| Notes |
- There is a chance this person does not exist, but there is strong evidence for him.
He appears at the same address in 1841 as Mary LONDON, who is assumed to be the Mary (IMPEY) who married Edward LONDON.
Then in 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1881, there is a William LONDON living with Hannah IMPEY, and in 1871 and 1881 they are cousins. The ages match and the relationship matches too.
The downsides are firstly the gap that I have between William and the next youngest child, and the presumed age of his mother (56) at birth. I can find no baptism record for him. Also he gives his birthplace in 1861, 1871 and 1881 as St Albans. It also presumes that his older brother William (born 1810) had died. At the moment, this seems unlikely, though there is no definite evidence for death (at the time of writing).
However, the mention of cousins in 1871 and 1881 is important, and so the Census and other data has been used.
Why did he say he was born in St Albans? Maybe the enumerator just wrote it down, though given that nobody else in the vicinity was from St Albans this seems unlikely. Did he have a cold and it sounded like St Albans? Again, unlikely given that this is said in 3 years. There is a place St Ippolyts, with is only 3-4 miles away, and could sound like St Albans. Had he fallen out with his siblings and wanted nothing to do with them? Maybe.
There is a William baptised to Edward and Keziah LONDON in St Albans on 3 Dec 1820. There is no sensible Census information that follows this.
So here is what I think happened:-
There are no other baptisms recorded to Edward and Kezia LONDON (or similar names) in Hertfordshire in the period 1808-1828 (Edward's death), other than the one above. Keziah London, Edward's daughter died, I think, in 1838.
St Albans is 24 miles away by foot, from Willian.
I think Edward and Mary's daughter, Keziah, got pregnant, and aged 14 she gave birth to a boy, who was baptised in St Albans by Keziah (and his grandfather). The boy was called William, and when Keziah died, came to live with his grandmother, Mary. At later censuses, he lived with his cousin (actually 1st cousin once removed, but close enough), Hannah IMPEY. Keziah London was buried on 6 Sep 1838 in Willian, but curiously there is a burial of somebody with the same name, on the same day, in Ware. I wonder if (her) cousin Hannah, was working in the area, and whether Keziah and her son William lived in Ware, and if so that means it would be entirely natural for William to be living in later years with Hannah.
Edward may have been the actual father, or he just played the part to support his daughter. He was buried in Willian, so if he had committed incest, it seems he was forgiven in some way.
Not that there is any real evidence for any of this; just perhaps the best that fits the facts.
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Abt 1826 -
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