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Percy Constantine Nicholls - Does he exist?

Tim

Tim

Megastar and Moderator
Staff member
According to the GRO I have this entry
upload_2024-9-26_11-40-19.png
Surname is good, MMN is good, location is good.
The birth fits in well with his siblings
upload_2024-9-26_11-42-21.png

But the GRO entry is the only bit of evidence that I have.
If I look at the image of this sheet, he's not listed.
Am I missing something?
 
I take it that by "sheet" you mean the original printed index of births? They did have omissions and errors, and the new index has its own issues. Trying to order an image of it would show if the birth record does exist.

But did you spot that there were three Nicholls/Hill weddings in West Derby during the 1860s? That offers plenty of scope for confusion about who is whose sibling. Emily dies so soon that getting the image would likely be the only way to know whose child she was.
 
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I haven't ordered a pdf yet, I want to explore all avenues before spending the £8.
Yes, John Giddings Nicholls is in my tree but has a child born in 1881.
Mathew Nicholls isn't but he could have married the other lady, trying to find any of these on the 1881 census has proved inconclusive so far.
 
So there is a birth certificate at least
upload_2024-9-26_17-19-54.png
But why can't I find any further details?
 
I can't find him either - could he have gone to live with family elsewhere, and perhaps be recorded with a different surname? A parent's sibling or an older married sister, for example? FMP has records of the marriage of a Percy C Nicholls in China in 1915 and a death at sea in 1918, and those were the closest possibilities I could find.
 
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I can think of all manner of extravagant theories for his disappearance, but in reality it's most likely to be an infant death that's been missed due to bad writing or reading of the entry. Have you looked at this one?

upload_2024-9-26_19-50-10.png
 
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I presume you have searched the census records for your missing Percy Constantine Nicholls Tim. He is not with his family in 1881 at 14 Sandringham Road, listed are father William, mother Ann and siblings William S, Sidney V, Henry J, plus a servant Elizabeth Henderson. The 1891 census shows an additional daughter Caroline E born 1868, plus more siblings Elsie W and Anne S, following this family through the various census records is interesting and I thought that maybe Percy would pop up somewhere but no joy, sorry. I cannot find a death for him, he must be somewhere. Good luck with your search.
 
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There is circumstantial evidence that birth and deaths in workhouses were not always registered with the GRO. It's also worth noting that the birth was registered 81 days after it occurred, which whilst perfectly legal is extremely unusual. It opens up the possibility that the death was registered before the birth, and perhaps under a different name and/or even a different gender.

EDIT: the workhouse infirmary was, for most people, the only hospital they could go to.
 
No mention of baptisms for any of the children/families? Also, where does the name Constantine come from - is it a family surname?

Probably a coincidence, but there was a Richard Constantine who died as an infant in West Derby in Q1 of 1881.
 
I've not found any baptisms for any of the 9 children, but interestingly or coincidentally his older brother Henry James b1873 went on to marry a Amy Maud Constantine.
I've checked all the census pages either side of the page that they're on for 40 years and there are no Constantines' listed.
 
Reading between between the lines of the census entries just a little, William Nicholls and Joseph Constantine were connected at work. William was a carrier doing a lot of work for the railway or their customers, moving stuff to and from the goods yard at the station. Joseph was a railway cashier, paying William and probably putting work his way. So a little flattery might well be in order! Of course that is no help in explaining why Percy vanished with no record.
 
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They were both Railway Cashiers in 1881, but lived about 5 miles apart. So could easily have been through their work. But still can't find what happened to poor old Percy.
 
My brain went to infant death too to begin with. One time I went looking for my grandfather's elder brother, who I knew had existed, but the records didn't seem to exist. Most people had the wrong entry for the brother which had him either younger or the same age as my grandfather. I eventually found him (and I can't remember how) but the GRO had hyphenated his name with his and his father's middle name (which happened to be Jones) and turned him into a different person - he also died as a baby, and his name was un-hyphenated for his death record.

I had a search to see if that happened in your case with the father's middle name of "Giddings" (it doesn't seem to have from initial searches) but could it have happened with Constantine?

Equally, could the child be with another family member in the subsequent censuses? (to be honest I'm still thinking that he died as an infant and its just a matter of finding the right record).
 
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