 |
| View over the Blockhouse area of Worcester cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Philip Halling - geograph.org.uk/p/4143888 |
Francis Robert Blazey, son of Francis Stephen Blazey and Hannah Minns and elder brother of my 2x great-grandmother, Hannah Blazey, born in Heigham, Norwich, Norfolk in 1833, was thrice-married and well-travelled.
Francis Robert Blazey had four children with his three wives:
- Francis Charles Blazey born 1860, died 1864 (with Maria Andrews)
- Alice Maud Stanley Blazey born on 21 Dec 1875 and baptised on 31 Jan 1876, in Dinapore, India. (with Louisa Susan Stanley)
- Constance Ellen Blazey born in 1890, in Islington (with Elenora Audrice)
- Harry Robert Blazey born 1899 in Islington (with Elenora Audrice)
Francis married Maria Andrews, in Oxfordshire, in 1859 and, in 1861, they were living at 2, St Pauls Street, Blockhouse, Worcester, with Francis Robert Blazey (27) Fireman, wife Maria (20) Dressmaker and their son, Francis Charles (1) and Samuel Blazey (19), Francis Robert's younger brother.
Son, Francis Charles Blazey, died in Witney, Oxfordshire, in 1864, aged 4.
The next record tells us Maria Andrews Blazey, wife of F. R. Blazey, Driver E.I.R. (East Indian Railway Company), died from Cancer on 4 Sep 1873, aged 32y 7m, and was buried on 5 Sep 1873 at Dinapore, Bengal, India. (Dinapore was a British garrison town in the 19th century, now called Danapur, it's about 10km NW of Patna, and 500km NW of Calcutta, now Kolkata.)
 |
| Map of the East Indian Railway, 1863 |
On 9 Apr 1874, in Dinapore, Francis Robert Blazey, who by then will have been 41, married Louisa Susan Stanley, daughter of Augustus George and Eliza Jemima Stanley. Louisa, who was then just 16, was born on 21 May 1857 and baptised on 25 Jun 1857, at Poona (now Pune), India.
Louisa's siblings: Morgan Stanley and Rosina Gelstow Stanley were born in Allahabad in 1859 and 1860, respectively, and Mary Augusta Stanley was born in Mirzapur in 1863. Brother, Augustus George Stanley, born 1862, died aged 3, from "Convulsions" on 6 Jun was buried on 7 Jun 1865, in Cawnpore (now Kanpur, famous for the 1857 Siege of Cawnpore). On the burial record, Augustus George Stanley's occupation is given as Tehsildar (A tehsildar is a tax officer accompanied by revenue inspectors, though I shall forever equate him to Joseph Sedley, the collector of Boggley Wollah in Vanity Fair.)
Louisa's mother, Eliza Jemima Stanley, had died on 3 Sep 1867, aged 29, and was buried the next day, in Cawnpore. Under cause of death: "Uncontrollable vomiting from Hepatic congestion brought on by hard drinking." Augustus George Stanley returned to England and on 28 Sep 1868, married Caroline Frost in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, where they were living in 1871.
Alice Maud Stanley Blazey, daughter of Francis Robert Blazey and Louisa Susan Stanley, was born on 21 Dec 1875 and baptised on 31 Jan 1876, in Dinapore. Both the marriage record for Francis and Louisa and the baptism record for Alice Maud Stanley Blazey give their residence as Khagoul (now Khagaul). But then Louisa Susan Blazey appears in the Gro Marine Death Indices in 1884, having died, aged 27, at sea.
In 1885, Francis Robert Blazey married Elenora Matilda Audrice in Kensington and their daughter, Constance Ellen Blazey was born, in 1890, in Islington.
 |
| The former Swan Inn, The Common, Chipperfield, Kings Langley |
In 1891, at The Swan Inn, The Common, Kings Langley, Hertfordshire we find Francis R Blazey (57) now a Publican, wife, unaccountably listed as Margaret M (30), Alice Maud Blazey (15), Constance Blazey (0), Elizabeth Stiles (28) and Elenor E Stiles (1) Visitors and Maud Millers (9) Stepdaughter.
In 1901, at 31, Sinclair Gardens, Hammersmith, are Francis R Blazey (68) Retired Engineer, Norah Blazey (39), Constance E Blazey (10), Harry R Blazey (2), daughter Alice Maud Trevail (25) - Alice married Herbert Fleming Trevail - Winifred S Trevail (0) Granddaughter, Katherine Pye (56) Boarder, Thomas R Cox (24) Boarder, Nellie Kent (19) General Domestic Servant, Margaret Bennet (56) Visitor and Kate Eames (47) Visitor - Sick nurse.
Norah Blazey died in London in 1909, age estimated as 45.
Despite all this detail, I've been unable to find out what happened to Francis Robert Blazey next, although he doesn't appear on the 1911 census.
 |
| Sinclair Gardens, London W14 cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/1549021 |