Finding George Courtney c1841

According to the records on Find My Past for the 1871 England Census there were 70 records for the name COURTENAY recorded at Middlesex.  This equates to 31 family groups.  Could George be related to one of them?  I am progressively adding links to these families at Wikitree.   Filling up the census paper.   Punch 1851 PD 1.  Mile End Old Town, Jeoffries Terrace      * Maria COURTENAY b1829 in Blois, France (possibly a Courtenay by birth?)      * Louisa TURNER b1847 (husband William b1841)     * Henry COURTENAY b1857     * Percy COURTENAY b1862     * John COURTENAY b1867 2.  Bethnal Green #1, Nelson Place      * Elizabeth COURTENAY b1841 nee McLenan (widow of Robert J COURTENAY of Ireland)     * Augusta COURTENAY b1859     * Sydney COURTENAY b1864     * Adeline COURTENAY b1868 3.  Bethnal Green #2, Charles Street    ...

It occurred to me that Abigail and Edith Courtney may have been sent away to school at Holdenhurst whilst their parents had gone away.  Perhaps they had family residing there.  They were clearly not estranged from their mothers family as their cousins Henry and Martha Paice were visiting at the time of the 1881 census, suggesting their stay with the Brown family at Holdenhurst was not just a few days. Most of the Paice family lived around Droxford, Hampshire.  Their fathers family was possibly from Middlesex.   There was one Courtney family residing in Holdenhurst at the time of the 1881 census.  Four women of independent means born in Ireland and boarding at 'Stoney Crop'.  Sidney, Eleanor, Charlotte and Florence Courtney.  It does accord with the family story that the Courtneys were 'a bit better' - assuming that means wealthy of sorts?  Also, in his memoirs Ted Roberts describes his mother Abigail Courtney to have 'a little bit of Irish ...

Where are Abigail, George and Alberta on the night of the England, Scotland and Wales census of 3rd April 1881?  Could they have been in Ireland?  It is understood a census was taken there that night but  records were later destroyed. At the time of the 1881 census, daughters Edith and Abigail were lodging at Madiera Vale, in the small village of Holdenhurst with a couple by the name of William and Jane Brown.   Were they attending school or there for some other reason? Their mother Abigail can be found in all later Hampshire censuses but not 1881.  George and daughter Alberta cannot be found in any subsequent census.  Did they die?  To date, I have been unable to find a death record for either of them.  Did they all go overseas, perhaps to Ireland or Saint Helena?  Family anecdotes suggests connections to these places that have yet to be found.   Filling up the census paper.   Punch 1851 PD ********** This blog is de...