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Wales (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Glamorganshire => Wales => Glamorganshire Lookup Requests => Topic started by: aussie researcher on Sunday 30 July 17 08:35 BST (UK)
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Hello,
I'm interested to find out where someone would have gone to have a baby in the 1940's in the Sketty area? How long would the mother have needed to stay before the birth?
I'm assisting a friend who's wife has passed away but she was born in this area mid 1940's and was given up for adoption. We have adoption papers and birth certificate.
But I'm looking to find out where she might have been as it was a couple of months after she was born that she was adopted. What homes were there at this time?
Thank you
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That was before the National Health Service started.
And home births were a lot more common then.
Workhouses usually had an attached infirmary, and these ususally became hospitals once the NHS started.
Swansea workhouse was no exception,
The infirmary there became known as Tawe Lodge, and later Mount Pleasant Hospital.
See: http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Swansea/
There should be an address on the Birth Certificate?
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Thanks KGarrad,
I don't believe this was a home birth unless the mother was staying with a friend or relative.
As her address was that of her grandparents in Barnstaple.
Yes there is an address on the birth cert.
Cartref, Townhill Road Sketty.
I have tried googling the address but no luck.
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The Welsh word "cartref" means home in English. ;D
Mount Pleasant Hospital was on Townhill Road.
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Thanks, that makes sense but which home is now the question?
It maybe a mystery I wont get an answer too.
Unless there is a home for single/unwed mothers or the like.
The mother wasn't a young woman she was 27yr at the time.
I'll keep on searching.
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I think KGarrad is trying to tell you that Mount Pleasant hospital as is now, was formerly the workhouse (Cartref).
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Thanks, getting late here in Australia not thinking straight :)
So is Mount Pleasant hospital still existing today?
As this birth was in 1944.
The lady that adopted her came from Mount Pleasant and was listed as school teacher.
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The hospital closed in 1995 and has apparently now been converted to student accommodation 😀
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The hospital closed in 1995 and has apparently now been converted to student accommodation 😀
Thanks, I wonder if records are still kept and who would have them?
I'll do some research and see what I can find, unless someone might know :)
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Mount Pleasant is also an area of Swansea (where the workhouse / hospital was).
I think you'll find that by the 1940s a number of the workhouses had become infirmaries (maybe for births and elderly patients) before being taken over by the NHS.
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Looks like there are some records at the West Glamorgan Archive Service in Swansea, though there will probably be limited access (for the time you are looking for as they are not yet 100 years old).
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http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F153269
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Thanks, I'll contact them and ask the question.
A long wait for another 27yrs for the 100yrs. Doubt I'll be around then.
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1938 map ( published 1947)
http://maps.nls.uk/view/102183081
You can see Townhill Road - middle of map and tab south. Mount Pleasant Hospital/Tawe Lodge/Workhouse is off the map - to the east.
"Cartref" in Welsh means home but not in the sense of a refuge/shelter/institution.
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This is an 1948/53 map.
http://maps.nls.uk/view/102183078
Part of Townhill Road now named "Vivian Road"
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Thanks for the link to maps they are great.