Tracing an adoption pre-1927

[lunarrose]

Hello!

I'm a newbie here, so hello

I'm looking for any information on the possible ways of tracing an adoption before the Adoption Law came into place in 1927.

My great-granddad was supposedly adopted. His name was Gilbert Howard and he was born 29/02/1892 in Doncaster, Yorkshire. His adoptive parents' last name was Thornhill (I think).

I think I may have traced his biological mother to a Frances Howard, who was born in 1862 in Whittington, Derbyshire but was a pauper / domestic servant in a workhouse in Doncaster, Yorkshire in 1881. So far, she is the closest person I've found that could be his mother, but I can only find her birth on a census & the workhouse census of 1881.

As she was a pauper in a workhouse, would the Poor Law apply to her son? I don't know where to look for records at that time, does anybody have any information?

Thank you in advance for reading this and giving any advice!

Rosy

[CaroleW]

Hi and welcome to Rootschat

Are you guessing at his mothers name or do you have a copy of Gilberts birth cert showing her name was Frances?

Births March qtr 1892   
Gilbert Howard   Doncaster    9c   724

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBP-LM4W

1901 entry

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XS8R-7NV

[avm228]

Welcome from me too, Rosy.

It looks as though the Frances Howard you found married James Williams in Sykehouse, Yorks on 17 Sep 1888 and appears as Frances Williams in 1891 and later.  She therefore does not look a good candidate for giving birth to a child with surname Howard in 1892.

How did you alight upon her? I agree that you will need Gilbert's birth certificate if you don't already have it.

It's very unlikely there will be any record of his informal adoption, though not impossible that relevant workhouse records will survive if he was fostered out from there.  However at present there is no evidence that Gilbert had anything to do with the workhouse.

[CaroleW]

The 1891 census for the Thornhill's shows Rose Frow as an adopted child

RG12 Piece 2624 Folio 81 Page 6

1871 and 1881 - no children

[Annette7]

As has been stated, there will be no formal adoption record.   

Easy dilemma to solve who his mother was (or parents) - just buy a copy of his birth certificate since he doesn't appear to have been baptised (not in any online record anyway).

You seem to be surmising he was illegitimate but it's also possible he was legitimate and one of his parents died and the other could not support him so he was 'adopted' out.   You never know.

However, a problem that is easily solved by purchasing his birth certificate.

Annette

[Dundee]

.... since he doesn't appear to have been baptised (not in any online record anyway).

Annette

Not this one very soon after birth with no parents named?

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NB52-THJ

Perhaps the mother was local and went to Doncaster to have the baby.

Debra 

[chempat]

There is (are) a tree (s) on Ancestry for Gilbert Howard Thornhill, including birth on 29th February 1892 in Doncaster.  Are you in contact with the tree owner(s)?

[Annette7]

Confess I didn't look for a baptism in Lincolnshire, only Yorkshire where he was born.

However, I notice another child - George Barnarby - was baptised in Tealby the same year, again with no parents shown, who appears to be (from census) the son of a William  and Fanny Barnaby.

Still think the birth certificate is a must.

Annette

[Deirdre784]

Interestingly, the ww1 service record attached to the online tree gives his name as Gilbert Howard and his father as William Howard (no Thornhill). His adopted father was a William but William Watson Thornhill.