Where could Grandma have lived between the wars

[Sandra Parker]

My maternal grandmother was born to German migrant parents in Fulham in 1881. She married in 1900 and from the birth and death certificates of all 11 of her children, I have been able to place her in the Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Putney and Wandsworth areas.
After the accidental death of her husband in 1924, (he was killed in a hit and run - a car!)I lose her until she reappears in 1939 in Brathway Road, Wandsworth from family knowledge - known by her older daughters who lived round the corner in Merton Road, and the address given by her youngest daughter on her marriage certificate.
At this time Grandma was living with a Leon Stanley Reid, whose surname name the youngest daughter used when she signed for war service in 1939 and also when she married in 1941. Grandma reappears in 1943 when she died at the home of her youngest, now married, daughter at Selsdon,Surrey.
My query: Are there any records available or any other references or records, which could tell me where Grandma lived at any time in the period 1924-1939? Are there any rolls, electoral lists, or the like?
It would help fill in huge blanks in my mothers life, prior to 1939.
Hoping that someone might have a suggestion.
Sandra

[marcie dean]

 In Portsmouth they had a prisoner of war camp.  Whether they would have placed imigrant people in these camps with military etc I am not sure, but it is a possibility although not a very nice one to consider; and where you would find such information to confirm or deny this I would not know.

Perhaps someone else with more experience may be able to help, but I think you must consider this as an option and perhaps your mother? has selective memory syndrome.  Especially as it was between the two wars Britain had with Germany.  I do not know where the nearest place to Bermondsey etc would have been.  But I hope that you find your answers.  I know by looking at some history programs on TV how known German/Austrian shop keepers etc who were pacifists were treated by their own people only to be treated in the same way by english people at the time.
marcie

[Sandra Parker]

Thanks Marcie, sorry, I didn't make it clear. Grandma was born in Fulham her parents had married in England in 1868 and her brothers served in the British army in WW1.
I was really hoping that someone would have some knowledge of any rolls or registers that may have been in use in that period.
You are quite right about my mother and her selective memory, but that is another story.
Sandra

[marcie dean]

Sandra I apologise,  hope that I did not upset you.
My stepfather was in the forces and stationed in germany when I was eleven.
I went to a forces school where they had multinational students.  Mixed race etc. and none of the problems of today.  I had great fun and one of my best friends was a 14yr old girl named Ulrike her father was a doctor in the local hospital.

I think there is a link for the forces and someone on here does have a lot of knowledge regarding war veterans and such like only hope that he sees your posting and can help. Wasn't Bermondsey near an airfield (Army or RAF?) Mod might be able to help or an old OS Map from the era might give some information.
Marcie

[Sandra Parker]

thanks, Marcie. You certainly didn't cause any offence. I am really pleased that someone has offered some suggestions. That's the way queries can be solved.
I do know a great deal about the rest of the family, their war service, marriages, children, etc. But not my own line. Where my Grandmother was living, and therefore my mother, is a great mystery, as is the relationship with Leon Reid.  When and where did he come on the scene? I think I have found his birth/death, but neither has any correlation with my grandmother for names and places that help at all.
I know she was renting rooms in the East End Dock area in the 1920's, Lower Rd Rotherhithe, but after that I cannot find here anywhere. My mother was sent away to school (the story), taken into care by one of the orders of nuns in the area who provided such opportunities for needy women and children in the Docklands (most likely).
Whatever it was, they all ended up together in Brathway Road, Wandsworth in 1939. My mother having completed secondary school, and using Reid as her surname and referring to him as her stepfather.
Sandra

[Plummiegirl]

During both WW1 & WW2 virtually all males (probably age 14 upwards) from Germany who were not serving in the British Forces were placed in internment camps.

During WW1 German Shepherd Dogs were called Alsatians - which is why they are now commonly known by both names. 

During both wars there were interment camps all over the country and there was even one in London at Alexander Palace.  A large part of the Isle of Wight was also a cordoned off to form a large internment camp.

If you get the chance do watch the Julian Clary episode of Who Do You Think You Are, one of his g/grandfathers was in the Alexander Palace camp during WW1.  And he was an elderly & very frail old man!!

[Sandra Parker]

thanks Plummiegirl , but my grandmother was born in the East End, as were all her brothers and sisters. The eligible men all served in the British forces and received service and campaign medals. Her parents were dead by 1915. The German connection is not relevant at all in where my grandmother was living between 1924 and 1939.
At sometime in this period, she began to share her life with Leon Stanley Reid. I think I have his death in 1941. I know almost nothing about him.
My query was as to whether anyone had any ideas about the sort of records which were utilised at the time, like electoral rolls, rate notices, etc. The census of 1931 will not be available and 1941 was not taken anyway, so those resources are not relevant.
Sandra

[Jeuel]

Electoral rolls exist but they are a nightmare to search unless you have some idea of an address, as they are arranged in street order in each electoral ward and not searchable by name.  Not a problem in a small village but a mammoth task in a built-up area.

Electoral rolls, street directories etc should all be at the relevant records office.

[marcie dean]

Hi Sandra Parker,
Were they religious at all.  If they were do you know what their religion was. Perhaps the local church can verify that they attended, this would close down the area of your search.

There are a load of Reids in and around Aberdeen.  What does it say on the death cert you have for Leon.  Quite often it states where they died and who attended, who found him etc. Sometimes they give out addresses of the death and also the address of the person attending (who found him) as in Scottish Certs.  Although by 1939 that may also have changed.  Seems nowadays the least stated the better rather than the more.
marcie.  Have you been down to the local ref library and see if they have anything there.  Or do you know of a local Historic Society in the area that could help.  Any links anyone which would help with this research?