Thanks Len for giving me a kick in the right direction. I had concentrated on the Shimmins as I knew more about them thanks to Hugh's note. Anyway I went back to Annie - I have her wedding certificate which states her father is called William. I already had the 1871 census with Annie living with Hugh & Jane and recorded as a niece born in Liverpool. Looked back to the 1861 census and found Ann living with her parents William & Sussanah. At this point I remembered that Jane (Hugh's wife) had a sister with that name. I checked the dates and they matched so looked for a wedding certificate - William Ellison married Susannah Hodgson in 1850. All I need now is a the marriage certificate to confirm her fathers name but looks promising.

I must say I'd prefer to be a directly related to Hugh but beggars can't be choosers.

So once again thanks to everyone who has taken the time to look and assist me much appreciated.

I'll come back and let you know one way or another when I get the cert and anyway I'm still interested in the Shimmins so I'll probably do some more digging.

Anyway still haven't found the link to Jane Bowes :-)

Cheers