I have now received the GRO birth registration for Agnes Mary. This records her birth in Stoke Damerel on 25th April 1861. Her mother was Priscilla Bennett, daughter of Mark & Priscilla Bennett and sister to Mary Ann Bennett.
I was already aware that Priscilla was staying with her married sister Sarah and husband Frederick Blight in April 1961 and the birth is registered as having taken place at their residence. Significantly, Priscilla quotes her own address as the Redcoat School in Stepney, where her future husband James Blight was a master.
Although James Blight already had a wife, Eliza and child, I suspect that he was the father of Agnes Mary.
Priscilla was acting as house servant to the widowed James Please in 1871, when he had left the Redcoat School, and they married on 1st Feb. 1872 in St Dunstans and All Saints, Stepney.
Priscilla became mother to James' daughter and they had 2 children themselves. However, none of the records show Agnes living with them. Agnes lived for at least 20 years with her aunt Mary Ann Bennett and grandparents Mark & Priscilla.
Regards,
John Bennett
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