The OTTAWAYs of Chobham

1. William Frederick OTTAWAY was born¹ (I think) on 5 Jan 1861 in Chobham. He died on 7 Jul 1900 in Charing Cross Hospital, London, of heart disease, at the tragically young age of 39 years. He was buried on 13 Jul 1900 in Addlestone Cemetery.
William was employed as Bricklayer's Labourer and also as a roadmender. The roadmending took him away from home a good deal, I imagine, and I have been unable to find him in the 1881 census. His wife and two children, however, were living in Chobham in 1881, and the mystery of the first child, Louisa's, parentage still troubles me. In the 1891 census, he was at home with his family, living in a cottage to which they had moved in the mid 1880's and which was to be the family home at least until the untimely death of his wife in 1904. It is this very stability which has enabled me to trace the family members. [Notes]

William married Mary Ann HARRISON, illegitimate daughter of Maria HARRISON of Thorpe. Mary was born¹ on 6 Nov 1857 in Thorpe and was christened on 25 Dec 1857 in Thorpe. She died² on 27 Jan 1904 in Addlestone, also of heart disease and gangrene of the leg, and was buried in Jan 1904 in Addlestone Cemetery. [It is interesting that Mary Ann suffered with gangrene, as her daughter, Lucy Ellen (my grandmother) also suffered from ulcerations of the legs and, after a fall, gangrene necessitating the removal of her right leg, and that her daughter Lucy Evelyn also suffered gangrene of the leg after a fall, although she luckily was able to keep her leg.]

At the time of the 1861 census, Maria HARRISON was living in Thorpe with her parents, baby Mary Ann, together with her sister Ann and her illegitimate children. [Notes]

They had the following children:

	2	F	i	Louisa OTTAWAY was born in 1876 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, according to the 1881 census entry. Louisa was employed as Domestic Servant (Nurse) at the time of the 1891 census, when she was 14 years old. Louisa is [almost] a complete mystery. I have been unable to find any trace of her birth either under the name of OTTAWAY or of HARRISON. I believe, but cannot prove, that she was not the daughter of William Frederick OTTAWAY, simply because he would have been only 15 or 16 years old at the time of her birth - unusual even for today, unheard of in the 1870s. From family remembrance, however, I have been able to piece together the following: My grandmother, Lucy Ellen, spoke of a half-sister called Dolly who was 18 years her senior. I deduce, therefore, that it was Louisa who was called Dolly by the family. My aunt, Lucy Wilder, spoke of her Aunt Dolly, who had married Jim COWARD. The couple were in service with a well-to-do family in Northwood (Essex?), as housekeeper and butler respectively, and as part of their service went to Africa for some years. They had only one child, a son name Ernest, who was born around 1911, and who served in The Buffs during the Second World War. On their retirement from service they lived in Chorley Wood, Hertfordshire, until Dolly died, some time after 1946. Her husband Jim was so distraught by her death that he took a shotgun into their garden shed and committed suicide. The marriage of Louisa and James COWARD must have taken place after 1904, as she was the informant at the time of her mother's death. So far, I have not been able to trace the marriage. [Notes]
	3	M	ii	Frederick William Went OTTAWAY was born¹ on 15 Apr 1880 in Chobham, and so I conclude that William and Mary Ann were married by this time (but when and where were they married?!).
	4	F	iii	Ada E OTTAWAY was born in 1883 in Chobham. I think that it was Ada who married a boxer, Mr Winterbottom, and moved to Nottingham. After the death of her mother, Lucy Ellen went to live in Nottingham with her sister and brother in law, but did not get on well with Mr Winterbottom and returned to the Staines area in about 1920. Reginald remembered an Auntie Em, who could have been Ada E[mily?].
+	5	M	iv	Charles Edward OTTAWAY
	6	M	v	Arthur Henry OTTAWAY was born in Dec 1889 and was christened on 1 Dec 1889 in Addlestone.[Notes]
	7	M	vi	William OTTAWAY was born in 1892 in Addlestone and was christened on 15 Jan 1893 in Addlestone. He died in Jan 1893 in Addlestone and was buried on 21 Jan 1893 in Addlestone.[Notes]
+	8	F	vii	Lucy Ellen OTTAWAY

The Mystery of William Frederick OTTAWAY

My inability to prove William Frederick's correct parentage stems partly from the fact that there were two William's born within a couple of miles of one another and within a few months of each other. Both had a mother called Eliza OTTAWAY; one William was illegitimate and was born in the Workhouse, the other was born legitimately into an old established Chobham family. Without William Frederick's marriage certificate to Mary Ann HARRISON, I am unable to state for sure which William is "mine". As a wise person once said, "Genealogy without documentary proof is just Mythology".

These are the all the possible contenders I can find for "my" William:

William Frederick OTTAWAY was born in Chertsey Workhouse on 15 July 1861, mother Eliza Ottaway, no father. His name on the birth cert is WILLIAM FREDERICK, an important point. I cannot find anything more about Eliza, but suspect that she may be the Eliza Ottaway who married David Smithers on 14 Feb 1863 at St Lawrence Chobham. Eliza was the daughter of Charles Ottaway, and in the marriage register she signed her name, rather than making a mark. This William was born just outside the possible timeframes based upon census and death certificate entries, but his name on his birth cert is WILLIAM FREDERICK.
William OTTAWAY, born 5 Jan 1861, baptised in St Lawrence Church Chobham on 24 Feb 1861, parents Arthur and Eliza (nee GOSDEN). Arthur had two wives, and an enormous number of children.
Two years earlier, on 25 Mar 1859, a Frederick William OTTAWAY was born to Frederick and Eliza (nee HEWER), also in Chobham, but I think that the family must have moved from Chobham fairly soon afterwards, as in the 1881 census Frederick and Eliza were living in Oxford with a number of children the eldest of whom was born in Berkshire.
William OTTAWAY, son of John and Elizabeth, born about 1860 in Chobham. John was a farmer, and William is described in the 1881 census as Farmer's Son, unmarried.
William OTTAWAY, son of Benjamin and Mary, born about 1861 in Effingham, and living in Sutton at the time of the 1881 census. He is described as a Gardener, unmarried.
William OTTAWAY, a stonemason's labourer at the time of the 1881 census, and lodging at The Crown public House in Trumps Green, between Egham and Virginia Water. The census states that he is unmarried, 19 years old, and that he was born in Chertsey. This William is the only one with an occupation that ties in with the roadmender of later years, and the fact that he is 19 years old ties in with the William born in the Chertsey Workhouse, as it means he was born between 4 Apr 1861 and 3 Apr 1862 - William born in wedlock in Chobham would have described himself as being 20 years old in the 1881 census. The fact that he is described as unmarried is worrying, but does not necessarily exclude him, since the details may have come from the landlord who may have been unaware that William had a wife.

When William Frederick and Mary Ann's son William died in infancy on 16 Jan 1893, the informant on the death certificate is given as E OTTAWAY, grandmother, of Victoria Road, Addlestone, and she signed her name. The signature looks very similar (to an untrained eye) to the signature on the marriage certificate for Eliza OTTAWAY and David SMITHERS (but if they are the same person, why did she later sign herself Ottaway?).
In the 1881 census, Mary Ann was living with her children Louisa and Frederick, in Burrow Hill, Chobham, right next door to David and Eliza SMITHERS, rather a coincidence. If this Eliza was William Frederick's mother, then it makes sense that his new wife should take up residence next door to her mother-in-law for companionship whilst her husband was away.
The 1891 census taken on 5 April 1891 says William Frederick was aged 30; ergo he was born between 6 April 1860 and 5 April 1861; it also says born in Chobham
William Frederick's death certificate (7 July 1900) says age at death 39; ergo he was born between 7 July 1860 and 6 July 1861.
The name on birth cert of the William born to Arthur and Eliza is William (not William Frederick).
All other documents I have, birth certificates of his children and his death certificate, show him as William Frederick.

The Family of William Frederick OTTAWAY of Chobham

First Generation

The Mystery of William Frederick OTTAWAY