Ruby Rivolta / Wills

[Jonesy127]

I am researching my maternal grandfather, who I believe was born illegitimately to Ruby Rivolta as a Jack Rivolta, on the 20th October 1908 at 21 St John's Grove, Richmond.

No father is named on the birth certificate.  14 months later, Ruby marries Henry Albert Wills at Richmond Registry Office.  They later have two daughters; Violet Dorothy and Gertrude Emma.

On the 1911 census for Ruby and Henry, they list Violet Wills as 7mnths old and Jack Wills as 2 and a half.  This would be about right for the Jack born to Ruby.  (Getrude was born in 1913).

I don't know if these people are actually my ancestors.  What I do know is that my grandfather was abandoned and taken by the police to the Bermondsey Workhouse on 23rd May 1911, as John Rivolta.  Later transferred to the Shirley School, Bermondsey.

I have been to the LMA and have found no record of his parents; all references have been as parents unknown.

He left as a young adult, later met and married my grandmother, then they changed their surname by deed poll from Rivolta to Manning (I don't know why they chose that name, but I understand as a farmworker he was not called up during WW2, and got stick for his Italian sounding name.

My only hope of confirming that his mother was Ruby, I believe, is to trace living relatives.  I am currently stuck at Gertrude and Violet, as I have not yet found evidence of either of them having children.

Any help would be gratefully received!

[Valda]

Hi

Since Violet would have been only 8 months old at the time John Rivolta was abandoned in 1911 and Gertrude was not yet born they may never have known (if the child was connected with the family) that there was another child. If it wasn't Jack Rivolta then they would obviously know of him, but since he doesn't appear in the civil registration after his birth that might indicate emigration, so if Violet and Gertrude had descendants they might because of the passage of time know nothing further of him.
Jack Rivolta could have been brought up as Jack Wills.

The only possible marriage in England for Violet D if she married using both names seems to be in 1939 though a possible death date shows this woman's birth as 30th December 1909. Her death registration gives her name as Dorothy Violet Delahunty - there is a Dorothy Violet Wills birth registration for that quarter in that year.

Gertrude Emma born 16th June 1913 died unmarried in Greenwich registration district in December 1991. If this is her have you obtained her death certificate to see who registered the death and or checked to see whether she left a will?



Regards

Valda

[Jonesy127]

Hi Valda.  Thanks for your reply.

I suppose one of my greatest fears (other than never knowing!) is that the Jack Rivolta born to Ruby, not only became Jack Wills, but then went on to live a life separate to my grandfather, John Rivolta.

That would mean I probably would have no hope of finding his past.

But, I have not been able to find any baptism, marriage, death etc. for a Jack Wills born at that time.

I’ve been guilty of not remembering to provide all the information I’ve gathered with this brickwall.  I have seen copies of letters from Ruby to the War Office about her husband Henry’s WW1 medals (from the National Archives) and she mentions two children only, and even describes Violet as her “first child”.  That to me says the son, Jack Wills on the 1911 census, was abandoned and deleted from her memory.

It seems too much of a coincidence that, a child I know to have been born Jack Rivolta, later called Jack Wills after his mum marries a man called Wills, disappears from records at the same time a child called J Rivolta is abandoned, with no recorded parents.

I totally agree that Violet and Gertrude may never have known about Jack's existence, although something may have been said about it.  What I would be more hopeful is trying to track down photos of Ruby, or even Henry Wills (the possible father?), to see if there is a family resemblance.

I have indeed got copies of Violet (Dorothy Delahunty) and Gertrude’s death certificates;  both ladies’ deaths were recorded by what looks like solicitors.  I am currently waiting on Violet’s marriage certificate; a search for a will might be next.

If neither daughter had a child, that still may be the end of the line for my research.