Alice Mary Midworth b Nottingham 1896 - Brick wall

[ireneflora]

I've been researching this off and on for several years and I'm just not getting anywhere, so I'm really hoping someone with local knowledge might be able to help.
I have my grandmother's birth certificate saying she was born at 11 Hanley St., Nottingham on 18 Sept 1896, mother's name given as Mary Midworth, no father's name.
I can't find any evidence of Midworths living in Hanley St. Can anyone tell me whether there might have been a hospital or workhouse there?
I haven't found a baptism record.
By 1901 Alice 'Medworth' was living as a boarder with the Pickett family in Sibsey Northlands, Lincolnshire. I can find no connection between Picketts and Midworths/Medworths.
Does the term 'boarder' imply anything in particular when related to a young child? Is it likely that someone was paying the Pickett family to care for her? Did the Nottingham workhouse farm out children to families at that time, and if so would they have been likely to send one to Lincolnshire?
Although Midworth is an uncommon name I haven't been able to identify her mother Mary with any confidence.
I hope someone can help!

[CaroleW]

Hi and welcome to Rootschat

The address shown on the birth cert could be anybody's - relative/friend etc.

The 1891 has a Mary Midworth b 1868 Lincolnshire living in Notts

[CaroleW]

Long shot time --  There are 2 spinster sisters Emily & Mary Midworth both b Notts - Mary was b 1859/60 according to her death reg in 1928 but 1871 shows birthyear 1854 and 1881 shows 1859.  Parents were William & Sophia and she had a sister Alice

[sunflower]

Baptisms from Notts FHS CD

Mary Midworth 15.12. 1853 to William & Sophia, Ironfounder, Bridge St, Newark
Emily Midworth 14.8. 1852 to William & Sophia, Ironfounder, North St, Newark

other children baptised to them were
Sophia, Frances Ann, William, Richard Foster, John Thomas & Alice

all baptised at Newark St Marys

Carol

[sunflower]

Marriage

William Midworth married Sophia Foster at St Ann's North Collingham 17.12. 1846

Carol

[ireneflora]

Hi CaroleW and Sunflower, thanks very much for your responses.

The Mary Midworth you've found - b 1853 in Newark on Trent to William and Sophia Midworth - is my favourite option for Alice's mother, but I can't find a way to prove it. And she would have been 43 at Alice's birth.

This Mary Midworth (1853) is a woman of mystery - she declared herself a spinster on every census return, yet she actually married Ernest William Noble in 1888 at Basford Registry Office, Nottingham. She was 35 and he was 20. They are not living together on any census, but he is named executor to her will in 1926. I believe they were still married at her death, as very shortly after that he remarried.

Most of my research has had to be done online so I haven't been able to see locally available documents.  But if Alice was not a pauper's child then I wonder if there's a way of finding out who paid for her to live as a boarder with the Pickett family?

Any other good ideas?

Pat

[MargP]

Hi

Do you have a copy of her Will, which name was on her death record, and who was the informant, and you could also check the Electoral Registers

Margp

[ireneflora]

Hi MargP
Mary's will of 1926 gives her address as North Muskham, Notts, and I know she'd lived there since about 1900, initially with her father and sister Emily.
However she actually died (1928) at 29 Harcourt St, Newark on Trent - the death cert describes her as a spinster of independent means and the death was reported by a G Sellars.
Mary's will gives the address of Ernest William Noble as Thurlestone in Devon. The proceeds of her will were divided equally between Ernest Noble (who was a solicitor), the other executor Elizabeth Winter of North Muskham, and Mary's brother William Midworth.
I haven't used electoral rolls much - can I see them online somewhere? I would like to find out more about 11 Hanley St in Nottingham where Alice was born in case I can connect the occupants there to a particular Mary Midworth.
Thanks for your interest!
Pat

[CaroleW]

Hi

I wonder if there's a way of finding out who paid for her to live as a boarder with the Pickett family?

No chance whatsoever as it would have been an informal arrangement between the 2 parties

If Mary Midworth married Ernest Noble in 1888 - providing he was Alice's father - she would have been legitimate and would have been registered as Noble - not Midworth

The latest census shows Ernest as unmarried - very strange set up.  Ernest was the son of a clergyman

I haven't used electoral rolls much - can I see them online somewhere?

Not for that period - you would have to contact the Notts records office and they may look it up for you