The Mystery of Alice English’s Early Life : 52 Ancestors - Week 14

"Brick Walls" is the theme of Week 14 of the "52 Ancestors" Challenge, and there could only be one possible topic from me - the mystery of my grandmother's early life.  I have written before on my blog about my grandmother Alice English.   Here, I think is my last chance with the  large "52 Ancestors" community to hear  of any other possible ways to break through my major brick wall.

BACKGROUND

"How far back have you got?" is a standard question for family historians, and I am sorry to admit that the search for the early life of my grandmother came to a halt very quickly.

Above is one of the few photographs of Alice, with copies held by different members of the family. As she is wearing a corsage, could this have been taken on her wedding day?  A question I should have asked my mother, but didn't.

Alice died when I was a baby, and my mother and aunt were surprisingly reticent about her early life. I failed to ask the right questions at the right time, sensed a reluctance to talk about her and I ended up with vague and conflicting information - a classic family history mistake. It did occur to me that she might well have been illegitimate, but then her father's name of Henry was given on her marriage certificate. Was this a fabrication? 

Despite many years of hunting and using a professional researcher, I have been unable to trace a birth certificate for Alice to find out the name of her mother. Queries on message boards, Facebook pages, and on my blog have failed to elicit any positive responses, so I decided that it was time to review my research.  

WHAT WERE THE FACTS?

My starting point for research was the marriage certificate - Alice married my grandfather William Danson in April 1907, at St. Chad's Church, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, when Alice was 22. Her father's name was given as Henry, a painter (deceased).  I was always told Alice and I shared the same birthday - September 23rd. 

 William and Alice, 1916

The family story was that Alice had moved to Poulton (from Bolton, or was it Manchester?) as a nursemaid to the Potts family - prominent Methodists whose photographs featured in books on old Poulton, sitting on committees, opening fetes etc. Alice was confirmed at St. Chad's Church in 1904 - I have the dated prayer book presented to her on that occasion. Alice died in 1945. aged 60,  thus confirming  her year of birth as 1884. 

A long ago visit to the then St. Catherine's House, London failed to find a birth certificate with these details. Early census returns proved no help - I could not trace her in 1891. In 1901 there was an Alice A. English, born Bolton aged 17, so born c.1884, living-in domestic servants at Stockport. This could well be my grandmother, but does not help with any more information on her family.

I had to wait patiently for the release of the 1911 census to find her entry under her married name of Danson, with her birthplace given as Bolton. Yet even that did not take me further forward as Bolton Registrar had no record of an Alice English that matched. The improved search facility for BMD and parochial records online came up with a number of possibilities but none that tied in with my limited information. So more frustration! I also have had no luck in tracing a record for her father Henry English with very little to go on. The only Henry and Alice found in the census returns lived in Kent, and I traced this Alice's marriage - so no joy there. 

A further wait for the release of the 1939 National Register, where I was pleased to find that Alice's birthday of 23rd September 1884 was confirmed, but I had hoped for more details on her birthplace - but this  did not feature.

THE NEXT STEP 

I put a query on CuriousFox, the village by village contact site for anyone researching family history, genealogy and local history in the UK and Ireland. The immediate response was gratifying in number, but not particularly helpful, apart from one respondent who took on board my query with great enthusiasm and pointed me in certain directions I had not considered. 

Look at Alice's address on her marriage certificate: In 1907 she was at 7 Higher Green, Poulton which appeared to be a row of cottage, with no. 7 in 1901 the home of of William Wigan a 36 year old gas stoker with a wife and 6 children - so a crowded household. Ten years on in the 1911 census, there was no entry for no. 7. So this approach gave no clues.

Who were Alice's neighbours in 1911? One interesting factor was her next door neighbour - a Mrs Elizabeth Alice Ronson, also born in Bolton (37 miles away) and her husband was a house painter (as supposedly Alice's father). Intriguing! But no family connection could be found and there was only an 11 year age difference between Elizabeth and Alice.

The birth register for Bolton in late 1884 identified four births with the Christian names of Alice Ann. Research discounted three, leaving Alice Anne Walch.

Who was Alice Ann Walch? She doesn't turn up under that name on any censuses, marriage or death register. Who was her mother? A likely suspect was identified as a Mary Jane Walch who was, single, 19 years old in the 1881 census, a cotton spinner and living in Bolton as a boarder with her 6 months old baby Thomas. They were staying with the Lowe family and interestingly there was a daughter Alice A. Lowe aged 5 years old, so born 1876. But Mary cannot be traced thereafter. In 1891 Alice Lowe was 15 years old with a large number of lodgers in the household including a William Walch, born Ireland. The plot thickens! Neither this Alice nor William could be identified in the 1901 census.

THE CONCLUSION 

Confused? So am I!

I was very grateful for the way my Curious Fox respondent had taken up my query. She suggested that perhaps this Mary Walsh had another baby Alice who at some point changed her name from Walch, corrupted to Welsh - changed to English? It is an interesting theory, but I am sceptical. What do you think?
More recently I placed a query on the very helpful Facebook page of Genealogy Addicts UK & Worldwide Research Group - again a good response in terms of the interest shown in the mystery, but nothing positive emerged.

I later turned to the background of Alice's employers in Poulton - the Potts family. In 1901 they were living in Wales, but their children were born and baptised at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Bolton. So an interesting connection. 

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Among the family papers was this receipt paid by Alice on February 26th 1907 for: Two yards of bodice lining, hooks, silk sundries and bodice making. Was this her wedding outfit? It surely must have had sentimental value for it to be kept, and says something about Alice ?

Whatever the mystery about Alice's  past, the impression I gained from my Danson relatives was of a loving, loved wife and mother, and a respected member of the Poulton community. She became known locally as an unofficial midwife and her doctor wanted her to train professionally, but this was not possible.

Alice with her children, Edith, Kathleen (my mother), Harry & baby Billy, 1916.

It is  25 years on before another photograph of Alice  features in the family album. 


A frail looking Alice with her three daughters - Peggy, Edith and Kathleen

William and Alice at my parent's wedding in 1938.

Sadly Alice had  cataracts causing blindness - something that with today's modern medicine  can so easily be sorted - and she died in 1945.     It  would have been lovely to have known her. 

So my brick wall seems unsurmountable. Perhaps my mother and aunt were not forthcoming about their mother's past because they just did not know, or were embarrassed at what they found. 

This was an era when secrets were "best kept to ourselves".

                            Perhaps it is time to leave my brick wall to stand.

                         Based and updated from a post first published in 2012. 

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Join  Amy Johnson's Crow's Facebook Group  "Generations Cafe 
 to read posts from other bloggers taking part in
 the 2019  "52 Ancestors" Challenges