25.6 5xgreat grandmother Elizabeth Selway (1781-1857)

My 4xgreat grandfather Charles James Topper was born on 19 April 1801 in Chelsea, and baptised at St Luke, Chelsea, on 17 June that year, son of Thomas Topper and his wife Elizabeth. When his brother George Prest Topper was baptised in Norwich in 1811, the Register entry helpfully notes that his mother’s maiden name was Selway. Charles James Topper also gave his mother’s maiden name to his youngest daughter Susan Selway Topper.

My 5xgreat grandparents Thomas Topper and Elizabeth Selway married at St George, Hanover Square, London, on 12 April 1798. He died three years before the 1841 census, but Elizabeth was still alive and living with her youngest son Walter (their surname transcribed as Tapper) at Esher Street, Westminster (The Genealogist). He is 21, a Labourer, his mother is 51, born out of county (Middlesex). This would suggest a birth year of 1790. Ages for adults were rounded down – supposedly to the nearest five years – in the 1841 census. This would mean she was only eight years old when she married, and nine when her first child was born, so it seems her age was rounded down too much.

In the 1851 census, she is enumerated as an inmate at the Workhouse at St Luke, Chelsea as a 71-year old widow and Nurse. This makes her year of birth a more likely 1780 – although this would still mean she was only 16 when she married 28 year old naval telegrapher Thomas Topper. 

There is a death index entry for an Elizabeth Topper, aged 76 (b1781) at the GRO for the April-June quarter of 1857 which could be her. The place of registration is Uxbridge, Middlesex. There is a burial record at Ancestry for Elizabeth Topper of Hayes, aged 76, at Hayes, Hillingdon, Middlesex. In 1861 her son Charles James Topper was recorded as living at Hayes; perhaps his mother had come to live with him in her later years and died there.

The death certificate PDF arrived via email from the GRO yesterday, and I am pleased to find that it is indeed for her:

It shows that Elizabeth Topper died on 3 May 1857 at Botwell, Hayes, Middlesex, that she was 76 years old and the widow of Thomas Topper. He is described as ‘Manager of a Telegraph’. The cause of death was ‘Paralysis 2 ½ years certified’. 

The informant was Susan Topper, present at the death. I think this is most likely to be Susan Griffin, the wife of Charles James Topper, and therefore Elizabeth Topper’s daughter-in-law. Her cause of death ‘paralysis’ may be the result of a stroke – as she has suffered for 2 ½ years with it, and that is perhaps the reason for her coming to live with her son and his family.

So much for her death – what about her birth?

In the 1851 census, her birthplace is given as Battersea, Surrey. A search for a baptism in Battersea around 1780-81 generates no results at FamilySearch. However, FindMyPast has a baptism at Battersea St Mary (transcript only) for Elizabeth daughter of John Selway and Elizabeth on 27 May 1781. Her birth date is given as 2 May of that year. However, Ancestry has an image for the same baptism location and date, but mother’s name is shown as Sarah:

27 [May] Elizabeth Dr. of John & Sarah Selway, born May 2 1781

There are also several other baptisms for children of John Selway and wife Sarah at FindMyPast between 1776 and 1783 (and no others for a mother called Elizabeth) which make me believe that the baptism for Elizabeth Selway has been mis-transcribed – a good reason always to try to see digital images (or the real thing) wherever possible.

My 6xgreat grandparents appear to be John Selway and his wife Sarah.

The other baptisms at FindMyPast for children of John Selway and his wife Sarah at St Mary Battersea are:

      Sarah, baptised 12 May 1776
Mary, baptised 14 September 1777
Joseph, baptised 30 May 1779, born 5 May 1779
Martha, baptised 27 July 1783, born 3 July 1783

This indicates a search for their marriage before 1776. Unfortunately, there do not appear to be any marriage records for Battersea or nearby for a John Selway and Sarah (or Elizabeth). So for now her maiden name remains unknown.

I have also failed to find John Selway and his wife Sarah in the 1841 census (by which time they were probably in their ‘90s), nor any obvious burial records. The majority of Selway records online appear to be for Somerset, so it is possible that this Selway line is from there (although my DNA test does not show any coverage in the South West).

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view