Blackwall Tunnel Murder .

[PaulineJ]

I know that the family lived no 8 Liardett St Deptford, when they moved down from Bilston, prior to 1901..after 1911 I think that it is going to be fairly hard to trace as I dont have her married name & the BMD isnt bringing anything up.....If I only knew the year of her death!!....

You DO know:
Her forename
Her year of birth
Where she died

You can search freebmd on that basis, and compare Candidate spouse surnames
Pauline

[avm228]

Following on from the 1911 marriage reference I cited earlier, the details are as follows:

Parish Church of St James, Hatcham

Marriage solemnized on 12 November 1911

John George BALLARD 22 Bachelor Cocoa-grinder of 17 Clifton Hill, father John BALLARD Engineer (retired)

Isabella DIXON 22 Spinster of 20 Alexandra St, father James DIXON, blacksmith

Witnesses:

Bernard DIXON
Hilda STIMSON
James DIXON

[pajero1991]

Wow, Well done girls, I think we have found her, looks like she married J G Ballard, the rest fits ...her br

other Bernard & her father James were witness,s....looks like she moved out to Alexandra St..Now where is Hatcham?

[avm228]

Hatcham= part of Deptford - see e.g. http://www.southwark.anglican.org/parishes/118p

FreeBMD suggests that the Ballard/Dixon couple may have had four children registered in the St Olave/Bermondsey district 1912-1925.  I won't post given names as they are too recent, but you will be able to find them yourself there by searching for Ballard births with mother's maiden name Dixon.

[pajero1991]

Many , many thanks for your help, I would have been searching for days, I now think I have the info I needed. will go to BMD & take it from there.....thanks again John

[pajero1991]

Hello Anna, Its me again , sorry to be a pain , its just that I cannot seem to find the death record of Bella Ballard, ive tried on FreeBMD, also on Ancestry, just keeps coming up , no records found, Ive tried from 1926 right thro to 1960...no luck at all, ..am I doing something wrong?  Help John

[PaulineJ]

Maybe she wasn't murdered? (It's a family legend at the moment isn't it?)
Could it have been another person from that branch of the family?
Maybe she was widowed, re-married and then died?

[pajero1991]

Hi Pauline thanks for your quick reply, my recently found relative who supplied the info, said that she was told that Bella was murdered in the B/wall tunnel, I have no reason to disbelieve her, any way she should show up in the records. I dont know if she remarried, I cant ask my relation , she is on holiday @ the moment....

[avm228]

Hello Anna, Its me again , sorry to be a pain , its just that I cannot seem to find the death record of Bella Ballard, ive tried on FreeBMD, also on Ancestry, just keeps coming up , no records found, Ive tried from 1926 right thro to 1960...no luck at all, ..am I doing something wrong?  Help John

When you say you've tried Ancestry, do you mean you've searched through the GRO page images quarter-by-quarter for the period after the FreeBMD transcriptions tail off (i.e. about the 1930s - see FreeBMD itself for current coverage details)? 

I'm afraid that is what is required, as Ancestry has not yet indexed the later years.

Anna