20 Laurel Road, Liverpool - accommodation address for adoptions?

[johneowens]

Thanks, Blue. Do you think 'Rosemont' Convent is the same as 20 Laurel Road? As a trained nurse earning good money in France, my gt aunt would not impecunious but likely she would want an unobstrusive place of confinement.

Best

John

[Blue70]

Thanks, Blue. Do you think 'Rosemont' Convent is the same as 20 Laurel Road? As a trained nurse earning good money in France, my gt aunt would not impecunious but likely she would want an unobstrusive place of confinement.

Best

John

No Rosemont was the former name of St Saviour's Convent off Edge Lane not far from Laurel Road. If you go back to the 1891 map from this 1950s map the property was called Rosemont:-

https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/337781/390719/13/101329


Blue

[johneowens]

OK, thanks

John

[california dreamin]

Hi all,

My curiosity peaked I started to look at what else the newspaper archives might hold for 20 Laurel Road.  I found an add from April 1914 under 'Apartments to be Let'  which reads as follows:

Accouchement - Comfortable Home for lady, before and during: mod terms.  Nurse Pierce, 20 Laurel Road, Fairfield, Liverpool.

Being unfamiliar with the term 'Accouchement' I looked it up and it is described variously on the internet, but basically ....“to be delivered of a child, to aid in delivery”.

So, it sounds like Nurse Pierce/Pearce  rented out rooms for pregnant women to live before and up to the time they gave birth.  I guess her other services went beyond if the woman was unable to keep the baby. Therefore, not a maternity home as such, but a midwife who rented out rooms and 'cared' for the expectant mothers and delivered their babies.

As a note:  A woman called Kate Pearce can be found on the 1901 census living in Liverpool and working as a nurse at the David Lewis Northern Hospital, Islington, Liverpool.  Described as single, age 32 (b. 1869) originally from Madley, Shropshire. 

In 1911, a Kate Maria 'Pierce' is living at 15 Huntley Road, Fairfield, Liverpool.  Occupation: Certified Midwife.  Industry or service:  Maternity Home.  On own account.  She says she is a widow and is enumerated  as  living with her 2 daughters, 2 sons, a male boarder, and 5 female boarders (one is 14 days old).

CD

Great stuff, CD.

All this figures. So, my great aunt was about to produce a child 4 months after getting married (and probably not really wanting to be married but social norms were such at the time). As a nurse herself, she heard about Kate Pearce through the nurses' grapevine and stayed at 20 Laurel Road during her period of confinement.

Now, of course, this does not tell us that James Roye was adopted but given my gt aunt and her husband went on to pursue their careers in separate locations thereafter, the chances are James Roye was adopted.

Great research, CD, for which many thanks.

BTW, could you please give me the references for the ad and the censuses.

Best wishes

John

John ,
The ad can be found on FindMyPast in their Newspaper section.  I simply put in the address 20 Laurel Road, Liverpool.  You can probably narrow down by date of the advert.

1901 Piece 3425 Folio 183 Page 13 District Liverpool Sub district: Islington  (Name written as Pearce)
1911 Piece 22619 District West Derby  Sub district:  West Derby Eastern (Name written as Pierce)

On Ancestry you can find Kate Maria on the Midwives Roll.  In 1910 her address is given as 15 Huntley Road, L'pool.  In 1915 her address is given as 20 Laurel Rd, L'pool

Her reg # 23186  Date of Enrolment Feb 22, 1906   Qualification:  CMB examination

James may have been adopted but if you buy his b/c there is usually a stamp on it that says 'adopted' but obviously no indication as to his new identity.  However, have you considered that he may have been placed into a 'board & care'?  This was another option.  The child was boarded out for an indeterminate time.  The birth mother (usually) paying for this

CD

[KGarrad]

James may have been adopted but if you buy his b/c there is usually a stamp on it that says 'adopted' but obviously no indication as to his new identity. 

CD

Legal adoption didn't commence (in England & Wales) until 1st January 1927 - so before that time there will be no stamps, or any other marks, to indicate an adopted child.

Some adoptions were legal affairs - in which case legal papers may still exist.
But most were informal adoptions no paperwork exists for these.

[california dreamin]

Yes, true and point taken I had forgotten James' year of birth was 1917.  However, if he had gone into a board and care there is nothing to say he was not adopted legally at a later stage.  He would only have been 10 yrs old in 1927.  Some children stayed in board and care until they were legally adults, others went to live with their mothers at other points in their childhood and some were adopted.

I would still be tempted to buy the b/c for any further clues.  Maybe John has already done this?  Sorry haven't read back through the posting.

CD

[johneowens]

Many thanks, again, CD. I’ll check out these refs when i’m on a more reliable WiFi connection.

I have James bc. No stamp. I think I may need to wait for the 1921c for confirmation on his fate. He retained his name throughout his life. He married, twice, and died with that name. He also would not have lived with his mother for more than a few weeks. She died in 1918.  Not certain her parents would have known of her pregnancy or birth.

Best wishes

John

[california dreamin]

Hi John

Thanks for the extra information.  Yes, so it sounds like 'board and care' was not an option if his birth mother died in 1918.  You had said both parents went on to pursue careers 

So if the birth mother died only months after his birth it is more than likely he was 'privately/un officially' adopted. If James did marry it would be interesting to see who he gives as his father on his marriage certificate.

CD

[johneowens]

Sorry to be so obtuse, CD. James was b the end of April 1917 in Liverpool. His mother was working as a BRC sister from June thru rest of 1917 in London. Father was serving in the army possibly in France. Next, I find her qualifying as a midwife in August 1918 in Lancashire. 4 months later she died in the “Spanish” flu pandemic is Essex.

Yes, I had same thought - checking out JR’s marriage certificate for father when he first married aged 17 in Warrington in 1935, by which time his mother’s husband/father had died. Back to the GRO.

Many thanks again.

Best

John



Many thanks for