Beatrice Maria (McHaffey) Browne.

This is one of a few old photos that I bought last year from a lovely seller on eBay. I shared it on my social media sites towards the end of last month.

A follower on Twitter, Sarah, came up with this highly likely match ‘1939 Register Beatrice Browne b. 2 Jun 1849, widow, living on private means, head of household. Living at 6 Market Place, Finchley with some of her children. Although we were both a bit puzzled at the time because her birth seemed ten years out.

Then Sarah messaged me, and we had both done the same thing the following day, both started a small family tree for the family to find out more! Sarah said: “I started drawing up a family tree on Ancestry for Beatrice on Ancestry. Think she was née Mehaffey. Her father, Thomas was a soldier who travelled around a bit so Beatrice’s place of birth varies according to census. In 1861 she was living with her parents in Kingston, Surrey. Her husband, John James Brown(e), a draper seems to have died between circa 1885 and 1891“.

I messaged Sarah back saying what I had found: “I did exactly the same yesterday afternoon too and have her 1911, and 1921 living at May Tree Villa, Market Place, N 2 and 1939. Interesting family aren’t they, she had 9 children” Thanks so much Sarah for your help with identifying Beatrice.

I agree with Sarah that her maiden surname was Mehaffey or more likely McHaffey. She was born Beatrice Maria McHaffey on 2 June 1849 in Lancashire to parents Thomas and Mary. She married John James Brown/e on 18 February 1869 in Monaghan, Monaghan, Ireland. According to the 1911 census entry, they had nine children and by that time just six were still living. I’ve managed to identify seven so far. Beatrice died in the October quarter of 1940 in Hendon, Middlesex, at 91.

So armed with our findings I dug deeper into the details I had on the tree and added as much as I could about her children, parents and siblings.

Details on the Photo

We have 1886 pencilled in top right on the front of the photo. That was the year Beatrice’s husband died.

Then on the back of the photo, the first thing written by HMB is April 9/94 (1894). Maybe HMB wrote 1886 on the front too?HMB was one of Beatrice’s sons Harry Matthew Browne.

Next on the back is Beatrice Browne and her date of birth/death 1859-1940 has been identified as being written by AHB Arthur Holland Browne, another of Beatrice’s sons.

The discrepancy between the lady in the photo and the lady in the records is that she was actually 10 years older than the records. But if you look through her entries on the various census years there is a different age in almost all although the 1939 Register is totally accurate.

1939 Register from Ancestry with children Arthur, Marie and Percy all living at 6 Market Place, Finchley.

Her death is absolutely correct, her children of course would know that. But what they didn’t know so well was her actual birth as they probably wouldn’t have seen this entry.

I’m as confident as I can be that this lady is correct for the lady on the photo.

Beatrice and John’s Children.

Frederick Stanley Browne was born on 27 September 1871 in Kilmore, Dublin. He married Charlotte Millar, in October 1919 in Barnet, Hertfordshire. The couple lived in Gosport, Hampshire in 1930/31. He died on 9 January 1945 in England at the age of 73.

2. Harry Matthew Browne was born on 27 September 1875 in Bury, Lancashire. He married Anne Elizabeth Coulden and they had one son and one daughter. Harry was a Clerk working at a Coal Merchants in 1911, then in 1921 an Accounts Clerk working for the Central Uraguay Railway Co of Montevideo Ltd. He continued working for them until he retired. He died in 1963 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, at the age of 88.

3. Arthur Holland Browne was born on 30 November 1877 in Bury, Lancashire. In the census of 1901 described as an Artist, black and white. But he went on to illustrate books too, here’s a Children’s Encyclopedia from the 1930s with his illustrations. Described in 1939 as a Commercial Artist.

Arthur died on 3 Oct 1959 in Winchester, Hampshire, at the age of 81.

1881 census. Beatrice(a Milliner) and her husband John James Browne (a Draper) with children Frederick, Harry, Arthur, Marion one year and Maria one month, all living in Bury, Lancashire.

1881 census. Beatrice’s father Thomas on the next page living with them and also a sister of Beatrice’s **Eliza J McHaffey**, she was a Teacher.

4. Marion Browne was born on 8 August 1879 in Lancashire, Lancashire. She died in June 1902 in Finchley, Middlesex, at the age of 22.

Marion’s cause of death was Tuberculosis infections of the Lungs and Larynx.

5. Maria Rosendale Browne was born on 26 February 1882. Maria never married but lived with and probably took care of her unmarried brothers Arthur and Percy. On the electoral rolls, they are together until they die. Maria died in March 1957 in Dartford, Kent, at the age of 75.

6. Charles John Browne was born in 1883 in Bury, Lancashire. He was a Private and one of 45 soldiers from the Middlesex Regiment killed on 17 February 1917. Charles was killed in Miraumont, at the age of 34. Thanks to Lee on Twitter for finding this.

1891 census we find Beatrice four years after her husband had died working as a Confectioners assistant with her youngest son Percy.

1891 census where Beatrice’s other children are staying with Beatrice’s sister Eliza, who was an Elementary School Mistress, born in Malta.

7. Percy Wilfred Browne was born on 6 May 1884 in Bury, Lancashire. This is just one example of the variations in spelling for the family on the records, it doesn’t make it easy! BROWN, PERCY WILFRID MELRAFFEY
GRO Reference: 1885 S Quarter in BURY LANCASHIRE Volume 08C Page 505. Plus his date of birth given in 1939 was a year older, 1884. In 1939 Percy was a Commercial Photographer, I’ve not found a marriage for him. He died in June 1958 in Harrow, Middlesex, at the age of 74.

1901 Beatrice with Arthur, Marion, Maria and Percy.

I had a breakthrough with the identity of Beatrice’s parents Thomas McHaffey and Mary Ann, I suspected that Mary Ann’s maiden name was Holland but I couldn’t find proof so I decided to work my way through all the different variations of McHaffey on the GRO to try and find one of their children, and believe me there are many! I came across a match with Beatrice’s sister: MEHAFFEY, MARY ANNE HOLLARD GRO Reference: 1844 J Quarter in ALVERSTOKE Volume 07 Page 19. Mary Anne/Marion McHaffey. It’s definitely a match as on the 1861 census it says she was born in Gosport, Hampshire. It was good to confirm Holland.

Here’s the link to the small family tree I have compiled on Ancestry for the Family: Beatrice McHaffey/Brown

Sisters

The sisters were also linked in another way as Beatrice’s son Frederick Stanley Browne married Marion’s daughter Charlotte Millar in October 1919 in Barnet, Hertfordshire. They were first cousins. One of Marion’s sons Harold Robert Millar born 6 Feb 1869 in Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, was famous as a prominent and prolific Scottish graphic artist and illustrator of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He died on 20 Dec 1942 in Northoak, Greenhill, Sutton, Surrey, England. More info here: Harold Robert Millar

While looking at various family trees that had members of the wider family of McHaffey included, I came across a picture of Marion McHaffey and her husband, John Hill Millar with three of their children. I was really pleased by putting side by side Marion and Beatrice who were sisters, the likeness has definitely confirmed for me that we have the correct Beatrice.