Tracing my gran's history

[Highlandmac1]

So my gran is now dead and I am supporting my mum to trace her biological father - not to get in touch as he will probably be dead, and not to contact his relatives, she just wants to know a name I guess .

My gran is on the 1939 census but her name was changed from her birth name to a name never used (apart from on the birth cert of my mother)- there is a date on her line with the name change and 11.7.47 and NR 230 KBA. The same line also has her later, married name. When I try and find anything online it says the record is officially closed.

Can anyone tell me what this means? I am wondering if it is worth a visit to Kew records.

[jorose]

The 1939 register was later updated with name changes (married names but also any other a.k.a).
The note will just be from a clerk when they updated it, and to my knowledge there isn't any database for those cross-references as some are just individual scribbles. These updates were done early on relating to ID cards and ration cards etc. and then later by the NHS who kept this register up to sometime in the 1990s.

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/articles/1939-register-enumeration-districts
it looks like "KBA" might relate to Bradford district, West Riding Yorkshire. Perhaps look for any others using that surname in that district in the 1939 register? Or this might just be a cross-reference to your mum's birth or her mum's marriage later on.

[CaroleW]

Welcome to Rootschat

As your gran is now deceased - can you give us her details as we may be able to help knowing more info

Her name & surname (birth surname).
Her birthplace
Her birthdate from the 1939 entry
If she married - when & to who

[Dundee]

A change of name accompanied by the annotation ‘NR230’ denotes a change of name for a reason other than marriage.

The original declarations were destroyed when National Registration was abolished in 1952 but you can search the London, Edinburgh or Belfast Gazettes (see section 4).

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/changes-of-name/

If your mother was born around the date of the name change then it is possible that it is her father's surname.

Have you tried to locate your grandmother on electoral rolls with any of these surnames?

I am now thinking that you mean her first names were changed?  Can you clarify whether it was first or surname that was changed?

When I try and find anything online it says the record is officially closed.

What 'record' are you talking about?

Debra 

[Highlandmac1]

Thanks for your suggestions.
My gran was born Amy Pickett. Born 8 June 1920. Unsure if born in St.Helens or Bolton, but i believe St.Helens .

On that 1939 Register there is an entry of name change to Clemmett ( dated July 1947) and a ref of NR230 KBA at the side.

Clemmett is the surname my mother had at birth on her cert  yet my gran had her birth name of Pickett on my mum''s birth cert in the column for mother. Column for father is blank.

Gran married in July 1955 to Thomas T Glover. No one alive in the family knew her as Clemmett and mum has no idea who her father is which is sad.

Records for NR230 appear to be closed  until 1925