In one of my family lines we have a birth certificate from 1903 and we are trying to determine who the mother was. I know this sounds strange, but stay with me!
1. We have a mother and daughter who both have the same name, and for the mother it's her married name - her husband died 7 years before the birth was registered. The birth certificate does not have a mother's maiden name on it, which suggests that the child is the daughter's - however, she would only have been 15 at the time.
2. On the certificate, where and when born shows the Inebriates Reformatory, St Ann's, Lewes. The residence of the mother in column 5 is shown as an address in Widnes, Lancashire (where we would expect them to be!), and the informant is shown as mother (is this the relationship to the child whose birth is registered, or the mother in column 5) with address again as the Inebriates Reformatory, Lewes. As far as I know there is no connection to Lewes and they all certainly returned to Lancashire.
3. East Sussex records office only have admission records from 1913 onwards - is this information be available elswhere for 1903?
4. Online we have found the following information about the institution: "The Lewes Union merged with the Chailey and West Firle Unions in 1898. The Lewes workhouse was then rented by a Revd Harold Burden who set up charity called the National Institution for Inebriates. In 1902 Lewes was the Southern Counties reformatory licensed for 130 female inebriates who were admitted directly from court. It closed in 1910" - does this mean that there may be newspaper reports available?
5. It took 3 months for the birth to be registered. Any clues as to why?
I'm not at liberty to give names at the moment as this is a bit sensitive to the family. But, if anyone has any ideas on how we can find out any more information they would be gratefully received!!
Jean
