myroots
William Ephgrave born c 1852 Wheathamsted
posted Sunday, 17 April 2005
William appears and disappears from online records with a bit of a mystery and a touch of the military.
William's father Charles Ephgrave was son of Thomas Ephgrave, farmer. Charles inherited a cottage from his parents when his mother Elizabeth died in 1855, a year after her husband. Charles and his wife Sarah (nee Philpott) had 12 of more children between 1839 and 1858.
Apart from a birth record in the IGI, William doesn't appear in the online records (that I can find, anyway) until the 1881 census. Here he is, aged 29, unmarried, a patient at the Royal Herbert Hospital (military) in Woolwich. His occupation is described as Private, 6th Dragoons (although I'm not sure if he would have been in the 6th Dragoons, Carabineers, or the 6th Dragoons (Inniskilling). Why would he have been drawn to an Irish or Scots regiment (although both seem to have been very prestigious cavalry regiments). Late in 1880, the 6th Dragoons were in action in India, and spent a lot of time in Afghanistan. It's not clear, of course, whether William was in hospital because of a service injury or just illness.
I can't find him subsequently in the 1891 census, but there is a possible death record in FreeBMD for a William Ephgrave, died in 1888, St Alban's, aged 38. The Herbert Hospital now seems to have been turned into the Royal Herbert Pavilions, luxury apartments, the fate of many of our old buildings these days!
William's father Charles Ephgrave was son of Thomas Ephgrave, farmer. Charles inherited a cottage from his parents when his mother Elizabeth died in 1855, a year after her husband. Charles and his wife Sarah (nee Philpott) had 12 of more children between 1839 and 1858.
Apart from a birth record in the IGI, William doesn't appear in the online records (that I can find, anyway) until the 1881 census. Here he is, aged 29, unmarried, a patient at the Royal Herbert Hospital (military) in Woolwich. His occupation is described as Private, 6th Dragoons (although I'm not sure if he would have been in the 6th Dragoons, Carabineers, or the 6th Dragoons (Inniskilling). Why would he have been drawn to an Irish or Scots regiment (although both seem to have been very prestigious cavalry regiments). Late in 1880, the 6th Dragoons were in action in India, and spent a lot of time in Afghanistan. It's not clear, of course, whether William was in hospital because of a service injury or just illness.
I can't find him subsequently in the 1891 census, but there is a possible death record in FreeBMD for a William Ephgrave, died in 1888, St Alban's, aged 38. The Herbert Hospital now seems to have been turned into the Royal Herbert Pavilions, luxury apartments, the fate of many of our old buildings these days!
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