Arthur C Cook b1918

[helenback56]

I'm looking for anyone who has any information or any possible relation to Arthur C Cook born 1918 (registered sept quarter).

Arthur is one of a few contenders for being the illegitimate son of my gt uncle Edward Cooke who died in ww1 before he could return home to marry his pregnant girlfriend. I believe the girlfriend was called Bertha and she later married 'a nice man' after her son was born. I also know the child survived and wonder whether, despite the likelyhood, he was registered under his father's surname.

This has also been discussed in 2 further posts about Edward Rowland Cooke/unmarried mothers in 1918.

[dawnsh]

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[CaroleW]

Hi

Without reading all your other posts - you don't actually know the name of this child and are assuming he was registered as Cook.

The birth you detail above shows mothers maiden name Draper

If you search freebmd in Northants for a Cook/Draper marriage - there is one in 1905 showing 2 possible Drapers on the same page - Emma and Elizabeth

I have no idea what the registration protocol was back then but I doubt an illegitimate child would be registered under a deceased fathers surname unless the mother lied about her own surname.  In this case, a different surname is shown for the mother which would indicate to me that the child was born within a marriage

Births for the period of your search show mothers maiden name alongside the entry so you can check for a marriage between Cook and that maiden name - as I did in this case.  That would rule out that birth

It is far more likely that the child was registered under his mothers surname so you would have to search freebmd for births where the mothers maiden surname is the same as the childs surname

You would then have to search freebmd for a marriage under that surname after the birth to see whether the female was "Bertha"

[helenback56]

Hi Carole,
I have done just what you have advised already which is how most of the other names I have posted about were found (two or three very likely possibilities but am just keeping my options open). There are two names that were just worth checking out based on name more than anything just to rule them out. Arthur Cook was just a consideration by name - I must have overlooked or forgotten about the connecting marraige as I have been looking over so many names recently. The other name was Rowland (*) which I was looking into purely as my gt uncle (the father of the child I am searching for) was Edward Rowland Cooke and it was considered a possibility that he may have been named after him in some way.

Moderator comment: Surname of potentially living or very recently deceased person removed

[CaroleW]

You are pre-supposing this child was registered as Cook/Cooke when in all probability he was registered under his mothers surname

There are 105 marriages of a "Bertha" in Northants between 1918 and 1922

One time consuming way is to print the 3 pages of entries and then check for births under Bertha's maiden name with the same mothers maiden name

 

[helenback56]

I have already gone through the lists which is how I have found the other names I have posted about.  I am not presuming the child was registered as a Cook, I was just trying to keep my options open incase for whatever reason he was registered as a Cook. I have been advised of how a child of that time would have been registered for an unmarried birth, but people do have the ability to lie sometimes for whatever reason, so I just wanted to keep my search flexible.