Mrs 'B'??

[rodc]

Hi,
Could I get a lookup please?
My grandfather, following the death of his wife appears to have taken up or toyed with a relationship with a woman who had some connection with my grandmother prior to their marriage.
He hints at her doings in a letter to my father, but does not identify her.
According to the letter, the lady died 18 Dec 1952 at St. James Hospital Balham and he refers to her as Mrs. 'B'
She ran a business in Beckenham it seems: either a laundry or bar or??
Thanks a million
Rodc
 

[groom]

Hi

This is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack as you have so little to go on. As she died in Balham, her death should be registered there, but it is a huge area. Also the fact she died on the 18th December means that the death could have been registered in either the December or March quarter. I'm not sure how you would know you had the right person anyway, unless you sent for every certificate that might fit.

Have you got anymore clues?

[Bookbox]

Death registers are not open to public access. Only the death indexes are accessible, for which you need to know the surname, and then order a death certificate. So I’m afraid no-one here can look up this death for you.

If you have no other clues or means of finding out this person’s name, you could try contacting Wandsworth Register Office, who hold the registers for Balham.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0xmf/

According to their website, they will undertake historical searches (not all London register offices will do this).

Ask them if they will search for a female, surname beginning with B, who died at St James Hospital, Balham, on that specific date (18 December 1952). They will need to look through at least five days of registrations in the death register for the sub-district that covers the hospital.

Whether or not they will do it may depend on their search policy, to what extent they are computerised, and how busy they are when they receive your query. So don’t ring on a Monday morning.

You will have to pay (1) their historical search fee, and (2) a certificate fee, if they find a matching record, whether or not it turns out to be the right one.

You will probably want to exhaust all other possibilities for finding the name of this person before trying the above.

[Sharon01]

Hi,

Have you checked the London Electoral Records to see if Mrs B and you grandfather were living together?

Sharon

[groom]

Or if your grandfather left a will, did he mention her in that?

[Chris Doran]

Local directories for Beckenham ceased in 1939 and did not restart after the war until the library produced one in 1956. Electoral rolls are not online or digitised and it's quite a large area to search manually, especially if you don't have a date, and they may not have lived in Beckenham anyway. The business might be in the 'phone book or have advertised in a newspaper, but those are also a long search and may not include the proprietor's name. You might ask on The Beckenham History Forum but be patient as it only has a small occasional readership.

[rodc]

Hi All,
Thanks for the advice and info.
I'll try the sites mentioned.
Nat. Arch. points to London Metro Archives with St.James Hosp death registers and they are sealed 100 years so 2053 at the earliest and I won't be waiting that long!
Tried some newspapers and London Gazette ie notices but zero results there.
No, they were not living together and he had no will that I know of.
He died 29-12-52 so barely had time to attend [and maybe didn't] her will reading of which he apparantly knew the content.
He wasn't in it by choice or so his letter remnant states.
She offered him a car and would have bought a flat, had he said o.k but it didn't happen.
Best guess is she was a cousin or aunt of my grandmother and he had known her since meeting his wife. Whether of the paternal or maternal side of his wife is an unknown but he states she had a nephew & niece who would inherit considerable amounts.
And that's all there is to go on.
Any other ideas are very welcome
Rodc
 
 

[groom]

If she did leave him anything in her will, as he died after her that would have gone to his heirs ie probably his children. It might be worth asking around the family to see if they remember.

If you think she could be a relative of your grandmother, the other thing you could do is trace your grandmother's extended family and see if any of the women married a man with a name starting with B - that might be quite a tedious job. However she may not even have been a relative but just a close family friend.

[rosie99]

Hi

It might be a slog but the probate indexes for this time are online.  You appear to know something about this lady you could always trawl through the B's  looking for a likely candidate.

Sorry I can't help any more with this

ADDED - I have just tried searching them with date of death only (no names or places) and the system does produce results   
It will also just give results with date and place but can't see one that fits


Rosie