Short/Cox - Brighton

[Jane Masri]

I've searched the GRO indexes for the death of Henry Victor from 1964-1970 inclusive in the hopes of finding his dob but no success unless it was registered under just plain Henry Short 

If this Henry Victor born in 1887 in Lewes is the right one he very probably served in the first world war.  Ancestry has a short service form for a Henry Victor Short but born about 1883 & in 1915 he was married & a licensed victualar  living in Eton Wick, Berks & had one son, Cyril Victor born 1915...which doesn't feel right.  He wouldn't have been too old to serve in WWII, he probably served in some capacity on the home front rather than overseas.

You could try posting a message on this site   http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/ to see if any relatives are in the area or put an ad in the Brighton Argus
http://www.theargus.co.uk/

jane

[Fdgl65]

Thank you for your efforts Jane 

I think his death must have been registered under plain old Henry Short of which there are far too many to trawl through without more information.

I have sent off for one of the siblings' birth certificates from 1942 (thanks to the info from Glen) and on that it will at least tell me where Henry Victor and Violet were living and what occupation Henry had at the time 

Thank you for the link to Brighton and Hove. I will presently ask on there if anyone knew of the family.

Thanks to Glen's information it now makes sense that the reason why some of the siblings weren't returned to their family after the war was because they were using their mother's maiden name of Cox instead of their registered birth names of Short.

[Jane Masri]

Just a couple of thoughts.
The 1887 Henry Victor Short might be the father
Do you have more details about the places your mother-in-law stayed at in Yorkshire?  If it was a children's home & it still exists maybe they have documents from that period or they are in a local records centre.....might be worth exploring!
Do you think that the reason why the children were not returned to their father or immediate family was because of the surname?  Surely, when these children were evacuated there was full documentation?
Let us know what new information you get from the birth certificate, perhaps together we can take this further 

jane

[Fdgl65]

Hi Jane

My mother in law was evacuated to Bridlington. She says it was a children's home on Belvedere Road. I have googled that location and the children's home is now the golf club called Golf Links House so I don't think they will have any of the records from that time?

The children were split up when they got to Yorkshire. They were all fostered in the local area and unfortunately that is a dead end even though I know where she lived as her foster family are long gone (my mother in law is 73). Her older brother, David, apparently went to Scotland and she lost all trace of him.

You would think there would be documentation in order that the children were returned to their family but when I ask her about it she believes that her parents didn't claim them back because they didn't want them. I would like to find out otherwise as I think it is so sad to believe you were abandoned when that might not have been the case at all 

[kizmiaz]

I've just had a good look all through the Birth indexes and couldn't see any more Short/Cox children in Hastings from 1923 to 1940.

I wonder if there may have been 2 different fathers and the older children may have had yet another surname.

Possible scenarios?
Perhaps with their mother dead and Henry Short newly returned from the war having to start his life again, he decided he didn't want to raise someone elses children and thought it best to make a clean break and not take his own offspring back either. Or possibly he decided that the children would be less traumatised by staying where they were rather than being dragged back to a single parent household...? Who knows?

Glen
 

[Fdgl65]

I spoke to my mother in law this morning and she told me that in 1950 an Aunt wrote to her foster mother looking to make contact. Her foster mother refused to show my mother in law the letter or tell my mother in law the name of this Aunt, so someone from the family DID try to make contact. It's a little bit more information to add to what I already have - that her mother or father had a sister

From information I gleaned today her father, Henry, was a soldier - she remembers him coming home on visits wearing his uniform. This means at least I can exclude searching Navy and RAF records.

She also remembers her mother "entertaining" other men while her father was away, so yes, there is a possibility that some of the children didn't have the same father. I know that her sister, Mary, was born sometime between 1938 and 1941 and remained in Brighton so she could have been born in Brighton rather than in Hastings like the rest of the children.

I am a lot further forward than I was thanks to the birth records I can now obtain

[Jane Masri]

Mmmmm  tis indeed a sad & tangled story.  Two questions;
1.  I understand you only saw a copy of your mother-in-laws certificate & made notes from it.  Would it be worth getting a copy as this would not only give the place of birth (the hospital) but should also show the address of her mother & who registered the birth.  My reasoning is, to try to see if this Violet Emily Cox who died in Hastings is the mother of your mother-in-law.  Can you remember if it stated on her birth certificate, Violet EMILY?

2.  If your mother-in-law went into foster care maybe there's some paper-work that still survives up in Yorkshire?

jane

[Fdgl65]

She was born at Hastings Municipal Hospital and it only says Violet Cox, no middle name. Their address was 19 St Paul's Road, St Leonard's on Sea.

When I receive Percy's birth certificate it at least will show me where the parents were living in 1942

I don't reckon it was foster care as we know it to be today where records would have been kept but simply children placed with families during the war and referred to as "foster parents".

My mother in law told me today that she was known as Short at school but that her headmaster forced her to change her name to Cox because that was the name on her ration card 

[Jane Masri]

I've just been Googling 'foster care records' & not come up with anything    My own father was 'fostered' in the 1930's & the local authority concerned told me that records don't exist for this period but it was worth a try.
All these little snippets of information your mother-in-law is giving you are invaluable in building-up the bigger picture, I hope you're writing them down 

jane