Alfred was always known officially as Alfred (John) Phillips.
The only time he has been known as May, is on the 1911 Census, which was filled in by the head of the house Samuel Thomas May, - we do know that he was Alfred Phillips on his birth certificate, and we have records from the authorities up until 1926 in Canada, where he was known as Alfred Phillips, but we think when he went over to Canada, Samuel may may have signed the paper-work as Alfred May.
So we think that if he married, he would have to have used the surname Phillips. We have a contact in Canada who can find no trace of him after 1927 when he left the farm, so we have wondered did he come back to England at some point. After my grand-dad Daniel died in 1974, we do know that Alfie posted a notice in the Liverpool Echo looking for his siblings. We are not sure if this was from Canada or the UK. The notice was mis-laid so we did not contact him. Albert's family also saw the Echo notice. I was only 9 at the time but I had thought that there was a postal strike on at the time and that is why no reply could be made. I think there was a Canadian postal strike on in that year.
Thank you so much for taking the time out to help.
Gorey is in County Wexford Ireland, and we are pretty sure that the two younger girls went back there.
Regards Jackie
