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My Kaley family link is through my maternal Great Grandmother, Hannah Mary Kaley. Hannah, the eldest of 8 children of Thomas Kaley junior and Sarah (nee Summerhays), was born in Westminster, London in 1852 and married my Great Grandfather Alfred James Humphries in 1870.
From Hannah, I've traced my Kaley ancestry back to my 3 x Great Grandfather, Thomas Kaley senior, a Publican, who was the licensee of the Falcon public house, Sutton Street, Soho from 1815 to at least 1821. Thomas married Hannah Wade on 17th March 1812 at St. George's, Hanover Square. Note:- It's possible (though not yet proved) that he was the same Thomas Kaley, Publican of the Westminster Arms, Bowling Street who was convicted of theft (simple grand larceny) at the Old Bailey in 1805 and sentenced to transportation to Australia for a period of 7 years. I have not been able to establish whether this sentence was carried out or not and, if it was, it would have been unusual (but not unheard of) for a transportee to return home after his sentence was completed.
Thomas and Hannah had 3 children, William, Thomas (my 2 x Great Grandfather born in 1815) and Edwin.
In 1827, Thomas and Hannah were "in bad health and very poor" and living at 36 Great Windmill Street, Haymarket. We know this from the Morning Advertiser of 16th August 1827, which reported that their son, Thomas junior, was listed for admittance to the Licensed Victuallers' School, Kennington, London. It would undoubtedly have been of some comfort to them that Thomas junior was successfully admitted to the school on 10th September 1827, where his brother William was already a student, admitted in 1824.
The records of the 1841 and 1851 Censuses provide intriguing information about the lives of my 2 x great grandparents. In 1841 Thomas Kaley junior was living in Finsbury, London with his wife Lucy and their daughter Ann, aged 2 months. Ten years later, in 1851, Thomas and Lucy were resident at 26 Causton Street, Westminster, though there is no mention of daughter Ann. At the same address were the Summerhays family, including the 15-year old Sarah Summerhays. Within 12 months, Thomas Kaley ("batchelor") and Sarah Summerhays (pregnant with Hannah Mary) were married. What happened to Lucy and her daughter Ann is currently unknown.
Thomas and Sarah were married on 17th March 1852 at St. John's, Waterloo and had 9 children, including my Great Grandmother Hannah Mary. The family lived at various addresses in Westminster, in the vicinity of Millbank Penitentiary, until at least the early 1870's.
Sarah died of phthisis (tuberculosis) in 1875 at Nine Elms, Kennington, Surrey. Thomas was the informant on her death certificate but, thereafter, I don't know what became of him. I haven't been able to discover him at subsequent censuses or find a record of his death.
My Great Grandmother, Hannah Mary Kaley, was born 7th May, 1852 in Westminster, London. She married my Great Grandfather, Alfred James Humphries, a Labourer of Westminster, at St. Paul's, Charlton, Kent on 27th September 1870. They had 13 children, including my Grandfather William Alfred Humphries. Hannah died in Fulham, London in 1907, of Influenza and Pneumonia.
We get a treasured insight into the characters of Alfred and Hannah from the report by the Barnardo's enquiry officer, prior to their daughters, Maud and Lizzie, being taken into care and shipped out to Canada.
Alfred - "After leaving the army he became a coachman. His discharge papers, as well as testimonials from private employers, bore witness to the excellent character he bore"
Hannah - "The mother is sober, respectable and hard-working. Since the father's death she has supported herself and four young children by charing and nursing but from all sources her earnings have not exceeded 7s 6d to 8s per week."
