Madeleine Smith is commonly said to have been known as Lena Wardle, and certainly after her second marriage to William Sheehy, she was known as Lena Sheehy, but on the 1881 England an Wales census her name is given as Madaleine Wardle.

So what name did she use?

Well on her 1861 marriage certificate she defiantly scrawls her name as Madeleine Hamilton Smith, but if you search the 1861 census records for England and Wales, there is no Madeleine Smith listed who seems a plausible fit, and exactly one Lena Smith, who also happens to be the correct age, except that she is listed as being in Devon at Stoke Demerel, where she is listed as a visitor – from Middlesex.

I guess it’s just possible that the census details are garbled, but I think we have to say we can’t identify her in the 1861 census with any certainty.

The 1871 census is a different matter.

We know from the census that George Wardle was visiting family in Leek, Staffordshire, and that Madeleine was not with him, perhaps having decided to stay with the children in London.

As George was not at home Madeleine would have completed the census return

And while she’s shaved a year or two off her age it’s clearly her, even if the census return was a bit garbled and will need to be checked against the original scan.

My guess is that she usually called herself Lena, but occasionally reverted to Madeleine.

Why does this matter?

Well if I’m to search the passenger lists for her arrival in New York, knowing she almost certainly called herself Lena Wardle is a help, even if she was a bit elastic with her age and date of birth …