In searching for John Ennever (born c.1800) and his family it was known that John, with his second wife Jane Farmer, was the publican of the Cross Keys Inn at Chadwell St. Mary, Essex.   John was previously married to Mary Ann Harding who had died in 1837.  There were 4 children of this first marriage, the eldest being a John William Ennever who was christened in Chadwell, Essex in 1832.   He married Elizabeth Harris in Chatham, Kent in 1862 and they can be found at 63 Bath Street, Gravesend in the 1871 census with 2 children, Jane Elizabeth (b 1866/7) & John William (b 1869). With John William and his son John William (b1869) having been found aboard the boat “William” in the 1881 census it was Elizabeth and the other children that had not been located.   Jane was known to have survived (from a later marriage) and from birth certificates that there should also be children Eliza born in 1871 and Ellen born in 1873.

It was also known that Elizabeth was almost certainly born in the Faversham area of Kent (probably Bobbing) and from birth certificates that all the children had been born in Gravesend.  This information drew attention to a family in Church Row, Limehouse in the 1881 census.  This family consisted of: John Hanaway (aged 50), Elizabeth, his wife (aged 36), Eleanor (14), John (13), Eliza (10) and Ellen (8).

Because Elizabeth Hanaway’s details, plus those of the children, matched closely with the Ennever family it was at first thought that maybe a hard-of-hearing enumerator had simply misheard "Ennever" (I’ve had people refer to me as Hanover and similar!).  Alternatively, it was thought that Elizabeth and the children could have been lodging with a John Hanaway, who as a Lighterman was in the same line of work as John William Ennever and that the enumerator had omitted to change the surname when recording Elizabeth and the children.  

Elizabeth can be found in censuses at Bobbing, Kent in 1841, then Newington, Kent in 1851. John can be found in 1841 aged 8 in Chadwell, Essex but census returns variously give his birthplace as Grays, Essex and Gravesend, Kent. Unfortunately, neither of them has yet been found in the 1861 census. 

Attention then turned to John William Ennever junior (b 1869) who married Ellen Grady in October 1890.  Their eldest child was registered as Elizabeth Blanche Ennever who was born out of wedlock in September 1890.  Further research had indicated that John William Ennever was the father of a Matilda May Ennever, who married Dennis Coughlin in 1923.  Her birth was then found registered in 1902 as Matilda May Hannaway! Bizarrely, on Elizabeth Blanche's marriage certificate she was recorded as Elizabeth Blanche Hannaway.  In all 9 children can be found registered as Hannaway and only Elizabeth Blanche as Ennever, all with John William Ennever and Ellen Grady as the parents.  

It was the birth & marriage name-switches of Elizabeth Blanche & Matilda May that was the proof that this Ennever family had, for whatever reason, changed their family name to Hannaway and that the 17 Church Row family were indeed the John William Ennever and Elizabeth Harris who had married in Chatham.   Although it’s pure speculation at this stage Ellen Grady’s mother was a Honora or Hannah and could just have been the inspiration for the new family name.  Therein lies another, as yet unsolved, mystery in that 2 surnames have been found for Ellen's mother!

The motivation for the name change will probably never be known but as Elizabeth Blanche was born out of wedlock and she is the only child to be registered as Ennever that is a likely reason.  This fails to explain however why John's parents, John William Ennever & Elizabeth (nee) Harris, originated the change in the 1881 census.  Fleeing authority is another possible explanation but nothing has been found to suggest John William or Ellen were doing this and as they remained living and working in the Thames area of London this possibility has been effectively discounted.

More recently it has been established that John William Ennever was still known by that name as late as 1894 when he appeared as a witness in the trial of his friend, George William White, at the Old Bailey on the 10th September 1894.  Information about the trial can be found by following the earlier link.

Summary table of information found to date:

If anyone has any further information that might help to further clarify this story I would be delighted to hear from you.

Author:  Barry Ennever