Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hello everyone.
This is my first posting on this particular site. I am trying to find some more information about my my mothers sister Alice Tunney (maiden name). She was born in Liverpool in 1914 and at some time, post second world war went to live and work in the Scarisbrick Hotel in Southport until, I think, the early sixties. She then, it seems, met a man(name unknown) who was disabled in some way and moved out of the hotel, gave up her job and went to live and care for him somewhere in Southport.
When my mother died in the late 1970's the hotel were contacted but couldn't provide any information.
I can't find her on marriages or deaths so the only other option at the moment is to try and trace her on the electoral role before she may have changed her name after possible marriage.
Does anyone know where the electoral rolls for the 1950's and sixties are kept as this may give one or two clues.
Better still is anyone in the Southport area familiar with the name?

Regards,
David

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I believe the Electoral Rolls will be held at Crosby Library, (our Education Officer will be along sometime soon and either confirm this or tell us where they are), however, they are usually searchable by address rather than name.

Have you considered posting in the Southport Visiter to see if anybody remembers her? Such an article might spark some reminiscences about and from workers at the hotel.

Thanks MaryA
I will do that. Good idea
Regards,
David

Are you sure about Alice Tunney's birth year? Do you know her mother's maiden name? Was the birth in Liverpool, West Derby or Toxteth districts? I'm struggling to find her birth index.

Blue

Southport Electoral Rolls are at Sefton Local History section, Crosby Library, Crosby. However as has been said they are not indexed so you would have to search every road for Alice.

Ther are some Southport diectories up until the mid 1970s. These listed heads of households. I'll have a quick look for Alice in these on Friday when I go to Crosby to do a Family History help desk ( held 1st and 3rd Fridays 10 - 12.30). If I have time I'll look at an Electoral roll say for 1959ish which covers the Scarisbrick Hotel.

I can't see a birth for Alice in 1914. Did she have another name?

Hello David,
Is there a typo in Alice's birth year? The only one I can find is this one:
TUNNEY, Alice
Registration district: Toxteth Park, Lancashire
Year/qtr of registration: 1904 / Apr-May-Jun
Volume no: 8B; Page no: 188.

By 1912 she had 6 siblings and her parents were Elizabeth and Hugh Tunney? Hugh died in 1910.

Have sent you a PM x 2.

try this web site for Southport

http://nmfhssouthport.myfreeforum.org/

dickiesam wrote:Hello David,
Is there a typo in Alice's birth year? The only one I can find is this one:
TUNNEY, Alice
Registration district: Toxteth Park, Lancashire
Year/qtr of registration: 1904 / Apr-May-Jun
Volume no: 8B; Page no: 188.

By 1912 she had 6 siblings and her parents were Elizabeth and Hugh Tunney? Hugh died in 1910.

Have sent you a PM x 2.

Apparently the above Alice is not the right one... So as Education Officer asked did she have another forename, because her birth isn't coming up in 1914?

There were only 2 female Tunney births in Liverpool in 1914...
Births Mar 1914: TUNNEY, Agnes - m/n Westhead - Liverpool - 8b - 219
Births Sep 1914: TUNNEY, Mary - m/n Jordan - W. Derby - 8b - 1114.

Have to ask... why are you so sure Alice was born in 1914? Do you have any documents to confirm that year? What was your maternal g.mother's maiden name? It would help narrow the search.

I think the start would be to get the maiden name from your own mother's birth certificate - perhaps let us know her name and date of birth and we may be able to discover this from the indexes.

Alice may have been a step or half sister unbeknown to descendants.

I would just like to thank Hilary for her very generous offer of help, I'm sure that help is more than many other forums would do on somebody's behalf.

We have a Southport Group as part of the Society, which holds regular meetings at Birkdale Library and also Help Desks at various locations, please see the web page http://www.southport.liverpool-genealogy.org.uk/

Bugwit hasn't replied to our postings.

I'll have a quick look as I said tomorrow but I wonder if there is any further information to help us.

Hi all,

I noticed bugwit had posted on another forum a while back and said his mother was Mary Tunney b 1912.

From FreeBMD, she looks likely to be Mary E Tunney b Q4 1912, daughter of John Tunney and Alice Downey (married Q1 1911). Alice Tunney (mother's name Downey) was registered in 1920 - wonder where the 1914 came from?

Alison xx

I haven't found any marriage that could be her so far. There's a death in Hammersmith, London, but the registration says her DoB was 13th August 1918. And this Alice might have married a Tunney....

If she was born in 1920 then she may even still be alive !

Hi everyone.
Thanks for all your input.
I apologise if I don't respond quickly but I am still in full time employment of a day and my access to a computer is limited. In the evening my wife complains that she is a genealogy widow so I try not to over do it.
Any way I have been doing a bit of digging around and foolishly I have made the assumption that the information I had been given from two different family members on hearsay was that Alice was born in 1914 but another relative did some research a few years back and says it was 1920. I will have a look on the indexes to check this.
You are correct that her father was John Tunney and her mother Alice Downey. John Tunneys father was Hugh Tunney and his mother was Elizabeth Benyon.

Aunty Alice was often spoken about by my elder brothers and sisters some of whom met her after she moved to Southport. It seems my mother and her had some kind of falling out. Unfortunately I never got to meet her although I know she was alive certainly when I was a youngster.
You are right that if she was born in 1920 and not 1914 there is a slightly better chance she is alive.
I am a little concerned that as with some other sites this forum might not be the appropriate place researching living relatives so please feel free to let me know.
Thanks once again for all your help. I can assure you it is very much appreciated.

Regards,

David

We do certainly set our sights on the past, but that's not to say that we don't have some tips for searching for living people, already recommended that you post in the local newspaper and GenesReunited is a forum that is often browsed by others looking to make connections. If any of our members are able to suggest anything else, they won't hesitate to come forward with tips.

We do however prefer to know any information that has already been found by other forums so that we don't duplicate research.

David,
I have taken the liberty of sending you another PM with a list of the 6 Alice Tunney marriages from 1938, when she would have been 18 to 2005 when access to the online GRO indexes stops.

Hi

I contacted Doug Bray who has a 1955 Southport Directory and there are no Alice Tunney's listed, it will be the man she lives with who will be listed..its a hard one to crack as we dont know his name..

xx

David,
As previously suggested the Electoral Rolls may provide clues. If Alice worked at the Scarisbrick Hotel and was live-in that could be listed as her home address. It might be possible to track her up to the year she left.

Hopefully SKP on our Southport branch of the forum may be prepared to trawl the ER for you. If you remember her there in the 1960s that would be the place to start.

My previous 'woolly' post has been amended.

As promised in my earlier post I had a look for an Alice Tunney in the electoral rolls for the Scarisbrick Hotel.

I looked in 1958 and 1962 there is no Alice Tunney listed. In 1858 there is an Alice Melia and in 1962 there is an Alice Kelleher.

I tried a couple of 1950s directories and there was no Alice Tunney listed. The 1960s directories do not have an alphabetical index just a street one.

I really feel you need to contact relatives and see if they know more about Alice maybe she was married, widowed and then remarried but at the moment I cannot see a way of proceeding.