Hi Jo,I did consider that Henry's mother was unmarried and I suppose it is possible to save face that Henry named his father as Henry or John but it does seem rather extreme.
Not extreme at all. In fact it is relatively common in cases of children born out of wedlock. I have 2 marriage certs of illegitimate children where the named 'father' is definitely an invention and know of at least 2 others outside my line. No bride would want to put 'Unknown' as her father or leave the column blank, and certainly few grooms would admit to being a bastard child.
And regarding...
In view of the possibility that Henry was illegitimate I would advise you not to apply for a birth cert using the above 'method' I suggested earlier. Simply apply for a cert for a Henry Churcher born in London in 1860. Don't enter any other details at all. The GRO will do a search and come up with the two above-named. They will probably contact you and ask which one you want. With luck they will tell you the parents' names and you then choose which is 'your cert'. The GRO have done that for me twice in recent years.Births Sep 1860:
CHURCHER, Henry Chelsea 1a 160
CHURCHER, Henry Wandsworth 1d 384
Because of the confusion over his father's name, although he may have been Henry John or John Henry, you could try applying for a cert with both name options but only give the year. Don't enter the district or references, just tick the NO box where the question is asked about GRO references. The only common factor is that he was apparently a merchant seaman.
