More Marylebone Marriages

I have received full certificate details of three more Marylebone marriages from Guild members Mary Ghrist and Sian Plant as part of their Marylebone Marriage Challenge, together with a certificate from St George's Hanover Square which is the subject of their latest marriage challenge.. The outline details are as follows with the tree name in brackets. As always, please get in touch if you would like copies of any of these certificates:

- 1852 Christchurch, Marylebone: Dinah Cruse, daughter of Thomas Cruse, labourer, and John Lee, general dealer, son of John Lee, labourer (Ogbourne St George tree)

- 1859 St George's Hanover Square: Rebecca Cruse, daughter of Charles Wray Cruse, tailor, and Hugh Watt, sculptor, son of David Watt, seal engraver

- 1869 St Thomas, Portman Square, Marylebone: Jane Cruse, daughter of Richard Cruse (deceased), labourer, and George Martin, brewer's servant, son of George Martin, labourer

- 1896 St Mary, Bryanston Square, Marylebone: William Cruse, decorator, son of William Cruse, eating house proprietor, and Florence Sarah Allum, daughter of Henry Allum (deceased), tailor (Teddington tree)

The 1896 certificate was a particularly interesting one as I hadn't previously been able to link this William Cruse into any of the trees I've researched. I've now been able to add a big branch of Cruses to the Teddington Cruse tree. William Cruse was born in 1866 in Lambeth, London. He was the son of William Cruse (c.1839-1919) and Sarah McGowan Barton (c.1839-1923). William senior is variously described as an eating house proprietor and coffee shop keeper. He was the son of Stephen Cruse, a butler and gardener, and his first wife Elizabeth Pasco. William senior was supposedly born around 1839 in Teddington, Middlesex, but I can find no record of his birth in the GRO indexes. I've also been unable to locate him in the 1861, 1871 and 1881 censuses. By 1871 he was married with three children and should be living in Lambeth. I suspect that by 1881 the family were in Ramsgate where their youngest son Percy Barton Cruse was born in 1879. By 1891 they had moved to 127 London Road, Croydon, where William established his coffee shop. If anyone has any further information on this line do get in touch. Do let me know too if you have any luck finding the missing census entries. No doubt they are all hiding under an unusual mis-spelling!

Deviant Cruse spellings

Cruse is generally an easier name than Cruwys to find in the censuses and GRO indexes. In the early years of civil registration it is common to find people indexed under one of the many variants such as Crew, Crewe, Crews, Crewes, Cruise and Cruze. The following deviant spelling and mis-transcriptions have been found to date in the censuses, General Register Office indexes, parish registers and in other sources.

Amos, Ann, Anna, Aruse, Aure, Bruce, Cause, Contes, Couse, Crase, Craske, Crass, Crease, Creede, Creese, Crewse, Crise, Crooce, Croos, Croose, Croosh, Crose, Crowse, Cru, Cruce, Cruerys, Crues, Cruice, Cruings, Crule, Crum, Crump, Crune, Crunys, Cruser, Cruso, Crute, Cruuys, Cruye, Crvse, Cura, Curse, Curss, Cuss, Euse, Grise, Gros, Groves, Gruse, Guse, Oruso, Pruse, Ruse, Scruce,  Trude

This page was last updated on 30 November 2021.

© Debbie Kennett 2009-2021

Deviant Cruwys spellings

Cruwys is possibly one of the most difficult names to search for in the censuses because it is rarely spelt correctly. With a certain amount of ingenuity and patience it is usually possible to locate missing people in the censuses, though there are still a few people who have so far eluded me. To aid researchers I have compiled a list of all the mis-spellings found to date in the censuses and the General Register Office indexes. In the early years of civil registration the spelling had not become fixed and it is still possible to find people listed under the more common variants such as Crewes, Crews, Cruise, Cruse and Cruze, all of which have developed into surnames in their own right. I have also come across quite a few instances in the censuses of Cruwyses indexed under the surname Crump. The following is a list of all the mis-spellings found to date:

Brewys, Cauwys, Cenings, Cenwrys, Cenwys, Cinwys, Clewis, Cnewys, Coneys, Connys, Conweys, Corewis, Crauys, Cravys, Crawys, Creewys, Cremeys, Cremys, Crenny, Crenwys, Crerweys, Cresseys, Cressys, Creuse, Creuwys, Crewejs, Creweys, Crewse, Crewsy, Crewys, Crimmings, Crinorp, Crinoys, Crisswigs, Crmoys, Crnevys, Crnwys, Crowys, Crowrys, Crowys, Crucoys, Crues, Cruess, Crueys, Cruevys, Cruice, Cruings, Cruis, Cruiys, Cruloys, Crumes, Crump, Crumys, Crungs, Crunys, Crurys, Crurrys, Crurvys, Cruroys, Crusey, Crusse, Crurvys, Crurwys, Cruseys, Crusoys, Crussways, Cruswys, Crute, Cruwiss, Cruwes, Cruwp, Cruwyd, Cruwyes, Cruwyi, Cruwyp, Cruyes, Cruyse, Cruyws, Crvwys, Crweys, Crwoys, Crwes, Crwys, Crwwys, Crwye, Crys, Crywys, Cumys, Cunnys, Curwis, Cusenoys, Erwys, Gemys, Gruwys, Le Crump, Omarys, Ommps, Oruwys, Verwys.

If anyone has any further deviant spellings to add to the list please let me know. This list was last updated on 29 November 2023.

© Debbie Kennett 2009-2023.

Attempted burglary in Frome

Robert Cruse has sent me a delightful newspaper cutting about an attempted burglary at the house of Henry Cruse of Frome in Somerset. The article was published in The Bristol Mercury on Saturday, July 23, 1836 and reads as follows:

FROME. – On Sunday night last an attempt at burglary was made on the premises of Mr. Harry Cruse, the actuary of the Frome Savings' Bank; but, fortunately, the thieves were defeated in their object. This is the second or third visit which Mr. C. has lately had from these midnight marauders. On a subsequent night some fellows entered the garden of Mr. Sperring, Keyford-terrace, with a view to depredation, but being seen by a neighbour, their purpose was also defeated.

The frequency of robberies at Frome has been lately the subject of much remark among strangers, but the evil probably arises in some measure from there being no resident magistrate in this large town, and also, that in a population of nearly 14,000 persons there are only four officers, who, although extremely active, cannot be supposed to effect all that is necessary either to prevent or to detect crime.

Henry Cruse was the son of Jeremiah Cruse and Mary Masey. He was born on 14th April 1784 in Warminster, Wiltshire, and baptised on 12th September 1784 in Rode, Somerset. Henry married Elizabeth Skinner in 1804 in Shepton Mallet, and they had thirteen children. Henry was a respectable member of the community in Frome, and he was for many years the parish clerk. He witnessed many of the weddings in Frome in the early 1800s, and his signature appears frequently in the Frome registers. Henry also served for a time as the churchwarden for the parish. Like his father and some of his brothers Henry was a freemason. He was admitted to the Royal Clarence Lodge in Frome on 30th April 1810.

The attempted robbery at Henry's home took place just a few months before his death. He died on 2nd October 1836 at the age of 52 and was buried on 7th October 1836 at the parish church in Frome. The following brief obituary was published in The Gentleman's Magazine:

Oct. 2. At Frome, aged 52, Mr. Harry Cruse. He was bailiff of the Hundred of Frome, parish clerk, and also confidential clerk and cashier, in the office of the Messrs. Wickham, solicitors for 36 years.