Mr and Mrs Shepherd(?) Naval family serving in HK 1920's-30'S

[Sue Lancashire]

My grandmother Irene Mary Saunders was born at Whippingham Road  Brighton,  6 FEB 1911, to Elizabeth Saunders of Wiltshire.I am hoping to rediscover her adoptive parents.

My gran was adopted out as a baby,  or infant, by an "aunt and uncle"..... A Mr and Mrs Shepherd.

The only concrete info that I have is that Mr Shepherd (not sure of spelling) was in the Royal Navy and he (plus wife and child) were stationed in Hong Kong for about 13 years, returning to England around 1936-39.  There are possible links to Mt Victoria Hospital. Gran had a southern england accent and possibly grew up in Kent.

There is little else to go on, to gain further information about her adoptive parents.
 Just hoping that someone in the Kent  area may have a few drops in the bucket before I start trying to swim this ocean  of research from NZ. Irene Mary married John Read of Salford, Lancs in 1939. No mention of the Shepherd's on the marriage cert.

Thank you for reading ...any clues, tips or advice  will be gratefully taken on board.
Have purchased the book "tracing naval ancestors". Without first names any research seems untenable. Could the Hong Kong/China squadron or fleet connection yield any results?

Sue

[avm228]

Hello Sue

There aren't many promising-looking Shepherds on inbound passenger lists.

Can we narrow things down a bit? 

Did Elizabeth Saunders have any sisters or aunts who might have married a Mr Shepherd? 
Did the Shepherds have a child or children of their own? (you mention "wife and child" going to Hong Kong, but I don't know whether you mean that that child was Irene). 
Did Irene herself arrive back in England in 1936-1939, or was she always in southern England/Kent?  Was she educated in Hong Kong, or (say) in an English boarding school?
Where does the 1936-1939 date range come from?


Any clue is a good clue!

Anna

[Sue Lancashire]

Wow!    Thank you for listening and replying (and thinking!) so quickly.
 
I have not connected any of Irene's mother (Elizabeths') 3 sisters.

The Shepherd's had no children of their own, and there is possibly one other adopted child.

All the family arrived back together, we assumed, as many of the British and US ships were pulling out  in the late 1930's  due to the impending war.

Irene was educated in Hong Kong. She trained as a nurse or nurse aid and  my Dad believes she worked at the Mt Victoria hospital. A vocation she carried on with when arriving back in the UK and up until her death in 1973.

As you say any clue is a good clue, but the window into Gran's early life seems a narrow one.

Thanks again!

[Valda]

Please see duplicate topics on the Sussex, Wiltshire and Surrey boards

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,385100.0.html
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,385098.0.html
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,398646.0.html


Regards

Valda