My great-great grandmother Amelia Eliza Hanson was born in Perozpore, India on 9th Nov 1847. Her parents were Henry Hanson (at the time a sergeant in the Fifty Third Regiment of Infantry with the British Army) and Sarah... My 'brickwall' is finding out who Sarah was. As she has a British name I am assuming that she is NOT Indian and that Amelia's parents were married in England before being stationed in India with the army.
After a LONG search I finally found a index of birth registration for Amelia which arrived in the mail today. I hoped and hoped that it would have her mother's maiden name, but alas no luck. Parents are listed as Henry and Sarah Hanson.
I have tried searching BMD records for Henry and Sarahs marriage but I don't know when it was exactly. I searched from the record start date in 1837 to Amelia's birth in 1847 and got about 8 results but I dont know how to reduce the number of matches and I cant afford to order all of the certificates to try and match it. I am guessing it is one of the 1845 entries, perhaps the Yorkshire one, but im not prepared to order certs without a better idea at this stage... maybe in the future.
This is what else I already know about the family
Henry was born abt 1822 in Doncaster, Yorkshire. He was a sergeant in the British army and is listed later as a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London on Amelia's marriage certificate. The 1861 and 1871 census has him remarried to a lady named Catherine who was blind. They had 2 more children, one born in the East Indies like Amelia but 10 years later and one born after that in England.
Sarah: absolutely nothing, no dob, dod, anything, just her first name from Amelia's birth and marriage certificates.
Amelia: Married in 1873 in Gloustershire to Alfred Polkinhorn. Marriage cert states her place of residence as the Tower of London (I assume her father had lodgings there with his family as he was working there, rather than her being a prisoner!
) She died in 1916 in Canada (this lady got around) of cancer of the liver. The informant for her death registry listed mother and father as unknown.Any suggestions? I also haven't been able to find anything on Henry's parents so maybe if someone has access to parish registers for Doncaster, Yorkshire his birth entry might have leads. From memory I tried to get Henry's military records but had no luck with this either. I cant remember if it was because the records had been destroyed or just that I needed to go to London to look at them.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions,
Amy from Oz
