Carter Family in 1881 - England Census

So, we now know that William and Harriett died within a year of one another, leaving their children orphaned. But let's take a step back to 1881. A search of the England census records finds the whole Carter family living at Diamond House in Clayton. This is the only record that I can find that shows the whole family in one place. A census is undertaken every 10 years in England so it is partly coincidental that it takes place between the last child being born and the parents dying.

We can see the parents William and Harriett and the children William and Herbert (the twins), John, Arthur, Ethel, Frederick, Mabel and Annie Granorre (a niece who must have been visiting or living with the family). A couple of interesting things to note; the family has a servant (Eliza Foote) and William's occupation is stated as "Wine Merchant". I will come back to both of these points in another posting so remember them.

One other point to note. The Carters were very attached to the names Charles and William. This, together with the fact that Carter was an extremely common surname contributes to the difficulty of tracking down the family history. William Charles' first son was William Charles and his father was himself Charles. And that is as far as I can go for now.