Noel Cavanagh Brickwall

[Unionjacx]

I've hit a (finding family) wall and not sure where to now look.

Any form of help/advice/new perspective/logic thrown in my direction would be gratefully received.

What I have so far:

His name is Noel Cavanagh (we have looked at all spelling/versions ) and he is the biological father of my mother and her brother, now although he never married my grandmother, she occasionally took his name including on the birth certificate of my mum and uncle and also their baptism records.
We believe him to have been born prior to 1918 but not sure where.
They lived in 11 Wren Street, Everton,Liverpool when my mum and uncle where born.
We have looked through all the Kelly's records and have found records only of my grandmother for a few of the years she lived there. Once she left him, his name appears as Noel Kavanagh appears on the Kelly's records however when we checked the electoral registers for the same years, a Noel Galvani appears instead.
Wren street was then bulldozed and the same year Noel Kavanagh went missing in Kelly's, a Noel Kavanagh reappeared in Belair Avenue in little Crosby. We actively pursued this contact including a knock on the door of the people who now live and also bought the property directly off the Noel Kavanagh who lived there but it seems implausible that it's 'our' Noel given all that we have since learnt.
We have also pursued Noel Galvani and even though the age and subsequent death could be a candidate, the name is soooooo different that we haven't taken it any further.
I've checked births deaths and marriages
I've checked all passenger lists from 1890 to 1920 from Ireland and from 1947 to 1995 from the uk to multiple destinations
I've checked all birth records on ancestry, find my past and two others that I can't remember at the moment...

Good people, it's over to you... Please help/guide this novice.. Any info most welcome

Many thanks

Jx

[Annie65115]

Hello, and welcome to Rootschat.

We can't talk about living people - as far as you know, has Noel died? What about your mum and uncle?

Have you found them on the 1939 register? There is a possible match (on the name, without any other details I don't know if anything else would match) in Bootle. This has been poorly transcribed btw!

[Unionjacx]

Thanks for replying and for the welcome 

We assume/presume he's not alive and yes, I have a feeling the 1939 register in Bootle has been noted but I will go and have another look.

My mum and uncle are both alive and kicking but they were aged 2 and 4 when they left Noel. That was the last contact and he's not been seen or heard from again since.

[Annie65115]

If your granny has passed away, can you give her name please?

[Unionjacx]

Granny's name was Margaret Emma Berry

😊

[Blue70]

Without naming names can you give us more detail about the years concerned? Years of birth of Mum and Uncle, what years at what address and the source ie electoral roll or directory. The Noel Galvani mentioned died in West Lancs in 1985 and there are two matching marriages one in 1929 in West Derby registration district and one in Bootle in 1963. There are at least 5 children born from the first marriage births ranging from 1931-1944.


Blue

[Annie65115]

As you say, there is a marriage for the Bootle Noel Galvani, and the woman with whom he's living in 1939 (presumably his wife) doesn't have the correct name to match the OPs granny.

So either this is the wrong Noel -- or another possibility which can't at the moment be ruled out is that he had 2 families, one with his wife and one with the OPs granny.

OP, do you know if they lived together as a family or was it more your granny's home and he visiting?

Another question -- do you have your mum's birth certificate, is he named on it and if so, what is his occupation? Does your mum actually have 2 birth registrations, one with her father's surname and one with her mother's?

(edited to add - I think I have found your mother's birth, was she born in 1943? What year was your uncle born?)

Further edited - now this is interesting and may be relevant. Noel Galvani's wife Mabel appears to have remarried in 1952; but Noel appears to have died in 1985 (from freeBMD and ancestry). Mabel could only have legally remarried if she and Noel had divorced. I think that divorce papers from post - WW2 years are difficult to find but I would think it worthwhile having a look!

[dawnsh]

You can ask HMCTS to search for a decree absolute, it costs for £65 for a 10 year search. If there is an entry, you'll get a copy of the decree absolute but all that will be is an a4 sheet of paper, with the names of the couple, date and place of the marriage and the date the decree nisi was made absolute.
There won't be any case files.

https://www.gov.uk/copy-decree-absolute-final-order

[Unionjacx]

Thank you all for all your input/info/attention. So very grateful,

We are not sure if Noel lived with the family at the same time although he had to have some imput .. Lol..

I've sat with hundreds of records in Liverpool libraries and my biggest conundrum is how reliable Kelly's were in comparison to the electoral roll. Noel Kavanagh was found when Ms Cavanagh left the premises according to Kelly's records for a number of years after Ms Cavanagh left. She definitely did not marry him but took his name for obvious reasons... However, the electoral records show a different name - Galvani.. Is it really worth pursuing Galvani given that the name is soooo different?!?

 Cavanagh is what is documented on both birth certificates and a job of 'self employed' or acetylene welder (shipyard) has been written (yes, I've been to the maritime records and nothing is listed under his name or job description anywhere including all shipyards in the area or with any trade unions).

As I say, we don't know a great deal about Noel other than he was older than Ms C. We know he lived in wren street during 1942 (at least) to 1949.. we know that he fathered two offspring with Ms C. We know that he baptized his offspring in a Church of England church so we can assume/presume he may not have been Catholic although as they weren't married, this may have been a problem.

We know that wren street has gone but don't know exactly when.

I have looked briefly at Galvani but it's so different from Cavanagh that I'm worried that I want to make it fit when it's probably a different family entirely.

The decree absolute isn't necessary I don't think. It's almost definite that they were not married, but I do appreciate the suggestion. Thank you 😊

Again, thank you all so much for your input.

I have fingers and toes crossed that something new turns up soon... And of course I'm always still very much open to any more suggestions from you 😊