RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => London and Middlesex => Topic started by: moiramount on Saturday 09 May 20 08:23 BST (UK)
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A friend has a photo of her Nanna, Katherine Gillespie taken in 1939, she is in a nurses uniform holding a baby that looks to be around 7 months old. On the back of the photo it just says "Cooke's" 1939. She would love to find out where this was taken. I have searched the 1939 register and there was only one lady in Ealing born 1896. Was wondering if there were any homes or hospitals with the name of Cooke's. Any info would be welcome.
Moira
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I can't se anything that looks like it could be called Cooke's in the 1939 London Classified Phone Directory ("yellow pages"). I tried the sections on Hospitals (which includes Maternity Homes), Nurses, Nursing Homes, and just Homes. There are 4 Cookes under Physicians & Surgeons, in Hendon, Putney, Richmond, and Upper Norwood if those places mean anything. "Cooke's" could, of course, be a colloquialism, like "Bart's". Nothing obvious in the Royal College of Nursing archive, and no Katherine Gillespie in its list of nurses on Ancestry, or on a Scottish list, though she would not necessarily have needed to register with them.
As you probably saw, the Katherine Gillespie in the 1939 Register wasn't a nurse by profession. Have you managed to find her as a nurse elsewhere? Is there a photographer's name on the photo, which might point to somewhere outside London? Can you post the photo, in case there's something distinctive in the uniform which would identify the hospital?
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Thanks. How do I put an image on here from my phone.
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Here's the one with the baby
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Possibly she was a private nurse working for a Cooke family.
Do you know her date of birth?
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No waiting to hear from my friend in Canada
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Ok, we have a completely different name. The lady was Catherine Millar born 1915 in South East Hampshire. Married name Riley, she died 2006. I have found her death on Ancestry which confirms the above but haven't found anything else yet.
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Birth - Catherine M Gillespie, Q2 1915, Garstang, Lancs, mmn Millar. 8e 1166.
Marriage - Catherine M Gillespie to Donald B Riley, Q2 1943, Camberwell, London, 1d 1020.
Death - Catherine Millar Riley, Sep 2006, Hampshire, dob given as 11 May 1915.
Therefore, in 1939 she would still have been Catherine M Gillespie.
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Thankyou so much Jool
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Found her on 1939 Findmypast. Her Gillespie surname on the original is badly written and they have transcribed it as Riley (Gill?) noting her later married name Riley. She is and living in Ilkley, Yorkshire, occupation a nurse in a children's hospital. Maybe Ancestry haven't released her record yet.
No clue to "Cooke's"
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Great Jool, thank you so much.
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Found her badly transcribed on Ancestry. Use this search to find her.
Name: Giles?? (Riley)
Birth date: 11 May 1915
Residence: Ilkley
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There was a retired carpet manufacturer, Reginald Cooke, who had a large house (Dunluce) in Ben Rhydding, Ilkley. I wonder if that's the house in the pictures and if the child is perhaps a grandchild.
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Assuming Dunluce is still the same house, it doesn't look the same:
https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/6709978/1117060946/document-0.pdf
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Thankyou, I did notice that
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Found her badly transcribed on Ancestry. Use this search to find her.
Name: Giles?? (Riley)
Birth date: 11 May 1915
Residence: Ilkley
I think it's Gillespie, then crossed out and changed to Riley - which seems to fit.
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Assuming Dunluce is still the same house, it doesn't look the same:
https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/6709978/1117060946/document-0.pdf
We don't see much of the "Cooke's" house in the photos but there is a good shot of one across the road from it. I shall do some virtual exploring.
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Moira, have you got a scan of the back of the photo? Does it definitely say Cooke's or could it possibly be something else?
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No I don't have the photo, I was asking for a friend of my daughter who lives in Canada. Thankyou for all the info you have given me.
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Assuming Dunluce is still the same house, it doesn't look the same:
https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/6709978/1117060946/document-0.pdf
We don't see much of the "Cooke's" house in the photos but there is a good shot of one across the road from it. I shall do some virtual exploring.
It won't be opposite at the front, as the sun is in the wrong direction - and it's opposite a church.
If there was a back gate then (there isn't now), the ground seems to be sloping up to it, whereas if anything it would slope the other way. (As well as looking at Google maps, I'm familiar with the area and the lie of the land.)
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It won't be opposite at the front, as the sun is in the wrong direction - and it's opposite a church.
Yes agreed. I have taken a virtual stroll around the area on Streetview and I can't see any points of coincidence with the features in the photos.