WEAR, John Harold born 7 August 1900

[Bitzer1]

Many thanks for the posts.  Given the possible adoption, it would not surprise me if the parents were not married.  I suspect proving a link will be difficult.  The 1901 census has no occupancy at 2 Browne Road, Fulwell, Sunderland.

I checked a list of Wesleyan Methodist ministers and found John Alfred Needham born 26 July 1901 Hartlepool; ordained 1929; died 23 December 1971 Scunthorpe.

I could not find a birth reg. for John Alfred Needham in Hartlepool or find him in the 1901 and 1911 census.

The 1911 census has this for Needham in Hartlepool: no John Alfred Needham, but a Elizabeth Needham born in Scotland:

John Needham Head Male 54 Hartlepool, Durham
Elizabeth Needham Wife Female 43 Scotland Resident
John Thomas Needham Son Male 21 Hartlepool, Durham
Mathew L W Needham Son Male 12 Middleton, Durham
Elizabeth Needham Daughter Female 10 Middleton, Durham
Joan Needham Daughter Female 8 Middleton, Durham
Thomas Foster Boarder Male 48 Hartlepool, Durham
John N Foster Boarder Male 14 Hartlepool, Durham

[WolfieSmith]

There is this Joseph Alfred Needham and family in Seaton Carew in 1911 on Familysearch. Hope the link works. Joseph Alfred Needham, b. 26 July 1901, Hartlepool, is on a list of Wesleyan Methodist Ministers.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XWHN-3CV

I wonder if the Arthur Needham, Boarder, age 10, b. Fulwell is your man. He's not with them in 1901.

Alan.

[WolfieSmith]

There is a John Harold Wear on the Electoral Register for 9 Argyle Street Newcastle from 1925 to 1926, along with a Benjamin and Margaret Wear. From 1925 to 1929 he's also on the absent voters list at that address, based at RAF Eastchurch, Sheernesss, Kent. His Service number 239935 is the same as on the boy mechanic records. The date of birth on the boy mechanic records is 7 August 1900, Monkwearmouth, so its the right chap.

Benjamin and Margaret Wear continued living 9 Argyle Street into the 1950's. In 1939 Benjamin says he's a House Agent, born 27 Dec 1889, Margaret born 23 Jan 1876. Both are down as single. Benjamin Wear appears to be the son of John Wear and Sarah Ramshaw, born South Shields. He has an older sister Margaret, born South Sheilds about 1876. Margaret Weir in 1881 census.

A family tree on Ancestry has this Margaret Wear also being the one with the Glen Family in South Shields in 1901, then living with her brother Benjamin at 9 Argyle Street, dying in Newcastle in 1952.

Alan.

[Bitzer1]

Many thanks Alan.  I am immensely grateful.  The service number 239935 is definitely correct. 

I see that Margaret Wear appears aged 35, born in South Shields, in the 1911 census as "companion" to 84 year old Sarah Proctor, another mystery, but the source  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XWM4-BH8 does not provide the street address. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to Ancestry, so I cannot check the family tree there for Margaret Wear, or contact its owner. 

Many thanks too for the link to Arthur Needham, who does seem a likely candidate for John Harold Wear. 

I have an undated photograph of the man I believe to be the Wesleyan Methodist minister (possibly Joseph Alfred Needham), posed sitting down and holding an opened book, presumably the Bible.  He is dressed in a style that fits the 1920s/1930s.  An ordination photo from 1929 perhaps.  In a more informal photo, he appears to be with his wife and their baby.

The Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History at Oxford Brookes University has a collection of photographs of Wesleyan Methodist ministers, but it is closed for the lockdown.   I'm sure trying to identify people in old photos is a common problem.     

I have not be able to find anything about John Harold Wear's uncle Thomas Hall Reed or to connect him to the Wears you have discovered.

[Jomot]

A very outside possibility for Thomas Hall Reed is Thomas Hall REA born 1891, who in 1911 is at an address in Elswick, close to the Elswick Shipyard on the Tyne.  His service record is online and gives the same street address.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XWM4-84V

I can't see any obvious connection to John Harold Wear though.

[Bitzer1]

Thanks Jomot.

Probate records confirm that Margaret Wear died 12 June 1952 and Benjamin Wear 13 January 1954, both resident at 9 Campbell Street, Newcastle upon Tyne.  I will apply for their wills.

Joseph Alfred Needham married Nellie Hunter in Hartlepool in 1933, and they had a daughter Sheelagh in 1934.  These might be the people in the photograph I have. 

[WolfieSmith]

Thomas Hall Reed is a bit of a mystery.

John obviously knew his birth name on enlistment, but I assume was not in contact with his mothers family at that time, or why not put his mother down as next of kin.

I thought maybe the 1911 Seaton Carew Needhams had died and Thomas Hall Reed was a relative of theirs (assuming they are the right family) but I can't see a connection, their relatives are all from Yorkshire and South Durham. Plus they are alive long after he enlisted.

An Arthur and Mary Needham are on the Electoral Roll at 7 Railway Cottages, Blackhall, from 1920 to 1931. A Joseph Needham briefly appears with them from 1923 to 1924.

There is a Railway Union Record for Arthur Needham, Plate Layer, joined West Hartlepool branch. 26/9/13. Retired 15/1/36. Transferred to Glasgow branch in November 1946. Died 24/6/1949. Scotlands People has a death of an Arthur Needham age 78 in Partick in 1949.

I wonder if Thomas Hall Reed was a relative of Johns father.

Alan.

[Bitzer1]

Thanks Alan.

Searching under Hall Reed, there are many in the area, but I have not found a Thomas Hall Reed.

Apparently, John Harold Wear's adopted mother was Scottish but that has not appeared in the information discovered so far. 

I have not found a likely candidate for Edward Wear (engine fitter, journeyman), the father's name given by the mother Margaret Wear who registered the birth.   I had wondered whether Edward Wear was a fictitious name but that seems an unlikely choice when the mother gives her name as formerly Wear too.  There was an Edward Wear christened in the Newcastle area in 1864 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPHP-1NXQ   Yet in the 1871 and 1881 census returns, he and his family are listed as Wears, not Wear.

It's probably a red herring as I can find no connection between the two families, but the maiden name of the Scottish born mother, Elizabeth Needham, I found in another Hartlepool Needham family in the 1911 census, was Reid.

[Bitzer1]

I am still having no luck finding Thomas Hall Reed, the uncle of John Harold Wear.  However, I have discovered that Edward Hall Reed was a witness at the weddings of the sisters of Margaret Wear (John Harold Wear's mother): Isabella Wear in 1906 and Barbara Wear in 1907.  Both weddings were held in St. Michael's Church, South Shields.  Margaret Wear died a spinster in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1952 and makes no mention of her son, or other relatives (except her brother Benjamin), in her will.  Any help in tracing Thomas Hall Reed would be much appreciated.