Cricketer James Braddock (1852) (Need England research help)

Question

I decided to research cricketer James Braddock. (b.1852), however, I cant seem to find him in any census (except for 1881) resulting in no family connections, any help appreciated.

Answer 1

Findmypast has a few James born in Derbyshire around that time but all died soon after birth .

Comments

It's the same on Ancestry

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Findmypast - maybe?

James

Last name Braddock

Sex Male

Birth year -

Event date 1899

Event year 1899

Ship name New England

Arrival state Massachusetts

Arrival country United States

Collection Massachusetts, Boston Passenger Lists 1899-1940

NARA Publication number T790

NARA Publication title Book Indexes, Boston Passenger Lists, 1899-1940.

NARA roll 1

Film number 001724620

Record group 13-0679; 2015-06-03 07:27:53; CarterTP; Massachusetts, Boston Passenger Lists Index, 1899-1940 (NARA T790, T617, T521) - FSI

Record set United States, Passenger And Crew Lists

Category Travel & migration

Subcategory Passenger Lists

Collections from Americas, United States

Answer 2

What an absolutely magnificent batting record he had at all levels!

You could try corresponding with the club historian at Lancashire CCC and see if they have any more about him.

Also, any cricketing archive with a collection of Wisden's Cricketing Almanack from the period may have more about him if he was still playing in the 1880s.

Answer 3

The GRO Birth registration for the James Braddock's birth in his profile records his mother's maiden name as SWINDELLS. It is likely James had a brother, William born q December 1849 who also has the "Swindells" listing. No other sibling between 1842-1859 shares such a mother's maiden name or a derivative.

Needless to say Census is silent on a William Braddock b1849/50 that may offer a clue

Answer 4

I don't think the birth record in the profile is the correct one.
As Anonymous Woody says it corresponds to the GRO index record:
BRADDOCK, JAMES         SWINDELLS     
GRO Reference: 1852  J Quarter in HAYFIELD AND GLOSSOP  Volume 07B  Page 555

I researched this Braddock/Swindells family further.
There is only one recorded marriage between a male Braddock and female Swindells before 1852 and that was the marriage of George Braddock and Goody Swindells on 11 Jun 1849 at St Mary, Stockport.
They had three children: William, James, Margaret Ann all christened at Saint Mary, Disley, Cheshire (although the family had moved to Liverpool where George worked as a Policeman before Margaret was born in 1854).
The birth record for James Braddock (son of George and Goody Braddock) in FamilySearch gives his birth date as 2 Apr 1852. There is also a burial record for James Braddock in Disley on 3 Nov 1853 age 1 year 6 months which seems most likely to be him. George, Goody, William and Margaret Ann Braddock appear together as a family in several censuses.

I wonder if James Braddock the Cricketer had adopted a professional surname and Braddock was not his real surname or the given birth date is incorrect.
He is found in the 1891 census living in West Derby, Lancs, but gave his age as 35.
He could be the James Braddock who appears in the 1911 census age 55 living in Accrington in the "New Model Lodging House".

Comments

Great job, I agree that this is not the right birth record, and it seems to me that the year may actually be quite wrong. Because the Cricket Archive page for James, which gives the 24 Apr 1852 birthdate, also says "Thought to be a professional at South Lancashire in 1864". 

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My suspicion in drafting my answer; the birth date may well be incorrect.

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Thanks, Everyone

I am currently researching all Braddocks on the England and Wales Birth registration 1939-1940, so far I have completed 45%, I came across this James Braddock on Wikipedia and delayed creating a WikiTree profile until now.

I'm now going to write up some research note on his profile. Thanks again

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You are certainly ambitious!

I would say however, that I do not consider the England and Wales Birth Registration Index (in any of its forms) as definitive. That index is created from transcribed copies of the quarter books sent by regional Registrar's offices to the GRO in London. There are errors in the books and errors in the transcriptions. If you compare the entries for a person on FreeBMD and FamilySearch (which uses the Findmypast transcription) or Ancestry you will sometimes find differences. You will also sometimes find differences between the indexes and the database on the GRO web site, which I assume was built separately by transcribing the actual birth certificates not the quarter books.

I always cite the GRO web site in profiles if I can find the event for the person I am interested in. The advantage of doing that is the GRO web site has information not in the quarter books, such as mother's maiden name and full name for all birth registrations since 1837. Using it helps you to avoid falling into the trap of choosing a birth registration record that seems to be the correct one and then finding out later it was not.

Answer 5

From the "Glossop Record" newspaper Saturday 20 October 1867, page 2-3, an account of the annual end of season dinner of the Glossop Cricket Club - James Braddock was presented with a cricket bat for being the best aggregate batsman that season, and it was his debut season with the club.

Answer 6

Some things that may or may not help:

"Whitle" isn't a placename but could be a phonetic spelling of Whitwell, Derbyshire. 

Whitwell is in the Scarsdale/Worksop/Bolsover district in NE Derbyshire. This is an obstacle to my favoured candidate for James Braddock: the son of Joseph Braddock and Ellen Braddock, née Jackson, who was born and christened in Disley/Glossop/Stockport in 1846. This would make him just old enough to start his cricketing career in 1864. 

Joseph and Ellen christened several older children including a Harriet, which helps trace them through all the censuses except 1861, where I can't find them at all. In 1871 this James appears as a labourer, but I can't find a record for him in 1881 unless he is our cricketer. Being a labourer (and residing in Birley, NE Derbyshire, at the census date) might rule him out if our James was in full time cricketing employment in 1871 - I don't know if this can be discovered from cricketing records. On the other hand the Glossop birthplace obviously fits nicely with the 1881 cricketer's birthplace. The alternative Whitwell location doesn't, though. Perhaps Whitle was a misreading of Disley? Or possibly the 1881 census wrongly gave the householders' birthplace for their boarder as well.

Comments

The 1861 census for Joseph, Ellen and their children has been affected by FamilySearch's strange tendency to just list the middle initial instead of the name for that census. That particular census enumerator decided to list spouses and children with the first letter of their surname followed by D. (for ditto), which has then been transcribed in this case just as B. The record is at https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7J9-8YP. The household residents (from the transcription and image on Ancestry) are actually:

Joseph Braddock 61

Ellen Braddock 53

Thomas Braddock 20

Harriet Braddock 17

James Braddock 14