Here's the poser:
On the paternal side , according to the 1911 census, my grandfather John Rogers was living at 10, Hargreave Place, Bermondsey with his wife, my grandmother Margaret (nee McCarthy) 6 children and his father, also named John. His father, my great grandfather, is recorded as being 71 years old, having been born in Union Hall, Cork, Ireland. I suspect my great grandfather, having been born circa 1840, would probably have come to England following the potato famine in 1845. My task is to find anything further about him and the name and details of my great grandmother too.
On the maternal side, I have a certificate of marriage issued by St, George's Cathedral, Lambeth, dated 20th January, 1915, showing that my grandmother, Margaret McCarthy, of 31 Murphy Street, daughter of Richard McCarthy, married John Rogers, son of John Rogers, living at 14, Murphy Street, Oakley Street, on 23 December, 1895. The streets mentioned were adjacent to the present Waterloo Station. The GRO record of my grandmother's marriage shows her name, wrongly, as McClarthy. Her date of birth is said to be 21st August, 1877. However, I've been unable to trace her in the GRO birth records. Again, I'm seeking further details on her, particularly the story that she and a brother were brought up in an orphanage, my great grandfather and also the name and details of my great grandmother.
St. Georges Cathedral has confirmed there was no orphanage attached to the Cathedral. They referred me to the Catholic Children’s Society, who again had no trace, and suggested I contact School Sisters of Notre Dame, about a convent of theirs that existed close to the Cathedral at that time.
Well Nick, you did ask for it! It's a bit of a tome!
Abie