De Normanville dossier

My great great grandfather, Charles Henry Murray, in his will of 1891, left the sum of £50.00 to his nephew Andrew Hodges de Normanville Murray. Such an unusual name was worth following up.

Andrew Hodges Murray was born on 9th November 1861 at 13 Northwick Terrace, St John, Marylebone to William Murray, civil engineer and his wife Elizabeth Murray, formerly De Normanville. William and Elizabeth had married by licence on February 15th 1848 in the parish of St Giles with Cripplegate in the City of London. He is a surveyor, resident in St Pancras, and his father is Andrew Murray, Purser. Elizabeth gives her residence as St Giles Cripplegate, and her father is Lewis de Normanville, Gentleman. The witnesses are James Patching and Gilly Johns. When Charles Henry Murray married in 1841 he gave his father Andrew Murray's profession as Superintendent of the Powder Works at Hounslow.
Twickenham Museum

1851 census:
21 University Street, St Pancras HO 107/1494 p.23
William Murray - Head - Mar - 33 - Civil engineer - Middx. Pancras
Elizabeth Murray - Wife - Mar - 32 - Middx. St. James Westminster
William C. Murray - Son - 2 - Middx. Pancras
Sarah J. Murray - Daur - 1 - Middx. Pancras

The birth of Andrew Hodges Murray was announced in The Times of November 12 1861: On the 9th inst. at 13 Northwick-terrace, Maida-hill, London the wife of Mr William Murray C.E. of Adelaide, South Australia, of a son.

Elizabeth's death is announced on the 21st November 1861: On the 18th inst. at 13 Northwick-terrace, Maida-hill, London. Elizabeth Murray, the beloved and deeply lamented wife of William Murray C.E. of Adelaide, South Australia, in her 43rd year.

Following up the Adelaide connection I got this response by email from Adelaide City Archives: I have searched our records to see if we have any personal information in regards to the W Murray who was the Acting City Surveyor during 1857. I can advise that his name was William Murray and he was the Acting Surveyor for 16 days in April and May 1857, unfortunately we have no other information on this gentleman as it appears that he was brought in from outside the Council to perform these duties and we do not have any correspondence for his appointment to the position and there is no mention of him being on the staff of the Council prior to his term as Acting City Surveyor or after it.

On 21st November 1861 William Murray purchased three graves at Kensal Green Cemetery. The only person buried here is Elizabeth. On January 31st 1862 William signed the graves over to his brother Charles Henry Murray, who did not use the plots. One has to assume that this is the date of William's permanent removal to Adelaide.

So who were the De Normanvilles?

The following details are from a biography of William Louis de Normanville (by Janet Storrie), Borough Surveyor and chief architect of Leamington Spa in Warwickshire:

"De Normanville's family came from the village of Normanville in Normandy. His grandfather, Louis, was an émigré from the French Revolution who landed at Brighton in a collier in 1792 ... the Marquis of Normanville (the last Marquis as it turned out, as the title was dropped in England) who escaped from the Terror in a small boat. He left his wife and family behind thinking women and children would be safe. But they were later arrested, and died in prison of jail fever. He married again in England." [...]

"William Louis' father, also an engineer, worked on the construction of the Round House in Camden as assistant to Robert Dockray, one of its designers," [...]

"Before he joined Leamington as Borough Surveyor in 1882, de Normanville spent his engineering tutilege in London with his father, then went to South Australia where he obtained a post in the Government Civil Engineers' Department. Returning to England five years later, he worked in Great George Street, Westminster, in the offices of the Engineers to the Furness Railways and Barrow Docks, until 1877 when he was appointed City Engineer to the Corporation of Durham. He stayed in Durham for five years, until he became Borough Surveyor of Leamington."

Though short on actual dates this probably sets his time in South Australia in the early 1860s, more or less the same as William Murray.

William Louis de Normanville was born in St Pancras, in the June quarter 1843. His birth certificate is needed to confirm the names of his parents, but they were probably William John de Normanville and Nancy Complin Barton. He married Elizabeth Simonds in Durham in the December quarter 1879 and they had eight children, and also fostered the three orphaned children of his sister Ellen Tucker. He died in London on May 29th 1928.

The Elizabeth de Normanville who married William Murray is living in St. James St., Brighton in 1841. She is an Artificial florist, aged 22, living with her mother Harriet (age 51, also an Artificial florist), her brother Charles (age 25), and her grandmother Angélique Blessauxnaux (age 86). William John de Normanville was her older brother, so she was the aunt of William Louis the Leamington Spa Borough Surveyor.

Henrietta (or Harriett) Blessauxnaux married the émigré Louis de Normanville in 1824 in Marylebone, five years after the birth of their youngest child. He was about 65 years old at the time, and she was 33. Was he perhaps aware that his first wife had not died in prison?

Who were the Hodges?

I have not been able to find any reason for this name being given to William's son Andrew. But for other family members it seems to have been a tradition that the surname of a godparent was given as a middle name.

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