Genealogy Chat

I take it you didn't get to watch the 2-part series "Love-Child" which was on recently? Options - very few: Magdalene House or equivalent, where she could have plenty of time working hard to atone for her wicked sin. [Curiously, it doesn't seem to have been all that much of a sin for the male parent.] Hand over child for adoption - under possible threat of being sectioned, for the madness of getting herself into the situation in the first place, if she didn't give up the child - that's assuming she hadn't already been "put away" for her wicked folly. High risk of being cast out by parents - or having the parents claim the child as theirs and throw the young-mum out anyway. Risk the dangers of backstreet illegal abortion. Marry the (probably unwilling) father of the child - assuming that the young parents were old enough to marry without parental consent, or that parental consent was forthcoming if teh youngsters were both willing. Christine

i have already put there names on the trying to find message boards, last year. i do have. i have the electoral register result for the house she was living in 1948 but she is not in it, but i dont know how long she was at that house, not very long by the sounds of it as the return to sender letter was returned not longer after she sent her origional letter to my grandfather, all i got was the name of the people living there at the time, which was van santen, which ties in nicely because in the letter she says she is living/working for jews and i believe van santen is a jewish name. anyway, since electoral registers are in street and house number order, it would mean going through a whole book (have you seen how thick they are?) and that could take forever.
her child was female, i have the childs birth certificate. it may be worth me looking through marriage indexes to see if she maried a few years later, i will do that next time i am at the frc, i might also look for celina's(the single mother) birth certificate and see what family and area she was born in, might give a clue if she moved back home? the mothers name was celina Handley and her daughter was sheila Handley, born ealing, london 1948.
i will keep on searching, just wondered really if there was like a single mothers 'home' they went to, or something like that, i mean i dont know what the social situation was like in 1948 for single mothers, but i suspect it wasnt one of acceptance.
thanx for your replys.

A lot of single women had children in the 1940's. The war years saw many young men trying to continue their Gene Pool before they went to battle. (Perhaps someone should tell today's young men that the war is over). The knowledge that an illegitimate child was the son of a dead war hero did much to kill prejudice at the time.

Hi Scott, Have you tried marrige records for several years after the birth, she may have gone on to meet someone and marry, that why the letter was returned to sender. Sheila It is possible that the child may have been adopted, but even in those times may women went on to marry afterwards.

Hi Scott, Several possibilities really,she could have moved to a different area,and told people she was a widow. The child you dont say whether male/female. If it was a male you have at least a name. Females sometimes marry. You could try Electoral registers for the area at that time,to see if they still lived in the area. Just a thought. regards trish

hi, i have a relative who i know had a child when she was still a young woman in 1948. the only way i know this is from the letters she sent to my grandfather at that time. i have traced the address she lived at and it has since been knocked down for flats, and although i have found the birth certificate for the child she gave birth to in 1948 i do not know the where about of her or her child, or if they are still alive.
i know that the house she lived in at the time of giving birth she was working as a domestic servant, so she says in her letters, but i would like to find out where she went next or what happened to them both. as a single young mother, what options would be open to you in 1948? i assume that things like workhouses had been abolished and since the area in question is west london i wonder what was availible to a young mum back then. she doesnt mention any family in her letters so presumabley she had nobody to help her, and i know my grandfather was unable to trace her because he had a letter return to sender addressee gone away, so she must have moved away. if anybody could give me a few tips about what i could look at, or what she could have done next, i would be very grateful.
scott