Thank you all who replied to my earlier posting. Some asked a few extra questions - hence the composite response. Certainly the Charles Simmons (or Symonds) is the one who married Sarah Hadley in West Malvern in February 1850. Interestingly the marriage certificate describes both as being of full age even though Sarah was clearly only about 17 - but she was pregnant. Their first child, Helen, was baptised in West Malvern just six months later. According to the 1861 census Helen was born in Leigh, Worcestershire which is just outside Malvern. I think therefore that in 1851 they must have been living in Worcestershire and were probably just missed off the census. I have come across that quite often, especially with ancestors who could not read or write. I had always assumed (just guesswork) that that was because they could not fill any forms in and the census officials would soon get fed up with calling on them if they were always not at home for whatever reason. Thanks again to all who tried to help but it looks as though I am not going to get any further forward in finding much out about Charles. Regards, Paul Taylor