Robert Fynn (1814-1892)

(If it's in red and underlined then it's a link to more information)

I am very much assisted in the following by Michael Williams who will appear later!

Robert married Mary Reeves in Cambridge on January 1st 1840. See Robert and Mary's Marriage Certificate. They were both of "Full Age" and Robert describes himself as a "Bookbinder". Robert's father, John "Porter" Fynn is described as a "College Servant".  

At this point it became difficult to progress Robert and Mary but...

I have found that our forebears are recorded as both FYNN and FINN. An example follows: The 1841 census has no record of Robert Fynn but when I searched under FINN, I found that a Robert and Mary FINN lived in St Botolph with a 3 month old daughter Mary (see Extracts of 1841 Census). The 1851 census shows Robert and Mary back as being FYNNs! Mary is now Mary E. Fynn and is 10 years old. Other children are recorded as: Emma (7 yrs.), Charles (6 yrs.), Sarah Sophia (2 yrs.) and Robert John (7 mths.). The family had moved to St Andrew the Great (see Extracts of 1851 Census).

The 1871 census shows Robert as a bookbinder; living with his wife Mary (then 54) and their 27 years old daughter Emma at 7 Earl Street, St Andrew Great.   Emma is marked as an "imbecile"... Other members of the family included Robert J Fynn a 20 years old son described as a "General Servant." Hannah H (Hills) a 15 years old daughter being a scholar.  Mary's mother, 77 years old  Elizabeth Reeves was also living with them.  She is described as a widow and "Formerly Keeper of the Guildhall"

The 1881 census shows Robert as an Assistant Librarian; living with his wife Mary (then 64) and their 37 years old daughter Emma at 7 Earl Street, St Andrew.  The address is definitely "7" compared to "17" in 1891.  Emma is "annotated" as having had "Epileptic fits for the last 28 years".  The far right column reserved for such descriptions otherwise only allows: "Blind"; "Deaf and dumb"; Imbecile"; "idiot"; "lunatic".

The 1891 census shows Robert as an Assistant Librarian (University); living with his wife Mary (then 74) and their 43 (should be 47?) years old daughter Emma at 17 Earl Street, St Andrew. Also living with the family was a Grand Daughter Mary Ellen ARTTE 16 years, born in Oakthorpe, Derbyshire.  The far right column of the entry of Emma is marked "Imbecile".  They called a spade a shovel in those days...

The children of Robert Fynn and Mary née Reeves are:
Mary E. Fynn – Born 1841 in St Andrew The Less.  Nothing further found other than 1841, 1851, and 1861 Census entries at home with her parents
Emma Fynn – Born 1843 in St Mary the Great. Nothing  further found other than 1851, 1861 and 1881 Census entries at home with her parents.
Charles Fynn - Born in 1844 in St Mary the Great.  Go to Charles Fynn for more information on him and his descendents. 
Sophia Fynn - Born in 1847 in St Mary Great.  She does not appear on the 1851 census with the rest of the family. I have found no Death Certificate but I'm not sure they were compulsory in the 1840's.
Sarah Sophia Fynn - Born in 1849 in St Mary Great. She is in the 1851 and 1861 census entries for the family home.  She married a Pratt ASTLE (See also Hannah Hills Fynn's husband below who would appear to be his brother - see the email from Bob Blakey) during the December 1873 Quarter.  I have nothing further on Sarah Sophia ASTLE (née Fynn).  She was not on the 1901 Census.
Robert John Fynn - Born 1850 in St Andrew the Less.  He was in the family entry on the 1861 and 1871 Censuses. A Robert John Fynn married in Lambeth in the June ¼ of 1879. (See Certificate). He and his brother Frederick appear to have married Cable sisters; one of whom committed suicide shortly after her marriage to Frederick.
Frederick Fynn- Born 1854 in St Andrew the Great, Cambridge.  Go to Frederick Fynn for his descendents...
Eliza Fynn - Born in 1859 in St Andrew the Great, Cambridge. She appears in the family entry in the 1861 Census. Nothing further has been found on Eliza.
Hannah Hills Fynn - Born c. 1856 in St Andrew Great, Cambridge. She appears on the family Census entries for 1861 and 1871. She  married a John ASTLE on 22 November 1882. Her sister Sarah Sophia also married an ASTLE (see above). The IGI shows a Hannah Hills Fynn dying in Burwood, NSW, Australia in 1943.  I had no reason other than the unusual name to connect the two but now have the benefit of more thorough research by Bob Blakey as set out in the email below dated 11th January 2009.  I also found a Henry Hills Fynn born to Charles (Frederick's older brother) and Matilda in Medway in 1878.

I am assisted by a Bob Blakey in Australia for having corrected some of my research by his own more thorough efforts:

This is a copy of an email he sent me dated 11th January 2009:

Hello Geoffrey,

First, my apologies for the delay in getting back to you.  It is no real excuse but we have had a rather hectic year or so.   ...but I do have some material which may be of use to you. 

I am sending a scan of Eleanor Mary's marriage certificate and have arranged for a transcript of her death certificate, a scan of which I will forward in the (hopefully) not too distant future. 

Following your email I also did some research on Hannah Hills Fynn.  There was no record of a Pratt Astle in NSW but there was a Hannah Hills who was married to John Astle.  When I checked the England BMD records I noted that a Hannah Hills Fynn had married John Astle in Cambridge in 1882 so the following is based on my presumption that we are talking about the same Hannah Hills Fynn as the death record in NSW gives her parents as Robert and Mary; I don't know where this leaves Pratt but as I could find only one mention of him (on the 1861 census) I wonder if he might have been the otherwise unnamed Astle who died in Derbyshire in 1862.  The 1861 census showed Pratt's parents as George and Ellen, which matches the parents on John Astle's death certificate. 

The NSW immigration records indicate that a J. Astle arrived aboard "Caledonian"  on 6 November 1885 and that two persons by the name of Astle landed from "Orient" on 25 March 1885.  I suspect that the latter were John and Hannah because the first of their children was born in Burwood in 1886. 

There are scans of the NSW BMD index entries of  this information on the way, but in short what I believe is:
 

John died in Burwood in 1934.

Hannah dies in Burwood in 1943. 

It also appears that John's brother, George J Astle also came to Australia about the same time as John and Hannah since a George J Astle, with parents George and Ellen, is shown as having died in Ryde (Sydney) in 1926. 

I hope this information will be useful. 

Regards,

Bob Blakey

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Page last updated 20th June 2010