The naming of the Baumgarten children

It's interesting to see if it is possible to work out who the children in a family were named after. You can surmise who might have been a beloved relative or a treasured friend. Of course sometimes it's completely impossible to work out who (or what!) ancestors were thinking of when they named their kids! However, the children of Samuel Christian Frederic and Mary Baumgarten née Joynes seem to have names that were honouring friends and relatives.

Name of child	Date of birth	Date of baptism	Parish of baptism	Possible namegiver
Elizabeth Mary	16 Feb 1753	22 Feb 1753	St Martins in the Field	The middle name of Mary is probably after her mother, but I'm not sure who the Elizabeth honours. I haven't found an Elizabeth amongst the Baumgarten or Joynes relatives so maybe she was a family friend. It's possible that it was for family friend Elizabeth Worrall - see Lucinda Worrall Baumgarten below.
Marie	21 Jul 1755	15 Aug 1755	St Margaret Westminster	Probably named after her mother.
Charlotte	24 Feb 1757	28 Mar 1757	St Margaret Westminster	Probably named after her maternal aunt or maternal step-cousin - her maternal uncle Samuel Joynes was married to Charlotte Tully, who had been widowed by the death of her first husband Stephen Downes. Charlotte and Stephen had at least three children, including a daughter, Charlotte, and a son, Tully.
Tully	c1759	19 Dec 1759	St Andrew Holborn	Probably named after his step-cousin Tully Downes.
Thomas	c1761	7 Feb 1761	St Andrew Holborn	Probably named after his maternal uncle Thomas Joynes.
Henry	c1761	7 Feb 1761	St Andrew Holborn	Probably named after his maternal uncle Henry Joynes.
Frederick	c1762	20 May 1762	St Andrew Holborn	Either named after his paternal uncle, Frederick Baumgarten, or after his father's second middle name.
William	c1764	2 May 1764	St Andrew Holborn	I've no idea who William was named after!
Frances	c1765	2 Jun 1765	St Andrew Holborn	Probably named after her paternal aunt, Frances Baumgarten.
Lucinda Worrall	30 Sep 1766	16 Oct 1766	St Andrew Holborn	Lucinda Worrall's middle name was in honour of Elizabeth Worrall, spinster of Kensington, who was her godmother (noted in Elizabeth Worrall's will). The reason for the choice of Lucinda as her first name is unknown.
Joynes Philip	c1768	7 Dec 1768	St Martin in the Fields	"Joynes" is clearly derived from his mother's maiden name, no idea where "Philip" comes from!

It was a very helpful exercise to put all this information into a table - firstly, I had an idea that Thomas and Henry were possibly twins, but realising that they were both baptised on the same day, when none of their other siblings were baptised with another, makes it more probable that they were twins. I wonder if they were identical or fraternal (fraternal being hereditary).

Secondly, I originally had a problem with Lucinda Worrall Baumgarten - I had her birth year down as 1756, and yet she was baptised 10 years afterwards, unlike any of her siblings. Plus, based on that birthdate, when she died in 1859, she would have been 102 - which I felt was highly unlikely in that day. Add to that the fact that she was baptised at St Andrews Holborn, when the two siblings apparently on either side of her - Marie and Charlotte - were both baptised at St Margaret Westminster. However, if we assume that 1756 was a transcription/typing error, and in fact she was born in 1766, that all works much better.

Edited on 12 January 2015 to add: Lucinda's death certificate from Mulhouse states that 30 September 1766 was in fact her birthdate.

The Baumgarten brothers and the military

I am still intrigued by Samuel Christian Frederic Baumgarten (c1729-1798) and John Henry Baumgarten (?-1770), brothers, most likely of German origin, who lived and worked in London, England. The fact that so little is known about them makes me want to search and search to uncover as much as I can on them. I like the thrill of the chase!

I know from John Henry Baumgarten's will that he was the Quartermaster in the Royal Horse Guards Blue. I've been doing a bit of research on the Royal Horse Guards, and in 1782 the full pay salary for an officer at quartermaster level was £155 2s 6d - this seemed to be around the middle of the pay rates for officers. John Baumgarten died 12 years before that, but it gives us an idea of the pay rate he was on. There is every chance that John might have seen overseas service with the Royal Horse Guards - they were involved in the Seven Years War in Germany. Likely being a native German speaker, this may have made him quite useful during the unit's service in Germany. What made a foreigner like John Henry Baumgarten join the British Army is an interesting question...

Samuel Baumgarten was a professional bassoonist, but I discovered the other day that he also had military involvement. According to Daub's Music at the court of George II (1985) the noted bassoonist Samuel Baumgarten was one of seven hautbois (oboes, which in this context also included bassoons) from the First Regiment of the Foot Guards who signed for new liveries in June of 1755. Apparently there were a number of groups of musicians from military units who were called upon to participate in royal functions, including drums and hautbois. Interestingly, there were also musicians from the Royal Horse Guards who were involved as court musicians - I wonder if John Baumgarten was involved in this, considering there was definite musical talent within his family... Which makes me wonder if it was the military that appealed, or whether it was a means to an end, in having a salaried job playing music. It was most likely a more regular pay cheque than playing in professional concerts.

Daub also notes there was a "Baumgarden" who played the bassoon at King George II's funeral - most likely a misspelling of "Baumgarten". Presumably this was as part of Samuel's military musician duties.

On another note (pun intended), I have discovered that Samuel Baumgarten played in the performance of Handel's Messiah at the Foundling Hospital on May 3rd, 1759. He is once again noted in the list of performers as "Baumgarden", and was paid 10d 6s for the performance. He was one of the more senior bassoonists (the other was Miller) as there were two other bassoonists, Goodman and Owen, who were paid only 8d. (Cusins, W.G. 1874. Handel's Messiah: an examination of the Original and some contemporary MSS. Augener and Co., London.)