What's my name?

In the autobiography, frederick writes:

"The records of the Parish Church, St. Ann’s, Soho, bear witness that a little later the label “Frederick Vincent” was attached to me in solemn form, and certain promises were made on my behalf in which Miss Castell, a girl friend of my mother, took part: for a long time I thought that her name had been added to the others.

At school I was always known as “F.V.C. Brooks”, which my schoolfellows used to suggest savoured of a redundance not wanting in other directions : but on going to the Church Registry many years after I found that the extra name was a myth."

The extent of our author's mistaken belief regarding his own name has been discovered on obtaining a copy of his marriage certificate. Just how long the erroneous middle name persists after Frederick's school years, he fails to mention but long enough for him to spell it out for eternity on his wedding day.

Edit:
In fact, Fred's baptism does record Castell as a middle name.

Jennie Jots her Borman History

"This is a copy of some notes written by my mother [Mary Jane Elizabeth Brooks, wife of F. Vincent Brooks] and found after her death":-

27 Hornsey Rise Gdns
London N.

I don’t know if any of my children care about family history, but it has always been a matter of interest to me to know that my father’s people were old country Gentlepeople. The Bormans originally were Reading (Berkshire) people. Early in the 1700 my grandfather William Borman, settled at Tetney Lincolnshire where he built Tetney House and married at Kingston-on-Hull Elizabeth Burnett, a niece of a Bishop. Grandfather had some rights in the Chancel of Tetney Church, for all his people are buried in the chancel and till the church was restored [1861-2] the stones were there, but have been removed to the Vestry. The Bormans took great interest in the Church matters and Shepherd [Sheppard] College at Bromley, Kent was built by the widow of Dr. Shepherd [Sheppard] who was a Borman [or was she not Sophia Routh?!] and she also left a good deal of money towards the endowment of Magdalen School Oxford.

Grandfather’s sisters were [Mary] married to the Revd Charles Wildbore [1801-1876], vicar of Humberstone & head master of the Grammar School since divided into separate positions, Mrs. [Mary, not actually William's sister] Hutchins, wife of the vicar of Bridgemouth nr. Nottingham [East Bridgford, John D'Oyly Hutchins], Mrs Atkins wife of a sheep farmer at Oldhill (Lincs) and Mrs. Heath [actually Sabina, Mary Borman's daughter] wife of a Banker [William Hawkins Heath] at Andover. As far as I know all these had family. Great Uncle Wildbore’s son Charles was rector of Old Hunstanton. My father Allan Borman was the 2nd son and by profession a surgeon. He settled in Derby & married my mother [Fanny Borman Redhead nee Tipping abt. 1831-1898] coming from Chelmill [Chilwell] near Nottingham. Of my father’s 3 sisters one married a Mr. Henry Morley [1822-1882] the leading partner in the firm of Morley & Boden the Lace Mills Derby. They had one son [Henry d. 1880] who died at birth. The two Aunts Borman put up the stained glass window in the church at Cleethorpes in the memory of Mrs. [Ann] Morley, her husband & son and they with the other two aunts [Maria Sabina and Mary Jane Borman] are buried in Cleethorpes Cemetery. My father had 2 brothers the elder Richard came in for Tetney House and all the land. The youngest Fred Borman went to South Africa early in 1800 and has not been heard of for sixty years- he was then a widower without children. My father never kept in touch with his relations so only knew them by name but the 2 Aunts who lived at Cleethorpes said they had many relations in different parts & that the Bormans at one time were very wealthy and grandfather had a great deal of property in Louth.

Your father’s people were said to come from Doncaster. The Grandfather John Brooks married a Miss Elizabeth Steggall. He was a man who travelled a great deal and at one time owned a lot of land in America. He finally settled in Jersey where he is buried. He had three sons Vincent, Thomas & Frederick and one daughter who married a Jerseyman named Buttfield. She had three sons & 2 daughters. Vincent Brooks married a Miss Rhoda Wybrow. They had two sons Alfred William & Frederick Vincent. Frederick Vincent & myself were married at St.Saviours Church, Eastbourne on December 15, 1888. Of our 5 children Edith, my only girl married Edward Jarrett June 1908 at Christ Church, Crouch End, Hornsey. My boys are Frederick Allan, Arthur Reginald, Wilfred Vincent and Herbert Cecil. All my children were born at 22 Santos Road West Hill, Wandsworth and were christened at St. Stephens Church with the exception of Herbert Cecil who was christened at St. Andrews, Shepherds Hill, now pulled down and Christ church enlarged to take its place

Jennie Brooks

Notes:
Rev Charles Wildbore, b. 22 November 1801 Tilton-on-the-Hill, d. 14 November 1876 Humberstone, Lincs.
Son of Charles Wildbore and Frances Stimson. Married Mary Borman 25th June 1829 at Great Grimsby, Lincs.
Children: Rev. Charles Wildbore, b. 25 March 1830. d. 2 November 1912.
Source: Family history of Roger williams Link

HUMBERSTONE or Humberston, is a near and well-built village, finely interspersed with trees, and pleasantly situated nearly two miles from the river Humber and Waltham Station; and 4½ miles SSE of Grimsby.
It’s parish contains 259 souls, and about 2930 acres of land, mostly the property of Lord Carrington, who is lord of the manor, and patron of the vicarage, which is valued in KB at £5 18s 4d and now at 63, in the incumbency of the Rev Charles Wildbore, who is also headmaster of the free school.
Source: White’s Directory 1856

Henry Morley's Lace Mill:
The History of the County of Derby: Drawn Up from Actual Observation, and from the Best Authorities; Containing a Variety of Geological, Mineralogical, Commercial, and Statistical Information
By Stephen Glover, Thomas Noble
Published by Printed for the publisher by H. Mozley and son, 1829

The photo of St. Peter's is taken from this marvellous site.

A description of the Morley stained glass in St.Peter's Chapel of Ease, Cleethorpes
Found in: A History of Clee and the Thorpes of Clee ...: being a brief account of the townships of Clee, Hoole, Itterby, Thrunscoe, Weelsby, Holm, Cleethorpes, New Clee, Beaconthorpe, and New Cleethorpes
By Charles Ernest Watson. Published by Grimsby News Co., 1901

Borman and the Body Snatcher

Allan Borman was the father of Frederick's wife Mary Jane Elizabeth Borman. During 1838-39 he attended a number of courses at Edinburgh's Old Surgeon's Hall.

From November 1838 to April 1839 he attended nineteen of twenty lectures on 'Nathology (?) and the Practice of Medicine'
and from 1st May to July 27th 1839 he attended a ten part course on 'Practical Chemistry and Pharmacy'. Both these were given by William Reid.

Allan Borman took two anatomy courses. Both consisted of twenty sessions, the first between 4th November 1837 and 23rd April 1838, the second between 6th November 1838 and 26th April 1839. These took place at Robert Knox's private Anatomy School in Surgeon's Square (pictured).

Knox was infamous for the role he played in receiving the murder victims of Burke and Hare. Between 1827-28 the pair, after selling on a pensioner who had died at Hare's lodging house, murdered a total of seventeen victims, each one bought by Knox. On two occassions students on Knox's course recognised the cadavers. Knox denied the bodys' identities but on one such corpse started the dissection with the face just to stop further interjections.

Hare later testified against Burke who was executed and himself used for medicial dissection. A note book bound with Burke's skin can still be seen at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh.

An old family story also involves Allan Borman. It is told that one night he was awoken by a knock at the front door. On opening the door he was seized, blindfolded and taken to an unkown location. He was held for three days during which time he safely delivered a baby. Job done, he was once again blindfolded and dumped back on his door step in the middle of the night. Who the mystery mother and child were, or the reason for the secrecy we will never know.