Tony,
Why did Your Galvani leave Italy? We know he was in England before mid 1855
Are you aware of the political uproar in Italy in 1848/9? (Galvani would have been 24/5)
There were uprisings against Austrian rule, led by Giuseppe Garbaldi, There were battles, losses and EXILES,( including Garibaldi himself.)
Sounds like a good reason for your ancestor to go to England particularly if he was a supporter of Garibaldi.
Another detail. 20 years earlier, In 1830, an uprising in Italy led to the execution and presumably martyrdom of its leader, Ciro MENOTTI.
Garibaldi named one of his sons MENOTTI (born 1840)
Does the fact that your Galvani named one of his sons MENOTTI indicate he was a Garibaldi supporter, maybe even activist?
Was that the reason he moved around so much?
Dave

Tony, just realised I have inside knowledge on Manchester General Cemetery. I did not realise before. My grandparents lived alongside it and I lived the first 20 odd years of my life around there. I visit relatives in that area several times a year . I did not recognise it before because we knew, and know it as Queens Park Cemetery.
Anyway, it is less than a mile away from what was at the time the only RCChurch in Manchester (St Patrick), and that church had its own graveyard. Therefore you can be reasonably certain that It was not an RC burial. Does your record say there is a memorial stone?.
Dave

Hi Dave

Well. The Q4 1837 Harriet, she does turn out to be illegitimate, mother's name Ann, father's profession down as 'Nail Maker', mother made her mark rather than signing. So Ann doesn't align with Matilda & Benjamin: this leaves Matilda & Benjamin's daughter without a known birth certificate (with a 1841 census age of 3 she could have been born as early as April 1837 - ie before the main GRO record period). I can't find any Ann Wortons in the 1841 census which realistically align, and certainly no Ann and Harriet combinations (unlike the Matilda and Benjamin trail).

One other snippet is that the Theodore Galvani who died in infancy in 1857 had his birth recorded by Harriet, whose maiden name on that birth cert is set out as Worton. (Most of the other births were recorded by Carlo, and the mmn is all over the place.) So I'm inclined to think that Worton is the 'real' surname (not conclusive of course). But I don't think I'm much closer to clarifying which (if any) of the candidate Harriet Wortons' birth/baptism records relates to Harriet G. Probably the 'least bad' option is Benjamin and Matilda's daughter, assuming a pre-Sep'37 birth; not crashingly convincing though.

Re Carlo's reasons for leaving Italy: well, that's one of the things I'd like to discover! My hope (probably to be dashed) was that the elusive Marriage certificate would give more details about his origin. And yes, Menotti was a patriot/martyr to the cause of the Risorgimento, and generally popular with Italians; he was on the republican/anticlerical end of the spectrum, so that could suggest that Carlo was indifferent to his Catholic roots.

Feels like I'm stuck, unless the archivists find something in St Marie's...

Cheers, Tony

Tony, I am sure all the experts will confirm this. In the period around 1837 when registration started there was no compulsion to register a birth. Many parents believed that they could still just go through baptism and not do the registration. Punishment for not registering did not come in till much later. The baptism in April 1838 is indisputable, and birth in the few months before that without a registration is very possible.
Dave

Tony, I wonder if in 1862 Harriet turned up to her mother's marriage in Wolverhampton (Mathilda Worton to James Lane, see what Wendy said in an earlier message). Being her only relative you would expect her to be a witness if she was there. It must be a certificate worth buying. If she was there it will confirm or deny her identity as Harriet Galvani.
To tie up the loose end on Harriet Worton illegitimate daughter of Ann Worton: in1838 Ann Worton married Joseph Cox and (thank you Moira) in 1841 census are Joseph, a NAILOR, his wife Ann and two children, one of whom is 3 year old Harriet Cox.
Dave

Hi Dave et al,
Matilda Worton married James Lane in 1862 Sept qtr. From the threads that have gone before, Harriet and Theodore were in Scotland in 1861, their next child C.M.Theodore jnr. was born abt 1864 in Oxford District. It is possible Harriet may have attended her mother's second marriage and maybe worth eliminating, they may also have been back in England in 1862. The question is whether or not she would have made the trip from Scotland..?

I have additional info to add to my previous diatribe on the Worton family, specifically to Matilda's in-laws(Harriet's grandparents) Benjamin (snr, most likely died 1853) and his wife, Mary Worton. On the 1851 census, they were both living with their now married daughter, Hannah (nee Worton), hubby John Southhall and 1 year old son, William. All still living at Gospel End, Sedgley, Staffs.

More info on Harriet's (Matilda/Benjamin) baptism: Benjamin is recorded as a blacksmith but later he is recorded as a bricklayer. St.Peter's, Wolverhampton was C of E.
Also of interest, 19 Grape Lane, York where Leondina Galvani (Calcutta) was supposedly born, has, since 1954, been designated a heritage building, Grape Lane (previously named Grope Lane and worse in the 13th century) has a very colourful history similar to that which Soho once had.
Cheers, Wendy

Hi Dave and Wendy - continued thanks!

Thanks for the intel on the patchy registration uptake in the early days... makes sense.

Harriet's putative mother and (paternal) grandmother (Matilda and Mary respectively), seem to be on the 1861 census, still in Sedgley, together but with no-one else in the property. Matilda's occupation is 'worker in the fields'. Matilda is marked as 'Marr', whereas Mary is 'W' - Married and Widowed respectively, I guess. The ages match up with the 1851 and 1841 censuses (more or less). The Benjamin Worton who died Q3 1861 was aged 50 (roughly in line with Matilda's husband from the 1851 census), which would match up with Matilda's 'Marr' in the 1861 census. (Wonder where he was, though.)

On the other line of enquiry, Harriet's mother possibly being Ann Worton (later married Joseph Cox, a NAILOR), that's the Harriet whose birth certificate I've got, and although the father's name is 'Illegitimate' on the certificate, his occupation is 'Nail Maker'. This Cox family shows up in 1851, still Nailors or HorseNail Makers in Cradley Worcs, and again (minus Harriet) in 1861, same occupations.

The Harriets in both these families drop off the census records between 1851 & 1861, as you'd expect if she married Carlo in 1854. I'd guess the Harriet Worton/Cox is less likely to be my gggm, as she always gave her name as Worton, not Cox. (However, it could be argued that she made a conscious decision to stand by her birth name... shrug...)

Still hoping the archivists will throw something up. Expectations set low, though...
Tony