Genealogy Chat

thanks for that info Kay

If the mother was a nurse then chances are that possibly someone attached to the hospital she worked at had had connections to the home before,even in a simular situation,the Matron could have had some part.?


Mothers then usually stayed with the baby only a few weeks depending on the circumstances,sometimes they left within a week after birth.!leaving baby behind whi then was moved to another home who cared for the babies prior to placement.

In the intervening 6 months prior to adoption the child is usaully placed at some point with the prospective parents as applications and approval to adopt take place and a court date can be set which can take a few months of prep of paperwork,although in 1937 things were not as ridged as today in UK.
Often a family doctor/the church had dealings with a M&B home and word of mouth for a childless couple.also at that time unbeliveable as it seems but mothers advertised their child to be adopted in newspapers and * childrens homes* did the same to lighten the load on local authorites funding.!
Also the child was removed from the M&B home as soon as possible incase the mother returned to try and claim the child back,often being told the child had already been adopted.!

Your grandparents may have approached an agency wanting to adopt and one came up..your father ,,,,,distance from birth place to adoption was practice and still partly is.

yes I'm just filled with questions and will probably never find the answers.!
I have been tempted to hire the finder monkey guys but its really really expensive and cant imagine they will find anything more than I have with so little info to go on.

In answer to your last question...unless you know otherwise, your father's adoption was probably handled by an agency. Even today, adoptions are usually to families 'out of area' to avoid accidental, unknowing incestuous relationships in the future.

Perhaps his birth mother tried to look after him for a couple of months before coming to the conclusion that she couldn't cope? There are so many scenarios you could consider, but without hard facts, they are all supposition.

thanks for that info both of you, very grateful

ok so now I really need to find someone who knows about unmarried mothers homes around 1937.
I have so many questions unanswered, such as, if Margaret was from Ireland, how did she hear about the home in Surrey (I have read somewhere that you could only get into that home if you had a military connection, don't know how true that is though)
Also I know from my dads adoption record that he was adopted at 6 months old....does that mean his mother stayed with him until then?
And I'm also curious as to how my grandad (dads adopted father) knew of the home in Surrey when he lived in north London.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look as if you'll find any more information re Linkfield House/Denmark Home:


April 22, 2016 at 10:22 am

Surrey History Centre has received a number of enquiries before concerning the Mothers and Babies Home in Linkfield House and have found the following:

Linkfield House was situated in Linkfield Lane, Batts Hill, Redhill. The house was taken over by the Denmark Nursing Home which had been set up in around 1928 at 16 Grove Hill Road, Redhill. The nursing home took its name from Denmark House which was next door to the home and belonged to G H James. It was run by Mrs G H James as matron. The Home moved in around 1937/8 to Linkfield House in Batts Hill and remained there until around 1948. During this period it was known as Denmark Nursing Home and was a wartime nursing home for unmarried mothers. No records are known to have survived. Unfortunately, the records of mother and babies homes have a very bad survival rate.

Very little seems to be known about Denmark House/Linkfield Lodge. No records of its time as a maternity home appear to survive, so that the birth certificates of those who were born there, are probably the only proof of its existence as a maternity home. This seems to be a common situation regarding the many wartime, emergency maternity homes.

The original Linkfield House/Denmark Nursing Home still stands. In recent years it has been the HQ of the local Territorial Army unit and the Army Cadets. The TA is scheduled to leave there very soon, so what future Linkfield House now has, is unsure.

http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/places/

Lorraine most of the entries are just an advert for the home as this one

"MATERNITY HOMES
stands in its own grounds, garden, and lawns; the Home is well equipped for its work and well recommende —Apply. Matron, Denmark Nursing Home. Grovehill-road, Redhill (Five minutes from Redhill Station). Phone Redhill 386
29 January 1937 - Surrey Mirror - Reigate, Surrey, England"

There are a couple of birth notifications, but not helpful.

Does anyone has platinum membership?
It would be great if someone could do a look up for me.

There are newspaper adverts for 'Denmark Nursing Home' for the year 1937 but I am unable to read them. Was hoping there might be some clues

Thanks :-)

I would think that Emily Richards who was at the address in 1939 took in lodgers or boarders because she was a widow.

As Rose said, it is likely that Margaret Mahoney returned home after giving birth.

Kath. x

Shirley~I,m getting the hang of it - sorry I'm confusing everyone. I have the home address but there was a fire that burnt all the records in 1939. My dads real birth cert says mothers name is Margaret Mahoney, a nurse, addresss: 6 garden st, darfield near Barnsley.
My research shows 3 other people at that address of different names, I guess it was a boarding home?

+++DetEcTive+++ & ArgyllGran - yes that is the correct link (I'm looking for my dads birth mother)

Thanks guys

Have been in touch h with Lorraine by PM, unfortunately couldn't help much. But for ref this is what I found...

I Iooked at the 1939 reg and suggested a possible based only on name and that she was a nurse, but not in area of birth.

There is one Margaret Mahoney who is a nurse in the 1939 register, but she is with her mother Mary ( assumed mother from age)

Household (1 Person)
Bromtrees Farm , Bromyard R.D., Herefordshire, England

Margaret Masters (Mahoney) 22 Mar 1919 Nursing

pencilled in alternative date of birth 22/4/1920

She possibly married in 1940
Marriages Jun 1940 (>99%)
Mahoney Margaret Masters Birmingham 6d 1696
Masters Percy L Mahoney Birmingham 6d 1696

Don't appear to be any children in UK to marriage..

No way of knowing if this might be her, as I think it's just as likely Margaret was Irish and returned home after the birth?

Is this your thread in 2008? Re Linkfield House?

http://www.genesreunited.co.nz/boards/board/records_office/thread/1040940


EDIT: No, probably not - I see the Lorraine on that thread (maybe not you) is looking for her father, not her mother.

Do you already have a thread about the birth mother? If so, could you give the URL?
It would help to see what has already been researched rather than having it duplicated in this thread.

If she just went into the home to have her baby she would have left when the baby was about six weeks so wouldn't be there after that

Do you want to give her name so we can try

Bear in mind girls were often sent out the home area when their condition started to show so the mums usual home address could be anywhere

The home records may be lost but what about the actual adoption records

nursing home had a fire in 1939 and all records lost. We have birth certificate but just gives name and address, which seems to be a boarding house as no sign of her there in 1939.

If the address is residential you can check it against the 1939 register to see if she or other family members were still living there.

Did the adoption file give any more information, or has/had the adoptee not accessed it?

Do you have her age? location where she might have been born? (or subsequently lived for any marriages in that area) To check whether she might have had siblings try looking for her birth on freebmd.org.uk and use the combination of surnames to look for other births.

If you want to send me a message I will see what I can find?

After many years of searching & with only a name and address from 1937 to go on, I am getting nowhere. Can anyone advise me where to go from here please.
Desperate to find her.
Thanks
Lorraine