Is this George Slade the right George Slade?

Question

Okay, just possibly I'm being a little over cautious, because when I first started trying to source my great-grandfather, George Slade¹, it seemed like you couldn't swing a cat in England in the latter part of the 19th century without hitting somebody named George Slade (which is really weird, since Slade isn't all that common a surname), but still:

This month is my month to pay attention to the Slade Name Study, so, among other things, I am working on adding Slades who are listed on ThePeerage.com to WikiTree. (That is, deceased Slades, where I can identify and source them.) When looking at Patricia Slade, I found her husband John Stephen Barclay on WikiTree, so I figured that I'd at least be able to add her and have her connected to the main tree right away, so I found their marriage record on FreeBMD (because I prefer to have at least one other source when adding profiles), and created a WikiTree profile for her. Then, I looked up her birth record on FreeBMD, and saw that her mother's maiden name was Beale. That rang a bell for me, so I looked, and discovered that I had already created a profile for a George Slade who had married a woman named Beale while working to connect a notable Slade three years ago. And, as it happens, that George Slade was listed as living in Kensington (where Patricia's birth was registered) in the 1901 census, and George's son Humphrey (another notable Slade) was registered as being born in Kensington in 1905. 

Still, seven years is a fair gap between children, so I'd be happier if I could find some more definitive source tying Patricia to this particular George Slade, and not any of the other hordes of George Slades who seemed to be wandering around the British Isles at the time. Can anybody help me with that?

1. Who doesn't come into this story at any point, so please forget that I even mentioned him.

Comments

P.S. One reason I'm being cautious is that I don't want to write to Daryl telling him that George Slade and George Slade are the same person if they're actually not. Granted, I don't usually worry about making a fool of myself in public, but even I have my limits.

Answer 1

Taking a risk of being indelicate here, i wouldn't say that the gap of 6 or 7 years between children in a well-off family at the turn of the 20th century is much of a red flag.

It could be the result of family planning!  They had access to condom-like things.

It could be the result of lack of health on the part of the mother.  Think corsets.

It could be the result of syphilis.  I remember hearing on one of the British "Who Do You Think You Are" shows that a common impact of syphilis was a gap in live births for about 6 years followed by a few births that had some disabilities such as blindness, and then back to normal after 8 years.  

It could be the result of being somewhere else.  Boer War? Business trips?

But, red flag or no red flag, you still want the paper trail.

Answer 2

Patricia had a brother Humphrey born six years earlier, Kensington.

He can be found in the 1911 Census, with parents George Slade & Edith Mary living in Hanover Terrace, Notting Hill Kensington. Father George was a solicitor.

In this 1911 Census, there is another child which gives full credance to your thinking.  A Gabrielle De Mestre Slade, born Kensington 1903, 1a/155 q March 1903. I have not been able to source this record through GRO for her mother's maiden name, only BMD records.

Comments

That makes sense. George's mother's maiden name was De Mestre. I found a bunch o' marriages for Gabrielle, so I have added a profile for her, too. Thank you for the lead.

I'd appreciate it if you could add the 1911 census source to the appropriate profiles, since I don't have access to it.

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Huh. A search for Gabrielle turned up an unsourced tree at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/genealogy/WynnHall/archy.html which ties her to George and Edith, along with lots of other tantalising leads to follow. Now if I can just find sources to prove it all...

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The 1911 Census records that George & Edith had 4 children, all alive. 

We know of George(George Penkivil), Humphrey & Gabrielle De Mestre. The missing child was Roger Phipson Slade, born 1901, Kensington. He was a boarder at a school in Langton Matravers, Dorset  in 1911, & listed as Roger Pinkivil Slade.

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Okay, I have created a profile for Roger, too.