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and beside the River Exe.
But William, who was now 41, was still restless and no doubt still resentful of authority and
seeking better employers and employment. Within two years he had moved again, to the sea-
port of Bristol further north.
Here William's last two children were born: Martha, on 15 May 1840; and John, on 22 June
1842. Her place of birth is given on the birth certificate as Hillsbridge Parade in the parish of St
Mary Redcliff, south of the River Avon; and John's as Meadow Street in the parish of St Paul.
William registered Martha's birth and signed his name; his wife Elizabeth registered John's name
and made her mark - as she could not write nor probably read.
The parents were respectively 45 and 44 in 1842, and their surviving children now numbered
eight, the eldest, Mary Ann, now being 18 years old. They lived in Bristol for seven years at
least, and when William moved again it was to Plymouth and thence to Australia.
The first recorded reference to Wiiliam in Bristol is in 1841.
He is shown as living at 1 Hiilsbridge Parade in the rates book for St Mary Redcliff dated 25
March. The house is owned by Thomas Hazell and rated annually at £18. The census for 1841
also shows William and Elizabeth and seven children (John was not born until 1842) at Number
1, with John Furneaux, aged 34, a mason. Presumably he was Elizabeth's younger brother.
Number 1 Hiilsbridge was situated on one side of Number 2, which was occupied by William
Smith, his wife, four children, two women called Greenwell, aged 30 and 18, and a 20-year-old
servant girl. This William Smith was 45, and his occupation, which should be noted, was
shipwright.
The house on the other side of Number 1 was the first in Trafalgar Place and was occupied by
Thomas Harris. He was 29; his wife Martha was 25 (they had no children); three other women
were living with them. Much of this page in the census book has faded away and is unreadable.
But it looks as if Thomas Harris, young as he was, was a ship's master. Again, this should be
noted.
At some point in 1841 William set up in business with George Wilkins.
They are shown in the Bristol Directory for 1841 as 'Honeycomb & Wilkins, masons and
builders, 1 Hiilsbridge Parade.' They are both registered in the rates book, dated 25 March
1842, as being joint occupiers of No 1, with the same neighbours as named in the census -
Wiiliam Smith and Thomas Harris.
Towards the end of that year, 1842, the Honeycombes and George Wilkins must have moved.
For they are absent from the St Mary rates book of March 1843. However, they appear that
month in the rates book for St Paul. They are now the joint occupiers of a house in Meadow
Street, which is owned by John Stratton and rated at £36 The dwelling-house also has a stable
and a yard, and we find from the rates book of March 1845 that the house was next to a
piggery.
In March 1846, there is no Honeycombe or Wilkins in Meadow Street. But in a directory for
1849 George Wilkins is listed as a builder in Stapleton Road, in the parish of St Philips. He is
not, however, in the 1850 directory nor in the 1851 census for Bristol. The last known
reference to him in Bristol is in 1849.
George Wilkins is an important figure in the Honeycombes' story - as will soon become clear.
But we know very little about him. We do not know his age, whether he was married, and if so,
whether he had any children. We know he was living as William Honeycombe's partner in
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