West Riding - Henry & Elizabeth Sykes

[Rosemarie]

Hi All

I've been helping a friend trace his Sykes family who lived in the West Riding and I wonder if Rootschatters have any ideas which may help solve a mystery relating to the family of his grandfather, Henry Sykes, born 1879, parents Mark and Elizabeth.

Henry and his family, wife also named Elizabeth, moved from the Altofts area to Denaby where they lived for only a short time before Henry died in the December Q of 1907, aged 28, after being injured in a pit accident. The mystery I referred to arises from the recent acquisition of the inquest report which stated that the couple had four children but my friend knows of only three. We've traced those three to a children's home in Harrogate where they are shown on the 1911 census and now know they were placed there following the death of their mother Elizabeth, the year after that of her husband.

The three children were Ethel aged 9, Mark aged 8, and Florry aged 6. Florry/Florrie who was my friend's mother, was born in December 1904 (although she appears in the index for the March Q of 1905) and my friend's assuming that the missing child (if there was one) was younger than Florrie. In the census, Ethel is shown as Othel and Florrie is shown as Horry!

With so little to go on - no idea if the child actually existed or was merely an error in a report, if it was M or F, where/when it was born, or if it too died - it's proving difficult to come to any conclusion but I know how resourceful Rootschatters are and how they love a wee mystery.

Many thanks for taking the time to read  this!

Marie.     

[cath151]

Hi
There is the following baptism at Altofts

July 8 th 1906 (born July 7 th 1906)
Henry Sykes
Parents Henry and Elizabeth Sykes of 15 Church Road, fathers occupation Miner.
Could Henry be Mark or  with such a quick baptism perhaps he died in infancy?
I see this could be Henry & Elizabeths address in 1901.

Cathy
Added.. realised he could nt be Mark, got my dates wrong! looking on freebmd it seems Henry born July could have died in same quarter.

[Rosemarie]

Hi Cathy

Many thanks for that. I've never found any of this family's baptism's listed and just didn't check this time. Just on my way out now but will have a forage through my records as soon  as I have a minute. Could be Hnery and Elizabeth's child because we think they were almost certainly still in Altofts in 1906 but to be the child we were searching for he would have survived to 1907 because of the 4 children in the inquest report but it could also be that he died and there was yet another child later.

I'll come back to it asap.

Best wishes

Marie.

[Rosemarie]

Hi Cathy

I've checked the Baptism you traced and I'm certain that was the correct family, confirmed by the address and parents' names. It couldn't have been Mark because he was born in 1903 but I think you may well be correct in your guess at the possible imminent death of the child because there was a death registered of a newborn of that name in the Wakefield District in the same quarter as the birth. Also, I was unable to trace Henry in 1911.

Checked again for baptisms for the older children and for any later births with same parents which would explain the 'fourth' child, assuming Henry died but drew a complete blank. However, with the birth of Henry in July 1906, the timeline for another birth before Henry Sr died in 1907 is narrowed and it seems almost certain now that if there was a later child it would have been born in Denaby Main.

Many thanks for your help Cathy. I'll pass your find on to my friend .

Best wishes

Marie.

[cath151]

Hi,
There is one possibility on freebmd in Doncaster reg district which included Denaby
Albert Sykes registered jas 1907
possible death ond 1907
Depends if Albert died before the inquest or not i suppose.

Cathy

[dave the tyke]

Hi Marie
I think you probably already have this one
In 1901 Henry (Harry) and Elizabeth are living 15, Church Road, Altofts
RG13 piece 4281 folio 124 page 17

Dave

[Rosemarie]

Yes thanks Dave, I had that and other census records which I'd passed on to my friend some time ago. He came back to me quite recently after obtaining the coroner's report on his grandfather's death and, after a long delay,  information from the records of the children's home where his mother and her siblings grew up. What I didn't have was the record of the Baptism of a fourth child at that address and what my friend will now have to ascertain is whether or not he survived and is the fourth child mentioned in the coroner's report of 1907.

I'd hit the proverbial brick wall with this one and it's proved yet again the value of a fresh eye and a new perspective on the problem which we can so often rely on from the Rootschatter community.

Many thanks for your interest

Marie.