Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hi there my father was born in West Derby on 19/02/1921. His birth name was Alan Conner. He was taken in and raised by the Bruces. His name became James Alan Andrew Connor Bruce. His step father died early (not sure when) and he was brought up by his step mother at 81 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool. We think it was a small hotel at the time and she worked there. Anyway he was not formally adopted until the start of WW2 when he needed documents to join the Merchant Navy. In researching his war experiences I decided to try and find his origin. So now I am looking for any Conners that were in West Derby at the time of his birth. We think his mother was only young maybe 14 (that is what we have been told). I have applied for his birth certificate and am hoping for some joy there. Here's hoping.
Caroline Duck

Hi and welcome to the forum.

As you may be aware there would have been no formal adoption at that date as it didn't become legal until 1927.

It will be very difficult without a mother's name to attempt to find her at that date since if your suspicions are correct she wouldn't have been born until after the latest available census.

Without the certificate how do you know that the mother was living in West Derby. I'm suspecting that you have taken the registration district of "West Derby" as the place she was living. Here is a link to the Civil Parishes that were covered by this registration district http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/dist ... derby.html

Once you have received the birth certificate giving mother's name, address and name of person who registered the birth, we may be able to give some suggestions, in the meantime you may like to look at some of the tips we have collected for this kind of query. http://forum.liverpool-genealogy.org.uk ... =14&t=8154

Not sure where this fits in to the story but with such an unusual combination of names I found this https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/T ... cc=1923888
Would this be relevant to your man ? If so then the birthplace appears to be Walton ?

Is the variance you have given in the surname Conner/Connor a typo or exact ?
As Mary has mentioned already your search may prove difficult because in historical terms everything you will be looking for is less than 100 yrs old and is bound by privacy rules.
It might prove helpful if you can give detail of his marriage and spouse to check back from ?
Incidentally, the address is indeed for the Mount Pleasant Hotel which featured largely in the movie "Letter to Brezhnev" back in the 80's and has been there since Adam was a lad ?

Good find Vic the birthplace of Walton suggests he might have been born at Walton Workhouse/hospital as I said on Roots Chat.

Enquiry responses on Roots Chat:-

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=717102.0


Blue

Thank you both for the quick response. Firstly In reply to why I think the mother was living in West Derby, you were right that was where the birth was registered so I was guessing. Secondly he was born Conner but his name was changed to Connor and yes he was on the Hickory Stream. It was his last boat at the end of WW2 and he came out to Australia on it, but I have never seen that piece of information before. He met my mother in Australia during shore leave in 1942 and they corresponded throughout the war and after the war ended, he emigrated to Australia and married my mother. Unfortunately he never returned to England as his step mother died right at the end of the war and all his friends had been killed during the war and so he felt he wanted a new start in Australia. I have been researching his war years and have decided to see if I can find who his real mother was. He was never told anything really except that they thought she was only 14 at the time. He also was never told how his step parents came to have him as well. It has been very interesting doing this research so I can't wait until I get the birth certificate to see if it sheds anymore light on who the mysterious lady was. Also thanks Blue yes I will look into the Walton workhouse as I said it does make sense.

Hi Caroline

Please do let us know what the certificate says.. I have Connor family in my tree of about the same time, and there is also a tale to tell there which I won't post here

We may have a connection.. or not

Simone x

That sounds interesting. I'll certainly let you know. I'm not sure how long it takes to get the certificate I applied for it about a week ago so I'm guessing with Easter and having to get sent to Australia it will take about 3 weeks?

A brief factual history of his ship (Hickory Stream) is here
http://shipbuildinghistory.com/history/ ... oships.htm
[scroll down to 2566].and another mention here that it went over to the Boothline Co'y after WW2: http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/booth.shtml and renamed "Dominic" (3)

If you are correct about her being aged about 14 when she gave birth, that would make her born around 1907 so, once you have her name from the birth certificate, a look on the 1911 Census for her will help.

Thank you for the link to the other forum Blue, it does help to avoid duplication of research.

Could this mean anything?
If you type in Alan Conner born Liverpool 1921 on the LDS site. Alan shows up, born West Derby 1921, vol 8b, page 550, line 29. Mothers maiden name, Conner. Would this mean the mother was not married?
Probably woofing up the wrong tree, but worth a post.

Gareth.

That should be exactly right Gareth and probably the certificate that has been ordered.

Ditto Mary, two genie forums chasing the same info.
Us and Rootsweb.

See Rootschat for more on this enquiry:-

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.ph ... 15.new#new


Blue

carolineduck wrote:That sounds interesting. I'll certainly let you know.

Sadly we may have been forgotten about

Hi all, again, I received the birth certificate on Monday and have found out that his mother's name was Edith Connor and she lived in 13 Lancaster Street Walton. There is really no other info on the certificate unfortunately. The writing is the same across the certificate leading me to believe that she was illiterate and that the registrar filled it in (hence the er spelling not the or). At he edge of the certificate it is hand written that he was adopted which I knew. I have emailed Liverpool records toes if I can find out who lived in the house at that time, but will appreciate any other help this forum can supply.

Thanks again
Caroline Duck

The registrar always filled in the certificate I doubt Edith was illiterate as the education of children had been compulsory since 1880. I think some of the posters on RootsChat were jumping the gun mentioning possible parents and marriages for Edith. There were a number of Edith Conn*rs in the north Liverpool area. Let us know how you get on with the Record Office. If family members were living at the address on the electoral roll it should help establish who Edith's parents were.


Blue

Ok thanks for that, between I looked up Conner with er there are no Edith's. I could only find 2 that I think might be possibles and the spelling was or. also my father always thought it was spelt or. So why would they spell it on the certificate with er? Anyway i have emailed the records office so I will follow up from there. Thanks again for your support

Edith must have spoken her name and it was written down without any mention of the spelling. She wouldn't have filled in any forms the information would have been collected through speaking with her.


Blue

Hopefully the electoral roll will give us a better chance of identifying the right Edith Connor. Here are 3 candidates I would consider as possibilities there may be more. Candidates 1 and 2 below are cousins their fathers were sons of John and Eliza Connor:-

1.
Name: Edith Connor
Registration Year: 1904
Registration Quarter: Apr-May-Jun
Registration district: West Derby
Volume: 8b
Page: 433
Born in Kirkdale Sub District (see Lancs BMD)
1911: 11 Tetlow Street (Walton)
1914: 11 Tetlow Street (Walton)
Father: Christopher Connor, Tram Motor Man (1911), Tramdriver (1914)
Mother: Edith Gebhardt

2.
Name: Edith Connor
Birth Date: 20 Jul 1905
Baptism Date: 30 Jul 1905
Parish: Sacred Heart RC
Father's name: Laurentii Connor
Mother's name: Catharinae Mahar
Address: 14 Gloucester Place (Everton)
Godfather: Josephus Connor
Godmother: Francesca Joynt
1911: 22 Radcliffe Street Everton
1914: 23 Radcliffe Street Everton
Father: Lawrence Connor, Coachman - undertakers (1911), Foreman (1914)
Mother: Catherine Maher
Lawrence Connor of 23 Radcliffe Street died on 24 October 1923
Edith Connor married Michael Dunne on 20 July 1940 at SFX RC church

3.
Name: Editha Connor
Birth Date: 15 Mar 1906
Baptism Date: 29 Mar 1906
Parish: St Anthony's RC
Father's name: Thomae Connor
Mother's name: Annae Braithwaite
Godmother: Catharina Kearns
1911: 73 Solway Street (Toxteth)
Living with Martin Berry and Julia Berry formerly Connor and family
Father: Thomas Connor, died in 1909
Mother: Annie Braithwaite

Possible marriages for 1 and 3:-

1. Edith M Connor (c1904-1968) to George N Haley (marine fireman) in 1923 at St Mary, Walton CE (family moved to Wallasey)
2. Edith Connor to Emil Crellin Teare (policeman) in 1929 at St Mary, Walton CE (family in Hahnemann Road Walton in 1938)



Blue