© 2016 David E. Spencer
Louisa Humphrey was born in Banham, Norfolk in 1815. She married Robert Barnard in 1848 at nearby New Buckenham. By the time of her marriage Louisa had already had three of her four children. It seems clear, however, that all four children had Robert Barnard as their father. All four children were baptised together in 1848 and the baptismal entry seems clear that Robert was father to them all. This is also shown in the 1851 census entry for Robert's household at New Buckenham:
There was obviously a reason for the delay in Robert marrying the mother of his children but we have yet to uncover this.
New Buckenham village today
Other than her birthplace of Banham and birth date of 11 March 1843 we know nothing more of Robert and Louisa's eldest child Louisa.
Caroline Eliza was born in New Buckenham in 1845. Like her mother she was a straw bonnet maker. Her first child, Arthur John Humphrey, born in New Buckenham in 1867 was not the son of the man she later married, David Catlyn. She had four sons with her husband - Herbert James (born 1874), Benjamin Bernard (born 1879), Humphrey David (born 1879) and Ernest Robert (born 1881), all born in Old Buckenham. The two middle brothers became labourers in Sheffield.
Click here to read about the family of Arthur John Humphrey.