Mystery addresses and occupation, 1920s to 1930s -- Cardiff and London

[queencorgi1]

So ... Captain Ivor Cochrane came out of the army in 1921 and thereafter appears in the electoral rolls only as living in various London addresses (1921, 1922, 1934, 1939). However, the only other traces I can find for him (from local newspapers) all relate to Wales. He is mentioned as living in Abergavenny (1922), Llandaff (1923) and Cardiff (1924) and attended a wedding and a funeral in Cardiff (1928 and 1938 respectively). What is going on? Why would he not be registered for the electoral rolls in Wales? Before the war he was working at the shipping brokers Watts & Watts in Cardiff, so it's quite reasonable that he went back there (no proof though), but if so then WHY is he on the electoral roll for London addresses? Finally it may or may not be relevant that the London addresses concerned were all ones where his mother was permanently resident. Any advice most gratefully received!!!

[jim1]

He may not have notified the Council of his change of address so will continue to appear
on the London ER's until they are notified otherwise.
He may be using his mother's address as his permanent address particularly if he's
moving around.
This is probably the address he was using while in the Army.

[queencorgi1]

Ah! That's a very good point. Thank you. I can therefore assume that he was living in Wales, I suppose.
One other point RootsChatters may like to consider is that the newspaper references all show  Ivor and his wife attending social functions at quite a high level, balls, society weddings etc, staying at a posh hotel in Bath. He didn't have a private income and his father was a colliery doctor, so I'm not sure how he's affording this comfortable lifestyle! Very frustrating.

[rosie99]

I think that sometimes you qualify for a vote on a property even if you are not resident.  It should give a qualification letter alongside his name on the register, the index of qualifications shows on the first page of each register.

[hanes teulu]

Is he the Ivor EM Cochrane, death notice in the Western Mail, 22 July 1940 - address 22 Cromer Road, Weston S Mare?,

[rosie99]

Was his mother Mary Maynet Cochrane. 

If so

1921 & 1922 have a small a (absent voter ? ) and NM for Parliamentary and O for local govt.

NM is Naval or Military Voter
O is Occupation qualifications

[hanes teulu]

If we are talking about Ivor E M and Dorothy Cochrane, Dorothy was at the Weston S Mare address in '39 while Ivor was at a London address.

[queencorgi1]

Hi there, yes to everything everyone has said. His mother was Mary Margaret Cochrane (misspelt on one of the electoral roll lists) and yes, in 1939 Dorothy was living in Weston with a lady called Susannah Partridge, a retired headmistress much older than she was. Ivor was in London, I would imagine because he was about to leave for France where he served with the BEF. He returned in February 1940 and died at 22 Cromer Road in July 1940.

I still don't understand, though, why he only appears on the London electoral rolls throughout the period 1921-1940 despite the fact that he was clearly living in Wales much of the time. The only explanation I can think of is that whatever he was doing involved moving around from one rented accommodation to another, whereas his mother was staying put in north London. If he'd been a performer of some kind one could understand it more, but as I said, he'd been a shipping clerk for a couple of years pre-war and in the army ever since.

Thanks to all contributors for showing an interest!

[jim1]

He would have been marked as absent (a) in the Rolls against his address.