Author Topic: 1911 Census Entry in St Elizabeth Home, Green Street, London  (Read 1710 times)

Offline ARBELLA

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1911 Census Entry in St Elizabeth Home, Green Street, London
« on: Friday 09 July 21 00:07 BST (UK) »
I have found an entry for a distant relative in the 1911 Census. (I believe I have identified her correctly because the birth village and the birth year in this entry match hers. There is only one birth listed under her name for her birth year in her very small English village, according to my search of parish records in findmypast.co.uk.)         

 In the 1911 Census, my relative is 'Single' and an 'Inmate' in an institution described as St Elizabeth Home, Green Street, Upton Park E.  I gather that this is a Church of England institution for unmarried mothers, so I assume that my relative was pregnant in 1911. I've also found out from later research that there were 3 premises in Howards Road, London, where unmarried mothers could give birth.

 My searches of birth records on Ancestry and Findmypast under her surname, and quoting her name as mother, have not produced any records which I am confident are for her child. Unfortunately, she has a very common surname and reasonably common first names.

 I would be very grateful, please, if anyone could suggest how I could trace birth details of my relative's child, (who would have been born in 1911 or 1912) and any other records of their life. I have a subscription to Ancestry and would be prepared to pay for a birth certificate etc. Thank you for your time!

Offline jim1

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Re: 1911 Census Entry in St Elizabeth Home, Green Street, London
« Reply #1 on: Friday 09 July 21 10:51 BST (UK) »
As this was before formal adoption it's possible he/she was
registered in the adoptive family's name assuming he/she was
adopted of course.
As she was there for the 1911 census the birth would be April/May that year.
Warks:Ashford;Cadby;Clarke;Clifford;Cooke Copage;Easthope;
Edmonds;Felton;Colledge;Lutwyche;Mander(s);May;Poole;Withers.
Staffs.Edmonds;Addison;Duffield;Webb;Fisher;Archer
Salop:Easthope,Eddowes,Hoorde,Oteley,Vernon,Talbot,De Neville.
Notts.Clarke;Redfearne;Treece.
Som.May;Perriman;Cox
India Kane;Felton;Cadby
London.Haysom.
Lancs.Gay.
Worcs.Coley;Mander;Sawyer.
Kings of Wessex & Scotland
Census information is Crown copyright,from
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Offline louisa maud

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Re: 1911 Census Entry in St Elizabeth Home, Green Street, London
« Reply #2 on: Friday 09 July 21 14:59 BST (UK) »
As you aren't sure what date a child was born have you looked to see if there are any babies under the same surname in the  home, which  might fit,  would have to have been born before census was taken as Jim quoted

Have you any idea when the mother died?

Louisa Maud
Census information is Crown Copyright,
from  www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Granath Sweden and London
Garner, Marylebone Paddington  Northolt Ilford
Garner, Devon
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Southam Marylebone, Paddington
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Offline ARBELLA

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Re: 1911 Census Entry in St Elizabeth Home, Green Street, London
« Reply #3 on: Friday 09 July 21 17:05 BST (UK) »
Thank you, Jim, for your very helpful reply. The date is most useful, as is the information about the lack of legal adoption in 1911! I'm very grateful.


Offline ARBELLA

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Re: 1911 Census Entry in St Elizabeth Home, Green Street, London
« Reply #4 on: Friday 09 July 21 17:24 BST (UK) »
Thank you, Louisa Maud, for your excellent suggestion. There were indeed some children in St Elizabeth Home. I have re-checked them all, carefully. Fortunately, the handwriting is quite clear. Sadly, none of the children's surnames matches my relative's, or is at all similar. Interestingly, the birthplaces recorded for the children are very varied, and most are outside London.

                           I do know the date of my relative's death, which was in the 1980s. I should perhaps explain that, although we are not close blood relations, three generations of my family kept in touch with her, and certainly for the last 4 decades of her life, visited regularly. This relative married once, in middle age. There were no children of that marriage. Of course, there is no one left alive who would have known her in 1911, and my parents' generation are dead. The younger generation who are in touch with me had no knowledge of what this relative was doing in 1911, or in the period when she became pregnant. She is likely to have been a domestic servant, (as her sisters were) probably in the London area.   Thank you for your time - much appreciated! Any further suggestions you may have will be very gratefully received!

Offline jonw65

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Re: 1911 Census Entry in St Elizabeth Home, Green Street, London
« Reply #5 on: Friday 09 July 21 18:03 BST (UK) »
My searches of birth records on Ancestry and Findmypast under her surname, and quoting her name as mother, have not produced any records which I am confident are for her child. Unfortunately, she has a very common surname and reasonably common first names.

Welcome to Rootschat!
Don't forget that maiden surnames of mothers were only given from Sep qtr 1911 in the old GRO index.
So if she had a child born just after the census was taken, and registered, as Jim has suggested, in the June quarter, you need the new GRO birth index on their website (free, need to register)
Illegitimate births are indicated by a dash for mother's maiden surname
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/login.asp

You could also look for a baptism
As a possible example
There is an Esther Williams, 22, born Suffolk Fornham St Martin, at the St Elizabeth Home.
Free index
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XWF7-4DJ

And there is a baptism at St Andrew Plaistow, 28 June 1911, indexed on ancestry
Claud Wilfred Williams
born 20 April 1911
mother Esther May Williams

New GRO birth index
WILLIAMS, CLAUDE  WILFRED     
Mother's Maiden Surname: — 
GRO Reference: 1911  J Quarter in WEST HAM  Volume 04A  Page 110  Occasional Copy: A

Offline jonw65

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Re: 1911 Census Entry in St Elizabeth Home, Green Street, London
« Reply #6 on: Friday 09 July 21 18:43 BST (UK) »
As a possible example
There is an Esther Williams, 22, born Suffolk Fornham St Martin, at the St Elizabeth home.

For a bit of a cross reference, there was also a Beatrice Reed, 22.

And another baptism at St Andrew Plaistow, a week before that of Claud(e)
21 June 1911
Iris Mabel Reed
born 25 April 1911
mother Beatrice Reed

Birth registration has the same GRO ref
REED, IRIS  MABEL     
Mother's Maiden Surname: — 
GRO Reference: 1911  J Quarter in WEST HAM  Volume 04A  Page 110

Both baptisms indexed on FamilySearch, minus the name of the church (but is St Andrew*)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WMP2-BP6Z

* https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/452509

Offline jonw65

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Re: 1911 Census Entry in St Elizabeth Home, Green Street, London
« Reply #7 on: Friday 09 July 21 21:45 BST (UK) »
I have a subscription to Ancestry and would be prepared to pay for a birth certificate etc.

Not from them! £24.99 versus £7 for a digital pdf or £11 for a paper copy from the GRO.

Offline jonw65

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Re: 1911 Census Entry in St Elizabeth Home, Green Street, London
« Reply #8 on: Friday 09 July 21 23:46 BST (UK) »
St Elizabeth Home, Green Street, Upton Park E.  I gather that this is a Church of England institution for unmarried mothers

I've also found out from later research that there were 3 premises in Howards Road, London, where unmarried mothers could give birth.

Echoes in an old Rootschat thread
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=538722.0

Edward Cyril Childs

When and where born: 18th Feb 1910, 26 Howards Road

No entries for the father

Name, Surname and Maiden Name of Mother

Caroline Childs a Domestic Servant of 12 Quarry Street Guildford

Signature, Description and Residence of Informant

C. Childs, Mother, St Elizabeth's Home, Green Street, Upton Park

And we have
Baptism at St Andrew Plaistow, 20 April 1910
Edward Cyril Childs
Born 18 Feb 1910
Mother Caroline Childs