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http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8090200
Reginald Whittaker Allen divorced Laura May Lilian Allen in 1937, naming co-respondent as William J Beard.

There is no sign of a marriage between Laura and William though...
The child born 1940 (I will remove the name as they may still be living) was presumably theirs but the nature of the indexing suggests they weren't legally married at that point.

Jorose - I cannot believe it has taken me til now to see your reply!!  You have literally just given me some of the answers I have been looking for.  That Divorce Court File blatantly says Laura was having an affair with William (I sadly had to Google what Co-Respondent means in a divorce).  So that makes my idea of William being allowed to see my Nan but under the guise of Uncle Bill correct.

Hi everyone!

I've finally received my Nan's birth certificate after all that time!

The certificate states Nan's father as William John Beard (a steel erector) and mother as Margaret Beard formerly Smith.

The strange thing is after speaking with my Mum about the name William, she remembered Nan used to talk about an Uncle Bill.  So I am guessing it was an informal adoption as the family allowed the real dad to visit my Nan, but under the guise of 'Uncle'.  This would certainly not be ethical these days - just sad to think Nan knew her Dad but only as her Uncle.

I need to try and move backwards from them now, but am struggling!

Jenny

Could the divorced Laura Beard be a daughter of the Knight family?

The 23 5 61 in Laura’s annotation should be the date of an amendment to her entry - perhaps the notification of her change of surname to Allen? Can’t immediately see a corresponding marriage.

I can’t help on the other annotation.  Others here know much more about the technicalities of these annotations than I do

Thank you IgorStrav for your quick reply.  My Mum had mentioned a Harry in the past but she was not quite sure on the family connection - plus on Harry and Georgina's entries there is no O, V etc but I can only guess they are husband and wife and the blanked out records could be the children?

That's the problem with adoptions - but I know Beard was definitely my Nan's maiden name.  It was just the annotation with Stop! that made me question.

Plus my Nan was actually born in Lambeth and of course the address on the Register is Billericay, Essex so I'm guessing Nan was evacuated with family?  Nan settled in Billericay as she met my Grandad there and I was born there too.

Sorry for going on!  But I really need some help!

Hi everyone!

This is my first post (I'm ashamed to say!) but I was looking for some kind of help and advice regarding the 1939 Register.  I'll try to keep this as short as I can but basically my Nan (Joan Hodgson née Beard) was born in 1933 and adopted in 1936 - I'm struggling to actually find anything out for the adoption mum or the birth mum.  I've found my Nan on the 1939 Register living as a visitor in Billericay, Essex with a Laura Beard born in 1912 (annotation next to Laura in address column shows as "Hay Med 23 5 61 SY M (310)".  When I was younger I knew Nan had a sister called Laura.  First off I was wondering if the Laura Beard on the Register would be the adopted Mum and secondly there are 2 names above my Nan and Laura (Dennis b. 1939 and Anne).  The record above Anne says it is officially closed, but next to Anne in the address column it literally says "STOP! Refer all (looks like) pigs (?!) to Mr Jennings".

Has anyone seen this before or could anyone guess what it means!

I do have a copy of the Register if anyone wanted to see it to try and make sense of it all!  (Wasn't sure whether it would be ok to post it on here or not).

Sorry to go on but I'm at a real brick wall with Nan and would appreciate any help.

Thanks

Jenny