Hi jesscat,
I'm delighted that we've made contact and I can share what I know with you. From the information already posted, I'm certain that it's the same man. I'll post what I know here rather than in a PM, as it's an interesting story and throws a light on how much has changed by way of attitudes over the last century. It's also a cautionary tale for researchers, illustrating just how easy it is to follow the wrong line if a little piece of information is unknown to you. By the way, welcome to the family! Here goes then:-
My father's name was Alfred John West, or at least I thought so until a very few years ago. He was always known as John. Sadly, I lost him two years ago at 96 and my mother followed at 85 in February this year. I'm 63 and have a younger brother and sister. My Dad had never told me much about his father and seemed slightly reluctant to do so, but I never read any more into it. All I knew was that he loved his parents and said what lovely people they both were. He did mention that his father died relatively young, believed to be caused by experiences in WW1. Gassing maybe or just terrible conditions? I knew he was buried in Billing Road Cemetery, because my mother used to take me there as a child to lay flowers for both of my grandfathers and my paternal grandmother. My father was born at 47 West Street ( yes, really) in October 1915. He was one of nine West children (or again, so I thought). Eight survived and one died at about 22. There was an enormous spread in their ages and his older sisters were old enough to be his mother. He always said that he had about three mothers and was well spoiled by them. All fairly normal up to now, but then things took a turn and I found out that I'm not who I thought I was.
One day about ten years ago, I spotted a document that Dad had left on the table when I visited. It showed his name as A J D West, which I had never seen before. I asked him if it was a mistake and he gave me a long look before he said "I suppose I'd better tell you, or you'll never know who you really are". To my amazement, I discovered that the 'D' stood for Dove, that his father's name was Dove, not West and that we all really had the wrong surname. Wow. The tale then unfolded. His mother, Ada West, had been married to Mr West and had four children. For some reason, Mr West suddenly upped sticks and went to America. Dad didn't really seem to know why, but did say that his two oldest sisters had gone out to visit him once, not long after. After that, he seems to have disappeared for good. I'd love to know the full story on that one. Mr and Mrs West were never divorced. Anyway, at some point not known, along came your great uncle, Charles Edward Dove and promptly fell in love with the abandoned Mrs West. Dad told me they were devoted to each other. Along the line, they had a child, which was decidedly not approved of in those days. They registered that child, as you would today, with the surname Dove. Apparently, they then had extreme grief from the Registrar for doing so and were told that it was unacceptable. However, it was too late to alter the official records and the name stood. In time, four more children came along and they were forced to register them with their mother's surname, West. That's why you couldn't find them. I now have Dad's birth certificate and was shocked to see that there is no father's name on it, although there's no doubt that it was Charles Dove. Whether the other three kids had the same thing I don't know, but I would expect so. What a terrible way for officialdom to treat a loving father. So, nine kids, eight Wests and one Dove on the records, where in reality there were four Wests and five Doves. Whether all of the last four had the Dove middle name I don't know. Dad was very proud it.
The message is apparently too long, so I'll send a second post as part 2.
