Charles Shapland bn. abt. 1858
My great-grandfather William Sidney Lawrence HAMMOND married Dorothy May SHAPLAND in Hornchurch, Essex on 28th Jul 1917.Dorothy was the daughter of Charles SHAPLAND, whose occupation on Dorothy's marriage cert. is given as a Poor Law Officer.
The only other information I have for Charles is his marriage certificate, he married Sarah Jane LODGE in St Matthias Church (CofE), Stoke Newington, London on 22nd Sep 1894.Their respective ages are 37 and 25, but Charles is shown as a widower.His occupation is a musician, address 20 Barratt's Grove, son of George SHAPLAND, painter, deceased.
I have managed to trace back Sarah Jane LODGE to a large family from Corsham in Wiltshire but have had no luck tracing Charles' birth.
Anecdotal evidence from my grandfather who remembers Charles and Sarah Jane, they ran a poor house together in East London, he was cagey about his past, a bit of a rogue and claimed he was a true Cockney, born within the sound of Bow Bells!The part about running a poor house does tie in nicely with the info on his daughter's birth cert.
If anyone can shed any light on the origins of Charles (or his father George)I would be extremely grateful, he has been eluding me for years!
Kind regards
Maurice Hammond