The Mansfield-Alliss family of London

The family of William Henry Mansfield and Harriette Bentley Austin

Yes, where does Alliss come into that?

 

Looking through the GRO birth index are seven children registered as Alliss all with the Mansfield middle name, and all with their mothers maiden name as Austin, between 1858 and 1875. These haven't been linked to any other Allis family so we made a start to see where they came from.

Harriet and Louisa were twins born in 1858 (who both died in 1860), Mary Ann in 1860, John 1862, Eliza 1868, George 1870 and Albert in 1875.

A quick look at the census returns showed them to be using only MANSFIELD but with children registered as ALLISS. Where, how or why did this family acquire the Alliss name?

Some records viewed:

The parents of the above children were Henry William Mansfield who married Harriette Bentley Austin on 24 December 1850 at St Giles, Cripplegate, Middlesex. His father was William Mansfield, a brush maker.

In the 1851 census at St Lukes (9 Clarence Road) in the household of William Mansfield are:

William age 50 a brushmaker, born Clerkenwell

Esther age 56, born New York but a British subject

Henry age 21 a gold cutter

Harriet age 21 his wife

William their son age 1 month

There are very few marriages of Mansfields to an Esther, but one at about the right time is Esther Ann Mumford in 1821. An Esther Mansfield died age 70 in 1861.

The family of Henry and Harriet Mansfield are seen in the 1881 census.  Walter age 16 is a son not shown in the GRO index as Alliss

Mary Ann Mansfield Alliss married William Samuel Storrar in 1877 and her father’s name is shown as William Henry Mansfield Alliss and one of the witnesses was Harriette Mansfield Alliss.

Walter married Selina Pickering in 1890 with his mother as a witness and just using the Mansfield surname.

In May 1898 George Mansfield Ellis married Elizabeth Cannings (?) nee Smale and he gives his father’s name as Harry Ellis, a jeweler. A George Mansfield Alliss born in 1900, as shown in the GRO index, has his mother’s maiden name as Smale.

George and Elizabeth are seen in the 1911 census with Alma aged 12 (registered as Alma Louisa Ellis in 1899), George age 10 (registered in 1900), and Albert William age 4 (as Mansfield-Alliss in 1907).

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Going back to the 1841 census for Holborn (HO107/670/3) we see

William Mansfield age 40, a toothbrush maker

Ether Mansfield age 45, his wife, born in foreign parts

Henry Allis age 10

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This would appear to be the start of the Mansfield-Allis line. Was a Henry Allis adopted by the Mansfields who did not seem to have any other children? There doesn't seem to be any candidates in parish baptisms for Henry (except one in Loughton, Essex but he is accounted for). Adding the Alliss name into the children's births was then a throwback to Henry's origins.

Thus it seems that this family were Mansfields except when it came to registering children's births (some of them anyway). The later generation sometimes included Alliss in marriages too.

An interesting tangle of a family line!

Update: Thanks to Mike, one of that family line for generously providing much more information, although Henry Alliss is still something of a mystery.