Based upon William Hedley's age in the 1841 census
a search was made in the IGI online (v5.0) for William Hedleys born in England
in 1812 +/- 2 years. This produced 78 hits but excluding Hadley, Hately,
Headley, Hatley as well as Hedley duplicates, reduced the list to 19. All but
one of these related to births/christenings in Northumberland or Durham and
just one record related to Newburn. This record showed William Hedley to
have been born to Richard Hedley and Alice Hudson in 1812. Given the names
chosen by William for his two youngest children together with the relatively
infrequent incidence of these forenames in the early 19th century, this record
appears to be the most appropriate one.
The IGI indicates that William was born on 14th February 1812 and christened
on the 16th February 1812.
No siblings for William have been identified to date.
Parish Records for Newburn, St Michael and all Angels, record that a Richard
Hedley was buried on 12th September 1824, aged 34. This is consistent with the
presumed date of birth for this Richard.
A search of the IGI online (v5.0) for marriages between Richard Hedley and
Alice Hudson (in England, no date specified) produced just one record which is
assumed to be the correct one.
