Who was Elizabeth Anne Sole?

The 1868 Registers for Sutton Benger Church have an interesting entry. The Baptism for 9 August 1868 shows: 'Elizabeth Anne Sole, daughter of Thomas Gregory and Sarah Jane Gregory'. This is the only entry in any of the records for Sutton Benger for anybody with the surname 'Sole'; but what makes this entry even more unusual is that the 'Quality, Trade or Profession' of the father, Thomas Gregory, is shown as 'Deceased'. Which leaves one wanting to know more about Elizabeth Anne, and why she was baptized in Sutton Benger. The answer is fairly typical of life in Victorian England, and could even be the plot of a TV melodrame.

Elizabeth Anne's mother had been born in Sutton Benger as Sarah Jane Beanlands. She was baptized in November 1845, a daughter of John and Elizabeth; like most people in the village at that time, John was a farm labourer. She had left home by 1861, when she was a 15-year old general servant, living with and working for a Grocer & Confectioner in The Shambles, Chippenham. At some stage she moved to London; she met Thomas Gregory Sole, and they married in Southwark in March 1867. (Sarah Jane exaggerated slightly on the marriage certificate, where she states that her father was a Bailiff.)

Thomas died and was buried in March 1868, aged just 26. Elizabeth Anne was born in London, but Sarah Jane moved back with her to be baptized in Sutton Benger. The 1871 shows Elizabeth Anne still living in Sutton Benger, with her grandparents. Meanwhile, her mother, Sarah Jane, had moved on; she was now working as a servant in a school in Westbury on Trym (for a French born Professor of Music).

What happened next? There is clearly more of the story to be found. Sarah Jane may have re-married, but it is not clear what happened to her daughter - she has not been found after 1871. However, the 1881 Census does show that her grandparents were now looking after another grandchild - 4-year old Rosetta Elliot. Who was she, and who were her parents? That's another chapter of the melodrama ...