I am researching an individual by the name of Thomas Morley. He was born in Kimberley on 5 November 1819 and baptized in Greasley on 24 November 1823. His parents were John Morley and Ann Aldridge, who were married in Basford on 10 June 1811 (source: Phillimore's). Thomas is the only child that I know of from this marriage.
My ultimate goal here is to try and find the parentage of John Morley and Ann Aldridge.
According to a biography of Thomas, as told by his son Joshua, Ann died when Thomas was four years old, which would be around 1823. Then, when Thomas was young, his father left him and was never heard from again. However, the biography states that he then lived with his grandmother without mentioning the name.
Is anyone familiar with legal guardianship resources available for Nottinghamshire during this era? I think that if Thomas lived with his grandmother, then she must be mentioned somewhere in some transference of guardianship papers. (Then again, I am not an expert on the logistics of guardianship for England. I am only assuming that there had to have been some sort of legal proceedings to allow her to have guardianship.)
My thinking here is that, if I have access to the name of this grandmother, then I will be able to at least determine one of the parents for either John or Ann.
Another potential resource for information are the poor and working house records. The biography continues to say that Thomas would be so hungry that he would eat the burned potato peelings from the garbage heaps behind houses. So maybe Thomas and the grandmother might have eventually received some parochial assistance. Are there any good and accessible resources for the poor and working house records?
Any help here will be greatly appreciated!
