Is there evidence for migrants from Tyneside to Spain in the 1850's? We have a possible death for William Elliott MAIN on an MI in Malaga in 1863. William Elliot MAIN was born in Gateshead in October 1837. In the 1851 Census he is a 'Clerk to Engineer' age 13 living in Cumberland Row Newcastle upon Tyne with his mother (Margaret nee ELLIOTT) We have not found him in later censuses and he is not named in his mother's will written in 1873. Robin Lanark Scotland

Hi Robin, Could William Main have been working on the construction of the Spanish Railway system perhaps? You say that in the 1851 census he is shown inn Newcastle with the occupation of Clerk to Engineer, I noticed that in that 1851 entry the enumerator has added in faint pencil the word Civil, Civil Engineer? I wonder if that Engineer, that William was clerk to, was working in Railway construction and took William with him to Spain to help with setting up the railways in the Malaga area of Spain maybe. There were Railway Engineers from the North East of England that were consulted on the construction of various of the Spanish railways, from what I can make out. From what I could find online about the history of the Spanish Railway system the Railway was built from Malaga to Cordoba between 1860-1865 could your William have gone from Gates head to the area of Malaga for this reason I wonder this time frame fits with the death you have found? Unfortunately Civil Registration in Spain did not begin until 1871, too late for William Main's death to have been registered, otherwise I might have been able to get you a copy of the death cert., from the Malaga Registrars office. There is no central registrars office here, such as the GRO in the UK and no countrywide index of BMDs, such as the GRO index either it is all held locally in each town. Where did you find the MI for William Main, is he mentioned on a stone in a cemetery in Northumberland or County Durham or is it actually in Malaga? Regards Jenny DeAngelis Spain. <<> Is there evidence for migrants from Tyneside to Spain in the 1850's? > We have a possible death for William Elliott MAIN on an MI in Malaga in > 1863. > William Elliot MAIN was born in Gateshead in October 1837. In the 1851 > Census he is a 'Clerk to Engineer' age 13 living in Cumberland Row > Newcastle > upon Tyne with his mother (Margaret nee ELLIOTT) > We have not found him in later censuses and he is not named in his > mother's > will written in 1873.>>