Arnold Merrick (General)

by kandi, Sunday, February 02, 2020, 20:32 (1537 days ago) @ MPGriffiths

Thank you all for your responses.

I have been trying to follow all the leads you have provided along with some other information I have been given by descendants. It is all quite baffling so please bear with me as I try to think this all through in this email.

I think there are a number of cross-overs between an Arnold Merrick born in Thruxton in 1803/4 and an Arnold Merrick born in Kingston in 1802. I’m certain this Arnold is the one who eventually married Priscilla Mary Duffield in Oxford in 1848.

This Arnold is thought by members of his family to have run away to sea and also to have been a courier to George IV. If he did run away to sea then maybe Ann Wilson’s father was his Captain and this is how they met??? I am puzzled by this marriage with one service in Manchester Cathedral...I didn’t know they remarried a year later? The marriage record in the cathedral shows Arnold’s profession as a Clerk...this is a little ambiguous...what kind of Clerk? His status is also shown as a Widower...even more puzzling. Did Arnold from Kingston marry her or did Arnold from Thruxton marry her...I’m not sure.
The other women involved are Matilda Coxhead and Frances Williams. Arnold from Thruxton certainly ended up with Frances and they had a large family with him supporting them as a Book-Seller. I think at least one of his sons followed him into this business.

Which Arnold married Matilda who died in 1846?

It is odd that Kingston Arnold changed the spelling of his name and added Garbett to become Arnold Garbett Meyrick - perhaps he was
running away again and wanted to hide his identity. The Garbett was adopted from his Aunt Charlotte’s husband James Garbett. James was a clergyman and he and Charlotte had 5 sons, 4 of whom followed their father into the church, with one becoming an Archdeacon.

Arnold Garbett Meyrick can be found on an 1861 census in the employ of Percy Barrington as a Butler in Westbury Bucks. This is not far away from Priscilla Mary who was at another address in Fringford Oxfordshire...Henry and Hubert their surviving sons were with her. Priscilla Mary was a schoolteacher. Arnold Garbett Meyrick’s occupation was listed as Butler on Henry Duffield’s baptismal record.

Priscilla Mary died in 1868 and by that time had returned to her family home in King’s Sutton, Northamptonshire where she is buried. Arnold Garbett died a year later and is buried there too so it looks as though they lived there together for a time. Priscilla was only 47 when she died and Arnold was 69. Both their sons went into the church but tragically Hubert died in a bathing accident in Devon at age 20. Henry Duffield lived and married my cousin Mary Maude Fountain Cross,

Any further thoughts from you would be warmly received.

Best wishes,
Kandi