Author Topic: Westbourne Square  (Read 3812 times)

Offline crunchyFrog

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Westbourne Square
« on: Saturday 13 January 18 05:59 GMT (UK) »
Hi,
I'm looking for any photos of Westbourne Square, London around 1927. All I can find is pictures of the area after 1944.
I'm searching for information. My Grandfather was found at age 3 in London, he was badly beaten and had a sign around his neck (not sure what it said). He grew up in an orphanage and never knew his family. We have a birth certificate and know his mothers name (Mary Kathleen Boucher) and we have managed to find an address in Paddington square in 1927. Things go very interesting recently when we discovered through ancestry.com DNA that he had siblings. Two that we know for certain and a potential 4th. We've been in contact with the siblings and they were all abandoned in the Paddington, St Pancras area, between 1927 and 1933.
We know that Mary Kathleen Boucher was my grandads mother, she was born in 1904. According to electoral rolls she was living with an Alfred Percy Smith around the same time as grandad was abandoned (Not sure if he is grandads father, his name is not on the birth certificate). I'm just trying to focus on Mary Kathleen Boucher at the moment and would like to see if I can find some photos of Paddington Square and where they lived. Are there newspaper archives I can access? I feel like a beaten toddler may have made the news? His brother was left on a church step at 10 days old and his sister was abandoned too. There is a birth certificate for another child of Mary Kathleen Boucher born in 1935. We don't know anything about her atm. Any help finding information would be great. We are trying to piece together everything that happened and try to understand things.

Offline avm228

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Re: Paddington Square
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 13 January 18 06:46 GMT (UK) »
Welcome to Rootschat.  What an interesting but sad quest.

You say "the Paddington, St Pancras area" but those are two different areas.  What is the source of the Paddington Square address - is it the 1927 birth certificate?  Who was the informant of the birth?   I see that the 1927 birth was in Paddington but the 1935 one was in St Pancras.

Re the 1935 birth: you are likely to be asked to remove the name from this public board because the date is recent enough that she may still be living.  But once you have a couple of posts to your name you will be able to use the personal messaging (PM) system on here, and if you wanted to PM me fuller details, including her exact birthdate, I would be happy to see if I can find more on her.
Ayr: Barnes, Wylie
Caithness: MacGregor
Essex: Eldred (Pebmarsh)
Gloucs: Timbrell (Winchcomb)
Hants: Stares (Wickham)
Lincs: Maw, Jackson (Epworth, Belton)
London: Pierce
Suffolk: Markham (Framlingham)
Surrey: Gosling (Richmond)
Wilts: Matthews, Tarrant (Calne, Preshute)
Worcs: Milward (Redditch)
Yorks: Beaumont, Crook, Moore, Styring (Huddersfield); Middleton (Church Fenton); Exley, Gelder (High Hoyland); Barnes, Birchinall (Sheffield); Kenyon, Wood (Cumberworth/Denby Dale)

Offline avm228

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Re: Paddington Square
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 13 January 18 06:51 GMT (UK) »
You can search the British Newspaper Archive (and also many overseas newspapers) through Findmypast.
Ayr: Barnes, Wylie
Caithness: MacGregor
Essex: Eldred (Pebmarsh)
Gloucs: Timbrell (Winchcomb)
Hants: Stares (Wickham)
Lincs: Maw, Jackson (Epworth, Belton)
London: Pierce
Suffolk: Markham (Framlingham)
Surrey: Gosling (Richmond)
Wilts: Matthews, Tarrant (Calne, Preshute)
Worcs: Milward (Redditch)
Yorks: Beaumont, Crook, Moore, Styring (Huddersfield); Middleton (Church Fenton); Exley, Gelder (High Hoyland); Barnes, Birchinall (Sheffield); Kenyon, Wood (Cumberworth/Denby Dale)

Offline avm228

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Re: Paddington Square
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 13 January 18 07:00 GMT (UK) »
Is she the Mary Kathleen Boucher born in Shropshire - birth registered in Mar qtr 1905 Atcham?  An online tree has her birthdate as 29 December 1904.

The same online tree has her daughter K dying unmarried (i.e. under surname Boucher) in London on 2 Jan 1975 - but is mistaken, as the person who died on that date was born in 1913, not 1935.
Ayr: Barnes, Wylie
Caithness: MacGregor
Essex: Eldred (Pebmarsh)
Gloucs: Timbrell (Winchcomb)
Hants: Stares (Wickham)
Lincs: Maw, Jackson (Epworth, Belton)
London: Pierce
Suffolk: Markham (Framlingham)
Surrey: Gosling (Richmond)
Wilts: Matthews, Tarrant (Calne, Preshute)
Worcs: Milward (Redditch)
Yorks: Beaumont, Crook, Moore, Styring (Huddersfield); Middleton (Church Fenton); Exley, Gelder (High Hoyland); Barnes, Birchinall (Sheffield); Kenyon, Wood (Cumberworth/Denby Dale)


Offline crunchyFrog

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Re: Paddington Square
« Reply #4 on: Saturday 13 January 18 07:05 GMT (UK) »
That's her! December 29th.
Sorry, I'm not actually the one doing the most of the research and know nothing of London. So I'm sorry if I'm not giving enough info. I edited to remove the 1935 name.

They lived at 22 Westbourne Square...... just realised a made a huge error with my post  ::)..... the only photos I can find of that area are after 1944 as it was bombed.
Grandad was found in Paddington.
Sorry, I'll go back and edit the post again.

Offline avm228

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Re: Paddington Square
« Reply #5 on: Saturday 13 January 18 07:07 GMT (UK) »
Aha - Westbourne Square rather than Paddington Square! That makes more sense.
Ayr: Barnes, Wylie
Caithness: MacGregor
Essex: Eldred (Pebmarsh)
Gloucs: Timbrell (Winchcomb)
Hants: Stares (Wickham)
Lincs: Maw, Jackson (Epworth, Belton)
London: Pierce
Suffolk: Markham (Framlingham)
Surrey: Gosling (Richmond)
Wilts: Matthews, Tarrant (Calne, Preshute)
Worcs: Milward (Redditch)
Yorks: Beaumont, Crook, Moore, Styring (Huddersfield); Middleton (Church Fenton); Exley, Gelder (High Hoyland); Barnes, Birchinall (Sheffield); Kenyon, Wood (Cumberworth/Denby Dale)

Offline crunchyFrog

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Re: Westbourne Square
« Reply #6 on: Saturday 13 January 18 07:09 GMT (UK) »
I hope they're mistaken the others are still alive and are really keen to kind her, it'd be a shame. I'd love to hear her story.

Offline avm228

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Re: Westbourne Square
« Reply #7 on: Saturday 13 January 18 07:13 GMT (UK) »
Have you managed to find what happened to Mary Kathleen Boucher?

I can see a 1981 death in Cambridge for a Mary Kathleen Mercer with DOB 29 Dec 1904, which may or may not be relevant.

Mary Kathleen Mercer appears to have been the wife of an Edward Frederick Mercer born 7 May 1892 who died in Hereford in 1974.  Not found their marriage yet.
Ayr: Barnes, Wylie
Caithness: MacGregor
Essex: Eldred (Pebmarsh)
Gloucs: Timbrell (Winchcomb)
Hants: Stares (Wickham)
Lincs: Maw, Jackson (Epworth, Belton)
London: Pierce
Suffolk: Markham (Framlingham)
Surrey: Gosling (Richmond)
Wilts: Matthews, Tarrant (Calne, Preshute)
Worcs: Milward (Redditch)
Yorks: Beaumont, Crook, Moore, Styring (Huddersfield); Middleton (Church Fenton); Exley, Gelder (High Hoyland); Barnes, Birchinall (Sheffield); Kenyon, Wood (Cumberworth/Denby Dale)

Offline crunchyFrog

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Re: Westbourne Square
« Reply #8 on: Saturday 13 January 18 07:20 GMT (UK) »
No we haven't. She's a mystery. That would be interesting we always assumed she never married. The whole thing sounds like a Hollywood movie though.

We have her living at Westbourne Square with Alfred Percy Smith and his wife Dorothy Mary Smith in the late 20's. We know Dorothy petitioned for divorce and then Alfred and Mary were living together at another address in 1930 with a baby (not my grandad, we assume this baby is his sister we've found but don't know for certain.) His sister was left in a doorway at 14 months old, on Quex Road, Kilburn. His brother was left at a church in St Cyprians. We have her living Burton st, St Pancras when the child in 1935 was born.