Robert Larkin
d. 20 Feb 1859
Derrick's great-great-great-grandfather. Called the banns for Mary Burch at Aldenham in January 1814. Eleven children were baptised to a Robert and a Mary Larkin between 1814 and 1833, and they cannot all be this couple's.
Family
Robert Larkind. 1859generation 5
banns 1814Mary Burcha record read here11 children
Sarah Larkinb. 1814a record read here
Mary Larkinb. 1815a record read here
Elizabeth Larkinb. 1818a record read here
Joseph Larkinb. 1820a record read here
Robert William Larkinb. 1821a record read here
Emma Larkinb. 1822a record read hereAmy Larkinb. 1823a record read here
James Larkinb. 1824a record read here
John Larkinb. 1828a record read here
Joseph Larkinb. 1828a record read here
Thomas Larkinb. 1833a record read here
Each person is marked by where that line came from, in words as well as colour.
On the individual lines:
- Mary Burch (spouse): banns read
- Mary Larkin (child): married William Bilby, 1843
- Robert William Larkin (child): probably the other couple's
- Joseph Larkin (child): probably the other couple's
- Thomas Larkin (child): probably the other couple's
What the record says
Probable The register offers two candidate baptisms; the ages in 1851 and 1859 favour one, and a second Robert accounts for the other.
Born about 1779 (the 1851 and 1859 ages) · died 20 February 1859, buried at Aldenham aged 79 (matched by name, age and abode)
| When | What | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Jan and 6 Feb 1814 | Banns, then marriage, with Mary Burch | Banns were read on 16 January 1814 and they were married by banns at Aldenham on 6 February, both of the parish, he a bachelor and she a spinster, with Wm Larkins and Wm Nicholls as witnesses. The bride's name is transcribed Barch in the marriage entry. It is the only Robert-and-Mary pair among 30 Larkin marriage entries. Their first child on the register was born on 30 March, 52 days after the wedding. | Documented |
| 1814–1833 | Eleven children baptised to a Robert and a Mary | Sarah, Mary, Elizabeth, Joseph, Robert William, Emma, Amy, James, John, a second Joseph and Thomas, the father a labourer in every entry. They cannot be one mother's: Emma was born on 3 March 1822, 272 days after Robert William (4 June 1821). A widow Mary Larkin, born at Edgware about 1800, heads a household in 1851 with Robert (30) and Eliza (20), and in 1841 with Robert, Joseph, Eliza and Thomas; she would have been 21 at Robert William's birth. So two Robert-and-Mary couples baptised children at Aldenham. The earlier note here that the first of two Josephs 'had most likely died' is withdrawn: there may be one Joseph in each family. | Read with care |
| 1781 or 1789 | Two candidate baptisms, and two Roberts | A Robert baptised in 1789 to Robert and Ann would be 62 in 1851 and 70 in 1859, and one baptised in 1781 to James and Sarah would be 70 and 78. The censuses and the burial give 72 and 79, so the age favours 1781. A different Robert Larkin, aged 45, was buried from the Folly on 16 September 1832; he fits the Robert of 1789 and the husband of the widow Mary, and an older Robert, aged 77, was buried from the Alms Houses in 1826. This is matching by age and place, and no document ties either baptism to either man. | Read with care |
| 30 Mar 1851 | Alive at Aldenham, aged 72 | Head of a household of five (HO107 piece 1714, folio 13, page 19, schedule 75): Robert Larkin, married, agricultural labourer, born Aldenham; his wife Mary, 69, born Aldenham; daughters Mary Bilby, a widow of 33, and Elizabeth, 31, both laundresses; and a granddaughter Mary Bilby, 6. The daughters match the baptisms of 1815 and 1818 in name and, within about three years, in age. Whether he is the Robert of the 1814 banns is an inference from that match and from the banns being the only Robert-and-Mary marriage in the Aldenham register. Mary Bilby had married William Bilby by banns on 22 October 1843; he was buried on 8 October 1844, aged 29, three months after their daughter Mary was baptised (7 July 1844). That marriage does not name her father. | Documented |
| 20 Feb 1859 | Buried at Aldenham, aged 79 | From the Round Bush Alms Houses. He is matched to this Robert by name, by an age one year off the 1851 census and by an abode that fits an old labourer in the same hamlet as his wife's burial. No document ties the entry to him. | Read with care |
Where this comes from
Each line of the table above names the record it rests on in its third column, and the grade at the top says how well the whole is evidenced. What is not established is said under its own heading below. How the grades and the labels on the chart are decided, and every source this archive holds.
What is not established
- Which baptism is his is not proved: the ages favour 1781 and nothing ties him to it. He is not in the 1841 index at Aldenham, where the only Robert Larkin is his namesake aged 20 in the widow Mary's household.
- The one Robert Larkin burial at Aldenham, on 1 September 1793, carries no age, so it cannot be told whether it is anyone here.
- His burial, on 20 February 1859 at Round Bush Alms Houses, is matched and not proved. He is in no later census.
- Which of the eleven children are his and Mary Burch's is not settled. Emma is, by the argument on her page; Robert William, the second Joseph and Thomas are marked as probably the other couple's.