My Grandma's illegitimate child

Hi, My Grandma (b. Ipswich Suffolk 1874-d. Woolwich London 1937) is supposed to have had an illegitimate child before she married my Grandad in 1902. She was in domestic service before she married. I'm using findmypast to look at birth/marriage/death registrations for my family. I cannot think of any way at all to check if this event happened or is just apocryphal. I assume any child she had had would have been given her surname and not the father's. Does anyone have any suggestions about what I could try or where I could look to locate the birth? Nobody is still alive who knew my Grandparents. Thanks for any help.

 

You could try the GRO index.

Enter your grandmother's surname and 1902 and see if any births come up without a mother's maiden name. If she has a very common name though it might be a long job unless you know roughly where she was at that time.

Or as Jan says let us see if we can help - Oh and Welcome

 

She was Agnes Sarah Garrard, Born Q2 1874 Ipswich, Sufflok.
Appears again in the 1891 Census as a Domestic Servant living in Brakespears Road, St Paul, Deptford, Greenwich, London.
Eventually married in Q4 1902
Between 1874 and 1902 I can find no other details about her. If she had a child out of wedlock it would be somewhere in this 28 year period I guess. That's quite a long time.

 

Thanks for your suggestion friend. It cannot be done on the GRO database because "Surname at Birth" is a mandatory field. I have to enter something. If I search for Surname=Garrard and Mother's Maiden Name=Garrard with birth year set to 1902 I get no matching results (Neither male nor female)

 

Sorry, I just figured out what you meant. My apologies. I'll try it and get back to you.

 

Hi Eric.

Illegitimate births weren't as uncommon as people often believe around that time. My grandma's first child was illegitimate, seven years before she married my grandad.

There was a John Garrard (no mother's maiden name given) born in Greenwich in 1901. (GRO index).

 

OK. I got 2 births with the correct surname with the birth year set as 1902 +/-2

GARRARD, JOHN -
GRO Reference: 1901 M Quarter in GREENWICH Volume 01D Page 1017

GARRARD, NELLY ELLEN -
GRO Reference: 1900 J Quarter in GREENWICH Volume 01D Page 1022

I guess the thing to do now is to see if findmypast records the Mother's Maiden Name also as Garrard for either of these 2 births. I'll have a go.

 

Thanks. Yes. I can see that one now. I'll check it.

 

You're right, Agnes Sarah seemed to be keeping her head down in the 1901 census.

Edited to add - she's still a domestic servant, Agnes S. Garrett of Ipswich.

 

Agnes in 1901 - RG13/539/69/37 - surname as Garrett
a servant at 60 Old Woolwich Road, Greenwich

 

No. 60 is a pub and it's still there. The Star and Garter.

 

If I run these 2 births -

GARRARD, JOHN -
GRO Reference: 1901 M Quarter in GREENWICH Volume 01D Page 1017

GARRARD, NELLY ELLEN -
GRO Reference: 1900 J Quarter in GREENWICH Volume 01D Page 1022

through findmypast it seems that the mother's maiden name is not recorded for either, at least on the transcription of the birth record. The image of the record contains no additional information. Does this mean that I'd have to purchase these 2 birth certificates from the GRO to find out the mother's maiden name? Is mother's maiden name always recorded for illegitimate births? Thanks for your assistance with this.

 

You can get the birth certs in PDF format, Eric (lot cheaper). What you would probably see is the mother's full details, but the box where the father's name should be would be struck through.

 

Brilliant! OK, I've got that now. Very good. I'd say that's almost certainly her. The surname has been mangled and the birth year is out by +1 but these details might have been reported by a third party perhaps. The connection with licensed victuallers is also consistent, since she married a barman, my grandfather, who had previously worked at the Yorkshire Grey (now The Garrison Public House) in Bermondsey Street and The Mechanics Arms in the High Street, Deptford (now an "African-fusion takeaway", whatever that is)

 

It's a pity her husband's army papers were so faded in connection with spouse & children as the names & ages do not show up very well - on Ancestry. They seem to be the same as on 1911 census tho. which has Agnes as 6 yrs old.
Class: RG14; Piece: 2600
Possible that a first child was named in the father's name. 1903 seems to be the first child acccording to 1911 census, unless the child died.

 

I could only find 2 baptisms for Robert and Agnes' children


Harry at St Luke Deptford




Albert at St Paul Brixton

 

Just found Agnes at St Barnabas Rotherhithe (name transcribed as Menter)