Find Ancestors

The actual image of the 1911 Census is quite confusing, with lots of crossings out and corrections.

One of the changes involves the number of children born, still living and died.

This information was supposed to be entered for the wife, and was usually though not always taken to be the number of children born to her.

I've seen some entries where the wife had more children than could be found for that marriage ..... and it turned out that she had been married before and had children from both marriages. I've also seen other entries where the wife seems to ignore the children from a previous marriage, and only lists the number born in the current marriage.

The latter is what seems to apply in this case ............

......... the number of children born to Ann has been changed from 6 with 5 still living and 1 died to 2 born, 2 still living and none died


She had 6 children with William Brindley, as shown in the 1881 Census

Name Age
William Brindley 49 b.ca 1832, Audley, Staffordshire, Colliery Lamp Cleaner
Ann Brindley 27 b.ca 1854, Keele, Staffordshire
Arthur Brindley 8 b.ca 1873, Audley, Scholar
Alfred Brindley 4 b.ca 1877, Audley, Scholar
Frank Brindley 2 b.ca 1879, Audley
Daniel Brindley 0 b.ca 1881, Audley <<<<< 2 weeks old on the image

Address:- Boon Hill

This is probably William Brindley in 1871 ..........living in Boon Hill with his mother and stepfather, but a Widower. He was much older than Ann Bosson.

1871 Census

Name: William Brindley
Age: 39
Estimated birth year: abt 1832
Relation: Stepson
Mother's name: Hannah Cartledge
Gender: Male
Where born: Audley, Staffordshire, England
Civil Parish: Audley
Ecclesiastical parish: Audley
Town: Bignall End
County/Island: Staffordshire
Country: England
Registration district: Newcastle Under Lyme
Sub-registration district: Audley
ED, institution, or vessel: 6
Household schedule number: 177
Piece: 2836
Folio: 20
Page Number: 33

Philip Cartledge 66
Hannah Cartledge 69
William Brindley 39 Widower,Coal Miner

Address:- Boon Hill


He married Eliza Charlesworth ........

Marriages Dec 1857 (>99%)

Brindley William Leek 6b 375
Charlesworth Eliza Leek 6b 375

and they had at least 1 child, Hannah (according to a Public Family Tree on Ancestry)

A similar thing to what happened to your grandfather happened to Ann's first child ..........

The 1881 Census shows Arthur Brindley born ca 1873, Audley, Staffordshire

But William Brindley and Ann Bosson did not marry until 1875

There is no child Arthur Brindley registered on Freebmd at the correct time

BUT there is an Arthur Bosson ...........

Births Sep 1872 (>99%)
BOSSON Arthur Newcastle L. 6b 88


Newcastle L = Newcastle under Lyme, and is the Registration District that includes Audley.



I cannot find an Ann Bosson on the censuses, so I don't know whether Bosson is her maiden name or whether she had also been married to someone before marrying William Brindley

Thank you so much for the information that you have gathered, the picture is now so much clearer, as it seems my great granmother - Ann, was married twice, and that my grandfather was born before she married Brindley, Ann was later widowed, and then married James Gaffney. Am I on the right track? Can I put all the information that is being provided through your efforts into ´keepsafe´ or is ´keepsafe´only for records and information that I find for myself. Or is it safe leaving it in ´threads´? Wish I could make progress through the freebmd site, I am most grateful for all the advice and research that has, thus far, been provided by so many, never imagined I would become an apprentice again, being a ´senior citizen´for many years!

Ronald ...............

do not put the information on KeepSafe, it is for memories, and photos, but people have lost information posted on there

Do not leave on here, threads may disappear. And GR itself may also disappear

You must put it onto your own home computer.

The easiest and quickest way is to copy and paste it into a word file.

I don't know what system you have, I have Microsoft.

But set up a new word document that you label something like "family history", "from GR" ............. ie, some title that lets YOU know what the document contains.

To copy and paste this thread or information from this thread ...................

Place the mouse cursor at the beginning or end of the piece that you want to copy.

Click the left, and holding your finger steady move the mouse cursor over the whole piece that you want to copy. It will turn blue.

Remove your finger from the left "clicker".

Look at the very top of your monitor, there should be a tab labelled Edit

Open that, and you should see a list of functions, one of which will be Copy and another Paste.

Click on COPY

Now open your ne document on your home computer, place the mouse cursor where you want to paste the information

Open the Edit tab again, and click on PASTE

What you copied should now appear where you want it to be.

Save it


You can clean up what you have copied over by deleting any extraneous material that is unnecessary ...... but make sure that you save after every step.


You should also think about getting what they call an external hard drive so that you can save any important documents in another place in case you have problems with your computer. Ask your computer "guru" for help with that.



.......... and don't worry about being a senior citizen "for many years". There are many of us well over 70, and quite a few over 80 ...... and most of us have taught ourselves how to do these things :-) So we do understand.

I had an advantage in that I did use a computer for the last 15/20 years of my working life, but I didn't use the internet until I was 63/64, after I had retired, so I have had to teach myself that aspect.

Incidentally, I think Daniel Brindley was the Brindley child that died

I think these are his birth and death records from Freebmd

Births Jun 1881 (>99%)
BRINDLEY Daniel Newcastle L. 6b 85

Deaths Dec 1883 (>99%)
BRINDLEY Daniel 2 Newcastle L. 6b 52

Wow, so much info you have discovered, thank you once again. I have managed to get into the freebmd site, and the information given is of course all ´transcribed´, how does one get to see original copies of births/marriages/death certificates?, or is this a no no ? if so, is it possible to obtain copies of BMD certificates, to whom does one request them and pay for them. In the early 70`s my family and I were travelling by train from my posting in N.Ireland to London, one suitcase was stolen en route, it contained all our birth certs & marriage cert. I went to Somerset House, and was helped by friendly staff who aided my own search of the large volumes, they then copied the relevant certs for which I paid a small fee. I understand that Somerset House no longer exists, and dont know where records are now held, but wherever it is, would I be allowed to have copies of the originals?

You can order copy certificates online from the GRO. They cost £9.25 each including postage.

Ronald ......

this is the link to the GRO website ..............

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/

You have to register, but it is free to do so.

Just follow the instructions. Do not give too much ............. what you ask for must be EXACTLY what is on the certificate, if it differs even slightly they will not send the certificate (although they will refund your money).

You will be asked if you have the GRO Reference Number ................. just tick Yes. That number is the sequence of 2 numbers at the end of the freebmd entry

For example, in the marriage of James, the GRO reference number is 6b 121 ...........

Marriages Jun 1894

Gaffnay James Newcastle L. 6b 121


In this case, I would ask ONLY for the marriage certificate for James, without adding Ann's name.

The Freebmd entries do not include the other spouse's surname until mid-1911, and there is always the faint possibility that the bride might not be who you expect!!!


The cost of £9.25 includes postage and handling .............. even when you live overseas.