Robinsons and Powells

All we really know for certain of the father of Charles, Charles Robinson senior and his wife, Mary is that they had at least four children born in Farmer Street, Shadwell. These four children were:

i. Charles John Robinson (1790-1868)
ii. Mary Robinson (1792-????)
iii. John Robinson (1794-????)
iv. Eleanor Robinson (1796-????)

It should be noted though that Charles John Robinson and Harriett Wombwell were to name their second son, George Powell Robinson. Now although Eleanor, their daughter, was to subsequently marry a George Powell in 1818, and George may have been named after him, this would have been quite contrary to the normal naming conventions of the time, in which the second son was named after the maternal grandfather. 

We will entertain the possibility therefore that Mary was in fact Mary Powell, and, again, following the common naming convention, the daughter of a George Powell. The baptism of a Mary Powell, daughter of George Powell and Mary in St. Leonard's Shoreditch in 1769 seems to fit this bill quite closely.

St Leonard's, Shoreditch. From:
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol8/plate-10

As for Eleanor, she may therefore in turn have married a first cousin from the Powell line. There is some limited evidence to back this up from the 1841 census for Upper Mile End Old Town, where Eleanor Powell, as she was then called, was living with three daughters, Ellen, aged around 20, and Mary Ann and Georgiana, aged around 15. Also together with the Powells was a Mary Robinson, aged around 70, and therefore the perfect age to be the husband of Charles, and mother of Charles John Robinson.