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When and why did George Henry change his name to George Hargreaves?
At some point in time George Henry, born in England c.1826, changed his name to George Henry Hargreaves. George (either as Henry or Hargreaves) emigrated from England to Victoria, Australia c. 1852, living in Melbourne and then at Fryers Creek, near Bendigo and the goldfields. George Henry married Catherine (nee Quinline) and they had a child, John Henry George Hargreaves. From after his marriage as a Henry, George used the name Hargreaves, as did Catherine until her second marriage to John Hollis when she became Catherine Hollis.
Birth and birthplace
It seems likely that George Henry, was baptised on the 20th January, 1826, at St. John’s Old Haymarket, Liverpool, by his parents, John and Margaret Henry (nee Biggs) (LDS #0093821 IGI familysearch.org – I am awaiting baptism confirmation).
Liverpool is recorded as George Henry’sbirthplace on his marriage certificate to Catherine Quinlan in Victoria, Australia, in 1854. However, Chester is recorded as George Hargreaves’ birthplace on the birth certificate of his son, John Henry George Hargreaves, in 1855, and on George Hargreaves’ death certificate of 1856. This is odd as Chester and Liverpool would have been two completely different places at that time, Chester an old Roman town of Tudor style houses surrounded by countryside, Liverpool a busy port which was bursting at the seams with people after the Irish Potato Famine and which had a lot of factories.
Censuses
In the 1841 British census, George Henry is not listed as living with John and Margaret Henry and his siblings, Thomas (b. 1828), Elizabeth (b. 1831), John (1835), Thomas (b. 1837) and Sarah Jane (1841 – 1907). [NB. There is a transcription error on the census – Margaret is named as Hannah.] George would have been around 15 at this time so may have been apprenticed elsewhere. Or he may have run away or committed a crime.
I am unable to find him in the 1851 British census by either name.
I am unable to find him in any Australian censuses for 1851 -1856 by either name.
Emigration to Australia
A George Hargreaves, farmer, aged 26, came to Australia on the Ottillia in 1852
but it is uncertain whether this is ‘our’ George. George Hargreaves’ death certificate of January 1856 states he had been in Victoria for 3 years so this is approximately when he would have journeyed to Australia.
Marriage
George Henry married Catherine Henry (nee Quinline). Yet the marriage certificate of their son, John Hargreaves, to Eliza (nee King), lists his parents as being George Henry Hargreaves and Kate Hargreaves (maiden name: Quinlan). George’s occupation on the marriage certificate is given as ‘carter’ and on his son’s marriage certificate, and his own death certificate as ‘miner’.
At the time of George and Catherine Henry’s marriage in 1854 they were living at Gardiner’s Creek in Melbourne. According to Wikipedia, the high ground between Gardiner's Creek Road (now Toorak Road) and the river was where the grand mansions of the period came to be built; much of the land south of Toorak Road was swampy and it was subdivided into small blocks for workman's cottages and later to house gold-rush immigrants. This may well have been the area where George and Catherine were living when giving their address as Gardiners Creek on their wedding certificate.
Nine months after their marriage, when their son was born, they were living in Fryers Creek where George must have joined the diggings. Fryers Creek in the Mount Alexander diggings was rushed in late 1851 after large finds of alluvial gold in its vicinity and remained a popular destination for diggers for some years. They both used Hargreaves as their surname at this time (see J.H.G. H’s birth certificate).
Children
A living child (unnamed) is referred to on the 1854 marriage certificate of George and Catherine Henry. I can find no record of this child and am uncertain as to whether it was the child of one or both parents.
A son, John Henry George Hargreaves, was born on the 18th September, 1855, at Poverty Hill, Fryers Creek, Victoria, Australia (Victorian Birth Certificate 11531) to George Hargreaves and Catherine (nee Quinline). John Henry George Hargreaves married Eliza (nee King) in 1880. Their first two daughters died. Elizabeth Ellen Dower (nee Hargreaves), was their third daughter (1886 – 1916). She and Ernest George Dower had three children: Winifrid Elsa, Irene Florence, and George Ernest Dower (my father). Elizabeth Ellen was buried the day before my father, George Dower’s, fourth birthday.
Death
George Henry Hargreaves died on January 22nd, 1856. His will states that he was a miner; that he died of ‘appoplexy’ after being ill for 13 days; that his father was John Hargreaves and his mother unknown; that he had been born in Chester, England; and that he had lived in Victoria for 3 years.
Catherine Hargreaves remarried John Hollis about a year after George’s death. They lived at Bullarto in Victoria where Catherine had an inn. Catherine and John had four children: Thomas (1858); Charles Stuart (1863); Henry Richard (1864 -?) and Elizabeth Ellen (1868– 1941) – the name his son, John Hargreaves, gave his third daughter, my grandmother. Catherine left her property to Charles Stuart when she died in 1901, but John Hargreaves is mentioned in her will along with her other children.
How can I find out:
- Why George would give two different birthplaces on official records – Chester and Liverpool which at the time were very different places.
- Where was he at the time of the 1841 and 1851 census?
- Was it our George on the Ottillia of 1852 or are there other possibilities?
- Why would he change his name after being married as a Henry to (or back to?)Hargreaves?
- Who was the living child referred to on George and Catherine Henry’s marriage certificate?
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