Hello
Our gg grandfather Henry William Chidgey Newick (1825 - 1881) was born illegitimate. His mother Rebecca Newick was a servant living in Wardrobe Place, Bristol in 1824, when she had an affair with William Henry Chidgey (b @ 1791 a married man also living in Wardrobe Place with his wife Elizabeth)
We think that his father and wife brought him up (he appears in the 1841 Census as Henry Chidger living with William Henry and Elizabeth Chidger at Wardrobe Place. Elizabeth we think had no children of her own so HWCN was the only child)
This situation was unusual in that the boy took the maiden name of his mother as his surname and his father's surname as his middle name - he also gave all his children the middle name of Chidgey (girls and boys!)
Of course we have always thought this branch of our family was called Newick, but in fact it was Chidgey.!!
Despite this hiccup in his early life, HWCN went on to run a shop employing several staff and he and his wife had 8 children
We know that Rebecca married a Robert Edbrooke and they had 2 children. What we don’t know is where Rebecca was born and her antecedents. We also know that William Henry Chidgey was born in Somerset, but have no further information. This is important if we are to go further back with these two trees
Can anyone help??
Our gg grandfather Henry William Chidgey Newick (1825 - 1881) was born illegitimate. His mother Rebecca Newick was a servant living in Wardrobe Place, Bristol in 1824, when she had an affair with William Henry Chidgey (b @ 1791 a married man also living in Wardrobe Place with his wife Elizabeth)
We think that his father and wife brought him up (he appears in the 1841 Census as Henry Chidger living with William Henry and Elizabeth Chidger at Wardrobe Place. Elizabeth we think had no children of her own so HWCN was the only child)
This situation was unusual in that the boy took the maiden name of his mother as his surname and his father's surname as his middle name - he also gave all his children the middle name of Chidgey (girls and boys!)
Of course we have always thought this branch of our family was called Newick, but in fact it was Chidgey.!!
Despite this hiccup in his early life, HWCN went on to run a shop employing several staff and he and his wife had 8 children
We know that Rebecca married a Robert Edbrooke and they had 2 children. What we don’t know is where Rebecca was born and her antecedents. We also know that William Henry Chidgey was born in Somerset, but have no further information. This is important if we are to go further back with these two trees
Can anyone help??
Last edited:
