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This page draws mostly upon material from documents supplied by Mr. John Bathurst of Quebec from his Collection of Genealogical, Biographical and Historical Records of the Family of Bathurst, and appears here by his kind permission. The John Bathurst Collection [JBC] assigns to each individual Bathurst a unique four-digit reference number prefixed by a #.
Robert (6) Bathurst [JBC: #4998] was born in 1831 to parents Robert (2) Bathurst and his second wife Angelina (2) Tansley. He was baptized at St. Matthew, Bethnal Green on June 1st 1834 [Parish Register].
The 1841 Census finds him at age "10" living with his father and step-mother Mary at 10, Bacon Street in Bethnal Green.
His future wife was Caroline Ward, born in the early 1830s to parents Samuel Ward and his wife Matilda. The 1841 Census finds her aged "8" living with them in Tottenham Street, St. Pancras where Samuel was occupied as a basket maker.
The 1851 Census finds Robert (6) at age "20" residing as a "visitor" with Caroline at 3, Mint Street in St. George the Martyr parish, Southwark. He gave his birthplace as "City" and his occupation as willow worker. Caroline, the head of household, was aged "19" with birthplace Bethnal Green and was occupied as a milliner. Her parents and siblings were meanwhile living in Eden Place, Frogs Island in Wandsworth, Surrey. Samuel was aged "54" with birthplace "Coventry" - but perhaps intended as Coventry Street - and was still occupied as a basket maker.
On December 19th 1852 Robert (6) married Caroline at St. Jude's Church in St. George the Martyr parish [Marriage Index: St. George Sk. 1d 192, 1852 (Dec)]. His address was then Union Street in Southwark and he was occupied as a bonnet maker. Caroline, then aged "20", gave the same address and described her father as a basket maker Samuel Ward. The witnesses were Charles Lees and Hannah Oldman whose connections are unknown. Hannah may have been the Hannah Hollingsworth - born around 1811 in Thetford, Norfolk - who married a miller William Oldman in 1840 [Marriage Index: Thetford 13 513, 1840 (March)]. William probably died in 1846 [Death Index: Thetford 13 241, 1846 (Sept)]. The 1851 Census finds Hannah widowed and living with four of her children at 56, Gibraltar Row in Southwark St. George.
Caroline's father Samuel appears to have died in 1854 [Death Index: Wandsworth 1d 297, 1854 (March)]. The 1861 Census finds his widow Matilda as a laundress aged "49", with birthplace St. Clement, London, living with four of her other children at 5, Kings Head (Court?) in St. Luke, Finsbury. These children included Caroline's sister Rebecca. In 1867 Rebecca married Thomas Knight [Marriage Index: Bethnal Green 1c 434, 1867 (March)]. The 1871 Census finds Rebecca and Thomas with two children living at 45, Blue Anchor Alley in St. Luke, Finsbury. The 1881 Census finds them living at 25, Fosters Buildings in St. Luke Old Street, together with Rebecca's mother Matilda. The 1891 Census appears to find Matilda aged "80" as a pauper inmate of Shoreditch Workhouse. She appears to have died aged "82" in 1892 [Death Index: Shoreditch 1c 148, 1892 (March)].
For reasons not yet known, Robert (6) and Caroline were curiously nomadic during their lifetimes. Neither of them has yet been located in any census after 1851. All of their known children died in infancy.
Robert (6) died in Cambridge aged 44 in 1875 [Death Index: Cambridge 3b 420, 1875 (March)]. It is not yet known where or when Caroline died.
Mary Ann (3) was born illegitimate at St. Mary Newington Workhouse on September 30th 1852 and was recorded there as the "daughter of Caroline Bathurst". However her birth certificate [Birth Index: Newington 1d 173, 1852 (Dec)] names her as Mary Ann Ward. She died in the second quarter of 1853 at Whittlesey, five miles east of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire.
Caroline was born at Newington in 1855 [Birth Index: Newington 1d 163, 1855 (March)] and died in infancy [Death Index: Newington 1d 159, 1855 (March)].
Catherine was born in 1856 in Brighton, Sussex [Birth Index: Brighton 2b 187, 1856 (June)] and was christened at All Saints in Hastings, Sussex on June 10th 1856. She died of bronchitis, aged 11 weeks, at the "Jolly Sailor" inn in West Street, Deal in Kent on 12 July 1856 [Death Index: Eastry 2a 399, 1856 (Sept)]; her father, described on the death certificate as a bonnet maker, was the informant.
Robert (7) was born at Ipswich, Suffolk in 1857 [Birth Index: Ipswich 4a 574, 1857 (June)] and was christened at Stowmarket on May 14th 1857. He died at Peterborough in 1857 [Death Index: Peterbro' 3b 127, 1857 (Sept)]. He was buried aged "9 months" at St. John the Baptist in Peterborough on July 11th 1857 [National Burial Index].