Here is a copy of the marriage certificate of Arthur Victor Davies and Gertrude Florence Jones. One item of interest here is the father of Arthur Victor, he is listed as Richard William Davies (deceased), which gives some search possibilities for the previous generation.
As I said earlier the shortcut option I chose was census data, and the 1901 census shows Arthur Victor living at home with his mother but no father.
Well the marriage certificate said he was dead in 1909 so his not being alive in 1901 was possible as well. From the census data we can see Arthur and some of his siblings as well as Susan Davies, his mother. Susan is listed as widowed and age 53, there are 3 daughters at home Florence M., Beatrice H. and Susan S. then 3 sons Alfred E., Reginald P. and Arthur V. Also listed is a visitor and a married couple as borders. They lived then at 30 Rhos Ddu Road Wrexham, all the children were born in Wrexham and Susan was born in Bangor, Flintshire.
Going back 10 years to the 1991 census things were different.
For a start they lived at 39 Hope Street wrexham though there is still no mention of the father, Susan is listed as widow. We now see an older son living at home, William Davies age 18, born in Bangor and a hairdresser like his father. Then there are 5 daughters, Susan, Beatrice and Florence as in 1901 as you check their ages plus Mary and Jessie who possibly married or went into service before the 1901 census. From the sons Reginald P. is now named just as Percy and there is a 2 year old daughter Maud who possibly dies before 1901. It might be safe to assume that the father died less than 3 years before this census.
Going back 10 more years we see this for 39 Hope Street -
The father is listed, age 32 and a hairdresser and umbrella maker! born in Wrexham but with the name Robt W. assumed to be Robert William Davies. The son William is listed as Robert W. as well and there is another son John H.. The daughters are now listed as Florence A. (perhaps the later M. was a mistaken reading of the census sheet), Mary now gets a middle initial E. and Beatrice is named Henrietta B. (checked by her age) Jessie gets an initial V. and there is a new son Albert E. who seems to have died young. Also mentioned is Elizabeth Roberts a 12 year old general servant.
What can we deduce from this? Well not to much, despite all the name changing of the children it does seem certain this is the right family and most of the name changes are swapping around of first and second names and the ages all coincide with the 10 year census gaps, there were possibly several other children who were born and died between the census'. We can assume the family was moderately well off as they had a servant before the father died and afterwards life was more of a struggle for Susan, the move from Hope Street was perhaps to cheaper accommodation, the servant went and as children left home she took in borders to provide an income.
The big problem comes with Arthur Victors fathers name, is the marriage certificate correct or the 1881 census. Census data is notoriously inaccurate at times, but these sheets are at least readable and for the oldest son have the same name as his father is often true. Could it be that Arthur was not sure of his fathers name? The father died some 20 years before the marriage and it is possible that Susan had also died by 1909, so he could not ask her. All his siblings were older and possibly married or moved away and it could just be that the registrar relied on Arthur's word.
The next step is to find the exact date of birth for Arthur and if possible the date of his parents marriage these should confirm whether Richard William was Robert William or not as well as giving some more clues to the generation before and his mothers maiden name. He should also be listed on the census returns for 1871, 1861 and 1851 in Wrexham as he was born there. From the age of the eldest son, 8 in 1881, it is probable that they married just after the 1871 census but I could get lucky and find them just married in 1871.
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