Hmm. Thereby lies a long tale. I'll update more when I get back home and have all the details to hand... but this is me helping a friend try and reunite her father with his family. His father was this William Beecham. His mother was Ellen Parsons. Ellen & William were not married, and in the 30's Ellen & William were prosecuted and imprisoned - twice - for severe neglect of their children. The children eventually ended up in Barnardos and were seperated, never to meet again. So, very little information remains, other than snippets that were gleaned from the Barnardos file, given to Williams son Stanley, at the end of last year, he is now in his 70's and knows nothing of his family. His parents ages and full names were not give in the Barnardos file and whilst we have found 2 press cuttings from the Hove area outlining the horrors of the neglect, there is nothing else to go on. He has one wish, to lay flowers on his mothers grave. But, we cannot find his mother.
We have just found William's death certificate. It provides the following details: William Beecham, age 71, died 28th Sept 1945, Pouchlands House, East Chiltington. I know now this was the workhouse at the time.
He lived 122 Clarenden Road, Hove and was Retired General Labourer. The informant was, to our surprise, his wife! A Beecham, widow, of 5 Gladstone Terrace, Brighton. During the 1930's Stanley did live for some time at Gladstone Terrace but was under 5 years old and did not know it was his "family" home, until he got this certificate today.
That is all I can offer. Please, any suggestions, any help, from anyone are appreciated. I cannot express how much I want to help Stanley - his childhood was taken from him... somehow I want to help him find it again...
