THE MISSING GREAT GRANDFATHER - ROBERT WILLIAM HERD b. 21.1.2.1864

Having spent many days at the Lincoln Family History /Archive Centre verifying births, deaths and marriagesof the Herd/Brummitt connection I came across a number of  documents held in the archives which begin to open up the possible background to the 'missing' Great Grandfather Robert William HERD. There would appear to be coincidences which remain just that until proof is found.

In summary - Robert William Herd runs a Grocer Provisions Store at 8, Market Place, Doncaster. He seems to be in financial difficulty and has no means of paying off his debts. His father died in 1895 leaving all his estate to his wife. In 1896 his mother died intestate. RWH is the surviving heir, and in 1896, through a series of legal manouvres he is allowed to keep his business if he voluntarily agrees to pay of his debt at £12/6d in the Pound and sign over substantial land and property interests to his two major creditors. There would be alternative proposals should he default. In 1898 he disappears from our records.
In the 1901 Census there is a record of a Grocery Manager, b 1864, from Lincoln, living with a family in Leeds. This family is called SURFLEET. When RWH was a boy, his father had family friends of the same name.