The problem of the Hopkins

John Charles Hopkins 1879-20 June 1960 born Charles Courtney?	Anne Coyne 1879-27 January 1952

The earliest Hopkins in our line that I have found so far is Charles Hopkins, a mariner and native of London living in North Shields who married Elizabeth Downey in Tynemouth on 30th October 1803. They produced a long string of children, but it was their son Thomas Hopkins born in 1813 in Tynemouth who married as his second wife Alice Coe (née Johnston), and had a son John Hopkins, who, born in Tynemouth in 1841, settled on Merseyside.

1851 census - Tyne Street, North Shields HO 107/2409 p. 21
Alice Hopkins - Head - Widow - 43 - Washer woman - Northumberland, Willington Quay
Charlotte Coe - Daur - 18 - Northumberland, Willington Quay
Margaret Coe - Daur - 16 - Northumberland, Willington Quay
Sarah Hopkins - Daur - 15 - Northumberland, Willington Quay
John Hopkins - Son - 9 - Northumberland, Willington Quay

Charlotte and Margaret are Alice's two daughters from her marriage to Thomas Coe. Sarah Hopkins is the daughter of Thomas from his marriage to Ann Coxon.

1861 census - Queen's Buildings, Bebington RG 9/2645 p. 36
James Johnston - Head - Mar - 37 - Ship carpenter - Durham, Hebden
Jane A Johnston - Wife - Mar - 35 - Northumberland, North Shields ...
6 children born alternately in Hull and Liverpool ...
John Hopkins - Lodger - Un - 21 - Engine fitter - Northumberland, North Shields

Are the Johnstons related to our John Hopkins? His mother's maiden name was Johnston, so this must be a possibility, especially as they come from the same area.

1871 census - Sir George Greg at Tranmere RG 10/3749 p. 106
John Hopkins - Unmarried - 30 - Engineer - Northumberland, North Shields
George William Webster - Unmarried - 19 - Stoker - Yorkshire, Goole
Joseph Hulmston - Unmarried - 19 - Stoker - Cheshire, Birkenhead

1881 census - I have not been able to trace our John Hopkins or his future wife Sarah Ann Courtney - but this I believe is her illegitimate son Charles living with his grandparents as their son. The family story is that there is a connection with the Dewhurst butchers, part of the Vestey empire. Vesteys were certainly living in Tranmere in 1861 in the same road as Sarah's Courtney grandparents - Olive Mount. I wonder who was the father of Charles Courtney, born in the Tranmere workhouse to Sarah Ann in 1879?

8 Meadow Lane, Tranmere, Cheshire RG 11 3586/137 p. 6
James Courtney - Head - M - Male - 45 - Tranmere, Cheshire, England - Furniture Remover (Carter)
Sarah Courtney - Wife - M - Female - 47 - Birkenhead, Cheshire, England - Housewife
James E. Courtney - Son - U - Male - 19 - Tranmere, Cheshire, England - Carter
Keziah Courtney - Daur - U - Female - 17 - Tranmere, Cheshire, England - House Servant
Emily Courtney - Daur - U - Female - 8 - Tranmere, Cheshire, England - Scholar
Henry Courtney - Son - U - Male - 3 - Tranmere, Cheshire, England
Louisa Courtney - Daur - U - Female - 6 - Tranmere, Cheshire, England - Scholar
Charles Courtney - Son - Male - 2 - Tranmere, Cheshire, England

1891 census - 25 Bold Street, Tranmere, Birkenhead RG 12/2892 p. 19
John Hopkins - Head - Mar - 49 - Fireman on Ferry boat - Scotland, North Shields (crossed out)
Sarah Ann Hopkins - Wife - Mar - 34 - Cheshire, Tranmere
Charles Hopkins - Son - 12 - Scholar - Cheshire, Tranmere

Charles Courtney is now Charles Hopkins.

1901 census - 29 Bold Street, Birkenhead RG 13/3398 p. 48
John C. Hopkins - Head - Mar - 22 - General labourer - Tranmere, Cheshire
Ann Hopkins - Wife - Mar - 21 - Chester, Cheshire

Charles Courtney has completed his transformation to John Charles Hopkins, and is now married to Ann Coyne, and living just a few doors away from where he was in 1891, and where his remarried mother is still living in 1901.

25 Bold Street, Birkenhead RG 13/3398 p. 48
William Biggs - Head - Mar - 36 - Labourer for shipyard - New Ferry, Cheshire
Sarah Biggs - Wife - Mar - 38 - Tranmere, Cheshire

Sarah Courtney (Hopkins - Biggs) is somewhat cavalier with her age. She was actually born on 6 July 1856, and is shown aged 5 on the 1861 census. So she should be 45 in 1901! She died on the 7th May 1924 at 25 Bold Street and her husband William Henry Biggs registered her death - stating her age to be 63 - but really she had nearly reached her 68th birthday.

The Hopkins breakthrough!

When Tony first questioned his father on family origins, he was told there was nothing to concern anyone there, it was all above board .. which seems to hint at the opposite! Tony remembers no family contact with any Hopkins or Coynes at all when he was young. The only Hopkins family contact was with the families of his aunts' husbands: Cress, Cull and O'Driscoll. This was definitely not going to be straightforward.

Tony remembers that his grandfather did not have an accent, so he spoke like everyone else in Birkenhead (where the family ended up living). Though there is a family story that he was a Geordie, this could have been a generation or two in the past.

The sudden breakthrough in Hopkins research came when Tony remembered a family story that his grandfather's mother had married again after the death of his great grandfather. The new husband's surname was Biggs and he was reputedly something to do with the Dewhurst family of butchers.

FreeBMD came up with a likely looking marriage in 1896 when a Sarah Ann Hopkins married William Henry Biggs in Liverpool. I sent off for the certificate, to find that the marriage took place on the 30th March in the parish church in the parish of Liverpool. Bride and groom are widow and widower respectively, and both give Pitt Street as their address. William Henry, and his father who had exactly the same name are both labourers. Sarah's father is James Courtney, a Cart owner.

At this stage, apart from coincidence there was nothing to link this into the family tree. When I looked for the Biggs on the 1901 census, I found them living across the Mersey, in Birkenhead, at 25 Bold Street, in the parish of St Peter's, Rock Ferry. Living two doors away, was a John C. Hopkins (age 22, born Tranmere) and his wife Anne (age 21, born Chester). Was this yet another coincidence, or were these Tony's paternal grandparents, married five years earlier than we had assumed? Rock Ferry was where Tony himself had been born and brought up!

John Charles Hopkins married Anne Coyne on 7th August 1899 at St. Anne's RC Church, Tranmere. They are both 20 years old. He is a labourer and gives his home address as 25, Bold Street, Tranmere - the same as that of the Biggs in the 1901 census. His father was John Hopkins (deceased) a marine engineer. Anne Coyne's address is 112, New Chester Road, New Ferry, and her father John Coyne, is a railway porter. In 1881 the Coyne family was living at 26 Love Street in Chester, Anne is 1 year old, and her father John, age 24, is a Water Bailiff. Her mother Bridget (Kenney) is also 24; Bridget and John both give Chester as their birthplace. Anne has an older brother, Thomas, age 3.

John Hopkins married Sarah Ann Courtney on 12 January 1882 in Birkenhead Register Office. He is 40 years old and a bachelor, she is 25 and a spinster. His occupation is marine engineer, and his address is 8 Green Lane, Tranmere. His father is Thomas Hopkins (deceased), shipwright. Sarah's address is 8 Meadow Lane, Tranmere, and her father, James Courtney is a cartowner. There would appear to be a problem here, as John Charles Hopkins was born in Tranmere, according to the 1901 census and marriage and death certificates, in 1879/1880. Was John senior not a bachelor, but rather a widower at the time of his marriage to Sarah Ann Courtney?

Another solution comes from some lateral thinking. Living with Sarah Ann's parents, James and Sarah Courtney, in the 1881 census, is a child, Charles Courtney born in Tranmere in 1879. While he could be a very much younger brother to Sarah, he could also be her son: a Sarah Ann Courtney gave birth to an illegitimate son, Charles Courtney, in the Tranmere Workhouse on 1st February 1879. I have not been able to find Sarah Ann in the 1881 census, presumably she is back in service somewhere.

In the 1891 census John and Sarah Ann Hopkins are living at 25 Bold Street, with Charles Hopkins their son, aged 12. John is aged 49 and a Fireman on Ferry Boat, and his place of birth is given as Scotland, North Shields. Some helpful later census analyst has scored through the words North Shields and just left the Scotland. The family story, however is that he was a Geordie, so probably the wrong place was crossed out.

The North Shields John Hopkins is in the Birkenhead area on both the 1871 and 1861 censuses. In 1861 he is aged 21, an Engine fitter and living as a lodger with another Geordie family in Queen's Buildings, Bebington. Could this be the family of a married sister of his? In 1871, aged 30, he is an Engineer on board the Sir George Greg moored at Tranmere.

And then the Clampitts ...

Another link in the chain came when I casually asked Tony who the elderly Elizabeth was who attended Hopkins family gatherings when we first met in the sixties, and he suddenly remembered Lizzie Clampitt. She married Jimmy (Hugo James) Cress the brother of the William Cress who married Tony's aunt Winnie. But that wasn't the only family connection. It turns out that she was also a cousin of his grandfather, the daughter of Eliza Courtney (sister to Sarah) and James Heaton Clampitt. All the Wirral Clampitts were descended from one Isaac Clampitt, a fisherman born in Bovey Tracey in Devon in 1768, who is living in Parkgate in 1841, with his steadily extending family. Lizzie Clampitt of course would have known the Hopkins/Courtney family secrets, and she was probably the source of the rumours of the Vestey/Dewhurst link. She was also aware that the family (ie the Courtneys it now appears) were a long established Tranmere family. She remained known by her maiden name as she didn't marry until she was in her sixties just after the Second World War, when she retired from her job at Lever Brothers, where she had been a much feared forewoman. She died in 1979 at the age of 90.

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