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Can anyone help overcome one of my brick walls please?

My paternal granmother died in 1942 in West Bromwich and was, we believe around 42 at death.  This age seems to fit with her marriage certificate which states her name at marriage to be Clara Stokes. There is also a suggestion that her parents never married and as such she could be registered as Clara Boyes.

I cannot find her burial anywhere so thought I would track from the other end but I cannot locate her birth either - at present she exists when she married my grandad, had her children and when she actually died but I cant find her before or after!

Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated.

This is a bit of a long shot and I am hoping that someone can think of a way around this or at the very least provide some guidancce.

For about four years now I have been searching for a Maria Jones who was in the workhouse in Winchester in 1905 to give birth. Cannot find a definitive birth, marriage or death certificate for Maria anywhere; lots of leads but nothing that I can find that puts her in the right place at the right age. I have her daughter and her corresponding records but there is no father listed so unable to trace her parents that way either.

Originally I was hoping that we could find the admission or discharge notes from the workhouse but apparently there are two volumns that are badly damaged or missing that we are unable to access and neither is the Hants records service. I have been able to prove that the daughter and Maria were in the workhouse through another volume of notes and also that Maria's stay was paid for by her father, which suggests she wasnt abandoned.

I suspect this may be one of those that I have to chalk up to experience and hope that at some time the records will be conserved but would appreciate anyone giving any ideas of places I may have missed.

Thanks in advance.