Was there a baby??

[Forfarian]

Could be - but why so far out of the city?

There are six indexed births of Roberts with mother's maiden surname (mmn) Archibald, all in the city of Aberdeen, the last one being Mary Ann in 1900.

1901 census has John Roberts, 49; Mary, 42; John, 18; Bella, 16; James, 8; Frank, 6; Mary A, 1. I note that Francis' mother's surname is not listed in his entry in the births index, so I checked and it looks as if 1894 is one of the years when the mmn has yet to be indexed.

So I checked again in the index for births in 1918-1919, and there are three female births of Sh*r*f* with no mmn in or very near Aberdeen City:
Helen, 1918, St Nicholas, no 78
Ann Omond, 1919, Woodside, no 10
Elizabeth M Agn, 1919, Dyce, no 26

BTW St Giles Registration District is in Edinburgh.

If Stanley's daughter was aged 1 year and 8 months on 30 June 1921, she would have been born around October 1919.

Now, births are numbered in order of registration, starting with no 1 at the beginning of January each year.

There were 1220 births registered in St Nicholas in 1918. That's an average of 102 per month, so Helen would have been born in about January 1918. Her birth is also registered as Helen Cow, which means she was the illegitimate daughter of someone named Shirreffs and someone name Cow. I'd have to pay for the certificate to know which was her father and which her mother, but as she is obviously not the daughter of Mary Ann Roberts it's not worth it.

By similar logic both Elizabeth M Agn would have been born in about October 1919, and Ann Omond in January 1919. I took a look at Elizabeth's birth certificate and it's not her.

Mary Ann Sheriffs who was born in Udny is no 18 of 33 births registered in Udny in 1919, so she was probably born about July 1919.

Mary A R Sherriffs, 21, is in the 1921 census in Aberdeen St Machar, but she's not your Mary Ann Roberts because in the same household are Peter, 26 and John S R, 0. This child is John Skea Rendall Shirreffs, born 1920, mmn not in index. Peter Shirreffs married Mary Ann Rendall in 1919.

So I am still stumped to know who Stanley's daughter was. I may have missed something, of course.

[smlindsa]

The Local Land Board document from 30 June 1921 is Stanley applying for Land in Horsham, Victoria, Australia. It seems a good possibility that he never returned to Aberdeen at all, and instead had some other relationship in AU, potentially where mom died, leaving him with a daughter.

I don't have any documentation that he ever returned to Scotland after marrying Mary Ann during military furlough. I think you've helped me confirm that there was no daughter of the union of Stanley and Mary Ann born in that window. That's been very helpful.

[smlindsa]

Here are the images of the Land Loan doc that mention the child.

https://ibb.co/CfbQhfg
https://ibb.co/3y69bG32

[nestagj]

Hi
Do you have his War Record ?  That shows that he arrived back in Melbourne from England on the 30/11/2019 having shipped out in August 1919 therefore he could not have fathered a daughter in Australia in October 1919

If Stanley's daughter was aged 1 year and 8 months on 30 June 1921, she would have been born around October 1919

[/i][/i]

But if he married in Aberdeen in December 1918 then there could easily have been a baby of that marriage in October 1919.   Has anyone checked the England / Wales birth records in case she followed him down to the south coast ??

[smlindsa]

Thanks for pointing that out; that seems obvious but I had missed it. Stanley's military discharge was 7-12-19. If his statement about the child's age is correct, that would put conception closer to January 1919.

[PatLac]

Do you know if this document is available somewhere? It looks like he told her he was illegitimate?

SHERIFF, Mary Ann. Aberdeen Scotland solicitors write on her behalf re her husband Stanley Layman Sheriff, 1919. He is an Australian gunner, and they met when he was on furlough and subsequently married; she is only 19 years old. They were supposed to be going to Australia, but he has put it off, and now she doubts his background and wants it checked. Police confirm he has a sister Mrs. J. BROOKSBY of Horsham and he is of good character, but don't mention he was illegitimate. 6 pages, List 12.

[PatLac]

I have been trying to find out more about a Phyllis Jean or Jean Phylllis SHERIFF who married Roland (Rowland) Raymond Rufford WARDLEY in Victoria in 1942. He was born and died in Boolaroo, NSW (1919-1963).

I haven't found a birth record for Phyllis Jean in Australia, but a possible death under a second marriage surname.

Looking at FreeBMD UK there is a Phyllis SHERRIFF registered in June 1919 in Brentford, mmm HORTON. Long shot... Parents Fred SHERIFF and Amy HORTON.

[PatLac]

I don't have access to Ancestry UK (I'm in Brazil), but I have checked "Aberdeen City and Former Counties of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Electoral Registers, 1832-1976" year 1921 for John and Mary Roberts and there are some possibilities. I suppose Mary Ann Sheriff wouldn't be listed, but maybe it could help finding their whereabouts before emigrating to the US (via Canada, although I couldn't find her mother in the migration records, edit: she went before them!)

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-9981-7Q5Z-5?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQK3T-JC4Q&action=view&cc=2185163&lang=en&groupId=

[Forfarian]

The place to look is in the 1921 census, not in the 1921 registers of electors, because Mary Ann would probably not have been entitled to vote in 1921.