed up for the freemasons in 1943 in malta! Very exotic
i didn't look up archibald bc i didn't know he existed at the time!
Couldn't find anything on Cornelius Hayter, Edward's closest in age brother, except birth and death dates unfortunately, and he's listed as living on Ker Street in Devonport, (same place as his family in 1941) on his burial record the very next year :(
His death was listed in april may or june of 1842 (i did find his burial records but i can't read the month listed as his death :/).
That's during Edwards' time as a lieutenant on the Vindictive (1 year 6 month and 1 day!). I found (with difficulty like damn) the following info on whatever the fuck the vindictive was up to during this time :
"[NICOLAS, JOHN TOUP (1788–1851) commanded] the Vindictive, on the East India station, from 1841 to 1844, returning to England by Tahiti, where he was sent to protect English interests during the arbitrary proceedings of the French (Ann. Reg. pt. i. p. 256)."
However Edward, who finished his posting on the Vindictive on the 20th of oct 1843, might have not seen tahiti!
[nevermind all that about the vindictive, i found a very thorough source thanks to the cold boys research center HOWEVER edward isn't nominatively mentioned as one of her officers so maybe i got his posting wrong?]
Richard John Strachan, his first little brother, is listed as living in the St Helier District General Hospital and Workhouse in the 1851 census when he's 31 yo. His family lives in the same town, so that means that he was ill enough to stay at the hospital full time.
He's listed as a "boarder" and his profession as "annuitant", which is understand as meaning that he recieves money each year, and which is the same thing several of his unmarried sisters are listed as in censuses. on that same page of the hospital census, several people are listed either as "pauper lunatic" and "pauper idiot" (compared to his "boarder") which makes think he was a long term (pure speculation) resident, but for a physical illness? i should look at the 1861 St Hélier Hospital census to see if he's still listed as a resident there, and if i don't find him, try to find his burial because i never found any death info for him, nor a naval career of any sort. mystery!
and lastly, the babiest brother Simon Ridley was a 2nd lieutenant in the royal navy but posted at the Plymouth Headquarters in 1841.
another thing of interest is that out of his 6 sisters (six!!!!), only 2 married :o
As the info dump details, Margaret Ann married a commander who later made captain. she's listed as 28 on her marriage certificate but she was actually 34 lol
and the babiest sister Janet married a commander also, at the respectable age of 51 and the guy got promoted up to vice admiral :o in 1881 when they were living with his adult son from a previous marriage, they had both a cook and housemaid! when she died at 85 yo, she left part of her effects to Alice Maud, her spinster niece (one of margaret's daughters!)
both married sisters had navy husbands, and it made me wonder how they met, like was margaret's husband serving with her older brother? or they were introduced at a navy function while her baby brother was trying to get a good commission? very jane austen
anyway thank you to the person who compiled all this neat info on the little family AND thank you to tumblr user noughticalcrossings who replied to my post with the cold boys research center!!!
