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A big thank you to everyone who has responded to my post. I am not researching for myself but for a very good friend. We have been friends for fifty four years and Irene Bristow was her mother but she was brought up by her father so knows very little about her. She did send for her mother's marriage certificate to Bernard Ralph Gilham in 1942 Surrey North Eastern but it doesn't give Irene's father's name and I couldn't find a birth for her. I wondered if the Edwards in her name was of any significance, maybe a family name. At the time she gave birth to my friend she was living in Kingston, Surrey but my friend's father was not Bernard Gilham although her mother was married to him at the time.

London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921
about Oliver John Bristow Name: Oliver John Bristow
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1860
Age: 20
Spouse Name: Eliza Blakey
Spouse Age: 18
Record Type: Marriage
Event Date: 7 Nov 1880
Parish: Stepney St Thomas
Borough: Tower Hamlets
Father Name: John Henry Bristow
Spouse Father Name: Charles John Blakey
Register Type: Parish Register



Looking at this death.......perhaps Oliver John Bristow born 1884 was the son of Oliver and Eliza...


England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915
about Oliver John Bristow Name: Oliver John Bristow
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1861
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1893
Age at Death: 32
Registration District: Whitechapel
Inferred County: London
Volume: 1c
Page: 260

sorry Reggie I sent you a reply by mistake. I am not that brilliant on the computer and didn't read your message properly so please accept my apology.

No problem, Lavinia.

Two replies are better than none!

Who witnessed the marriage to Gilham?

How old was Irene?

It was witnessed by a George, Arthur, Gilham, a builder, address given as 7, Minerva Road, Norbeton who I assume was his father. I haven't seen the marriage certificate as my friend has it but she has passed this information on to me. Unfortunately I live in Leicestershire and she lives in Newport, Gwent but we speak regularly on the phone.

The date on the marriage certificate was the 19th of April 1942 and gave Irene's age as 19 on that day. I have just spoken to my friend on the phone and she has says that she was told that Irene had other children after her but who their father was she doesn't know. Also one more piece of information is that Irene was in the ATS at Kingston Barracks. If we could find out Irene's mothers name we could maybe send for her birth certificate and that could tell us a lot more.

Don't think I mentioned that my friend was born 3 Mar 1946 at 26, Wolverton Avenue, Kingston, Surrey. The father's name was given as Frederick Gilham but this is not correct, it was in fact Frederick Jeffery.