Police in Westbourne, Queen's Park in 1900?

[AsH62]

Hi John P
The Grandad Beck blog is brilliant and I am in touch with the author. The people who have helped me here found the registration of Beatrice and Edmund being in 1901 but I got the marriage as well as the birth certificate and to my surprise it was 1901 so Beatrice was three months pregnant but married.
A

[johnP-bedford]

Yes, and sadly it didn't give much away at all. It looks as if she was born at her aunt's house in Bedford although the house number is wrong. Her father isn't there and the witness was the mother. So frustrating!

Sadly you are not giving much away AsH62.. on the birth certificate what address was she born at?, I take it that the father's name & occupation is blank, can you clarify if the mother's name was Beatrice Legg or Beatrice Beck or possibly Beatrice Legg formerly Beck; and what name did she use as informant.  It is odd that Olive Gwendoline Legg is registered in June 1900 (born 4th April 1900) but the GRO index has mother's maiden name as Beck (unless it was re-registered after the marriage?); but this is a good 8 weeks before the marriage of Edmund Legg to Beatrice Beck on 31 May 1900 . Also I cannot see how she was 3 months pregnant at the marriage as next son Bernard Douglas was not born until 5th Oct 1901.

The marriage entry is on Ancestry (care of Dorset record office) & has Edmund Legg, policeman, residence Westbourne, Bournemouth... which is most likely where he joined the police force. The fact that Olive was born in Westbourne Road, Queens Park, Bedford is a coincidence & red herring.

Cheers John     

[ShaunJ]

Have you got a copy of his police force record from https://www.hampshireconstabularyhistory.org.uk/history/family-research/  ?

Just wondered if you had applied for this. Or is that where you got "Westbourne" from ?

[AsH62]

I said I was confused!
I just wrote out what I thought I knew on the answer here and realised that I was more confused than I thought so I scrapped that and looked again !!!

OK here we go with facts. Olive was born at 60 Westbourne Road on the 4th of April 1900. Beatrice's sister was living at 64 Westbourne Road in the 1901 census.
Olive's parents were married on the 31st May 1900 in Buckland Newton so I have finally seen the light - they were married a month after she was born. Ta dah!
On Olive's birth certificate her mother Beatrice is 'Beatrice Legg formerly Beck' and she is also the informant. The father's name is given but is slightly wrong - it is Edwin George Legg not Edmund George Wills Legg. At this point I should say that the marriage didn't last and Edmund married again without worrying about a divorce from Beatrice. On that marriage certificate he changed his name a bit too.

I think you are right about the red herring and ShaunJ I didn't know about the link to the police records but will follow this up - thanks.

I have been looking at this for so long I couldn't see it any more so this is great, thank you.

Alison

[AsH62]

... and of course, she was born with her father's name despite the fact that her parents weren't married!