And finally here is some more info on John Fowler Ross who Gertrude Married...
Get the popcorn out for this one! 😂
Well around 11 years ago I had a little breakthrough and managed to find the son of John Fowler Ross. I managed to find him through a relative of Gertrude's brother Sydney whose descendant somehow found him on ancestry. It turns out John Fowler Ross joined the army in 1926 and was away serving with the Royal Scots in Egypt, India China during the time my dad was conceived and born. More reason for me to think that he was illegitimate.
I have his some of his service books passed on to me. He came out of the Army in 1933 and signed up again in 1939. No idea where he was during the time in-between but when he signed up in 1939 he was living at the King's Arms Hotel in Wood Street in Swindon. Then I found a newspaper article of 1939 which mentions court dispute between a John Fowler Ross and a Mary Ivy Ross over a child. John had no made child payments and Mary was stopping John from seeing the child saying he was unfit. I wish I knew how to post pictures on here, else I would post the article! I will endeavour to at a future date! 😂
Now to give you a bit of context, John Fowler Ross’s son remembers his dad saying he was “sorely wronged” and saying regular prayers for Patricia. Low and behold I researched the child of this pair and she’s called Patricia. Born 1935. Her mum (Mary Ivy Ross Nee Hill) then remarried a Mr Bigg in 1942. It seems Patricia took on his name and dropped the “Ross”. She went on to marry George W Phillips in 1953. She died in 2001. Haven’t managed to find any children from their marriage yet. I have ordered the marriage certificate of John Ross and Mary Ivy Hill to see if this is indeed him. We'll see!
After the war John Fowler Ross turns up in Dukinfield, Cheshire and meets Sarah Battersby (Nee Pickersgill). They had two children together. The pair then split up when J was very young. J remembers his dad as a nasty man. Unfortunately John's mum died when he was only very young and he had to go and live with his dad which was a very miserable time for him. John Fowler Ross went on to marry a woman called Nellie Twigg but was only married to her a few months before they slplit acrimoniously! J remembers him whispering to her in the kitchen saying that he might be committing bigamy if he married her. At first we both thought this would be in reference to his marriage with Gertrude but it could indeed be his marriage to Mary. Will have to find out on that one!
So not complicated AT ALL!! 😂😂😂 Have you had enough yet!! 😂😂
