Distinctive name, but elusive in 1851

Adolphus Theodore Self has a name that makes him wonderfully easy to
trace in the IGI, Free BMD, and in each census from 1861 to 1881; but
I'm stumped in the case of 1851, having tried all sorts of variables.
He was born in August 1820 so should be 30 (he seems to put his age as
37 in 1861, but has a fairly new, younger wife so it is the usual
story- he reverts to his correct age in the later ones). He gives his
birthplace as Downton, Wiltshire- but puts Salisbury in 1861, being the

mvernonconnolly...

Yes, his father James (widower, 66, born Downton Wilts) is a farm
bailiff in the same area- parish of Fordingbidge, tything of Gorley,
Hants. I can be pretty sure he's the right man as his daughter Anne
(20, b. Barrington Cambs), then living with him, helpfully appears in a
later census with an elder sister (or perhaps half sister, given the
age -and place- gap) who was also christened at Rockbourne and child of
James and Sarah. Adolphus isn't with them though in 1851... I've found
all 6 of his other known siblings then living, and the widow of the
seventh, so it is all the more frustrating not to be able to track him
down!
Thanks very much for your interest- Matthew

Ken Gibb...

What was his occupation ???

Ken

mvernonconnolly...

He was a journeyman carriage painter in 1861, so in 1851 he could be
the same, or an apprentice- or something else altogether! I think he
must either be missing from the original census, or be on a piece that
didn't make it on to Ancestry. Seems unlikely that he copied the plot
of Day of the Jackal, anyway...

Ken & Jill Gibb, gibb@westnet.com.au
Mordialloc,
Vic. Australia.

nearest big town- although some of his siblings were born just over the
border in Hampshire (and one in Cambridgeshire). In 1881 he is indexed
under 'Delp', and I've also found 'Selfe' as 'Serpe'! In 1861 he's a
journeyman coach painter in Kensington, but he could be anywhere in
1851. Any ideas? Or could he be genuinely 'missing'?

Thanks if anybody can give it a glance- Matthew