Hi all
So pleased to catch up with everyone again and my continuing family saga
Thank you so much to Boo, JenB and Jomot for looking into things again - I agree completely re the 1921 census, it is quite easy to confirm you have the right record if you have most of the info that should be on it. I have found using the advanced name search and adding an address here is particularly useful. I have found quite a few transcription errors that took a bit of fathoming out, for example my GGrandfather Antonio was transcribed as Andrew
I have spent a small fortune to date though as I have to know what the documents say! You are all correct and James is in Tynemouth Union in 1921, along with two of his women and two of his children, both called John!
I have recently been in contact with one of James (or George Matthews) and Lily Macauley/Matthews grandchildren. Her mother is one of their four children and she confirmed that all four of the children were taken into care after James left Lily
She has told me she has a photograph and I am very hopeful I will get to see it. I have directed her to this thread and my Ancestry tree so she can discover all about the family.
I also came across a John Battista in a lodging house on Clive Street, North Shields in 1921 ran by the Rando's, family friends of the Battista's. The entire Battista family was lodging with the Rando's in Bird Street, Tynemouth on the 1891 in fact, plus the Rando's are godparents to Pasqualino's first born Loreto. His age is completely odd though for either Giovanni or Pasqualino and he is supposedly Portuguese (same as the man noted below him lol, see picture). I don't however think this is Giovanni, although it isn't impossible, I think this is Pasqualino as I haven't been able to find him anywhere as yet. He would have been in the Navy so I need to check his service record to see which ship he was on and see if he's there to rule him out. I am wondering though if the military were recorded on the census as in 1911 given 1921 was so close to the end of the war.
Finally a huge thank you (and congrats on marquessate status!) to RTL! As always above and beyond, couldn't have gotten half as far through this mystery without you
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