Surrrey Adoption

[PaulaF]

I'm stumped. My grandfather was adopted. He was born in 1900 In surrey. How do I trace an adoption at the turn of the century?

[Valda]

Not so easy because adoption in legal terms only started in 1927 (when the indexes commence at the Family Records Centre) before then it is more an informal process where other members of the family brought up the child, or a child placed in care was then fostered out with a family and that family chose to bring the child up as one of their own. The 1926 Adoption Act legally gave an adopted child the same rights as a child born to the same parents.

Was your grandfather placed in care?

Regards

Valda

[PaulaF]

I don't know if he was placed 'in care'. All I know is by 1901 he was adopted and was Reginald Blunden. My dad told me long ago that the family name was Lyons, but I don't have any way of verifying that as no one is around anymrore

[Valda]

I'm presuming he is the Reginald A aged 1½ in Islington on the 1901 census? His birthplace looks to be Worthing which is in Sussex. The person above was born in Surrey but I don't think there is a ditto sign for Reginald below. I think that is a mistake on the part of the indexers.
On FreeBMD there is no birth registered for a Reginald A Blunden at the end of 1899 (or within a couple of years of that date - FreeBMD has full coverage of the civil index for this period). No registration of a Reginald Blunden at all.

What there is however is this birth registration which could of course be a coincidence.

Lyons, Arthur Reginald, December quarter 1899 Volume 2b pages 347 registration district East Preston Sussex.

East Preston registration district covered Worthing.

I have checked the civil registration for any subsequent death of this child before the 1901 census, and also the 1901 census for a child of a similar age born Sussex called either Reginald or Arthur Lyons and could not find one.

As I said it could be coincidental (the family could have emigrated) and you have no knowledge that your grandfather actually started life with the name Reginald (I don't know what the A stood for - did your grandfather have a middle name of Arthur?) just that his surname was Lyons. He could of course also had his first names changed as well as his surname.

Cecil Robert Blunden the head of the household on the 1901 census, though born in Sydenham Kent circa 1870, married Mary Ann nee Randall born Liphook Hampshire circa 1862, in East Preston registration district in 1890. On the 1891 census he and his wife and his younger brother were living in Broadwater near Worthing.

Does any of this look hopeful? If you think it does then it is worth the risk of purchasing the birth certificate. From the information contained in the birth certificate if might be possible to find the parent or parents named  on the censuses and perhaps even work out what the connection to the Blundens was (though it might only be one of friendship). I would be happy to try the search for you if you do not have access to the censuses.

Regards

Valda

[PaulaF]

Yes his middle name was Arthur. His parents were Cecil and maryann. They later immigrated to Canada shortly there after the 1901 Census.

Apparently my grandfather knew the name of this mother as he (as legend) had it wrote her a letter when he was in his 20's asking for money to attend art school. He did receive a response and was told that he should not contact her again. It was noted that her letter in return was written with perfect grammer, so the general thought was that his mother was educated. I'd love to get my hands on that letter!!

I think the Reginald Arthur Lyons maybe him. I 'll order the cert to make sure.  Thank you so very very much for your time.

[Valda]

Do you know anything further about Mary Ann? One of the earlier census returns for her has her placed in an institution.

Regards

Valda