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There is another possibility. Aunt Lil (William Robert's great-niece) told me: 'Bill came out after
Richard sent for him. He went down the mines in Queensland?' She said nothing more. But was
she right? Was she thinking of another Bill, John's son? Is she getting her facts confused? If she
was right, the questions remain: Whatever happened to William Robert Honeycombe - and will
we ever know?
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3. Jane and the Bastards George
Jane Honeycombe emigrated in 1854, and her brother Richard in 1853, three years after their
rather William took his wife and their four youngest children to Australia on the Lady
McNaghten and the Sea Queen.
Richard's story is told in full later on. Let us now return to William and the possible reasons for
his departure, which may be connected in part to what happened to Jane in 1846 and 47.
She had a secret, that has remained hidden for nearly 150 years and was probably known to
very few in England and none in Australia, except herself.
In 1847 Jane gave birth to an illegitimate child.
Of this I was unaware until I began writing this book and, scanning the family trees for one thing,
found another. I had ascribed this bastard child, for whom I had a birth certificate, to the wrong
Jane. I had thought he was the offspring of another Jane, herself illegitimate, who was bom in
Calstock in December 1829. But I had neglected to take into account two salient facts: the
baby was born in London, and his father's name was given as - George Wilkins.
The details on the birth certificate tell us that the baby, christened Edward - later on he called
himself George Edward - was born at 7 East Road, Hoxton New Town in Shoreditch, on 24
April 1847. The mother and the person who informed the registrar was a Jane Honeycombe, of
the same address, and her father's occupation was 'builder'.
Our Jane was born in March 1826. There can be no doubt that the certificate's details referring
to Wilkins - builder- and London relate to her. She was herself bom in London, at Newington
Butts in the Borough of Southwark, and her sister, Mary Ann, married in Bermondsey in 1845.
Bermondsey and Southwark are both south of London Bridge, and Hoxton is due north of it,
via Moorgate and City Road.
There are other, later, associations that connect George Edward Honeycombe to the Bristol
Honeycombes. He appears in the 1871 census for Bristol, lodging as a labourer at Warmley
Hill; and he marries in Southwark in 1887.
Those are the facts. What is the likely story that links them?
Jane became pregnant about August 1846, when she was 20. Her older sister, Mary Ann, had
married a stonemason, William Henderson, in London the previous November, and her younger
brothers, William Robert and Richard (19 and 16 then} were working away from home. Her
other brothers and sisters, Henry, Elizabeth, Martha and John were considerably younger:
Henry was 12 and John was just four. Jane was probably employed as a housemaid or servant.
She may still have been living at home and may not have been working, helping her mother with
household chores and looking after the four youngest
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children. Where were they all living? Their father William had been in business with George
Wilkins since 1841, and four years later their business and home address is given as Meadow
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