Rampton of London Family Chart no. 30

	John Simmons RAMPTON		Isabella FIRSKIN
	born circa 1797 at Thatcham BRK [?]		born 1795/1798 at Westminster MDX
			m. 18 Apr 1824 at St Bartholomew the Great, City of London
	d. 10 Mar 1875 City of London aged 78 [of Bronchitis; death cert.]		d. 1863 Newington RD MDX, aged 68
	Mercantile Clerk (1841) Fishmonger (1851) Messenger (1871)/td>

Their Children

Charlotte	Isabella	William	Anne	Elizabeth	Maria	Priscella	Mary Ann
born 29 Jan 1825 Meeting Hangrand Cripplegate [familysearch]	born 18 Feb 1827 St Giles Cripplegate [BVRI]	born 18 Nov 1828 Bellchambers Passage Red Cross Street [BVRI]	born 20 Nov 1830 Bellchambers Passage Red Cross Street [BVRI]	born 26 Nov 1832 Bellchambers Passage Red Cross Street [BVRI]	born 13 Jun 1834 Bellchambers Passage Red Cross Street [BVRI]	born 15 Nov 1835 Bellchambers Passage Red Cross Street [BVRI]	born 1840 East London Union RD LDN
m. William SPENCE 14 Mar 1847 at St Peter Walworth, SRY		m. Caroline WALSH 1852 Manchester LAN [FreeBMD]					m. William GRAHAM 28 Feb 1870 at St George Bloomsbury, MDX [PR]
d. 1852 St George Hanover Sq RD MDX, aged 26 [GRO]	d. 1870 City of London aged 43	d. 13 Dec 1871 Eastbourne SSX, aged 42	d. 1870 City of London aged 39		d. 17 Feb 1919 Croydon SRY, aged 85	d. 1883 Camberwell, SRY

Additional Information

Despite the fact that he had an unusual name, and that he appears to have lived his whole life in the City of London, John Simmons RAMPTON has proved remarkably difficult to track down in censuses and parish records. The whole family can be seen in the 1841 census still living in Bellchamber Passage, Red Cross Street, St Giles Cripplegate. John is described as a Messenger, aged 40.

By 1851, they had moved to Priory Place St Mary Newington, and John was now a Fishmonger; his birthplace is given as Berkshire.

In 1861, John Isabella and Mary Ann are living in East Street St Peter Walworth Newington, with daughters Isabella, Maria, Priscilla, and Mary Ann, and grandson Frederick W SPENCE. In this census, he told the enumerator he had been born in Shenfield Buckinghamshire; there is no such village as far as I can see, but there is a Shenfield in Essex, and a Shinfield in Berkshire. Since, on two other censuses he gave Berkshire as his birthplace, I am inclined to believe the enumerator misheard.

In 1851, I found his daughter Priscella listed as a Visitor in Stockbridge Terrace, St George Hanover Square, in reality she was the sister in law of the head, William SPENCE.

In 1871, I have located John in St Bartholomew the Less parish, part of St Sepulchre, aged 73, a widower with daughters Maria and Priscilla, plus daughter Mary Ann as his housekeeper, and he said he was born in Thatcham BRK. Familysearch gave me his mother's name, Ann, but then the trail runs cold, because I cannot find an Ann RAMPTON in Thatcham, nor a marriage for Ann anywhere in Berkshire. I am a little confused by the daughter Mary Ann being his housekeeper, because Mary Ann married in 1870 [I have the parish record of the marriage], and should be with her husband. Did her husband die within the year and she returned to live with her father? Or is the housekeeper not John's daughter but his cousin Mary Ann, who was with him when he died (see below)?

Maria was milliner in 1871, and a lady's help (retired) in Croydon in 1911; both Priscilla and Anne died unmarried. I have been unable to trace anything about Elizabeth; William was a travelling salesman, marrying in Manchester, and dying in Eastbourne; he had no children. In 1870, when his daughter Isabella died, John was the informant and gave his address, and the address of the death, as 19 Giltspur Street, which is next to St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. In the 1871 Census, however, less than a year later, that address is not listed in the 1871 census - there is a gap, seemingly, between number 18 and number 19a (The Plough Inn). When John himself died in 1875, his address was again given as 19 Giltspur Street, and the informant was given as M.A. Vickers, cousin of the deceased. So far, all efforts to track this cousin down have failed.

Family Group Identifiers

Family: RAMLDN1
Family Group: london030