Genealogy Chat

I would kindly ask for help in tracing details of my grandmother. She was always known as Nana Swires and you NEVER asked questions. However, my father was Ronald Coppin born in 1927 and he had a sister May Coppin born I think 1929. I think my grandmother was either Ethel or Alice Coppin and have interest how she got the name Swires. According to my mothers diaries, Nana Swires had her birthday 24th April and she died in Colchester Essex August 26th 1983. Please help me trace this lovely lady. Thanking you Mary Nobrega (nee Coppin)

Welcome to the message boards.

Did your father have a 2nd or 3rd forename?

Is this her death reg?

Alice Swires
Birth Date: 24 Apr 1899
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1983
Age at Death: 84
Registration district: Colchester
Inferred County: Essex
Volume: 9
Page: 1986

Births Jun 1899
Coppin Alice Lexden 4a 737

1901???
Name: Alice Coppin
Age: 1
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1900
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: George Coppin
Mother's name: Annie Coppin
Gender: Female
Where born: East Donyland, Essex, England
Civil parish: East Donyland
Ecclesiastical parish: St Lawrence
County/Island: Essex
Country: England
Street Address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

Education:

Employment status:

View image
Registration district: Lexden
Sub-registration district: Wivenhoe
ED, institution, or vessel: 5
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 32
Piece: 1713
Folio: 24
Page Number: 6
Household Members:
Name Age
George Coppin 36
Annie Coppin 30
Alfred Coppin 6
Ethel Coppin 4
Alice Coppin 1

1911???
Name: Alice Coppin
Age in 1911: 12
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1899
Relation to Head: Daughter
Gender: Female
Birth Place: Rowledge, Essex
[Rowhedge, Essex]
Civil parish: East Donyland
County/Island: Essex
Country: England
Street Address: High Street, Rowledge, East Donyland
Occupation: No Trade
Registration district: Lexden
Registration District Number: 199
Sub-registration district: Wivenhoe
ED, institution, or vessel: 2
Household schedule number: 47
Piece: 10324
Household Members:
Name Age
George Coppin 48
Annie Coppin 38
Alfred Coppin 16
Ethel Coppin 15
Alice Coppin 12
Walter Coppin 10
Stanley Coppin 8
Authur Coppin 5
Henry Coppin 2

Aunt??

Births Jun 1929 (>99%)
Coppin May L Coppin Lexden 4a 1377

Dad?
Births Sep 1927 (>99%)
Coppin Ronald C S Coppin Lexden 4a 1289

Married 'Cook' in 1949?

Was there ever a father figure around when dad was growing up . Who did dad name on his marriage cert to mum?

have you found a death for a male Swires that could fit her partner

Wonder if nana married twice
Name: Thomas B Swires
Spouse Surname: Larter
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1940
Registration district: Colchester
Inferred County: Essex
Volume Number: 4a
Page Number: 2909
Find Spouse: Alice Larter

In answer to your interest as to how your grandmother came to be a Swires, I think that this may be the answer.

It is evident that she was not married when she had your father and his sister. She does not appear to have had a second initial so if she did marry at any time then the entry in the records should logically have been in the name of Alice Coppin. Coppin is not a very common surname and there appears to be only 3 Alice Coppin marriages recorded in England or Wales after the birth of May Coppin in 1929 and 2005. None of these took place in Essex the one that took place in Suffolk in 1933 looks a strong possibility:

Name: Alice Coppin
Spouse Surname: Alfred R Larter
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1933
Registration district: Wangford
Inferred County: Suffolk
Volume Number: 4a
Page Number: 1527

In 1940 An Alice Larter married a Thomas B Swires in Colchester:

Name: Alice Larter
Spouse Surname: Thomas B Swires
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1940
Registration district: Colchester
Inferred County: Essex
Volume Number: 4a
Page Number: 2909

Thomas B Swires died in Colchester in 1943:

Name: Thomas B Swires
Birth Date: abt 1881
Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1943
Age at Death: 62
Registration district: Colchester
Inferred County: Essex
Volume: 4a
Page: 817

Name: Thomas B Swires
Birth Date: abt 1881
Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1943
Age at Death: 62
Registration district: Colchester
Inferred County: Essex
Volume: 4a
Page: 817

England & Wales, Death Index: 1916-2006

Name: Ronald Claud S Coppin
Birth Date: 2 Jun 1927
Date of Registration: Sep 1996
Age at Death: 69
Registration district: Great Yarmouth
Inferred County: Norfolk
Register Number: B58B
District and Subdistrict: 6361B
Entry number: 222

Many thanks to everyone for your help. It definately looks as if my gran was not married when she had my father Ronald Claude Sidney Coppin nor my aunt May Lillian Coppin. My gran obviously married later and answers another query how my father new a George Larter in the village of Rowhedge. Surely he must be related then to my father. I wonder who the father was of both my father and my aunt? I wonder if there are any records in those days or did it just state the mother on their birth certificates? All your help in this is greatly appreciated and thanks to you one and all.

well as you can see his mum married a Larter so would say the family's would know each other from then.

The birth certs of your dad and his sister dont name a dad MAYBE if they were baptised the vicar would have insisted on the dads name BUT many didnt. You may never know who the dad was.