The Life of Hayden Blake (An Overview)(Until 1880)
Hayden Blake: A Quick Overview of the 'Lady Shallot'’s Engineer
Father: Louis Blake, British citizen, born 1826, 36 at time of Hayden's birth
Mother: Anna Bobbitt, British citizen, born 1832, 29 at time of Hayden's birth
Hayden's parents married in 1854, when Anna was 22 and Louis was 28. Two weeks after the wedding, they moved from Britain to Cairo, Egypt, as Louis was getting a job building the British Hoverway System. In 1861 they had a son, Hayden.
When he was 10, Hayden was apprenticed to a company that ran the passenger ships from bustling European cities like London, Paris and Madrid, to the then up-and-coming Cairo. He worked in the engine room, under the tutelage of a weapons enthusiast who imparted both his knowledge of airship mechanics and guns onto Hayden. In 1876, when Hayden was fifteen, he deserted the ship and his apprentice contract by dressing as the female servant of a ship's passenger during a stop in London.
Hayden lived life as a beggar on the streets, dressing a majority of the time as a girl, as he found people were more apt to leave him coinage that way. Sometimes he (as a she) was also able to find work in a small tailor's shop. However, in 1880, for whatever reason, he was having a hard time finding work, and the begging wasn't producing enough, so he tried his hand at pick pocketing. He (dressed as a boy) was caught on his very first attempt and thrown in jail. ...Somehow that's when he met Harper. Although sources are uncertain if Harper was IN JAIL with him, or just came to spring him.