Hi, thanks for the reply.
Well, it is a fascinating story, well to me anyway and gives some insight into the fostering process of the times.
Ken was born on the third of September 1912 at “Amanda”, Pinner Road, Ruislip, Northwood. His birth certificates states that his mother was Lilian Kate Austin and his father was Alexander Harvey Lloyd. His birth was registered on the 7th March 1913, some months later than it should have been registered. Lilian is registered Lloyd nee Austin, but they never married. The birth was registered by his father. His mother was long gone.
Ken was brought up by foster parents.
A census search of this address the year before, shows that the house is occupied by an Annie Berry and her family, plus some lodgers. It was interesting that there were a couple of small children listed as visitors with no parents - Ernest Winter, a four year old and Barbara Brown, a baby of under one month. There is also a young woman staying there with another newborn baby. She is listed as French and married, which with a name like Ruth Sutton, which at first seemed unlikely, but after making some checks, it seemed to be true.
This made me wonder if Annie was some kind of “back street” midwife. Perhaps hers was a place that unmarried mothers went to give birth, and then maybe left their children with Annie to foster.
As for the delay in registering Ken’s birth, there is a pattern here. Both the other small children had their births registered late too. Maybe there was some kind of loophole for unofficial fostering? The adoption process did not come into being until 1926. It does seem odd that all the children are registered late. Even in those days there was a fine if the birth was registered late.
One other point regarding the 1911 cencus is that Annie would have filled it in herself. Why would she have listed the two small children as visitors if they are foster children? I firmly believe that what she was doing was unofficial and she was keen to keep it that way.
I think she received payment direct from the families of the children. Certainly Ken's father Alexander paid for him to attend Whitgift school. Ken never met his father or mother and it must have been very odd receiving this money from his father somewhere in the background.
Anyway, after all that.... I was hoping that maybe he was christened after all. In some christenings I have found extra snippets of information on some sites, so I was just hoping it might provide more of a clue about Lilian.
my guess is that she would have been young in 1912, unmarried and living in the Middlesex area. There are a couple of possibles but I really need something more concrete to link her with Ken.
Sorry for the long story, I have got carried away!
