There’s no happy ending sadly, but Gill Shaw thinks she may have found a silver lining, and learned a little about the kindness of Joseph Dolphin in helping others
I love a magical mystery trip with someone else’s family. There’s less pressure and you can end up in some interesting places, so let’s see if we can tie our two Dolphin households together.
Starting with the Dolphins of Ribchester
First, back to those 1881 Censuses to jot down the key details. In the old Roman village of Ribchester, Lancashire, my great-grandfather John Riboldi is apprenticed to wheelwright William Dolphin. On the census, William says he was born in Ribchester around 1849, and lives on Green Side with his wife Mary Ann, and children Thomas and Elizabeth Alice. Thirty-ish miles south in Farnworth, Bolton, Joseph and George Riboldi are described as the adopted sons of domestic gardener Joseph Dolphin, 48, and his wife Hannah, 54. There’s also a chap called John Tart, ‘brother-in-law’, so Tart could be Hannah’s maiden name.
And oh, brilliant. At the time, I was so cock-a-hoop about finding a second pod of Dolphins that I totally missed the fact Joseph D was also born in Ribchester. Ha, maybe our missing link won’t take very long to find at all…
Census bingo
OK, census search first. I input Joseph Dolphin, born Lancashire c1833, and bingo, a full house of censuses from 1841 to 1891. Scrap that; it’s more than a full house because there are Dolphins swimming here, there and everywhere. Clearly the name is not that unusual and the school is bigger than I thought!
Starting with the 1871 (when the Riboldi brothers are in the orphanage in Middlesex), I find Joseph Dolphin, a 39-year-old coachman from Ribchester, living with his wife Hannah, 44, a cotton weaver. We’re still in Farnworth, John Tart is still lodging, and there’s also a Thomas Tart, 24, ‘son’. Ooh, whose son?
Rewind another decade to 1861, and Joseph is a single man of 28, boarding with a couple in Farnworth and working as an agricultural labourer. We’re still a long way from the Ribble Valley.
But at last, 1851, and a familiar address – Green Side, Ribchester. Joseph Dolphin, 18, is the eldest child in a big family. His father Robert Dolphin is a farmer, whi
