THE RAY/HEDGES FAMILY HISTORY BLOG...: GREAT GRANDMOTHER ANN BEST/RAY & THE ROMANY CONNECTION...

Great Grandmother Ann Best/Ray & the Romany Connection…

ANN BEST, WHO MARRIED JOSEPH RAY/REAY, MY GREAT GRANDFATHER...

Finding a likely third cousin, Jonathan Browne on the Ancestry website, it has been brilliant to hear about his research into the Ray family. It appears that his mum, Gladys Ray was Grandad Ray’s first cousin. She met my Aunt Connie in dance halls when they were younger and Connie also met Maisie, Gladys’ older sister who reckoned that the two girls even resembled each other.

GRANDAD RAY...

Ann Best:

Gladys’ grandmother was my great grandmother, Ann Best, Manchester born on 21st December 1858. Her mother was Prudence Dainty/Dainter and her father was likely to have been George Best, whose name Prudence took anyway, despite not marrying it seems… The story Jonathan told me was that George buggered off on a whaling ship, although another source reckoned that he was an itinerant hawker…

Ann Best had been born at 84 Charter Street in Manchester but Jonathan has been told, quite reliably that in Charter Street there was a mission where unmarried mothers were offered a home…

CHARTER STREET MISSION...

Apparently when she was a young teenager, Ann was playing in the street one day in Birmingham, after Prudence had married chimney sweep Henry William Keen, when a guy approached her and asked whether her name was Ann. When she assented, he told her that he was her real father and thereby buggered off again…

In 1871, Prudence and Henry William Keen had lived at 9 Rope Walk, Birmingham with Ann ‘Best' who was 12, but by 1881, Prudence Dainty/Dainter/Keen was living with George Best at 4 Back 37 John Street, suggesting that Prudence had dumped him for the alleged father of her daughter…

It is likely that a divorce took place, however, for Colin Burrows has discovered that Mr Keen, who originated from Poplar, in London, had married Elizabeth Paish, born Kelly, in Droitwich in 1880.

He was lodging in Stafford in 1881, whilst his wife and child were in Worcester.

He then moved on to Llanover Upper, Blaenavon, Monmouthshire, where he was listed in the 1891 census, which is interesting because I saw a football game at Blaenavon some years back...

Colin Burrows now reckons that Keen's marriage to Paish had been bigamous in 1880, for he appears to have married her again in Pontypridd in 1899, following the death of Prudence in 1897!

BLAENAVON WAR MEMORIAL...

THE FOOTBALL GROUND IN 2017...

From there he was found in Mountain Ash, Glamorgan (1901) and Pontypridd (1911), passing away there in 1924.

JOHN STREET, BIRMINGHAM...

George, unsurprisingly, appears to have buggered off again after that!

So, who was Prudence Dainty/Dainter?

The daughter of bricklayer John Ward Dainter and his wife Prudence, the young Prudence was 4 years old on the 1841 census return and living in Wood Street, Birmingham. By 1851, there is no mention of the 14 year old Prudence, although, strangely, there is a William Henry Keen, 29, lodging with John and his wife and he was a chimney sweep.

This could be the Henry William Keen who married the younger Prudence in 1868, according to fellow Ancestry hunter Colin Burrows, who is my 4th cousin, once removed, on the Hedges side of my family! Many thanks to Colin for clearing up some issues on this post...

He believes also that the younger Prudence had been imprisoned in 1851, at the Borough Gaol, All Saints, Birmingham, hence not being on the census form of that year, then she was imprisoned again, probably at Stafford Gaol, in early 1852 for 6 months, having been found guilty of two shoplifting offences in West Bromwich... More on that in a future post, hopefully!

HERE SHE IS...

THE GAOL IN MOOR STREET HAD CLOSED & THE WINSON GREEN BUILDING HAD OPENED IN 1849, SO PRUDENCE MUST HAVE BEEN AN EARLY INMATE IN 1851...

In 1861, the 54 year old John Dainty, now a chimney sweep and wife Prudence, an umbrella maker were living together with daughter Prudence, a 24 year old tan polisher and 2 year-old granddaughter Ann, at 11/4 London Prentice Street, Birmingham. So, the younger Prudence’s transgression with George Best must have occurred during the previous decade.

Ann eventually married Joseph Ray/Reay on 22nd April 1878, with both of them already living in Lichfield Street, Birmingham. Her father’s name was given as George Best, whilst his father was listed as Samuel Ray, a wheelwright.

LICHFIELD STREET...

At 52 in 1911, ‘Annie Ray' was described as a servant/boarder at 1/14 Vicarage Road in Aston, a widow, along with the 14 year old Clarissa Best. Annie died in 1939…

Samuel Ray and his daughter Gladys Mary:

However, the life sketches for this article originate from Jonathan Browne’s mum Gladys Ray, the daughter my Grandad’s brother Samuel. Samuel was born on 11th March 1895 and lived until the year I was born, 1950.

GLADYS MARY RAY...

In 1901, the 6 year old Samuel, son of Ann Best and Joseph Reay, a gun barrel welder was living at 29 Holt Street, then in 1911, at 16 years of age he was living with his older brother Joseph’s family at 4/11 Devon Street. Samuel was a spoon blank roller at a rolling mill.

MY GRANDAD'S BROTHER, SAMUEL RAY...

DEVON STREET...

ANSELLS TOOK OVER THE HOLT BREWERY IN HOLT STREET, BIRMINGHAM...

Strange that I worked for three summers for Ansells Brewery in the mid-1960s and was based for one week in their Holt Street Depot, where I worked nights for the only time. It was an amazing experience which I shall recount at some point...

Samuel married May Dorothy Walker, born on 2nd May 1903 (named for the month), who hailed from Great Malvern and although a daughter was born to them on 31st October, she was called May Violet and not named for the month she had been born in, which was fortunate… My mum’s middle name was May, interestingly, having been born on 9th May, 1920…)

GREAT MALVERN...

MAY DOROTHY WALKER...

MARY BREEDON, MAY WALKER'S MUM...

I presume that May Violet Ray was the ‘Maisie’ who met my Aunt Connie, in later years…

Gladys Mary was child number two, born on 3rd April 1926 but she was not named after that month, although she could have been, I guess but the flower connection is certainly evident! Brother Samuel James Joseph was next to be born and he was often known as, er, Peter, who was followed by Margaret Christine in 1932, although she died a year later.

The Romany Link?

Gladys recalled going to gypsy camps with her grandmother Ann (Best) Ray, who was visiting relatives at the time and Gladys learned to speak a little Romany.

SHROPSHIRE ROMANY FAMILY...

It appears, from Jonathan Browne’s research, that Joseph Reay/Ray had probably been born as Davis, the son of Naomi Davis from a Romany family called Lock, spread widely in the West Country, Wales and the Midlands. The Locks are still living in the Shropshire area, apparently. When Naomi had married Samuel Ray the wheelwright, it is likely that her son Joseph took the Ray name too…

Jonathan’s DNA test showed an 8% Central Asian background, thus revealing Romany ancestry.

And he is my second cousin…

Prudence Clayton, who became Prudence Dainter/Dainty had been born in Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire, a place where Romany families like the Locks lived, so it is perhaps likely that she was the Romany link to the Rays, through her granddaughter Ann Best/Reay/Ray.

BISHOP'S CASTLE...

Conclusion:

This is very much an ongoing investigation and I hope to collaborate further with Jon Browne to find out more about the Romany background.

Certainly Grandad and Nan Ray had links to travelling folks through the circus, the stage, possibly the fairground and the like, so it is possible that both of them came from a Romany background, although Nan’s recently acquired birth certificate offers no clue as to who her dad might have been…