DiddyDave,
As you probably already know, it is more difficult searching for folk after than 1901 than before, mainly because Census 1901 is the latest available to us.
But we can pick up clues, pick up possibilities and eliminate them or otherwise....
Looking at the era 1903 ( Elliott/Brown marriage) to 1908
(birth of Mary Jane Elliott)... the birth of a child , called Maurice Dale Elliott, was registered in the March Qtr 1905 with Sunderland District Register Office.
Unfortunately in the same qtr at same DRO, the death of a Maurice Dale Elliott was registered.
Also registered in this era at both Houghton and Sunderland DROs, were births( and deaths) of Elliott children, who may or may not have been of Maurice/Margaret...
Sometimes conventions of the English Naming Pattern (ENP)can provide clues for the parents first names of couple
e.g. rule no.1... A couple's first son was to be given the name of his father's father, No.2 second son to be given name of his mother's father. No.6 first dtr to be called after her mother's mother.
But the regimen of the ENP was dying out by circa1900 and deaths of infants messed up our view of pattern.
Rule No.3 had it that a couple's 3rd son was given the child's father's name... in this case Maurice... so
if Maurice and Margaret were in step with ENP, then this unfortunate Maurice was their 3rd son ( but probably unlikely because of date of their marriage.
Civil Birth Registration indexes up to 1910 only included one surname, that of the father. From 1911 the records revealed the mother of the child's maiden or previous name.... so...
The birth of a John R Elliott was registered with Sunderland DRO in Sep Qtr of 1913, with mother's name Brown.
Clues can also be provided by families passing down surnames as second names ... e.g.
Maurice Dale Elliott's brother, Rodger, had a second name of Cooke, so in Elliott birth registrations after 1903, I looked for a reoccurrence of Cooke.. but did not see any.
Source of above info was FreeBMD site ( but transcriptions not yet complete ! )
Maurice's parents were William and Mary Ann. Do you know the name of Margaret Annie Brown father (from her marriage cert) or mother.
On Census 1901 there are at least 4 elligible Margaret Browns living in Tunstall/Silksworth..
Lets hope from the War and Peace above, there is at least a wee snippet of value to you.
Michael Dixon
Newcastle
