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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Surrey => Topic started by: Leith Lass on Tuesday 02 October 18 18:48 BST (UK)
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I am looking for more information on an adopted child back in 1905. He was a little boy and I believe he was African. He was adopted by the Wilkes family and his birth was registered in 1905 in the Wandsworth district as Sylvester Emmanuel Ohene Kwamina Quarde Wilkes. I presume his original name was Emmanuel Ohene Kwamina Quarde and was adopted at birth. But what confuses me he must have been given his original name prior to him being registered as Sylvester Wilkes. I can trace him at 6 years old in the 1911 census as Sylvester Wilkes but after that I am unable to find anything more on him until his death in 1981. He lived in Friern Barnet, Hendon and his death was registered under the name Sylvester Ohene Quarde so it looks like he may have reverted to his original surname. I have tried all names and I am unable to find him on electoral lists. It is quite sad that there is no trace of marriage etc. I think of him as a lost soul. Is there any family out there? Can anyone help please x
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Hi
Welcome to Rootschat
He seems to be on the 1939 register, transcribed as Sylvester O Quards an inmate in Friern hospital, Southgate.
Cathy
Possible? records
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/06d83b45-54bf-4244-bbc6-eccfe489101f or more info
https://aim25.com/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=11805&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2=
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Friern Hospital (aka Colney Hatch) was formerly the County Asylum. Details here ...
https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/friern.html
You may want to get the death certificate first, to find out whether he died actually in the Hospital, or whether he just lived in that area.
If he was institutionalised there, he would probably not have had a vote, which may explain why you can’t find him in the electoral rolls.
Patient records for Friern are held at London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) in series H12/CH/B. For the period after about 1917 they are closed to public access, for privacy reasons, under the 100-year rule. LMA staff may be able to extract the details of this person if you ask them to do so, but this is a costly process (£80.00/hour).
You can email them here ...
ask.lma (AT) cityoflondon.gov.uk
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If you don't already have his birth cert, then you shoud obtain a copy from the GRO as a pdf for £6
It would have been highly irregular for a registrar to register the birth of a child to adults that were not his birth parents.
The law for registering births was established way back in 1837.
Looking at the GRO website which has its own index now, the mothers maiden surname is given as Sackett.
Adoption didn't become a legal process in England & Wales until 1927.
A possible scenario is that one of the Wilkes daughters found herself pregnant and her parents brought up the child in their family.
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Looking at the 1901 census, Sarah Ann Wilkes is already widowed at the age of 33, it is not impossible to suggest that Sylvester was actually her son and the result of a liason.
Or the son of 17 year Gwendoline.
You really should get the birth cert.
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Mr O K Quarde departed Southampton for Accra, Ghana 12 June 1904 (co-incidence?)
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Mr O K Quarde departed Southampton for Accra, Ghana 12 June 1904 (co-incidence?)
Another sighting:
Mr O K Quarde, 33, solicitor living in British West Africa, left Liverpool for Accra on 7 January 1914.
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There seems to be a photo of an Ohene Kwesi Quarde b 1881 in an online tree on Ancestry, but it is set to private.
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Mother’s maiden name is Sackett on the 1905 birth reg of Sylvester Emmanuel Ohene Kwamina Wilkes.
(sorry dawnsh - I see you already had that)
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Mother’s maiden name is Sackett on the 1905 birth reg of Sylvester Emmanuel Ohene Kwamina Wilkes.
Thomas Henry Wilkes had married Sarah Anne Sackett, Mar qtr 1886 Lambeth.
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Thomas Henry Wilkes died March 1/4 1898 before the birth of Thomas Henry jnr in June 1/4 1898 leaving Sarah Ann a widow with 6 children and no occupation on the 1901 census
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message from Leith Lass
"Thank you again for taking the time to reply. I have a copy of the register of deaths for Manor Park Cemetry and his last address is recorded as 52 Friern Barnet Road N11. I have looked this up on google maps but nothing is there now except I do believe that something was built on the grounds of the hospital was it Park Manor or something of that ilk. Perhaps 52 Friern Barnet Road was the hospital. If it was there he had a sorryful life. Again sorry to be so vague I am quite new at this and not familiar with areas of London old and new.
May be you would know"
Welcome to RootsChat Leith lass, to reply to your topic on RootsChat you need to log back back in, scroll down to the last response where you will find the blue reply button - click on this to send your message back :)
Regards
Sarah
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I would like to thank everyone for their updates and I think there is a lot of useful information which I will follow through. I do think it is odd re the registering of the birth and it could have been a liaison. The passenger list is also something to look at.
All in all I feel it has been a very sad life for Sylvester and as the first record I have of him is age 6 then again in the 1939 census, I wonder at what age he was admitted and why. One for another day maybe but once again thank you all.
Lorna x
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I have a relative in my husbands tree who was born 20 Nov 1904 - First came across him on the 1911 Census as a 6 year old boy born in Africa. This turned out to be a lie as I found that the head of the family in 1911 was Sarah Wilkes and it was noted on the census that he was adopted. I later found the birth certificate showing that at the date of his birth Sarah was shown as his mother. Sarah was a widow at this time so either she had an affair or the child may have been that of her elder daughter. The boy's name at the date of registration was Sylvester Emmanuel Ohene Kwamina Quarde Wilkes. I believe the middle four names may relate to his father and Sarah named him Sylvester Wilkes.
Anyway l could find no further information on the boy until the 1939 Census where he was in Friern Barnet. His name was down as Sylvester O Quards [Schedule No. 2 Sub No. 154]. He died in Friern Barnet on 30 Sept 1981 [Sylvester Ohene Quardo - another misspelling] and buried at Newham in Oct 1981.
I know nothing more about him and would love to know how I can go about getting his hospital records. Hopefully I can find out when he was admitted and what for and why he was in there for so long. I feel that he probably had no life at all and it is quite sad.
Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.
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I doubt you will have any success, Hospital records are usually closed under the 100 year rule.
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You are probably already aware that this was a psychiatric hospital which would account for the length of time he was there
https://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/friern.html
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The death cert may have information which gives some insight
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Previous thread on Sylvester/Friern from 2018, includes a post on Friern Hospital records by the great Bookbox
topics now merged
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Have asked moderator to merge posts to prevent further duplication
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Here is the lad himself in the 1911 free index, living in Lambeth with Sarah Wilkes, etc.
It doesn't actually say that he was born in Africa (and see original)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XW54-DB1
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Thank you all for your responses. I am aware of the type of hospital it was I only want to know when he was admitted and for what. Sometimes people were admitted there for the least reason and not always justified.
If he was admitted pre 1920 would the records be available for that period.
I will try and get the death certificate but these can be rather expensive and I do not always have the funds available.
Thank you again
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Reply to JonW65
This is the family search version and not the original 1911 census on Ancestry - whilst it states his birthplace as London Streatham and adopted it states that his nationality is African whilst all the other children are British. What does this mean?
I have a copy of the birth certificate which shows that Sarah was his mother [no father listed] - if he was adopted I do not think you are able to register the child as your own from birth??
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Death certs for that period are £11 including postage from the GRO
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/
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Reply to JonW65
This is the family search version and not the original 1911 census on Ancestry - whilst it states his birthplace as London Streatham and adopted it states that his nationality is African whilst all the other children are British. What does this mean?
Hi
Sarah should not have put that in. The nationality question is for "every person born in a foreign country"
Obviously it does not apply to British born Sylvester. I guess she is saying Sylvester's father (if we know that Sarah was his mother!) was African.
John
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Did Sarah Ann die in St Albans in 1944?
She left a will, probate granted to Gwendolen Gertrude Wilkes, spinster
https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=wilkes&yearOfDeath=1944&page=3#calendar
Have you got the will (cost is £1.50)
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Hi JonW65 - Yes Sarah did die in 1944 and I have a copy of the will. She left everything to her daughter Gwendolen and in the event of Gwendolen's death pre-deceasing her mother the money was to be split between her other named children. There was no mention of Sylvester in her will.
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Hi JonW65 - Yes I believe the father was African too but no name or profession given on the birth certificate.