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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Yorkshire (East Riding & York) => England => Yorkshire (East Riding & York) Lookup Requests => Topic started by: kellogs on Thursday 25 March 10 13:23 GMT (UK)
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I am hoping someone with fresh eyes can find my Great Great Grandfather on the 1901 census.
His name was George Belt and he was born abt 1866 in Hull and he married Harriet Higo in 1886 and they are together on the 1891 census and he is described as a bricklayer.
However, on the 1901 census i have found Harriet with their children George and Elizabeth Fay but no dad George!
He didn,t die until 1930, so i know that he is still alive, but where is he?
Its the only census i haven,t been able to locate him on and i would really like to know where he is.
Hoping someone can help.
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Hi There....
I have searched and searched for your George Belt in 1901, with no joy I am afraid. I do, however, have him 10 years later, living with a Alice Belt sometime Norris......
He married Alice Norris in 1914 at Holborn, and this is where his death was registered in 1930.
Did you know abou this ?
JeannieR
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Hi
Poss connection
death
Harriet Belt 1st Qtr 1908 aged 41 vol 9d page 175 district Sculcoates
cheers cardiff
Ps
as a matter of interest have you found Harriet on any census I dont see a Harriet Higo on 1881 or 1871?
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Hi
Poss children have been split George to Essex and Elizabeth to Durham?
does this ring a bell
cheers cardiff
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Hi JeannieR
Thanks for looking, he must have been missed for some reason. I do know about Alice and am currently waiting for his death certificate.
Hi Cardiff
I do know about Harriets death and her appearance in the census had been a real struggle untill a kind fellow rootschatter found her and her family on both census, she had been transcribed as kigo on one and igo on the other. However that is where my luck ends as other than the marriage indexes for her and her sisters i cannot find any of their birth records or death records for her parents(they were from Ireland so it,ll be a while before i can attempt anything with them!)
In relation to what happened to George and Elizabeth in 1911, the George in Essex is correct but i,m still a little puzzled by where Elizabeth is, especially as at least from her marriage in 1919 she is always refered to as her middle name Fay.
I am firmly engrossed in the Belt side of the tree at the moment as George senior did seemingly quite well for himself when he moved down to London, by 1920 he became a journalist, so i,m trying to think of a way of finding out what publications he wrote for.
Anyway thanks again Cardiff and JeannieR for your replies so far.
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Hi Again......
I have sent you a PM, but I see that you knew about Alice ....
However. I have found Fay BEET , as a 14 year old at ........
St Veronica's Home
Burton Street
Brixham
Devon
Run by Sisters of Mercy....
On close examination, the name is definitely BELT
JeannieR
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Hi JeannieR
Have sent a PM, hope it sent ok as its first time i have sent one.
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I think you have hit the jackpot here. George Belt had an affair with a very grande dame indeed, Dora Monterfiore. I am doing a short biog of her and have dug up a certain amount about Belt. He is the correct Belt - no doubt at all. You can find out about DBM on http://www.marxists.org/archive/montefiore/index.htm and about the affair in Christine Collette, Socialism and Scandal: the Sexual Politics of the Early Labour Movement, History Workshop, 23 (1987:Spring) p.102-111. I cannot find this Collette woman, no-one in academe seems to know where she is, last heard of in France.
It occurred over the years 1898-1906 for in 1898 she went to help with the Clarion van that toured the north of England bringing speakers on Socialism to many small and large towns in the region. Part of the Clarion team included George Belt (1865-1930) from Hull, a ‘well built, good looking’ married man with 3 children, 14 years younger than her, a bricklayer’s labourer which was a most wearying job in a dangerous industry. In brief there was an affair which ended disastrously since his wife intercepted a letter from her to Belt in 1899 and passed it on to his doctor, a member of the ILP, treating her husband for some sort of depression. This reached the local ILP and was mulled over by the entire miserable, pious lot in the local branch as it was ‘a remarkable letter for a lady of good social position to write to a bricklayer’s labourer’. Montefiore had the air of a very grande dame indeed but, far from a great lady having a bit of rough, their sentiments seem to have been totally genuine and both she and Belt suffered great heartache because of this and it seems for some time the affair was never even consummated. But Ramsay Macdonald and his wife became involved and faced with an unpleasant whispering campaign Montefiore threatened to sue and forced £120 out of Macdonald for which she was never forgiven by him or his wife. That put paid to any possibility of George Belt becoming an MP in the ILP interest. This pious, smug, self-satisfied man later wrote in letters to others about the affair and the possibility of Belt becoming a candidate, that it was ‘a simple disgrace that such men should be allowed to pose as public persons’, and ‘I am still strongly of the opinion that unless we weed out these moral scallywags we had better close our doors altogether’ and to another individual ‘I was informed that you were particularly interested in the keeping of our movement pure and above board. ….. I regret my mistake’. The affair may finally to have come to an end in about 1906 if not earlier.
There is a lot more that I can add. PLease write to me at my email address which you can find on the Marxist Internet Website.
Ted C
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Hi Ted
Thank you very much for your reply to this thread.
I had a look on the website that you mentioned but couldn,t seem to find an email address under your name. Unfortunately i cannot send you a private message on here untill you have made two more posts.
I have a copy of the article by Christine Colette and i would be extremely interested in any information you have.
Kelley
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George Belt died in 1930 aged 65. He married first Harriet Higo aged 20) in 1866 who died, aged 41 in 1908. In 1900 his 3 children were 11, 9 and 3. He later worked for the Colonial Export Trading company in Poplar and remarried in 1914 while in 1915 his eldest daughter married a clergyman where Belt was a witness and is described as “a commercial manager”. He was a delegate to the Labour Party Conference from the Herald League in 1919 living at 2 Carmelite St, EC4. At that conference Dora Montefiore was also a delegate from the BSP though I have no idea if they met. He became a Labour councillor in the area and there is a block of flats named after him, George Belt House, Smart Street, Tower Hamlets, London E2 0SB built about 1950.
Belt was clearly associated with the Herald League and that organisation was the sponsor of the help for the starving children of Dublin in the Dock Strike in 1913 though the work seems to have to been done by Dora M and friends. So I am sure they were aware of each other and may even have been in political if not personal contact. See her pamphlet on the strike on the MIA
If Belt was a journalist it was for a Socialist paper, possibly Justice, at least until the split of 1916. Whether he went with Hyndman or the Fairchild faction I do not know. If the latter he would have written for the Call. He may even have joined the early Communist party but certainly soon dropped out as most of the old BSPers did.
Ted C
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Hi Ted
Thanks for your reply, i have sent you an email.
Kelley.
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Hi There....
Isn't it exciting, when new information comes along ?
Don't know if you have this, but here go's........
BELT George, of 45 Great Ormond Street , Bloomsbury. Died 24th November 1930. Probate London,
25th February 1931, to Alice Belt , widow and Fay Elizabeth Norris (wife of Thomas John Albert Norris ) Effects 1,417,11s and 2d
JeannieR
Moderator (Silgen) Please remove this post... do not wish to cause a problem
Jeannie
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Thanks Jeannie.
Ted C
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Hi JeannieR
Thank you for your post, i do have a copy of that will.
I think i have my own Who Do You Think You Are? episode with him now. ;D ;D
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Hi there! I'm currently tracing my family tree.
My name is Michael Anthony Belt (36)
Son of Walter Belt, who's father I'm sure was called George.
My father was originally from North London and then moved to Crawley, West Sussex in the late 60's.
Sorry to hijack an old thread but it made interesting reading!
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Hi Mick,
Welcome to RootsChat :) Please make no apologies with "Hi-Jacking" the thread we love it when new information is added and the story continues :)
Sarah
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Hi Mick
Many many apologies for not having replied to your post sooner. Given the length of time since you posted you may have discovered for yourself the answer to your query but my research to date has not uncovered a Walter Belt in connection to our family. The uncommon surname of Belt is crying out for a one name study, something which I may well do in the future. Good luck with all your research and if I find out anything in the future I will let you know. :)
As an update to this particular thread I think I may be closer to finding George on the 1901 census. As he was quite the traveller with his dealings with the ILP, and having found him in various newspaper clippings on www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk giving talks in Scotland, I did a search on Scotlandspeople and got one result!
Unfortunately I haven't been able to view it as yet but am more and more convinced that it is likely to be him. I will update and close the post when I have been able to confirm this. :)
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Hello again Kellogs...
Not sure if you have seen this.....
The Western Times. March 20th 1907.
George Belt, who was SDF candidate for Hammersmith, at the General Election, was at West London, Charged with being drunk and incapable. He admitted "having had some drink" and was fined 5s
JeannieR
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Hi JeannieR
I have got that clipping. He was also involved in another incident involving drink. Him and another electoral candidate had been drinking and had fallen into the Thames. Luckily for him the person who jumped in was able to save him from drowning, but tragically the other gentlemen drowned.