Family History Fun: My Breakthrough Moment

DISCOVERING MY “ENGLISH“ ANCESTORS

“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 maternal grandmother Alice English (1883-1945) remained a puzzle over many decades and quickly hit the proverbial brick wall. Read on my research tale.

THE BACKGROUND Alice married my grandfather William Danson of Poulton le Fylde, Lancashire in 1907 . I had her marriage and death certificate with her age, so born

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 great reluctance to talk about her and I ended up with vague and conflicting information – was she born in Manchester, Bolton or Liverpool? - a classic family history mistake! It did occur to me that she might w, deceased) was given on her marriage certificate. Was this a fabrication for the purposes of respectability?

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.

Despite many years of hunting and using a professional researcher, I had 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 family history blog failed to elicit any positive response, and DNA provided no help.

Below is one of the few photographs of Alice. 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.

WHAT WERE THE FACTS?

My starting point for research was the marriage certificate, held by the family. - Alice married my grandfather William Danson in April 1907, at St. Chad's Church, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, when Alice was 22 i.e. born around 1884. Her father's name was given as Henry, a painter (deceased).
I was always told Alice and I shared the same birthday - September 23rd.
The family story was that Alice had moved to Poulton as a nursemaid to the Potts family - prominent Methodists whose photographs featured in books on old Poulton, attending civic functions, opening fetes etc.
Alice was confirmed at St. Chad's Church, Poulton in 1904 - I have the prayer book presented to her on that occasion.
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, a living-in domesticiI had 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 the GRO (General Register Office) and Bolton Registrar had no record of an Alice English with the details I had. The release of the 1921 census confirmed the Bolton birthplace.
The 1939 Register compiled to facilitate the issue of ID cards and ration cards in the Second World War confirmed Alice’s birthdate as 23^rd September 1884. I had hoped for more details on her birthplace but these did not feature.
Alice died 5th July 1945, so I never knew her. Her age of 60 on the death certificate again confirmed her year of birth as c. 1884.

FURTHER SEARCHES

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.

I placed many queries on various websites and message boards without much success, though Lancashire Genealogy on Facebook gave me some useful pointers; as did Curious Fox the village by village contact site for anyone researching UK family history. 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 But these avenues came to nothing.

THE DISCOVERY

In 2024 I put a query on The Facebook page of FindMyPast Family History Forum - and SUCCESS when a contributor asked if I had seen the entry for an Alice English born in the Liverpool Board of Guardians Workhouse in 1883, with the crucial fact her birthday was the same as mine – 23^rd September. Even better I was given the links to the workhouse records at Liverpool Archives, available on Find My Past. This surely was “my” Alice? So I took out a monthly subscription to FMP to access these records. The images of the entries were poor and I contacted Liverpool Archives who were very helpful with transcriptions.

Alice’s mother, Alice Ann, a pregnant single woman, aged 30, born Beverley, Yorkshire was admitted to the Workhouse from 25 Sun Street, Liverpool on 13^th September 1883 and gave birth to her daughter Alice on September 23^rd, baptised there into the Church of England the following day.

I obtained Alice’s birth certificate in a digital format from the GRO. (General Register Office) It indicated that her mother could only make her mark. The column for her father’s name was blank.

Mother and baby were discharged from the Workhouse 29^th December 1883 but, unhelpfully, without any comment indicating where they had been discharged to.

Young Alice was re-admitted on 11^th September 1890 with “May (8 months)”, but discharged the same day with the nearest relative noted as Kent Street. On 18^th September their mother Alice Ann was readmitted and discharged the next day, with the nearest relative noted as Alma Street.

There is no indication about the reasons for 7 year old Alice’s readmission but under the section ‘By whose order admitted’ . it appears to say ”Police Book” - a worrying statement.I had heard that children who were begging on the street could picked up by the police and removed to the workhouse.

It was frustrating to see that under the heading “Nearest Relative” , the answer in all the cases was not a person’s name or a relation but a street name. I have tried to find out a bit more about Sun Street, Kent Street and Alma Street and gather they were in the Dockland areanear the Royal Albert Dock. Can I assume this was a crowded, poor housing area?

Why had I failed for so long to find Alice’s birth and the name of her mother?

· I had always worked on the basis that Alice was born around 1884, given her age at marriage and death which occurred before her September birthday of that year. Though surely in my searches I had worked on the basis of a wider range for my searches?

O Once I had what I thought was confirmation of her birthplace as Bolton. I used this detail in all my searches and online queries and discounted further suggestions of Manchester and Liverpool – a big mistake!

I II doubt if, in many queries I had used the fact that we shared the same birthday - a fact which proved crucial in finding Alice.

But lots of questions remained and created further brick walls.

Why did Alice give the Bolton birthplace name on official records? What was her connection with Bolton? (Later research into her mother's life answered this question).
What were the circumstances that brought 7 year old Alice back to the Workhouse in 1890 with a reference to the police? Liverpool Archives were unable to give any help on this point.
Was 8 month old baby May her sister, admitted to the Workhouse with Alice in 1890, born around January 1890. A birth record has not yet been traced.
Alice could not be traced in the 1891 census, but an Alice Ann English (her mother) born Beverley, Yorkshire was traced to Eden’ Orphanage. Higher End, Sharples, Bolton, where she was working as a domestic servant. So here was the Bolton connection. But with no sign of her daughter young Alice.

The good news is I found some shared matched with Alice's mother on my DNA results to confirm I was on the right tracks beyond the coincidence of our birthdays. The story of my great grandmother is for another blog post.

So the story of Alice English and her mother is still ongoing. But it was a Special Occasion, when I got some answers to my long search for my grandmother.