The Second Marriage of Thomas Dutton

The search for Thomas Dutton (part 2)

According to their daughter’s, Kate, birth certificate her parents, Thomas Dutton and Mary Ann Dillon, were married in 1856 in London, England.

Annotated excerpt from the birth certificate of Kate Dutton born in 1858, Geelong Vitoria, Australia 2541/1858

A search for the couple’s marriage in 1856 was unfruitful; however, one was located for them in 1848, eight years earlier. 

Why was there such an error? The information for their daughter Kate’s birth certificate was supplied to the Registrar by a friend to the family and as a consequence may not be correct, such as has been established for Thomas’ occupation as a soldier (see here for more details).  The reason for the error is not clear.

Confirming if this the correct couple?

Thomas Henry Dutton, was a widower working as a “Drover” of “Full Age”, the son of William, a White Smith, when he married Mary.  Mary was also of “Full Age”, the daughter of John Dillon, a sugar baker.

Mary like Thomas married twice, I have not been able to locate Thomas’ first marriage but I have been able to find Mary’s second marriage to John Edwards.  On both of Mary’s marriage certificates, Mary Ann lists her father as John Dillon, sugar Baker. Thus the marriage in 1848 seems to be the correct marriage for Mary Ann Dillon and therefore the correct one for Thomas Henry Dutton.

Finding the family of Thomas Dutton & Mary Dillon

Mary Ann’s death certificate recorded that she had a total of 1 living and 3 deceased at the time of death.  We cannot assume that all of Mary Ann’s children were fathered by Thomas, but so far I have managed to identify the following children, with the parents of Mary (nee Dillon) & Thomas Dutton

Name of child	Birthdate	Place of Birth	Bapt dates	Mother’s name	Father’s name	residential address of mother	Father’s occupation
Thomas Dutton[i]	24 Sep 1848.	House of Correction Clerkenwell	?	Mary Dutton formerly Dillon	Thomas Dutton	House of Correction Clerkenwell	Butcher
Catherine Elizabeth Dutton[ii],[iii]	16 Nov 1851.	4 Brook Hill	16 Dec. 1851.	Mary Dutton formerly Dillon	Thomas Henry Dutton	4 Brook Hill Clerkenwell	Drover
Kate Dutton[iv]	21 Dec 1857.	Geelong, Victoria, Australia	?	Mary Dutton m name Dillon	Thomas Dutton	Geelong [inferred]	Soldier 39th Ref Infy

What became of Kate Dutton’s siblings is not yet known, nor do we know if she had any older half-siblings from her father’s first marriage.

Thomas’ Occupation

Research has shown that it is unlikely that Thomas was ever a soldier [for discussion click here], however when Mary Ann & Thomas got married he was a drover an occupation that reappears in his daughter Catherine Elizabeth’s records.[v]^,[vi],[vii]

The move to Australia

It has always been generally accepted by later generations of the family that Mary came out to Australia with her husband and after Kate was born he died, however to date we have no specific evidence to substantiate this.

The family would have immigrated after Catharine’s birthday and before their daughter, Kate was born, therefore between 1851 & 1858.  Efforts to locate the couple’s third child who is also purported to have died have so far been unsuccessful but if found could help to reduce the window of when the couple migrated to Australia.

Evidence that Thomas returned to/or never left England

I have discovered a Thomas Dutton, a widower, in the 1881 census, occupation listed as Master Drover, living with his 13-year-old daughter Emily (said to have been born in Islington), living in Caledonian Road, London.[viii]

Emily is marrying on 19 May 1888 to Robert Charles Melbourn, her father is listed as Thomas Henry Hanley Dutton, a drover.[ix]

 Is this Thomas who has returned to England and to his profession as a drover? Or did he never leave, England?

Next step is to close the loop for Thomas Henry Hanley Dutton, drover, to see if he could possibly be the same person Thomas Henry Dutton, Drover.

And so the search continues ...  Although it is looking now that Thomas although at some stage the husband of Mary Ann Dillon is probably not the father of Kate Dutton daughter of Mary Ann Dutton nee Dillon.

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[i] England, birth certificate for Thomas Dutton, born 24 September 1848; citing 3/87/407(?), December quarter 1848, St James Clerkenwell registration district, Amwell Clerkenwell sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.

[ii] England, birth certificate for Catharine Elizabeth Dutton, born 16 November 1851; citing 3/142/407?, December quarter 1851, St James Clerkenwell registration district, St James Clerkenwell sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.

[iii] Board of Guardian Records and Church of England Parish Registers., "London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917," database, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (www.Ancestry.com : accessed 1 Jul 2018), Baptism of Catherine Elizabeth Dutton baptised 16 December 1851, St James Clerkenwell., page 229, entry 1526; citing Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917, St James, Clerkenwell 1839-1866 parish register Reference Number: p76/js1/019.

[iv] Victoria  Australia Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages, Birth certificate  2541 (1858), Kate Dutton born 21 December 1857.

[v] England, marriage certificate for Thomas Henry Dutton and Mary Ann Dillon, married 1848; citing 2/2/475, Jan-Feb-Mar  quarter 1848, East London registration district, St Giles with Cripplegate sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.

[vi] England, birth certificate for Catharine Elizabeth Dutton, born 16 November 1851; citing 3/142/407?, December quarter 1851, St James Clerkenwell registration district, St James Clerkenwell sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.

[vii] Board of Guardian Records and Church of England Parish Registers., "London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917," database, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (www.Ancestry.com : accessed 1 Jul 2018), Baptism of Catherine Elizabeth Dutton baptised 16 December 1851, St James Clerkenwell., page 229, entry 1526; citing Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1917, St James, Clerkenwell 1839-1866 parish register Reference Number: p76/js1/019.

[viii] Ancestry.com, 1881 England, Wales & Scotland Census, Islington Class: RG11; Piece: 240; Folio: 27; Page: 48 Household of Thomas Dutton

[ix] Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Church of England Parish Registers. London Metropolitan Archives, London. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: p83/mry1/1254 marriage of Emily Dutton & Robert Charles Melbourn on 19 May 1888, St Mary, Islington Parish register: 1801-1910. Year 1888, Page 28, entry 56

Mary Ann Dutton nee Edwards

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (Jan 22-28): Invite to Dinner

Mary Ann Dutton nee Dillon aka Edwards is my 3x Great-grandmother

In 1858 Mary was 28 years old at the time of her daughter’s birth; her maiden name was listed as Dillon.[i] By 1859 it appeared that Mary was struggling to care for her daughter. The newspapers reported the following incident:-

“on Sunday evening her husband, after having given her £3 in notes, tried to get the money back from her for the purpose of spending it in drink, which she resisting caused the brawl in the street”.[ii] 

Three years later Mary herself seems to have fallen under the demon drink herself as she is convicted as a drunkard and fined 5s.[iii]

Then it would appear that she became employed by Mrs Canovan who ran a house of ill repute.[iv]

Things do not appear to have gotten easier for Mary as the following incident also reported in the papers indicate:

“A woman named Mary Ann Dutton afforded the visitors at the central police court yesterday considerable amusement. She was plaintiff in a case of illegal detention of property, and defendant in abusive language case. On being asked several times whether she had any questions to put, she replied—" Yes, sir," and immediately poured forth a volume of words with such rapidity and in such a   loud tone of voice that everybody in court was convulsed with laughter. For the offence of making use of abusive language the bench imposed a penalty of 10s, with the alternative of 48 hours contemplation in goal, upon hearing which decision the woman folded her arms across her breast, looked defiantly   around the court, and with determination expressed on every feature of her countenance, exclaimed loudly—" I'll do it", and walked into what is facetiously termed the reception room”.[v]

The following year her precious child Kate, now known as Catherine is taken away by the authorities and it becomes apparent that Mary’s father has left them, whether by choice or design has not yet been determined.

Soon after her daughter is taken way Mary marries again to John Edwards, a fisherman. Was it love? Was it someone she met at work?

Mary married John Edwards at the age of 39.[vi]   Three years later she died in 1871.[vii]  There were no recorded offspring for this marriage.

Mary seems to be a strong woman trying to cope with the circumstances of her life in an environment that was not very supportive of single women. I would love to know more about her life and why she made the choices she did – if indeed there was any real choice.  Her daughter Kate grew up and lived a successful life raising many healthy children, but she never spoke of her past or what had happened.

I am intrigued by the newspaper quote 

“upon hearing which decision the woman folded her arms across her breast, looked defiantly around the court”.[viii] 

There seems to be more to the story than we will ever know. What a privilege it would be to sit down to dinner with her and share stories.

WikiTree Link Mary Ann Dillon's family tree  on WikiTree (@WikiTreeOfficial)

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[i] Birth Certificate Kate Dutton born 21 December 1857, Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages Victoria Australia. 2541/1858

[ii] CENTRAL POLICE COURT. (1859, December 20). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1926), p. 3. Retrieved December 10, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146567635

[iii] CENTRAL POLICE COURT. (1861, March 19). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1926), p. 3. Retrieved December 10, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148697136

[iv] POLICE COURT, TOWN HALL. (1866, December 4). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1926), p. 3. Retrieved December 10, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148787531

[v] CURRENT TOPICS. (1867, September 7). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1926), p. 2. Retrieved December 10, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article147773272

[vi] Marriage Certificate of Mary Ann Dutton & John Edwards married 15 October 1868. Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages Victoria Australia. 4619/1868

[vii]  Death Certificate of Mary Edwards died 2 October 1871 Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages Victoria Australia. 8391/1871

[viii] CURRENT TOPICS. (1867, September 7). Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1926), p. 2. Retrieved December 10, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article147773272