Adoption court records 1919/20

[VanessaB]

I wish to trace the adoption records of my mother, Joan Ivy Scott. Born 8th April 1919 in Croydon. Adopted by Charles and Maud Stewart of Rangoon, Burma approximately 12-18 months later. 

[KGarrad]

Welcome to Rootschat!

I'm not sure you're going to find anything because formal adoption did not commence until 1927.
Most adoptions were informal, and few had any legal process.
There was no central register.

[avm228]

Hello VanessaB and welcome

Can I ask first of all whether your mother is still with us? Rootschat's rules prevent the posting on these public boards of identifying information about living people, in order to prevent identity theft and other abuse of that information.

Secondly, there will unfortunately be no court records because (as KGarrad has said) formal adoption was not introduced in England until legislation which came into force in 1927.  In the early 1920s adoption would have been an informal arrangement often between people known to each other (or who met via advertisement) or alternatively through religious or charitable organisations.

I see a birth on FreeBMD which corresponds to what you have said - do you have that information?

[VanessaB]

Thank you for replying and my apologies for not mentioning my mother died in 1972. I have her birth certificate and details of a later adoption in 1930 following the Stewart's death in Rangoon. I was advised to see if there were any court records by the Fostering and Adoption Service at Croydon Council. They have no record of her but they did give me a list of other private adoption agencies in London which I will also follow up.
Joan was born at the then Mayday Hospital at 76 Eridge Road Thornton Heath.
Her mother, Flora Scott, was married, but Joan's father was not named on the birth certificate. Flora also gave her address as 76 Eridge Road. The gap between Joan's birth and leaving the UK for Rangoon is a mystery I would like to solve. I do appreciate your help.

[avm228]

Do you have the other Scott births with mother's maiden name Langford in Surrey at about the same time?  There are several in Croydon including two after Joan's.

www.freebmd.org.uk

Likely marriage of the parents:

Marriage Jun qtr 1906

William John SCOTT
Flora LANGFORD

Pancras 1b 279

[VanessaB]

Yes thank you. I also have Flora's death certificate which says one of her sons was present. I feel the delay in Joan's adoption could mean either she was in a private orphanage and/or Flora was able to return to her husband providing she did not keep the baby. I will write to the other private adoption agencies. Thank you

[MargP]

Could they have a adopted her at birth, and then made it legal just after the Adoption law came in?

Margp

[MargP]

Do you have any more information on Charles and Maud, were they born in England, if they were, you may be able to find the on the Electoral Register, have you found them on any Emigration Records, do you know Charles occupation.

Margp

[VanessaB]

I cannot find Charles and Maud in England at all, although they were UK citizens as I have their death notices from the East India Co. records.  Where I got a huge breakthrough was the online publication of ships registers. I found my mother, aged 18 months, travelling fromLiverpool to Rangoon in the care of a nurse. So where was she in between? Charles and Maud were co-proprietors of The Royal Hotel in Rangoon. I do know that they took over the hotel probably from 1904, when it was built. So they would not be on electoral roles in UK presumably?

Their adoption of Joan was never made legal I suspect as she was re-adopted legally at the age of 11 (1930) by Arthur and Priscilla Easthope in London. I have found her again on a shipping registry travelling back to the UK unaccompanied.
thank you so much for your ideas.