Adoption - Leighton Buzzard - 1919

[GlosAncestry]

Yes, that's the one. I think the information is in the public domain already so I don't believe I'm betraying any confidences in confirming that. I am currently evaluating whether there is any realistic prospect of making progress with the case or whether it's a lost cause.

[bedfordshire boy]

So are these two ladies, who may or may not have been sisters, one of whom is your client's grandmother, still living in South Africa?

I have to say that I have serious reservations about message boards being used for research by professional genealogists

[GlosAncestry]

Why? I'm just asking if anyone can suggest some possible institutions in the area that the children could have been adopted from. I can't see what harm there is in that? I've received an enquiry about this case and am trying to decide whether it would be fair and reasonable to take it on or not. This is a no-charge evaluation at this stage.

[tazzie]

 Hi

 David you replied on the first post about this a couple of years ago
 The name we were given was Doris Elizabeth Moffatt and a dob as 8 Dec 1915. She is now deceased.

 Pete ...do you know the name of the other person? Or are they still alive...if so it cannot be given here.

 A thought being both births were during WW1 ...father may have been KIA mother gave them up for a better life... a needle in a haystack unless there is more info.

 Tazzie

[GlosAncestry]

The other child was Winifred Mary, also now deceased. Her age was given as 3 on the passenger list when they departed for South Africa in 1919.

I have tried looking for children with matching forenames whose births were registered around the right time in the Bedfordshire area but have not found anything.

As you say, a needle in a haystack.

[GlosAncestry]

Just FYI, I have now declined the project and suggested the enquirer try a researcher local to the area.

[[Ray]]

Pete

Irrespective of whether this is a fee-earning project [ or now, not ]  . . . . .
{Relatives should receive the information, if available)

Mr Moffatt (Farmer 56/7) seems to have arrived from SA a couple of times,
the second time 1917 he may have brought a nurse with him (Miss N Maxwell).

There are two births in Luton at around the "correct" time.

Surnames both Mcintosh, one mmn Dewberry, the other Dewsberry.   
1915 Dec Luton 3b 576 Doris E
1914 Dec Luton 3b 574 Winifred M

Ellen Dewberry / William C Mcintosh
Marriage Mar 1914 Luton  3b 584   

Ray

[[Ray]]

..... If correct

[GlosAncestry]

OK, thanks for that Ray. The enquirer has details of the passenger lists, but those births certainly look interesting. I'd missed the Winifred because that date of birth is somewhat at odds with the passenger lists, where Winifred is shown as younger than Doris. But the coincidence is enough to make me think I should notify the enquirer and suggest he obtains the certificates. If Doris's exact date of birth were to match the date of birth the family has always assumed, that would make it an even greater coincidence (perhaps more than a coincidence?).

Pete