For years, my brick wall was Henry Hedges, my grandfather. Just over 2 years ago, that wall tumbled and I moved onto his father, also Henry Hedges.

I knew from the older Henry’s marriage certificate that his father was John Hedges, a cabman and was deceased by 1894 when Henry married. Henry married Louisa Copp in 1894 and in the 1891 Census, I had found Louisa staying with an Eliza Hedges, widow. So, my suspicions were that Henry’s parents could have been John and Eliza.

I applied for a copy of Henry’s birth certificate (at least I hoped it was the correct person) at the end of last year and on examining it today, I am fairly certain that it is my Henry. His father is John Hedges, a cabman and his mother is Eliza Hedges, formerly Hardinge.

I had previously found Eliza as a widow in 1881 and 1891, so it has allowed me to close down several lines of investigation. I’ll have to put some effort into finding them in 1871