In 1828, as well as testifying to the character of Mr Green, he also married Elizabeth Summers Gallop. Elizabeth was born around 1806. They married in St John's church, Clerkenwell. The church doesn't really exist anymore. At least most of it doesn't. When I went to visit, it had a wall and a few gravestones turned into a path.

They lived at 9 Jerusalem Passage, Clerkenwell, where Edmund had his shop. It's just around the corner from Goswell Road. On the ground floor, this is now a trendy wine bar but the building they lived in appears to still exist though the area has been extensively rebuilt with 60s & 70s office buildings. They had four children. Eliza (b 1832), Edmund Hiam jnr (b 1836), Frederick Edmund (b 2 January 1838) and Mary Emma (b 1840). Poor Edmund jnr died in 1837 at home in Jerusalem Passage - I don't know of what.

In 1839 Edmund was the victim of a theft. It was 7 February when Elizabeth Brown stole one pan from the shop. It had a value of one shilling. In court, before Mr Sergeant Arabin, Edmund said "I keep an earthenware shop in Jerusalem-passage. This is my pan - I do not know the prisoner." Elizabeth's only defence was that she was in great distress. She was found guilty and confined for one year. She was aged 58.

According to the 1841 census, Elizabeth and the remaining three children were living at 31 South Street, Manchester Square without Edmund Hyam. South Street, itself, no longer exists as such. Sometime between 1861 and 1888, South Street was changed to a continuation of Blandford Street.

In the South Street section there is no number 31. However, in 1888 the General Post Office and the London County Council renumbered a lot of streets so that the lowest numbers occurred at the end nearest the closest post office. This makes finding the actual house virtually impossible. Also, the existing buildings do not look old enough.

Also in the South Street part of Blandford Street, is St James' Catholic Church. Although a church has existed on this site since Elizabethan times, the current building was built in the late 1800s and is very big! It is my contention that Elizabeth and family were living with the aid of the church and perhaps there were houses erected where the church now stands. My only evidence for such an assumption is that in the 1861 census, a column of the census has the word 'rectory' beside each address.

In 1844 Edmund Hyam died at 16 Linton Place, Marylebone (a street which no longer exists) with a woman called Mary Moore signing as his informant. He had been sick for a year and finally succumbed to bronchial TB. Although he does not appear on the 1841 census, there's no reason to assume he wasn't living with his family. A lot of people were suspicious of the census - there was a strongly held belief that it was going to mean a new tax - and lied or made themselves unavailable when the collector came round.

He was not, however, living with them. He had been declared bankrupt sometime prior to the census and was probably in a debtor's prison (either The Fleet or Whitecross Street). The London Gazette has an entry for him to appear at the Court House, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields on 6 July 1841 - the census was taken on 7 June 1841. At the time of his insolvency, he had moved from Clerkenwell and was living at 14 Marylebone Lane, Marylebone which is just round the corner from the South Street address. The assumption is that the family lived there prior to the census but moved when he was taken away. And, of course, three years later he was dead.

After the 1841 census the Buttericks all but disappear for a bit. Except for Eliza, the eldest child. She was working as a servant for an Italian family (the Angotti's from Venice) during the 1851 census. The rest of them, however, are nowhere to be found. The assumption is that Elizabeth could have remarried by 1851. This doesn't explain the disappearance of Frederick and Mary Emma. To be fair, Mary Emma could have died but I know from further down the line that Frederick survives. My only recourse is to blame either the census taker or the transcriber for not spelling the Butterick name correctly. Or maybe they were in hiding somewhere...

We once more pick up the Butterick line when Frederick married Ellen Keary on 7 December 1856 in St John's Church, Paddington. On their marriage certificate, Frederick's occupation is listed as 'artificial florist', which I think is pretty cool. However, I wonder if the artificiality refers to the flowers or the job. They were both living in Paddington - Frederick in Star Street and Ellen in Market Street. Oddly, Edmund Hyam Butterick, as Fred's father, is listed as a labourer. At this point, he was actually dead but surely his son would have known what he did when alive.

One of the wedding witnesses appears to be G Angotti! He was the head of the household where Eliza Butterick worked in 1851. He would have been around 48. Of course it could be a cousin or something. The other witness is J or I Keary, which I assume is one of Ellen's relatives.

In 1858 Ellen gave birth to Frederick jnr. On the 1861 census, little Frederick (one of his middle names was Marven, after his grandfather on Ellen's side) was staying with the Keary's, Ellen's parents. Neither Ellen nor Frederick snr appear anywhere on the 1861 census. I have been unable to find any record of Ellen's death on the BMD register but two years later she is, in fact, dead.

On Christmas Day, 1863, Frederick married Mary Caroline Fone in St John's, Paddington. On the marriage certificate, Frederick is recorded as being a widower. He has also dropped the florist lark and become a painter. When they married, they were both living in Star Street, Paddington. Mary was born in Southwick Street, which bisects Star Street, so she didn't move very far!

Edmund Hyam is once more a China Dealer though no mention is made of his being dead at the time. Mary's father was a bricklayer. I've had problems finding the Fones on any census returns but, of course, the search goes on!

Frederick and Mary settled down and had lots of kids. Ellen Alice Eliza (1865), Addison or Adeline (1868), another Frederick (1870), Elizabeth (1873), Charlotte or Charles (1877), yet another Frederick (1880), and finally Alfred Edmund (10 June 1885). By the time Alfred enters the family, they are living in Willesden.

The names of their children are actually a bit confusing. They had seven but the problem stems from the fact that on the 1871 census, the children are listed as Ellen (6), Addison (3) and Frederick (6 mths). In 1881 they are listed as Ellen (15), Adeline (13) Elizabeth (8), Charlotte (4) and Frederick (1). Obviously the second Frederick died and the third one was born in 1880 but what happened to turn Addison into Adeline? Then, in 1891 we have only three of them left at home. Charles (14) who used to be Charlotte, Frederick (11) the third one and Alfred (6). By 1901, the only one left at home is Alfred (16).

Anyway, confusion aside, they seemed to have been on the move a bit as the family grew. In 1871 they lived at 29 Frederick Street, Marylebone. 1881 saw them moved to 1 Falcon Terrace, Chelsea, which may explain a lot. When Alfred was born (1885) they were living at 67 Pembroke Road, Willesden. 1891 and they're at 74 Albert Road, Willesden. Finally, in 1901, they were at 199 Cambridge Road, Willesden.

In 1902 Frederick Edmond Butterick died, aged 65 years. He died of cancer of the tongue. At the time the family was still living at 199 Cambridge Road. On his death certificate, the informant is Mary Lane supposedly Frederick's daughter. She was present at his death but does not appear anywhere else throughout this history! She lived at 21 Albert Road, Kilburn. Of course, 'Mary' could be the middle name of Adeline, Charlotte or Elizabeth (if they were in fact all girls) and she was known as Mary. This sort of thing goes on a lot. Given that Frederick's wife was Mary, it makes sense that one of the girls could have it as a middle name.

In 1906 Afred Edmund married Edith Alice Lines, the daughter of James Thomas Lines, bricklayer. At the time of the marriage, Alfred was living with the Lines' at 12 Netherwood Street, Hampstead. The marriage took place at the registry office. At the time of the marriage, Alfred was working as a plasterer while Edith was a laundress.

In 1908, Ada Elizabeth Butterick is born and the family is living at 123 Canterbury Road, Willesden. Alfred is now a general labourer.

My family's link to the Buttericks ends with Ada. She married Ernest Cook(e) in 1927 and my father was born in 1931. By 1933 Ada had died of TB at the age of 25. She was living at 157 Kensal Road, Kensington.