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Sunday, 8 February 2009

Multiple Gidley births

Raising twins was quite an achievement before about the beginning of the last century, and Gidley twins are rare before then. Martin Robert Gidley and Thomas May Gidley are, I think, the earliest pair I have spotted - they were born in 1909 in Dartford registration district. Daisy S Gidley and Eric A Gidley are a later pair, born 1919 in Birmingham. Since then there have been a few other pairs, but twins don't seem to run in Gidley families.
But.... were there triplet births in the June quarter of 1864 in Southampton registration district? The births of John, Mary Ann and Thomas Gidley were all registered in the same volume and on the same page. Sadly, they all died in that same quarter, and, again, their deaths were registered on the same page.
2012 stop press: yes, they were triplets, the oldest children of Albert Gidley (of my own Gidley family), then a Gunner in the Royal Navy (and later a coastguard), and his wife Agnes. The babies were born prematurely on 23rd April 1864 in Southampton and all died later that same day. Albert and Agnes went on to have four more children, of whom three survived to adulthood, and another daughter who died as a baby.
Much more happily, there is a set of Gidley triplets thriving in Texas. All girls, they were born in December 2007, and their mother is recording their progress on a blog, The Gidley Girls.

2018 update: I have been updating Gidley baptisms from the Devon Baptisms index on FindMyPast and have found what appear to be two earlier sets of twins.
In October 1681 twin boys, Henry and Robert, were baptised in Buckfastleigh, sons of Hercules Gidley.
In August 1736 two sons, John and William, were baptised on the same day in Spreyton to Bartholomew and Mary Gidley. They appear to be twins. John was the only one to survive to adulthood. William was buried 10 days after his baptism.

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