To jon65w and all the kind experts who replied to my queries about the 1911 Census entry for a distant relative. A young single woman, she was an 'Inmate' in St Elizabeth Home, Green Street, London, described on the Census entry as a 'Maternity Rescue Home'. Thanks to your ingenious help, I did find more information about her child. It is indeed a sad story, but one which was important to me to discover fully, and which may be of interest to other searchers.
Thanks to the excellent advice to look for records in Essex, and to search the General Records Office, I now have copies of the birth certificate, baptism record and death certificate of my relative's small son. He was born, in January 1911, at 26 Howards Road, the house used for births for the women from the (Church-run) St Elizabeth Home. He was christened at a local church at the beginning of February, but died three days later at the house in Howards Road. He had lived for 13 days,
There are just a few questions which remain from these discoveries. I would very much welcome your thoughts - which may, again, be very helpful to other researchers.
It was obviously very risky to take a very young, perhaps already very sick, baby to a church, in February, for baptism. Apart from general religious faith, were there any particular reasons why those responsible for this child might have wanted to have him christened? For example, did he have to be baptised to be eligible for burial in consecrated ground?
The cause of the child's death is given, on the death certificate, as 'asthenia'. This is an unfamiliar term to me. I gather that it can mean 'general weakness'. Does anyone, please, have any comments on the use of this term on the death certificate of a very young baby in an institution in 1911?
I am sure that the Census experts amongst you have spotted a fact which jim1 helpfully drew to my attention. The date of the 1911 Census was, I believe, 2 April 1911. When I first saw the entry for my relative, I assumed that she was pregnant in April 1911 and was in St Elizabeth Home waiting to have the child. I now know that her child had been born in January 1911, and had died roughly two months before the Census.
But its mother, my relative was still living in the home in early April. I can only guess the reasons: illness, mental or physical; a family (outside London) who might not want her back at this time; no job to go to (the death certificate reveals that she had been 'a domestic servant'). Does anyone know, please, what the usual length of stay in a Church Maternity Rescue home would have been, in 1911, for a woman who had already given birth? And does anyone know, please, what the usual fate was for the babies born in such a home? Were they always given up by their mothers e.g. for private adoption?
Thank you very much for your time! The documents found through your help explain much about someone I did know, in her resilient old age. They throw a sharp light on the world in which she found herself, as an isolated young woman. I look forward gratefully to any further comments you may have.
