Harry Whiting/Whybrow 1861-1940

Parents: Ellen Whiting, father unknown - possibly George Whybrow.
Born: 1861 in Burton End, Haverhill.(1)
Baptised: ?
Married: Jane Kiddy in 1884 in Haverhill.(2)
Children: William Whybrow (Kiddy) b.1881, Emma Jane Whybrow b.1885, Ernest Albert Whybrow b.1890 and Philip Whybrow b.1899
Died: November 1940. Buried at Haverhill Cemetery on 30th November 1940.(4,5)

Bio: On the 1861 census Harry appears aged 3 months as the son of David and Elizabeth Whiting. He does not appear on later censuses or in fact anywhere else as Harry Whiting, apart from on his marriage entry as we shall see.

In actual fact, I believe him to be the daughter of David and Elizabeth's daughter Ellen born out of wedlock. She was 18 at this time, and the very next year she was to marry George Whybrow. In later censuses, George and Ellen Whybrow have a son, named Harry, born in 1861. There is no record of a Harry Whybrow born in Haverhill in or around that year in the GRO censuses, but there is a Harry Philip Whiting listed as being born in the first quarter of 1861 in the Risbridge district.(1)

Harry appears to have taken the name Whybrow when Ellen married, and he may well have been George's child anyway.

On the 1871 census Harry is listed as a Whybrow, the eldest child of George and Ellen who are living in Burton End. He is a scholar. He has two younger brothers, Thomas and David.

For the 1881 census he remains living at his parents house in Burton End, and is now working as an agricultural labourer.

Harry got married in 1884, but what is particularly interesting is that he was married as Harry Whiting.(2) This goes a long way to confirming the suspicion he was Ellen's son before her marriage to George Whybrow.

As Judy Stratford has kindly pointed out to me, Harry's wife was Jane Kiddy, not Jane Bacon as I had previously thought. Civil Registration marriage indexes list five individuals including Harry Whiting and Jane Bacon, but there was actually another Jane married in the same quarter in Risbridge - Jane Kiddy, who doesn't appear with them. Checking the mother's maiden name of Harry's children on the GRO birth indexes (a feature not available back in the day when this site began) confirms their mother's name was in fact Kiddy.

Jane Kiddy was quite possibly the daughter of William Kiddy and Emma Hughes from Helion's Bumpstead, who was born in the Risbridge district in early 1860 (8). This is a good fit with her year of death.

When Harry and Jane appear on the 1891 census, his surname is Whybrow again, and they have their own house in Burton End. Harry is working as a silkweaver, Jane as a factory hand. They have three children, William, Emma and newborn Ernest. It appears William was the child of Jane's from before the marriage, and he matches well with a William Kiddy born in 1882 on the GRO index (7) whose mother's maiden name is not listed (often suggesting illegitimacy)

For the 1901 census, Harry and Jane Whybrow are living at 61 Burton End with four children, William, 19, a labourer, Emma, 14, and army canvas bag maker, Ernest, 10, and Philip, 2. Harry is now working as a horse keeper on a farm, and Jane is a full-time mum no longer working at the factory.

Jane was to die at the age of 46 in 1906.(3) On the 1911 census Harry is a widower, still at 61 Burton End, and working as a farm labourer. His daughter Emma, 24, is still at home and working as a sewing machinist. His son Philip, 12, is also at home.

Harry's son Ernest served in the 2nd Battalion Suffolk Regiment as Private 16048 and was killed on 29th March 1916 fighting in France.(6) His fathers address at the time is given as 6 Vine Cottages, Haverhill. Mercifully for Harry, his youngest son Philip was discharged in August 1917 after 312 days in the reserves as being no longer fit for service.

Harry was to die in 1940 at the age of 79. He was buried at Haverhill Cemetery on 30th November. (4,5)

Sources:

(1) Birth Register. 1st Quarter 1861, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 369
(2) Marriage Register. 4th Quarter 1884, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 965/6
(3) Death Register. 1st Quarter 1906, Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 482
(4) Death Register. 4th Quarter 1940, Newmarket District, Volume 4a Page 2114
(5) Haverhill Cemetery, Ref.5384. http://www.haverhill-uk.com/pages/burial-records-137.htm
(6) http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/104934/WHYBROW,%20E
(7) Birth Register. 1st Quarter 1882. Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 567
(8) Birth Register. 1st Quarter 1860. Risbridge District, Volume 4a Page 396