Louisa Matilda Bishop ²

  General Notes:

Louisa's age and birthplace is given on the censuses found as:

1851 (0)
1861 17 London1843 (1)
1871 27 Whitechapel1843
1881 36 London1844
1891 44 Lambeth1846 (4)
1901 57 Stepney1843
1911 66 Bristol N.K. 1844

(0) There is a record for a Louisa Bishop, 10, b St George and a servant but on the image the age is actually 19.

(1) Louisa Bishop, 17, London, Domestic Servant, 40 Great Russell Street Bloomsbury. This is only 2k south west of where our Louisa was living at Great Cambridge (now Queensbridge) Street , Haggerston when when married in 1865. Of interest is next door neighbour "Matilda Louisa Eustace", 62 living with her husband and a number of lodgers. Could she have taken her middle name from this woman?

There are two other Louisa Bishops of interest in 1861:
a servant b 1845 in St Pancras - too young and far from east London
a daughter of James and Eliza, 13 b Chelsea - father's name correct but much too young and born Chelsea

(4) Her age and birthplace in 1891 made me stop and think whether or not I had the right family especially as her husband was shown as a "Fishmonger", an occupation not previously recorded for him and the only child at home was Thomas "J", 23 and born St George in the East (rather than Thomas R, 23, born Poplar). I'm more confident that this is them now that I've seen Lavinia's 1887 marriage certificate with father's occupation also shown as "Fishmonger". Also the 1891 address in West Ferry Road is only a few doors from the family's 1881 address.

These look promising .......
Marriages Sep 1840
Bishop James Whitechapel 2 476
CLEMENTS Maria Whitechapel 2 476
FORREST Francis Whitechapel 2 476
Norgrove Thomas Whitechapel 2 476
PHILIPS Ann Lavinia Whitechapel 2 476
SHIPMAN Rhoda Whitechapel 2 476
WATTS Susannah Whitechapel 2 476
WEBB John Whitechapel 2 476

Deaths Dec 1847
Bishop Lavinia Whitechapel 2 632

MATILDA LOUISA BISHOP
Christening: 12 OCT 1834 Saint Mark, Kennington
Father: JOHN BISHOP
Mother: LOUISA
Messages: Extracted birth or christening record for locality listed in the record.

Witness at her wedding was Maria Bishop (sister?) :
Births Jun 1845
BISHOP Maria Marylebone 1211
BISHOP Maria London 2181
Births Sep 1845
BISHOP Maria St Pancras 1344

  Chronology:

Bef 1861 I have not had any success finding Louisa. There is no "Louisa Matilda Bishop" on the pages from the birth register (1837online) between 1840 and 1849, and the 1851 census seems to have nothing promising. We know from her marriage certificate that her father is James, an Ironmoulder and apparently alive at the time. The witnesses are a George Hawker and Maria Bishop. Both Louisa and Maria sign the certificate with their marks. Maria is possibly her mother or sister.

In 1861 it is likely that she was the Louisa Bishop, 17, born London, who was working as a General Servant for the Mills family at 40 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury next door to "Falcon(?) ??? Keys" Inn. ⁷

Louisa married Thomas Richard Roberts, son of James Roberts and Ann Jane Furnis(?), 4th Sep 1865 in St Mary Haggerston, Haggerston Rd, Shoreditch.¹ (Thomas Richard Roberts was born on 19 Sep 1841 in 18 Dock St, Rosemary Lane, Whitechapel ^{8 9 10} and died on 9 Mar 1915 in 5 Totnes Cottages, Poplar ^{11 12}.)

  Marriage Notes:

The church of St. Mary was built to the design of John Nash in 1822-6 and was destroyed in the 2nd World War.