Hi Ruth, There is a Thomas DEVONPORT born Congleton c 1839 in Fulwood Barracks in 1871. And no matching man in other census years which suggests it is probably your man. However he is shown as unmarried. Also there is a Joseph DEVONPORT b c 1853 Stockport. A relation or his name is right and confused the enumerator? Hope this helps Christine -----Original Message----- From: Ruth Genda via Sent: Friday, October 10, 2014 3:33 PM To: cheshire@rootsweb.com Subject: [CHS] Thomas DAVENPORT 1838-1893 I am returning to my own family history with an unsolved mystery: the gap in *any* records for my ggrandfather Thomas DAVENPORT between 1859 and July 1871. He is not in the 1871 Census as far as I can tell. He was born in Congleton to Levina (nee CURTIS) and Thomas DAVENPORT and was baptised on 2 Dec 1838 in Astbury. [Thomas Sr was a Millman and later a Colliery Railway Plate Layer in Poynton. He had married Levina in Astbury on 19 Sep 1836. Thomas [Jr] was their second child.] In the 1851 Census Thomas Sr and his family are living in Poynton where Thomas Jr aged 12 is shown as a Coal-miner. On 26 July 1858 Thomas Jr married Mary Ellen HULME in St Peter's Prestbury. He was 19 and Mary Ellen was 21. Their first child, also named Mary Ellen, is registered in Qr 1 of 1859. In c1859/1860 Thomas signed up as a Private to the 1st Battallion 12th Cheshire Regiment and served for the next 6 years in New Zealand engaged in the attempts to settle the Maori Wars. I have his medal. Thomas then disappears from all government records. I visited the National Archives in Kew in 1996 to trawl the men of the Cheshire Regiment's records, and all were there - except for just one. And you will have guessed already - it is that of Thomas DAVENPORT! His name appears in the general lists but his individual record has vanished. Thomas does not reappear in Census records until 1881 although his wife Mary Ellen, and their daughter Mary Ellen, are found in the 7th April 1861 Census living with her widowed mother in Midway, Worth (Poynton) and working in a cotton mill. The 2nd April 1871 Census shows them living or visiting with a CLAYTON family in Poynton - but the enumerator has confused her relationship with the Head. Thomas reappears on the birth certificate of his second child, Lavanah (my grandmother), born on 2 March 1872. Thomas and Mary Ellen then have three more daughters at regular 2-year intervals. Thomas was very young when he married and Mary Ellen was already pregnant with their daughter when they did. There is a family story that one of my ggrandfathers 'went missing' for a number of years, always said with Tasmania in the same breath, but no one in my previous generation could remember (or was willing to say) which grandfather it actually was. I suspect that it may have been this man whose family responsibilities weighed too heavily on his young shoulders and he sought escape somewhere. Or, for some yet unknown reason, he was sent . so I am making him my Current Task! I'm completely ignorant re military research. Apart from the one abortive excursion to Kew I have done nothing else with regard to Thomas. My confusions are these: Why has his army record disappeared? Is a duplicate copy held somewhere else? Were soldiers at the time granted regular leave when based in the UK? How were soldiers recorded in Censuses - I'm thinking both 1861 and 1871 here? If he signed for 12 years what did he do in the army after 1866? If he signed for only 6 years (his medal years) what did he do for the next 6 years? The Cheshire Regimental Museum may be able to help but due to a high volume of requests which must be made by post or email they have a backlog of 13+ weeks before they can answer. If anyone has alternative experience to offer I would welcome both their advice and any lateral thinking. Thanks Ruth ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CHESHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thanks, Christine. An interesting find. It would infer that he could have 'resigned' from the Cheshires and signed up with the Lancashires. But not necessarily. Fulwood seems to have been a very busy centre for all sorts of activities involving other regiments. The Lancashire Infantry Museum will accept telephone calls so I will do that next week with an initial enquiry. In the meantime if you would kindly send me as much detail of this info - and where you found it - I'd be very grateful. You could be on to something. :-) Ruth -----Original Message----- From: Christine Benson [mailto:christinebenson313@btinternet.com] Sent: 10 October 2014 15:58 To: Ruth Genda; cheshire@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CHS] Thomas DAVENPORT 1838-1893 Hi Ruth, There is a Thomas DEVONPORT born Congleton c 1839 in Fulwood Barracks in 1871. And no matching man in other census years which suggests it is probably your man. However he is shown as unmarried. Also there is a Joseph DEVONPORT b c 1853 Stockport. A relation or his name is right and confused the enumerator? Hope this helps Christine -----Original Message----- From: Ruth Genda via Sent: Friday, October 10, 2014 3:33 PM To: cheshire@rootsweb.com Subject: [CHS] Thomas DAVENPORT 1838-1893 I am returning to my own family history with an unsolved mystery: the gap in *any* records for my ggrandfather Thomas DAVENPORT between 1859 and July 1871. He is not in the 1871 Census as far as I can tell. He was born in Congleton to Levina (nee CURTIS) and Thomas DAVENPORT and was baptised on 2 Dec 1838 in Astbury. [Thomas Sr was a Millman and later a Colliery Railway Plate Layer in Poynton. He had married Levina in Astbury on 19 Sep 1836. Thomas [Jr] was their second child.] In the 1851 Census Thomas Sr and his family are living in Poynton where Thomas Jr aged 12 is shown as a Coal-miner. On 26 July 1858 Thomas Jr married Mary Ellen HULME in St Peter's Prestbury. He was 19 and Mary Ellen was 21. Their first child, also named Mary Ellen, is registered in Qr 1 of 1859. In c1859/1860 Thomas signed up as a Private to the 1st Battallion 12th Cheshire Regiment and served for the next 6 years in New Zealand engaged in the attempts to settle the Maori Wars. I have his medal. Thomas then disappears from all government records. I visited the National Archives in Kew in 1996 to trawl the men of the Cheshire Regiment's records, and all were there - except for just one. And you will have guessed already - it is that of Thomas DAVENPORT! His name appears in the general lists but his individual record has vanished. Thomas does not reappear in Census records until 1881 although his wife Mary Ellen, and their daughter Mary Ellen, are found in the 7th April 1861 Census living with her widowed mother in Midway, Worth (Poynton) and working in a cotton mill. The 2nd April 1871 Census shows them living or visiting with a CLAYTON family in Poynton - but the enumerator has confused her relationship with the Head. Thomas reappears on the birth certificate of his second child, Lavanah (my grandmother), born on 2 March 1872. Thomas and Mary Ellen then have three more daughters at regular 2-year intervals. Thomas was very young when he married and Mary Ellen was already pregnant with their daughter when they did. There is a family story that one of my ggrandfathers 'went missing' for a number of years, always said with Tasmania in the same breath, but no one in my previous generation could remember (or was willing to say) which grandfather it actually was. I suspect that it may have been this man whose family responsibilities weighed too heavily on his young shoulders and he sought escape somewhere. Or, for some yet unknown reason, he was sent . so I am making him my Current Task! I'm completely ignorant re military research. Apart from the one abortive excursion to Kew I have done nothing else with regard to Thomas. My confusions are these: Why has his army record disappeared? Is a duplicate copy held somewhere else? Were soldiers at the time granted regular leave when based in the UK? How were soldiers recorded in Censuses - I'm thinking both 1861 and 1871 here? If he signed for 12 years what did he do in the army after 1866? If he signed for only 6 years (his medal years) what did he do for the next 6 years? The Cheshire Regimental Museum may be able to help but due to a high volume of requests which must be made by post or email they have a backlog of 13+ weeks before they can answer. If anyone has alternative experience to offer I would welcome both their advice and any lateral thinking. Thanks Ruth ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CHESHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Ruth, I found it on the 1871 census. So you should be able to find it on FMP if you put in DEVONPORT, or perhaps as I did to check if there were more matches to the name, D?V?NPORT. If you can't find it I can send the image. Christine -----Original Message----- From: Ruth Genda Sent: Friday, October 10, 2014 7:23 PM To: 'Christine Benson' ; cheshire@rootsweb.com Subject: RE: [CHS] Thomas DAVENPORT 1838-1893 Thanks, Christine. An interesting find. It would infer that he could have 'resigned' from the Cheshires and signed up with the Lancashires. But not necessarily. Fulwood seems to have been a very busy centre for all sorts of activities involving other regiments. The Lancashire Infantry Museum will accept telephone calls so I will do that next week with an initial enquiry. In the meantime if you would kindly send me as much detail of this info - and where you found it - I'd be very grateful. You could be on to something. :-) Ruth