RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: wifeywebb on Saturday 15 October 16 10:40 BST (UK)
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hello,
Ok, my grandmother left her young family around 1934/5 for several years and no-one really knows where she went.
The story is that she went to Blackheath, Kent as a housekeeper to Johnston Forbes-Robertson who was a famous actor & playwright of the time. His death in 1937 seems to fit the time my grandmother returned home. The only slight evidence to support this is a silk program from one of J F-R shows that my GM had framed and until recently was still held within the family.
We know J F-R was born in Scotland, died in St Margarets Bay, Kent and was cremated at Golders Green, London.
So, I am trying to find an address in Blackheath so I can look at the electoral rolls.
Any help, information or other suggestions would be very gratefully received.
TIA
Paula
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He lived at 22 Bedford Square, Bloomsbury per the voters lists 1902-1935, telephone books 1920-1937, and the 1937 Probate Calendar.
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Thank you so much. How would I find if there was any other adults registered at that address? X
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The London electoral registers are on Ancestry. Looking at 1935, there are two Forbes-Robertson women also at the address. the codes suggest one is his wife. There are also another four individuals, all with different surnames - residents rather than occupiers. They could be live in staff registered at the address, relatives or
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Ah, thank you. Unfortunately my ancestry membership doesn't allow me to view the details. If you don't mind looking would you be able to tell me the surnames of the others at the address?
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presume you only need the females
1935: Biller, Balderson, Pearce
1937: Biller, Chapman, Pearce
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Thank you so much. Alas she evades us again!! X
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What name are you looking for?
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My GM was Gladys Daisy Nash, but could've gone by her 1st married name of Hatt or her bigamous name of Chittleburgh.
I'm thinking that J F-R may have had a property in Kent as that's where he died.
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This is the London address details- she could have been at the Kent house? The probate register gives both the Bedford Square address, where he died, and says he is also of St Margaret at Cliffe.
his wife's address is given as Attcliffe, St Margaret at Cliffe.
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I wonder if she was as the Kent address then. Didn't think to look for details of his wife so off on a mission, thank you x
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Per The Scotsman and The Aberdeen Journal of 21 January 1938, his Kent home was at Bloms, St Margarets at Cliffe.
The papers say that he left his entire estate to his widow.
Googling Bloms brings up an address:
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/property/bloms/the-droveway/st-margarets-bay/dover/ct15-6dj/5497814
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You lot are absolute stars. I'm hoping to solve the mystery soon for my 82 year old mum.
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i can see Gladys Daisy (sometimes vice versa), using the Hatt surname, with Frederick Chittleburgh before and after mid 1930s in the Guildford area
There's a Gladys Hatt registered in 1934 and 1935 at Cotlif, Lower Bourne and in 1936 at Mibia, Morley Road, Bourne. this is in the Farnham district so not that far away.
I can't see anyone else registered at Cotlif (the register is in alphabetical order by surname) however Mibia appears to be the home of a retired army man called Archibald Smith Littlejohns.
No guarantee its the same person, but it is odd that these fit in with the 3 years Frederick Chittleburgh is minus his Gladys!
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OOOOOHHHH
1934 phone book. Cotlif, Bourne
Ian Forbes-Roberston!
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Ian F-R is brother to Johnston. Died 1936. also an actor
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So his death would fit with her going home? X
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Looking at the probate index, IF-R left a will (probate granted to his daughter Beatrice). You could get a copy of the will and see if your GM is mentioned.
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Ooooh now there's a thought. We're all still baffled as to why she left her young family. (My mum was about 2 years old when she left)
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I wonder whether she was nursing - may have needed the money? IFR was quite elderly. She moved to another house after the Robertsons before going back home
IFR's archive of personal papers survives
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/N13746383
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We're under the impression she may have been a housekeeper so yes, nursing may well have been another option. She was later a housekeeper to a family in Guildford and met quite a few actors & actresses there. We did wonder if there was a connection with the actors somewhere.
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I spotted the papers Mabel, shame there doesn't seem to be too much info on I F-R. X