1921 census Helen Beattie M with adopted daughter BA?

[bbeattie]

My grandaunt is listed as M married but she's using her maiden name and has a daughter Helen Beattie BA meaning adopted with both parents alive.  I understand the adopted daughter has both parents still alive but why would my grandaunt be listed as married while still using her maiden name?

[KGarrad]

Perhaps she married a man with the same surname?

[Milliepede]

Maybe so her surname matched with Helen. 

What surname did she have when she passed away?

[bbeattie]

Perhaps she married a man with the same surname?

That's a possibility.  The husband/father or whoever he is, is not in the census...just Helen and her 7-yr-old daughter Helen.

I was given a photo of her from a niece in 1987.  Her image had been cut out from whoever else was in the original photo, so the husband may have left her and she kept her maiden name as well as giving the adopted daughter her maiden name??

This is the last record I can find on her...she was in her 40th year in 1921.

[Jebber]

Unless you know for sure who Helen’s parents were, it quite possible that Helen was her illegitimate daughter and she was concealing the fact. Something that was frequently done.

[bbeattie]

Unless you know for sure who Helen’s parents were, it quite possible that Helen was her illegitimate daughter and she was concealing the fact. Something that was frequently done.

I think this is most likely.  My grandaunt Helen was born illegitimate with parents marrying the following year.

[Milliepede]

When was Helen junior born? ** You could look for a birth for her under Beattie surname to check. 

** Sorry you said she was 7 in 1921 so born c1914

[Girl Guide]

Have you made any attempt to find either of the Helens in the 1939 Register?  You give no indication as to where both Helens were born.

[Milliepede]

Yes I am struggling a bit as don't know which area we are talking about. 

Is it Scotland?