By Debra van Diel Kluit and Clive Boyce    

 Rose Wood gave birth to a son, Charles in 1854.  His birth certificate shows that he was born at 5, Henry’s Place, Great Passage Street, Hull on 21 Nov 1854 (birth registered Hull Dec 1854 9d 187) His mother was shown as Rose Wood but his father was not recorded.

Very soon after the birth of Charles, Rose married John Henry Challis St Stephens Church, Hull on 5 Mar 1855. John Henry Challis was 22, a fisherman son of Wiliam Challis, a stonemason, and Rose was 17.5 daughter of William Wood a butcher. Both made their mark instead of signing their name. Harriet Wood was a witness  (probably the sister of the bride). Given the marriage was by banns the couple would have decided at least 3 weeks earlier to marry so there was an interval of only 3 months between Charles’ birth and his mother’s intention to marry.  It is very likely that John Challis was Charles’ father – what 22-year-old man would choose to marry a 17-year-old girl with a 3-month baby if it was fathered by another man.? Given that the Hull fisherman’s periods at sea were often for quite long, John Henry may well have been at sea and unable to marry sooner. We put the question to ChatGPT and  go the following answer:

While it’s impossible to know with absolute certainty without DNA or direct documentation, the social, legal, and biological context of the time strongly supports the likelihood that Rose Wood’s husband was indeed the father of her son.

After Charles’ birth Rose had three more children:

– John Thomas Challis ex 1861 census aged 4 (birth registration not found).

– William Henry Challis birth Reg Hull March 1858. He died in infancy and buried 31 Dec 1858 Holy Trinity Hull.

– Harriet Challis born 18 Nov 1859, Parker Street, Hull. Harriet’s parents were recoded as  John Challis, fisherman and Rose Challis formerly Wood. Rose reported the birth.

No baptismal records have been found for Rose’s four children – were they nonconformists?

Rose’s husband, John Henry Challis, died on 18 Sep 1860 of liver disease at Guys Hospital London aged 27, seaman fisherman (ex death certificate), leaving Rose with three young children aged 6, 4 and 2.

The 1861 census shows Rose visiting with her brother Thomas Wood aged 26 in Hull, with her children Charles Challis age 6 born Ottringham, John Thomas Challis age 4 born Hull and Harriett Challis age 1 born Hull. The census is probably wrong with Charles place of birth as his birth certificate shows he was born at Henry’s Place, Hull. It was his mother Rose who was born in Ottingham which is a few miles east of Hull.

Two years after her husband’s death Rose remarried at St Stephens, Holy Trinity Hull. The groom, William Sunlay was 32 a bachelor son of William Sunlay a cabinet maker. Rose was 24 and widow, daughter of William Wood a butcher (ex FMP PR).

The 1871 census suggests the family had broken up following Roses’ remarriage and it was not just Charles who had left home. Charles Wood was recorded as a stable boy in Exning Newmarket. aged 16 born 1865 Hull. He had taken the name Wood rather than Challis. His mother Rose Sunlay was living in Hull with her second husband, William Sunlay and son Thomas Sunlay aged 12 b 1859 Hull. Three is-no birth registration of Thomas Sunlay about 1859 so it is possible the name was wrongly recorded, and he was really Roses’ son John Thomas Challis born 1857 so he was 14 at the time of the census. There is no other evidence for a John Thomas Challis or his sister Harriet in the 1871 census.  They were not in the 1871 census with their Wood or Challis grandparents. Rose wood was baptised at Ottingham 24 Sep 1836 daughter of William (butcher) and ELizabeth ex FMP. Wiliam and Elizabeth Wood and living alone on Scucoates, Hull in this census. JohnHenry Challis was son of William and Johanna Challis of Ramsgate. In 1871 William Challis was long dead and Johanna was living as a nurse on Hammersmith, London.  A Challis family tree is available for Ancestry users see here .   Rose’s children Harriet and John Thomas Challis both reappear later. In 1876 John Henry Challis married Priscilla Parker and a year later in 1877 Harriet Challis married George McClarence Green registered Hull (no church record on FMP).

We think it is very likely that John Henry Challis was Charles Wood’s father, albeit Charles was born out of wedlock and the family broke up after Rose remarried. This provides a different interpretation of Charles’ early life to that given by Jospehine Carr in her biography  Our Honest Charlie Wood that does not cover his mother’s remarriage after the premature death of her husband John Henry Challis.