Julia Fogarty wrote (Aug 22nd 2017)
I have been researching my family for several years and you have solved a mystery for me – thank you!
I am a descendent of Henry Tomlinson, who you wrote a fascinating piece about: he’s my great great grandfather ( I think? His daughter Ellen was my mother’s grandmother) and I have been puzzling over who Henrietta was as she’s so much older than Ellen, who I thought was her sister.
My mother recalls having two great aunts, Hannah and Kate. Are these the other two children Henry had with Mary Hannah do you know? I had come to the conclusion Kate may have been a cousin (daughter of Henrietta?) but can’t remember why I thought that.
So pleased I found this site. I hope to visit Ilkeston some day to explore properly.
Dave replied (Aug 25th 2017) …
Your mother’s grandmother seems to have had several siblings. The eldest one was brother James, born in 1863 but he died in South St. on Feb 16th 1870, aged 6 years and 2 months.
Another older brother was Isaac Henry, born in 1866, but he also died in South St. on Jan 6th 1867, aged 6 weeks.
Kate Elizabeth was a younger sister, born at 35 South St. in 1871. She married blacksmith George Milnes (who was born in West Hallam in 1858) on Jul 4th 1893 at St. Mary’s Church, Ilkeston. They had at least two daughters — Hannah (aka Mary Ann) and Gladys Kate — and it was shortly after this second child that Kate Elizabeth died. She was buried in Ilkeston in August 1896.
The other younger sister was Hannah — I cannot tell you much about her except that she was baptised at St Mary’s on May 24th 1874 and appears on the 1881 census as Hannah Atkin (the surname of her step-father).
It seems very possible that your mother’s great aunts were these two sisters.
My computer tells me that Kate was either the half-sister or first cousin of Henrietta !!!
