Narrative and Notes
According to the 1871 census he was born in Burbage and his mother was Hannah GARNER, a single woman.
No birth registration or parish record confirming that she was his birth mother has been identified to date, but in 1861, an H.G. was staying at the Union House in Hinckley with R.G., aged 1.
Hannah was listed as being a nurse on the 1851 Census, so her being destitute with an illegitimate child in 1861 strongly suggests that she was a victim of some unwanted (or at least ill-advised) male attention, possibly from the father of one of her charges.
Hannah's mother had remarried in 1854, and by 1871 Robert was living with his step-grandfather Joseph BRANT, his grandmother Elizabeth BRANT nee ALSOP and his mother.
