Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

My father was born at 31 Circus Street Liverpool in 1900. His mother was Emily Hilborne (nee Saunders) born 1863 in Holywell, Flintshire. My father and two siblings were sent to Styal Homes in 1908 and were there until 1912. Whilst there they were told that their mother had died in a Liverpool Hospital.

I have searched many years for the registration of her death but have been unable to find it. Purely by chance I found her on the 1911 census in Salford. I know they flitted between Manchester and Liverpool. This should put her death between April 1911 and 1912.

Hilborne can be spelt many ways - on the 1901 census it was Kilburn. Please has anyone any suggestions?

Incidentally George Hilborne, my Grandfather (born Yeovil Somerset 1866) disappeared without trace after the 1901 census. My father was told he had gone to work on the Panama Canal but I take that with a pinch of salt!

Joan

The only possible Hilbourne match I can see is a few years out:-

Emily Hilbourne
Death year: 1920
Age: 51
District: Chorlton
Quarter: July/Aug/Sept
Volume: 8C
Page: 575

There's another possible the surname is a bit different but the dates are better suited:-

Emily Holbrook
Death year: 1913
Age 47
District: Chorlton
Quarter: April/May/June
Volume: 8C
Page: 1074


Blue

Thanks Blue,

The 1920 death looks the more likely. There weren't many Hilbornes in the North West so I will look into that. Given the information I had I didn't think to look as far as 1920.What I can't understand is why she deserted her children because my father and the others were fostered after they left Styal Homes and my father would have been 20 at the time of this death, but I will certainly investigate. Thanks again,

Joan.

Hi Joan

You said you have Emily on the 1911 Census so this entry below is a long shot it would only be a possible match if that entry was another Emily:-

Emily Kilburn
Death year: 1910
Quarter: Oct/Nov/Dec
Age: 46
District: Huddersfield
Volume: 9a
Page: 237


Blue

Hi Blue
The Styal Homes were built on land purchased by Chorlton Union so the Chorlton info you found looks good.

Tina

Very many thanks for your inputs. I went on to BMD UK to find the Emily Hilbourne that Blue suggested. Chorlton sounds right because the children were put in Styal Homes from there. Also when I clicked to see the transcriber's details I found it was her daughter's married name!!

Is this a coincidence or does it mean something?

Have just received the death certificate of Emily Hilbourne dated 1920 and it definitely is my missing Grandmother. Many thanks for all the inputs especially Blue. On the death certificate it states that she is the widow of George Hilbourne so I still have some mysteries to solve. Once again many thanks.

Joan Shaw.

Off topic Joan
Looking for George early on I came across a place named
Huish Episcopi in Somerset.
I'd never heard of such a place until a week ago
Tina
Panama Canal started in 1904 & finished in 1914

Hi Tina

I came across Huish Episcopi in Somerset (by the way this means land belonging to the Bishop of Wells but my George came from Yeovil according to the 1901 census.

I tried to find George Hilborne on the 1881 census which was on the Church of the Latter Day Saints at the time. Nothing until I accidentally left the US census records on the search as well as the UK one and his family suddenly appeared in the UK one. This must have been some sort of glitch because every time I left off the US census they disappeared on the UK one.

In 1891 he is in Manchester under Kilburn. He and Emily married in 1894 in Hulme Manchester. In 1901 he is in Liverpool under Kilbourne along with Emily (christened Emma) his wife, two daughters and my father Joseph aged 5 months. He knocked 6 years off his age and Emily 9 years.

From then on George disappears and it is only recently I found Emily on the 1911 census in Salford and her death thanks to this forum.

As a child my father was told that he had gone to help build the Panama Canal and the dates certainly fit, but it is the sort of thing a child is told when their father disappears and I have had no luck in that direction.

Incidentally, I can trace my mother's side back to the late 1700s. They were farmers and farmed the land where the Trafford Centre is now built. Do you think I could claim rent?

Joan

Hi Joan and thank you for explanation about place in Somerset.
Not sure about claiming back rent in Manchester!
Maybe you should look up old Lancashire Wills
Here's 1881 for the crew
George is 15 as Hilborne
cottage in Yeovil, father Mark 54, mother Sarah 45.
RG11/2392/99/1
Have you traced his siblings? Just wondering if one of them
went to Panama too?
Tina

added he's 29 in 1901 as Kilbourn bn Zeorer?? Somerset

Hi Tina

George's family seemed to fragment after their father died in 1889 but I have traced most of the brothers and only one seems to have made it to1911 - Frank in Yeovil still - with seven children.

I have searched for George's death from 1905 through to 1932 so far with no success. I am going to have another look at the Panama Canal site when I have time. I guess I should now change this topic to Missing Grandfather.

It just seems strange that I knew my maternal Grandparents so well!