John Smith's Family Tree Website

Dolt/Dolton family

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Part 3: Henry 'Harry' Dolton (1864 - ?)

Working life and marriage to Rebecca Walsh

Henry Dolton was the youngest son of Levi Squires Dolton and Eliza Clayworth. He was born 12 November 1864 at the cottage in Tottenham provided by his father’s employer. He was baptised on Christmas Day at the nearby St Ann’s Church.  He was generally known as ‘Harry’ and followed in his father’s footsteps initially by becoming a footman for a magistrate in St Albans, Hertfordshire. However he did not stay in service long and by the time of his marriage, he had become a commission agent (a salesman whose only source of income came from commission on sales).

Harry married Rebecca Walsh (1867 - 1952) 18 August 1888 at Chipping Barnet Parish Church, Hertfordshire. (More information about Rebecca appears in the Walsh section.) Within a year of their marriage, Harry was working as a commercial traveller. As a travelling salesman, he was an intermediary between manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. The expansion of the railways contributed to the rise in numbers of commercial travellers. It was an insecure and hard type of life with increasing competition.

It is not known if Harry was self-employed (thereby relying solely on commissions) or was employed by a manufacturer or wholesaler (receiving a salary, expenses and some commission). Travellers would stay in commercial hotels and were known to have a strong sense of ‘brotherhood’. In the 1901 census, Harry was described as a ‘canvasser’ of music instruments. In the early years of marriage Harry and his family were lodgers in Harrow, money obviously being tight.

 Later life and disappearance

Harry and Rebecca had two sons Sydney and Reginald. By 1901, the family had moved to 1 Palm Road, Romford, Essex and Rebecca’s widowed mother was living with them. Then sometime in the next decade, Harry disappeared and left his family. Family stories say he went to Australia and with four siblings living there, this would provide an opportunity for Harry to leave and start a new life. Why he went is a mystery but his commercial travelling life had taken him frequently from home. As he spent over a decade working like this, he might well have preferred not to be at home very often – which may have caused trouble in the marriage.

At some point Harry apparently wrote to his family from Australia (according to family stories) but they did not want to re-establish contact with him. No record of Harry has been found so far of him leaving the United Kingdom or of his life in Australia (or anywhere else for that matter). It is possible he travelled under an assumed name and avoided having his name included in any official records – perhaps not wanting to be found! Where and when Harry died is not known.

Children of Harry and Rebecca

More information about Sydney (1889 - 1978) appears in Part 4.

Reginald Arthur (1895 - 1982) was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant in WWI and saw action in Gallipoli with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and later in the Somme. He also served in WWII.

Next: Sydney Dolton

Footnotes