Thank you for all those suggestions Sue.

That is an interesting coincidence then, you having a miniature with the name Thomas Cox, the painter on the back of it. Hope you have had better luck with your ancestor/s from Birmingham than what I have had with my ONE!

No, to be honest I haven't considered that William Henry Cox may have returned from the IOM to his wife, I suppose I am still coming down from the ceiling with the fact that he may have been on the IOM after showing up in Sussex. Hopefully soon when the 1911 census goes online I will have a look at those two 1911 entries, you so kindly found for me. There is a knack to finding people you think may be on the 1911 census isn't there, that I haven't accomplished yet! I would say that the entry from Devonshire may not be them, but you just can't tell with chap, he seemed to move around quite a bit. On the 1881 his wife was called Helen, on the 1891 she was known as Fanny and on the 1901 she was a Helen. On her son's birth certificate in 1884 she was also Helen. On her own marriage certificate she was a Helen. She was registered, baptised and seemed to be known at home with her parents as Ellen. So the entry on the 1911 looks promising.

Yes that is correct that is her birth registration and I wonder if that is the registration for her death in 1932, if it is she did live to a ripe old age.

Regarding the death in 1906 of an Ellen Maud Cox. William Henry's son, my granddad, was married in 1907 in the Camberwell district, I wonder if they had a daughter before marriage and named her after his mum and his sister, could be a possibility.

The marriage to a Henry Robinson may well be Maud's marriage. I have seen that marriage too the initials of the Maud's name are the same as the registration/census details. The only way to find out would be to order a certificate.

I hope no one minds this has gone completely from the IOM to my 'complicated great granddad'

Thanks again
Ewan