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Samuel Robert Ames (SRA) was born on August 19th 1824 to parents Samuel John Ames and his wife Maria and was christened at St. Leonard Shoreditch on September 12th 1824 [IGI: Batch C040804].
He has not yet been found in the 1841 Census.
His future first wife was Helen Ann Pinkerton. She was born to parents James Pinkerton and Harriet (nee Potts) on November 27th 1817 and was christened at St. Mary Whitechapel, Stepney on July 1st 1818 [IGI: Batch C006298]. Her parents had married at St. Luke in Old Street, Finsbury on November 16th 1816 [IGI: Batch M020692]. The 1841 Census finds her at age "22" living with her parents in Pimlico Walk, St. Leonard Shoreditch where her father James, born in Scotland, was occupied as a painter.
SRA married Helen Ann in 1848 [Marriage Index: Shoreditch 2 285, 1848 (March)] on January 2nd 1848 at St. John the Baptist in Shoreditch [IGI: Batch M040371].
The 1851 Census finds SRA and Helen Ann living at 4, Church Terrace in the Homerton district of Hackney with their child Margaret Amelia, aged "2". SRA, aged "25", was occupied as a carpenter. Helen Ann's parents were meanwhile living at 2, College Lane near the High Street in Hackney where James was again occupied as a painter.
In July 1853 SRA deserted Helen Ann, as recorded in a statement made upon oath at the Police Court in Worship Street, Shoreditch by George Ross, a Metropolitan Police officer [LMA: Board of Guardians Records]. A statement upon oath was made there also on July 25th by Helen Ann as follows:
I am thirty-four years of age and the wife of the within-named Samuel Robert Ames to whom I was married in the District Church of Saint John Hoxton, Middlesex on the second day of January five years ago (last January) and have issue by him one child named Margaret Amelia aged four years. My said Husband has run away and left me and my said child whereby we have become and are now actually chargeable to and receiving relief from the said parish of Saint Leonard Shoreditch.
Later in 1853 Helen Ann's mother Harriet died [Death Index: Hackney 1b 181, 1853 (Sept)] and was buried at age "64" on August 28th at St. Barnabas, Homerton. Helen Ann's father James died in 1854 [Death Index: Hackney 1b 226, 1854 (Sept)].
After deserting Helen Ann, SRA took up a new partner Margaret Watson. In the 1850s he and Margaret produced at least three daughters - Jane Elizabeth, Alice Margaret and Mary Ann.
An Ancestry tree indicates that Helen Ann and her daughter Margaret Amelia made a new life for themselves in Australia. The latter married in Victoria in 1877 to George Rice by whom she produced four children. She died there on March 17th 1923. Helen Ann died there, in Footscray, in 1906.
The 1861 Census finds SRA's family living at 77, Pearson Street in St. Leonard, Shoreditch. SRA, aged "36", was occupied as a carpenter and joiner. Margaret, born in London, was aged "24". SRA's first child Margaret Amelia was not present and was presumably with her mother.
In 1863 SRA and Margaret married [Marriage Index: Shoreditch 1c 269, 1863 (June)], evidently bigamously.
The 1871 Census finds SRA at age "46" with Margaret and Alice Margaret living at 51, Broke Street - probably today's Broke Walk - in Shoreditch, where he was occupied as a carpenter. Jane Elizabeth and Mary Ann, however, were not with them.
In 1877 Mary Ann married Richard William (3) Woodhurst and described SRA on her marriage certificate as a pattern maker.
The 1881 Census finds SRA, aged "56" and allegedly widowed, living at 131, Usher Road in Old Ford, Bow and occupied as a carpenter. With him was a son Matthew Edmund aged "4". It is not certain who this boy's mother was, or what had become of Margaret.
SRA subsequently partnered, but did not marry (as established by extensive analysis of "Samuel Ames" marriages), a woman named Eliza whose maiden name is currently unknown. She was evidently born at St. George-in-the-East (next to Stepney and Whitechapel) around 1852.
The 1891 Census finds SRA at age "65" with Eliza aged "38" (purporting to be his wife) and four children, including Matthew Edmund, living at 71, Spey Street in Bow, where he was still occupied as a carpenter and joiner.
SRA appears to have died aged "68" in 1893 [Death Index: Lambeth 1d 207, 1893 (June)].
Eliza may have lived her last years with or near Matthew Edmund's family in West Ham, in which case she may have died there aged "51" in 1903 [Death Index: W. Ham 4a 32, 1903 (June)]. This reference may, however, pertain to an unrelated "Eliza Ames" of the same age who in 1901 was certainly living in West Ham. The fate of SRA's partner is therefore currently undetermined.
Margaret Amelia was christened at Hackney Parish Church on December 17th 1848 [Hackney Baptisms Register]; the register names her parents fully and gives their address as Homerton; SRA's occupation is entered as carpenter.
The 1871 Census possibly finds Jane Elizabeth living at St. George's Villa in Amhurst Road, Hackney in the household of a widow Susan Drew. She is described as a general servant aged "18" and born in Shoreditch.
Alice Margaret was born on May 4th 1856 and christened at St. John the Baptist in Shoreditch on May 25th 1856 [IGI: Batch C040372]. She married a builder George Alexander Dawson on February 19th 1882 at All Saints Church in Haggerston [Marriage Index: Shoreditch 1c 177, 1882 (March)], giving her address as 72, Lenthall Road (in Hackney) and her father's occupation as pattern maker. An "Alice Margaret Dawson" died in 1884 [Death Index: W. Ham 4a 31, 1884 (Dec)], but her cited age of "24" (instead of 28) makes it uncertain that she was SRA's daughter.
Mary Ann was born on January 2nd 1858 and christened at St. John the Baptist in Shoreditch on January 31st 1858 [IGI: Batch C040372].
It seems likely that some of these children (other than Matthew Edmund) were born to SRA's partner Eliza.
Matthew Edmund was born on December 21st 1876 and was baptised at St Mary, Stratford in Bow on January 21st 1877. The register gives his father's occupation as carpenter and his mother's name as Caroline. In 1900 he married Minnie Louisa Fitch [Marriage Index: Poplar 1c 1139, 1900 (Sept)]. She was born in 1873 [Birth Index: Poplar 1c 674, 1873 (Sept)]. The 1901 Census finds them living at 689, Barking Road in West Ham, Essex. He was occupied as a solicitor's clerk.
The 1901 Census finds John Alonso with his brother Albert Edward boarding at 126, Kerbey Street in Bromley-by-Bow and occupied as a sawyer. He married as "John Alonzo" to Florence Mary (née) Lomax in 1904 [Marriage Index: Poplar 1c 1033, 1904 (Sept)]. He died in Bromley in late 1970.
The 1901 Census finds Albert Edward with his brother John Alonso boarding at 126, Kerbey Street in Bromley-by-Bow and occupied as a sawyer. He married Kate H. Middleton in 1916 [Marriage Index: Stepney 1c 482, 1916 (Sept)]. He served in the Great War as a rifleman in the Rifle Brigade 2nd Battalion with Service Number S/24593 and was killed in action aged "33" on June 30th 1917. His widow was then living at 61, Three Colt Street in Limehouse. He is commemorated at the Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery near Ieper in Belgium with grave/memorial reference III. D 13. [Commonwealth War Graves Commission database].
The 1901 Census finds Beatrice Mary as an inmate in an orphanage in Bristol called Millers Orphan Houses. Her age is given as "11" and her birthplace as Bromley in "Kent", apparently a mistaken reference to Bromley-by-Bow in Middlesex.