Adoption pre-1927- any way of finding out?

[MargP]

OK, so having spoken to my Grandmother I have some new information.

My Grandad was baptised (as Roy Gillespie, his adopted name) on the 30th June 1920 at a baptist church in Winsford, Cheshire. His baptism certificate confirms his birth date (7th Feb 1920) and names James and Maud Gillespie as his parents. My gran thinks that this is where his birth mother is from.

My grandmother also found an Adopted person's register certificate. It have no information on his birth family on it, but it says that it is being stored at Somerset House. It was registered on 29th september 1936 (some 16 years after his birth!)- Is there any way of accessing this???

Please tell me I have a breakthrough!


Rachel

It seems strange that they went out of the district to have him baptised  4 months after his birth this may indicate that the mother may have been a family member

[california dreamin]

Hi

I have been following this thread with interest as I am often asked about adoptions - Thx Dawn because you have clarified very nicely the registration scenario.  I would add that the GRO website does have a section regarding adoptions which is quite helpful and suggests that they are sympathetic to close family who wish to obtain information on an adopted relative:

"If you were adopted, at 18 you can apply for a certificate of your original birth registration form. Your birth relatives also have the right to apply for permission to contact you".

Bollo:  The GRO site also has information regarding "adoptions" prior to 1927. As I think stated already any "adoptions" done prior to this date seem to be done on quite an informal basis and as such may or may not have had some legal paperwork drawn up. I have come across people who have had names changed by deed poll but never officially adopted.  The GRO site is worth a read anyway (direct.gov) which may spark avenues for you to explore.  But it does sound like you have alot of digging to find answers to your questions, and looks like they fall outsite the remit of the GRO.

[MargP]

Hi Rachel

The number for the Adoption Records at the GRO is 0151 471 4830 if you draw a blank there, the only suggestion I can make is to look at the extended female line on both sides of the family of child bearing age in 1920 to see if any of them gave birth out of wedlock.

Margp

[rachellaura84]

Hi Marg,

Thanks for the advice

I rang the GRO and they said much the same as I already knew, but they did tell me to write to the court who approved the adoption, so we are going to do that. In the meantime I will investigate the possiblility of illegitemate births within the family. I'll let you know what I discover!

Rachel

[Bollo]

Sorry, I'm not very good at using this list but I want to reply to Dawn and thank her for the detailed info - and to others who replied.  I have written to various places over the years and I think that includes GRO, all with no result or no reply at all.

Dawn, you give me renewed hope.  I have the long form birth certificate for my father and it does have (as you say it should) an additional annotation 'Adopted' and signed by the Superintendent Registrar.  This annotation is not dated but the Superintendent Registrar in question was Tom Percival and I know (from reading Jenny Keating's book on Adoption in England 1918-45) that this guy was active in the Tynemouth 'adoption industry' at the time my father was born.  So I assume my father was adopted soon after birth not at an older age.  Certainly he came into the care of the person who raised him as a baby because I have a photo to prove it.

Dawn, you say you have access to GRO adopted children Index at the Archives in London.  Is it possible for you to look up Edward Davison born Tynemouth on 5 March 1918 to James and Hilda Davison.  He presumably was adopted soon afterwards, and was later known as Robert Hull, also (after 1940) as Robert Edward Davison Hull.  The person who raised him was Lillian Baxter Hull, married to Harry Hull (died Oct 1918) both of Leicester.  Another person who claimed Edward Davison was his 'adopted son' was Herbert Victor Collison, also of Leicester.  If you can find any of these names, anywhere, on any adoption records, I would be eternally grateful.

Thank you.

[dawnsh]

Hi Bollo

Thanks for your reply.

As the adoption system was not legalised until 1927, your assumption about being adopted soon after birth (1918) isn't quite right. Your photo shows him being 'in care' and I can only summise that something happened in his early life for his adopted family to formalise the 'adoption'.

The early adoption register is (1927-1946) compiled by adopted names and shows the year but not date of birth, there is no reference to the birth name or location, but I will have a look under Hull & Collison for you. You can't be adopted after the age of 18 so I would expect an entry to be there.

If you do manage to find a short form birth cert, have a look for the 8 digit ref number I mention in my previous post. This is a link to an entry in the GRO adopted children index.

Dawn

[Bollo]

Dawn - Where might one obtain a short form birth certificate?  The copies available from the GRO all seem to be extracted long-form and there was no short form certificate amongst my father's papers when he died.

[dawnsh]

Hi Bollo

A short form certificate would have been issued at the time of his birth and/or adoption. There is no benefit to applying for one retrospectively, the ref number won't be recorded now.

I've been away from the office this last week for half term but should get to the archives on Monday (if I need to escape from catching up) or Tuesday for work purposes.

Dawn

[Bollo]

Thanks, Dawn.  No rush - I appreciate anything you can do.

Bollo