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World War Two / Re: Help Identifying Woman in WWII Photograph – "Maisie", Warwick, 1941
« on: Wednesday 21 May 25 08:05 BST (UK) »
Přemysl,
I was so captivated by your quest to identify Maisie that I was inspired to do some digging - as I explain below.
Although there can be no certainty that she was of local origin, I began by speculatively researching the 1939 Register for any Maisie, born in 1917 (+/- 5 years), who then lived in Warwick or Leamington.
This search produced several results, and I was initially drawn to one in particular who looked a promising fit for ATS Maisie. However, thanks to some canny handwriting analysis by Laurence Spring at the Surrey History Centre I was enabled to discount her.
Undeterred by this, I carried on searching and my attention was drawn to a Maisie Astill, living in Leamington - where she had married a Jan Babijczuk in December 1942. As I was uncertain where he may have hailed from, a wider search for Jan lead me to this key source at: https://listakrzystka.pl/en/babijczuk-jan/
Encouraged by this I then explored Maisie’s (online) life history which somehow prompted me to look at her entry in the 1921 census - which produced a quite astonishing outcome! Which outcome you can see for yourself from the attached copy of that census record (which is subject to Crown Copyright).
Astonishing because, not only is the handwriting of 1-year old Maisie’s forename on the census identical to that on the ATS photo, the inescapable conclusion is that the latter must have been penned by her father (who completed the census return) and not by Maisie herself. Indeed, such a conclusion is underpinned by closer examination of the 3 kisses (crosses) on the photo - which look to be lighter in colour than the name.
Jan died in Shrewsbury (in Shropshire), which is where Maisie passed away on 27 August 2011.
Willyam
I was so captivated by your quest to identify Maisie that I was inspired to do some digging - as I explain below.
Although there can be no certainty that she was of local origin, I began by speculatively researching the 1939 Register for any Maisie, born in 1917 (+/- 5 years), who then lived in Warwick or Leamington.
This search produced several results, and I was initially drawn to one in particular who looked a promising fit for ATS Maisie. However, thanks to some canny handwriting analysis by Laurence Spring at the Surrey History Centre I was enabled to discount her.
Undeterred by this, I carried on searching and my attention was drawn to a Maisie Astill, living in Leamington - where she had married a Jan Babijczuk in December 1942. As I was uncertain where he may have hailed from, a wider search for Jan lead me to this key source at: https://listakrzystka.pl/en/babijczuk-jan/
Encouraged by this I then explored Maisie’s (online) life history which somehow prompted me to look at her entry in the 1921 census - which produced a quite astonishing outcome! Which outcome you can see for yourself from the attached copy of that census record (which is subject to Crown Copyright).
Astonishing because, not only is the handwriting of 1-year old Maisie’s forename on the census identical to that on the ATS photo, the inescapable conclusion is that the latter must have been penned by her father (who completed the census return) and not by Maisie herself. Indeed, such a conclusion is underpinned by closer examination of the 3 kisses (crosses) on the photo - which look to be lighter in colour than the name.
Jan died in Shrewsbury (in Shropshire), which is where Maisie passed away on 27 August 2011.
Willyam