Dear Sue,
My thanks again for all of your work on my behalf, your last message shows me though that I had not briefed you fully enough on what we had found to date, let me expalin ....
Robert QUIRK married for the acknowledged second time in Beechworth VIC. Australia; 26 January 1856 to a Margaret ROBERTSON who was a native of Glasgow.
The stated 'condition of the parties' shown on the certificate ...
ROBERT - widower as from November 1854 with THREE living children.
MARGARET - spinster with NO children
Yes you tracked down the right Malvina my great-Aunt and by the time anyone started to try and get correct picture on her early life, it was too late for personal discussion.
Her death certificate says 85 at death ..... meaning born 1849 and thus would expect that she would show on the 1851 UK Census, but not easy to find.
The timing of Robert's remarriage to Margaret and the fact he states knowledge of Mary Allgood's death in Dec 1854 probably indicates he left Liverpool for Australia immediately after this time with Malvina only of the children plus a "nurse" whom he later married ... he was though a "remittance man" receiving funds from home so could have been advised by letter?
Family anecdotes indicate that Malvina always thought she was daughter of Robert and Margaret, tales exist of the sea voyage and of her rescue !! by lifting her from the sea by her long 'golden locks'.
I am adding to a collection of information gathered over time by many and this shows Robert's two first children as the Robert Frederick QUIRK you also found, christened St Nicholas, Liverpool 25/5/48 and earlier ... Helene Sarah QUIRK christened at Kirk German, Isle of Man, 10 July 1846.
Because Robert's father William had moved from IOM to Liverpool with his father Philip at about the time that William's brother James became the "squire" of Knockaloe Farm due to his marriage to Susanah CHRISTIAN we know that movement back and forth off the Isle took place for family functions such as baptisms etc.
I had always hoped that record of Malvina's birth may come from Man and for some reason then miss the full record for the 1851 census ... but maybe I will never find it because if he (Robert) was Malvina's father and Mary Allgood was NOT the mother, Robert was trying (or needed) to hide it because he was married.
In the 1851 Census Robert is living with his mother across the Mersey in Birkenhead ... his father is deceased and other siblings at home but no sign of any of his three children??; or Mary Allgood.
I have not been able to locate a Margaret ROBERTSON with child (Malvina for instance or even a like name) with her for the 1851 census.
I am probably still rambling a bit but I hope this shows that I am probably facing a deliberate hinderance played out just before that census to muddy the waters, as they say; prior to Robert and Margaret skipping the country!
Wherever and whoever you and your contacts are Sue, please again accept my thanks .... I feel so close to the truth and would have loved to solve it in my turn at covering all of the bases in the history of the family from the 1600's on the IOM to today in Australia.
I will keep looking for more possible details on Mary Allgood (Radcliffe) and Margaret ROBERTSON, hoping to find that birth registration.