Thread: ARTHUR THOMAS TILT or COLES or EVANS

ARTHUR THOMAS TILT or COLES or EVANS - Northampton, London, and Australia

My Grandfather - did he marry my grandmother, and when / where did he die?

Arthur Thomas was born c. 1886/7, and I knew that he came from Northampton. The following is my own research..

[He and my Welsh grandmother (Hannah EVANS, born 1880 in Betws Bleddrws, Cardiganshire) had emigrated to Australia, and I had bits of info from my mother's baptismal certificate - A methodist chapel in Perth Western Australia, Sarah Elizabeth Hannah Tilt (Hannah transcribed as Hasimah]

I also have a photograph of him and my grandmother (looks like a nuptial or engagement style photo) with his brothers and the wives of the brothers, alas not named by my Grandmother – plus a couple of formal engagement or marriage style photos.

There was NO Arthur Tilt of that age and name who fitted from either Northampton or elsewhere (two Arthur Tilts I found, one lived with a wife and no children, and the other died at a very early age, others lived in the wrong places !)

I wondered whether, in the Welsh (and possibly English) tradition of that time, I might be able to find a Sarah Elizabeth or a Elizabeth Sarah from Northampton. Sarah Elizabeth was my mothers name. Up came an Elizabeth Sarah Tilt, married to a shoe worker – surnamed COLES and living in the Northampton area, with a son whose Christian name was Arthur– AND he had brothers and sisters. This wild notion was pooh poohed by all, until the advent of 1911 census on line.

1911 Census is published and lo and behold, there is my grandmother AND my grandfather resident in London AND living together ! Hannah Evans apparently married to an Arthur Thomas Evans (he was a bit imaginative both in his choice of surnames – and in various marriages !) – but, there he is resident with one of his Coles siblings – his sister Florrie.

I have two marriages for my grandfather, in the first he married under his proper name of Coles, but for whatever reason took up residence with my Grandmother, and not that far away from his wife either. In the second, it was an Australian wife, where I got further details of his Northampton persona – he kept the details, but changed his name.

Alas, I can't trace a marriage to my grandmother – but they may have been married in chapel in London, where she and other members of my family were selling milk – a common trade for the Cardiganshire Welsh.

1911 - with my grandmother
RG14PN176 RG78PN6 RD2 SD3 ED12 SN98
Derry Ormand, is aka Betws Bleddrws where Hannah was born.
Florrie Coles described as assistant, born Northampton
Evans, Arthur born Northampton as Arthur Coles, but also known as Arthur Thomas Tilt.
Evans, Hannah born Cardiganshire

1911 - his wife (married her using the name Coles - I dont know how to check divorces.)
RG14PN6968_RG78PN345_RD128_SD6_ED17_SN531
Arthur's first wife, or existing wife living in Acton

1901 Census - Class: RG13; Piece: 1424; Folio: 35; TWO Pages: 22/23

Appears to have married a Sophie or Sophia Mason in Australia around 1919
My mother and grandmother returned to the UK around 1917, and always told me he was dead.

He also appears in various trade directories in Australia, in a bankruptcy or debt case in the OZ newspapers, but obviously came well again, and also in various OZ newspapers was robbed of some valuable antiques in the 1930s.

I CANNOT trace either a marriage to my grandmother (whether bigamous or not)
I CANNOT trace his death.

I would love to know

Many thanks
Jen(PS I ilve in my Grandmothers cottage, just down the road from the previously mentioned Derry Ormond/Betws Bleddrws)

Hello
Elizabeth Sarah Tilt m. James Coles 1st Quarter 1879 Northampton 3b 78.
Arthur Thomas Coles b. 2nd Qaurter 1886 Northampton 3b 71.

Have you checked the emigration records?

Hi, and thanks, Yes these are the ones... after his mother died - from the census reports - Arthur's siblings moved out, and he changed his name, married (not my grandmother) and appears in the 1911 census as Evans. Then I have Oz records of my mothers birth and baptism, and my grandmother and mother coming back to the UK. Further Oz info, he appears to have married in Oz, [the marriage cert has Tilt as the name, but the Coles work details!] but then appears in newspaper reports for bankruptcy and debt, then again in the thirties as a successful antique dealer who was robbed of goods... then disappears utterly. [He is also in various trade directories, apparently living with a woman called Dorothy - but whether a marriage was claimed here as well I do not know]. I also have a photo bought online from a junk dealer in USA with four children, annotated Tilt's children. Three of the four children have uncanny resemblances to my mother, myself, and my brother.

At the other end of the tree Arthur Thomas is a direct descendant of a highwayman/smuggler... why am I not surprised !

If you ever come across anything I would be very grateful to hear.

Hi Poleta... only just come across your kind reply. I couldnt find any record of any Tilts, or Evans incoming to Oz. I have some records of their residence in Perth Western Australia, and the return to the UK of my grandmother and mother... see my reply to Noggin28 below. So what name they used to enter Australia I do not know. I have a postcard dated Nov 1911 posted in London asking my great grandmother for butter, this pc shows Arthur and Hannah and two of his brothers and their wives, and wearing possible wedding photo style clothes. Siblings unnamed on postcard. My mother was born in Perth WA in 1912.