Hi Maggsie
No, I'm trying to establish whether this is the correct birth ref for a child, youngest in a family. The Mary P birth has MMN Johnson, I see, and that doesn't fit my facts, I don't think.
In brief summary, Margaret West (1887-1936, Athlone) and William Samuels (1884, Bermondsey - 1917) had several children in Athlone, before William died in WWi.
After his death, some of the children were then apparently put into care, with just the youngest staying with the widowed mother.
However, in 1925 another child was born, and this child Hilda was always considered part of the family, and when she married she called herself Hilda Samuels and quoted William Samuels (dec'd) as her father. It does not seem to have occurred to (or been seriously considered by) either her or the other siblings that she cannot have been William's child.
In an effort to try and discover whether Hilda was the illegitimate daughter of Margaret West, or - possibly - the child of someone else, I wanted to check if this was the correct birth ref and who her parents were stated to be.
Margaret West Samuels was a very well thought-of Catholic widow, and it would seem very unlikely for her to have an illegitimate child in the social circumstances in which she found herself.
It had occurred to me that Hilda might have been the child of Margaret's eldest daughter, Eileen Elizabeth Samuels (1910-?1980), who would have been 15 at the time of the birth, but if this is the case, why would the registration be in the name West? Even if the child could not be that of William Samuels, Margaret's name was still Samuels and not West, as was her daughter Eileen's.
I haven't as yet been able to find more details of Margaret West's family - it could be, of course, that the child Hilda was born to one of her siblings - but the birth reg may give me more to work with.
Just in case anyone can help with the West family, these are the details I have:
Margaret West 4/8/1887 Athlone
married 28/5/1904 St Mary's Athlone to William Samuels, a soldier
Fathers Edward West (labourer), John Samuels (salesman)
the children to the West/Samuels marriage were
Mary Hilda 1908-1916
Eileen Elizabeth 1910-?1980, married William John Parks
John Joseph 1912-?. married Jessie Lavin
Edward Victor 1914-?
William Frederick 1916-?, married Agnes Colgan
and of course
Hilda West?Samuels? 1925-1957
Hilda West?Samuels? married my great uncle Henry Albert Pay.
Whilst this post was really just to get advice about obtaining a birth certificate, any ideas anyone has are very welcome.
Thank you for reading.
PS I have ordered the cert with Sinann's kind help/advice
