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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Topic started by: duport on Friday 21 August 15 22:41 BST (UK)
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In the early years of the 20th century my grandfather, Percy Brewer (b. Battersea 1879), ran a picture framing business on Lavender Hill, Battersea. In 1911 (unfortunately, after the census!) he abandoned my grandmother Sarah Sophia Brewer and vanished. She was left to bring up 3 daughters and a son on her own. All efforts to find out what happened to Percy have failed.
Percy had 2 brothers, Ernest and Sidney, and two sisters, Aimée and Eva. Neither Sidney nor Aimée had any children, but Eva married a John Tregunna. I don’t know if Ernest married.
I would dearly love to solve the mystery of what happened to Percy! There could be any number of second cousins out there!
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Also posted here
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=728945.new#new
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Have you tried looking for him in a newspaper index? Assuming he hasn't changed his name, it may be that he is still carrying out the same occupation. I once came across a situation where a painter "disappeared" and he came to light as he was advertising the painting of blinds in another part of the country in precisely the same wording as he had done before he "vanished".
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Hi i can only find a Percy Brewer, picture frame maker at Battersea with an Elizabeth May Brewer and 3 daughters. A marriage for them in 1905 also.
Regards
Shirley Skinner
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Thank you, GR2. I've looked in commercial directories for London, but not countrywide. A newspaper index is a good suggestion - "assuming he hasn't changed his name"!
And thank you Shirley; yes, he's the one. You have made me aware of a gross error of mine - his abandoned wife was indeed Elizabeth May. Sarah Sophia was his mother.
Here's another aspect of Percy's life; he acted as Master of Ceremonies at events held in Battersea Town Hall. So he may have carried on this sort of activity in his 'new' life.
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Is this your family?
FreeBDM marriage
BREWER Percy x THORPE Elizabeth May Wandsworth 1d 906 Dec Q 1905
FreeBDM births
BREWER John W (mother) THORPE Wandsworth 1d 906 Mar Q 1912
BREWER Leslie S P (mother) THORPE Wandsworth 1d 887 Jun Q 1915
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There is a death on the GRO of a Percy C BREWER in 1936 in Greenwich, he was born 1879?
Volume 1D
Event Quarter 2
District Number
Page 894
Line Number 3
Neil
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Freebmd has Percy Charles Brewer b 1878 Islington and Percy Aimedee Brewer b 1879 Wandsworth
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census gives place of birth for Percy as Battersea.
Jennifer
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looks like Eva had five children.
Jennifer
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Looks like at least one of Eva's daughter married and had three children, who from their dates of birth could well still be alive.
Jennifer
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Thanks, wivenhoe. Yes, that's them. Leslie SP BREWER is a mystery. He was born 4 years after Percy ran off, and although his father is given as Percy on his birth cert., his middle names, Stuart Potter, suggest his father was actually someone else entirely! Unfortunately Leslie died later in 1915.
Neil, thanks for finding Percy Charles. It's not him, I'm afraid. My Percy was the Percy Amiedee (his parents had lived in Paris for a time), found by CaroleW, and the Percy C she found is probably that Percy Charles.
Jennifer, Percy's place of birth (on 2 Feb. 1879) was indeed Battersea. Thanks for looking down the TREGUNNA line. Eva's 5 children I have located are Evelyn (1911), Eileen (1913), John (1917), Sydney (after her brother, 1920), and Aimee (after her sister, 1923). All Wandsworth reg. district. I sent letters to the TREGUNNAs in the London telephone book, but got no reply. But of course, the children of Eva's daughter would have another surname. Can you give me that?
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I suppose you looked for Percy.s siblings on the 1939 register
Aimee was in Hertfordshire in domestic service
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Percy's place of birth (on 2 Feb. 1879) was indeed Battersea.
From his baptism record
Percy Amidie BREWER dob 28th February 1879 - have you tried using his dob on the 1939 register?
1911 Percy Brewer & family living in Battersea
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XW5Z-SS9
Have you checked the London Electoral Register?
Have also put this on your other thread
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=728945.msg6835787#msg6835787
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Thanks, Ladyhawk. Percy's birth certificate definitely gives 2 February. Why his parents (presumably it was them) gave the wrong date seven years later is a mystery. But yes, using just his dob would get round him changing his name. Unless he changed that too!
Nothing in the London electoral registers, I'm afraid.