Secrets from a century ago ………

Now I say secrets, but if I am really accurate, they are less so and more a confirmation of what I really knew mixed with stuff that takes the family story just a bit further on.

Hope Street, 1900

And yes, this is family history story and I am acutely aware that one person’s family stories are another person’s yawn, but this is linked to the release of the 1921 census, which has been eagerly awaited by many.

Not only does this release take us all a decade on from the 1911 census but will be the last available until 1951, because the 1931 census was destroyed and the 1941 census never took place due to the war, leaving just the 1939 Registration document which acts as a sort of census.

If I am honest, I was going to leave accessing the 1921 census in the hope that it would in time become free to use on Findmypast which is the only genealogical platform where it can bee seen.  Although if like me you live in Manchester you can access it via the Central Reference Library for free.

William Hall circa 1930s, my grandfather

But on a cold day with the rain coming down like stair rods, I chose to pay to see the entry for my great grandmother and pay again to see the original form, which altogether cost just over a fiver.

That said what price finding your family from a century ago?

And found them I did, where I knew they would be in 1921 which was at Court 5 2 Hope Street, Derby and almost opposite the property my grandparents moved into sometime two years later.

The electoral address in 1921 recorded that great grandmother Eliza, and  two of her children were living there, but that was it, so the census has filled in the gaps.

And these are important because soon after the census was taken her son Jack had moved out to get married and her daughter Laura emigrated to Canada.  

Which left my grandfather still in uniform in the British army of occupation in Germany where he met my grandmother, got married and had two children one of whom was our mother.

Jack Hall, circa 1950s

Eliza remains a shadowy figure, who didn’t always walk with reality.  In her twenties she took up with my great grandfather travelled the country before settling in the south and then leaving him to have our great aunt Laura in the Derby Workhouse in 1902.  

Aged just 22 she was brought up in court for a brawl with a policeman, at 39 her children were taken into care, and a decade later she had been committed to the Derby Asylum.

So, 1921 does seem to mark a stable moment in her life, living with two of her four children, with the prospect of being reunited with another son, a daughter in law and two grandchildren, leaving just her son Roger who opted to be migrated to Canada in 1914 by the Derby Union rather than stay in care.

We know that she had made efforts to get all the children out of care, and so the census offers up some valuable information to both my family here in Britain and the Canadian grandchildren of Laura.

Jack the eldest son had been apprenticed to a blacksmith and Laura sent north to work in “service”.

By the time of the census Jack was employed at George Fletcher Company and Sons, on Letechurch Lane who were “Sugar machinery manufactures” while Luara was a “Tasle Maker” for the Textile Manufacturers, E Dould & Sons at Spa Lane.

Laura Pember, nee Hall 1968

Neither company now exists, and a walk down Letechurch Lane, and Spa Lane is a grim experience on a January day with little left of the original industrial buildings that once fronted these two streets and no indication if what are left are linked to our workplaces.

That said that wonderful site, Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History has a timeline and pictures of Fletcher’s, which was established in 1838, and went through a series of mergers during the 1950s and 60s.

And we do have a testimonial from E Dould & Sons when Laura left in 1925.

All of which confirms much of what we already knew, but the census also offers up an intriguing reference to our great grandfather, who was a Montague Hall, and never actually married Eliza.  In the column headed Marriage or Orphanhood, the entry reads “Husband missing not known whether Dead”.

In fact he had died in 1916, but I rather think Eliza would not have known this as they separated in 1902, with him remaining in Gravesend, and going on to get married and have another family.

Great aunt Laura's testimonial

Eliza appears to have only given her children the vaguest of outlines of their father, and in correspondence written in the 1970s Laura wrote that there was little they knew about her.

But then I suspect she was a family secret, and continued as such until 2008 when I stumbled on her in the course of working on our history.

All of which leaves me to comment on the census itself.  

Like it’s 1911 predecessor it is a single form recording the inhabitants of the family home, rather than those for the street, and requires more information about any children under the age of 16 but omits a reference to how long a couple have been married.

Plan of 5 Hope Street, 1947

And for me there is Eliza’s signature which is the first time I have come across her handwriting, all of which brings me a little closer to her.

As does the knowledge that the property was a two up two down, exactly like the one opposite which was inhabited my grandparents and where I stayed.

So that is it, I guess I will be returning to 1921 to look up dad, and in the fullness of time track others.

Location; Derby in 1921

Pictures; grandfather, circa 1930s, great uncle Jack, circa 1950s, and great aunt Laura who we called aunt Dolly, circa 1968, from the collection of the Simpson Pember families, Plan of 5 Hope Street, 1947, Syd and Pamela Dilkes, and Hope Street, Derby, 1900, from the OS map of Derbyshire, 1900, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

* Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History, https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/George_Fletcher_and_Co

On losing your uncle …….. travels with a family secret ….the 1921 census part 2

I had hoped that the newly released 1921 census would help with the family secret.

Window girl, date unknown

Most families have one, and we have quite a few, but this one has remained stubbornly in the shadows.

He was one of my uncles who was never mentioned, and I stumbled across him in my 40s, and despite repeated questions to dad and my other uncles little was forth coming.

Father just met my inquiries with a vague comment and quickly changed the subject while Uncle George vouched safe only of a disastrous marriage, and a preventable death in a Birmingham lodging house.

Over the years I have gone looking for the mysterious uncle, and did find references to his marriage in 1933, and his death twenty years later. There are a few photographs of weddings and individuals which may be connected to him, but alas all are undated and unnamed. 

To which uncle George only added that the death could have been avoided if the landlady of the lodging house had been more attentive when his brother contracted an illness.

And that is it, leading to the family speculation that just possibly the marriage was never dissolved and instead he had left the northeast for the Midlands, and his location was never revealed to anyone except the brothers.

For years I have respected that silence, and even now I wonder at invading that closed story, but the 1921 census proved too much.  

After all this census which will be the last till the 1951 census is published has the promise of revealing so much about post war Britain, and especially about the family.

A wedding, date unknown

A decade earlier he had still been living at home, aged ten and was at school, so ten years on I reasoned there might be clues about him, from his occupation and where he might have worked.

But he was no longer in the family home, and so far, appears nowhere else in 1921.

Which is a blow, leaving me just to call up the marriage and death certificate, and hope that I can then follow up on his wife and his final address.

But I suspect he was a man intent on revealing as little as possible.  At present he has evaded electoral registers, directories and even the 1939 Register.

And that in turn makes me think perhaps he has done enough to stay in the shadows.

We shall see.

Location; the Northeast and the Midlands, 1891-1953

Pictures; unknown friends or relatives of the family, dates unknown, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

1921! ......... more family history revealed .....from Tony Goulding

The release of the 1921 census and on-line access to it has rekindled my interest in my family history. 

    

I hoped the records would shed some light on to two mysteries in particular. One was how my great-uncle; Charles Henry Ross became a British Home Child and was sent to Canada. The other was where was my grandfather, Arthur Harold Clarke, in 1921 and was he still living with his first wife. As is normally the case with such questions, the census data did provide some answers but also threw up some further quandaries. 

      

I have written about both these named family members previously on this Blog and thought it might be appropriate at this time to update their stories with what I have gleaned from this latest gift to genealogists.

      

As stated previously, in July last year, Charles Henry’s father died on the 8th July, 1914 when he was just 7-years-old and that he was later, in April, 1922 sent to Canada.

      

Former Royal Albert Orphanage, Worcester

I can now confirm that he was resident in the Royal Albert Orphanage, Henwick Road, Worcester, prior to his becoming a British Home Child. From newspaper reports he must have been placed here before April, 1920. 

The “Evesham Standard and West Midland Observer” gave a very detailed report of the annual meeting of the orphanage’s governors on the 26th March, 1921. Charles Henry was not among the latest “recruits” elected to the home which, as he appears there in the census taken on the 19th June, 1921, it seems safe to presume he was in residence for some time. This report also highlighted the financial problems the institution was facing, whether or not these had any bearing on the decision to send my great-uncle to Canada is a question which I suspect I will never find an answer to.

       

My grandfather, and  future prolific photographer of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Arthur Harold Clarke was still living with his first wife Ellen (née Maries) and his 5-years-old daughter Cecilia Elaine at 11, West Street, Upper Ipsley, Warwickshire. One piece of information which surprised me, however, was that his occupation is recorded as a Civil Service clerk for the Ministry of Labour at the Curzon Hall labour exchange in Birmingham. At this time, as the census also reveals, the young lady who was to become Arthur Harold’s second wife Norah Janet Ross was living with her widowed mother, Kate Harriet, and her three younger siblings (Annie, 12, William, 10, and Alice Margaret, 7) at Withybed Green, Alvechurch, Worcestershire. Also present on the day of the census was Norah Janet’s Grandmother, Mary Walters who was visiting from Walsall, Staffordshire. Mary Walter’s (née Joynt) was the widow Harry Walters who had served in the Union Navy during the American Civil War.

   

Norah Janet is recorded as working as a domestic servant for Mrs. Smith of Fern Dale, Birmingham Road, Redditch, Worcestershire.

   

My gran used to tell the story of how she didn’t take to domestic service and left one employer rather abruptly. I have no basis for this but the romantic in me leads me to the conjecture that my grandparents met as she “signed-on at the labour exchange!"

Pictures; Former Royal Albert Orphanage, Worcester, by Dr. Christopher Allen on 24 August 2021.

All original material on British Listed Buildings by British Listed Buildings is licensed under a -

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. Charles Henry Ross’s Form 30A “Ocean Arrival” downloaded from digitized microforms of the Library and Archives Canada.

Another step in finding grandad and Nana ..... the 1921 census

Now the hearts of many historians, and especially family historians will beat just a bit faster with the news that there is just 70 days to the publication of the 1921 census.

Granddad and Nana, circa 1930s

I could say more but instead I will let the National Archives say it.

Today we can announce that the 1921 Census for England and Wales will be published online by Findmypast on 6 January 2022.

Taken between two world wars, during a period of economic turmoil and at a time when women had just won the right to vote, the 1921 Census will provide some fascinating insights about society and how it has evolved over the past 100 years.

In preparation for the online publication, a team of hundreds of Findmypast conservators, technicians and transcribers have worked for almost three years to complete the invaluable task of getting the census ready. 

It is the largest project ever completed by The National Archives and Findmypast, consisting of more than 30,000 bound volumes of original documents stored on 1.6 linear kilometres of shelving.

Dad and friend, circa 1930s

You can find out more about what to expect from the 1921 Census of England and Wales by visiting www.findmypast.co.uk/1921-census.

Neil Curtis, Chief Operating Officer at The National Archives, said: ‘Census releases are keenly anticipated and create a period of collective curiosity about the past, generating a national moment of reflection.

‘The 1921 Census will offer us a glimpse into the lives of individuals and communities between the wars, recovering from a great influenza pandemic, and embarking on a new era where everyday rights and roles were changing.

‘What makes the 1921 Census even more vital is that it will be the last census release for England and Wales for 30 years, with the 1931 Census lost in a fire and the 1941 Census never taken.'"

Well in the case of granddad and Nana ... not quite, both were still in Germany with my mother and uncle, and would not return for another two years.

Still there will be plenty of others to go looking for.

Pictures; Nana and granddad, Derby, and Dad, Gateshead, circa 1930.

*The National Archives, https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/1921-census-online-publication-date-announced/?utm_source=emailmarketing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=census_announcement__27_october_2021&utm_content=2021-10-27