What Happened to Ada May Preddy neé Hammond?

[Historylad1]

What happened to Ada May Preddy Neé Hammond. Who lived in Leeds?
|On 15th April 1924 Ada was shown in the Electoral Register as living at 14, Wood Square Farsley.
On 28th December 1925 she was living at 148, Town Street Rodley with her two children Lily Violet age 9 and Ada Frances Ernestine age 4.
On this date her children were admitted to a children’s home in Rothwell and I cannot find any further information about Ada May.
Ada May was born in 1895 and was age 30 at this time.
Although she called herself Preddy (the name of the man who fathered her children) she never married and Albert Preddy died in 1923.
What caused her children to go into the children’s home?
Was Ada May ill and unable to look after them?
Was Ada May deemed to be an unfit mother and the children were removed from her?
Was there a process in 1925 to remove children from a parent?
There is no death record for Ada May either as Preddy or Hammond.
Ada May was my maternal Grandmother (my Mother was Lily violet) and I would be very grateful for any help in establishing the facts about Ada May.

[trish1120]

Welcome to Rootschat.

Do you have an exact birth date for Ada?

There is this death reg;

Deaths Dec 1978
PREDDY  ADA  6 JA 1895  NEATH  27   1657   

EDIT not her as this one is in Wales 1939 with her Husband!!

[ciderdrinker]

Hello
Welcome to the forum.
It would be nice to know who her parents where and where she was born.
Is she the Ada May Hammond d of George William Hammond platelayer and his wife Fanny?
If so she married 30 May 1914 atChrist Church Leeds to an Alf Smallwood  age 21 dyers labourer s of Robert,a drayman.
She is given as a 8 Wards Court in the boot trade.
Alf didn't die till 20 Oct 1964 in Leeds and buried Harehills cemetery
He is alone on the 1939 and states he is married.
On the same date Ada Smallwood a widow is living with an Arthur Hammond also in Leeds.
There is a death for an Ada Smallwood Dec 1943 Leeds age 50

If you had her date of birth it would be possible to confirm the 1939 entry was the same woman.
Sorry I can't find more

Ciderdrinker

[trish1120]

Excellent work Ciderdrinker;

1939 born 19 Jan 1895 which is perfect

EDIT living with her unm Uncle

[Historylad1]

Hello Ciderdrinker,

Many thanks for your reply to my post about Ada May Hammond. She was born  on 19th January 1895 and her parents were George William Hammond born 1864 and Fanny Hammond born in 1864.

Ada had 4 siblings, Louisa Maria Hammond born 1888, George Ernest Hammond born 1890 died 1899, William Arthur Hammond born 1892 died 1977 and George Ernest Hammond born 1903.

The family were living in Hunslet Leeds  at the time of the marriage to Alf Smallwood and certainly all the details of names dates and place do seem to be correct, however, my mothers birth certificate (Lily Violet Preddy) shows:
Born - 24th August 1916 at 60, Spring Gardens, Doncaster
Father    - Albert Charles James Preddy
Mother - Ada May Preddy formerly Hammond
Signature, Description and Residence of Informant – Ada M. Preddy Mother
When Registered – Third October 1916

On 18th February 1921 Albert, Ada May and Lily Violet were living in Farsley Leeds when they had another daughter called Ada Frances Ernestine Preddy.

Now comes the strange part! On the June 1921 census, the family are living at 14, Wood Square, Farsley, Yorkshire (West Riding) and there are 6 members in the household.
Albert Preddy – Head         Place of Birth – London Surrey
Ada May Preddy – Wife         Place of Birth – Harrogate Yorkshire
Lily Violet Preddy - Daughter       Place of Birth – Doncaster Yorkshire
Ada Francis Preddy – Daughter      Place of Birth – Farsley Yorkshire
Fanny Hammond – Wife’s Mother      Place of Birth – Darlington Yorkshire
William Arthur Hammond – Boarder   Place of Birth – Harrogate Yorkshire

This seems conclusive proof that ‘my’ Ada May is correct, but, how does this fit in with the wedding to Alf Smallwood? Did Ada leave him and revert to her maiden name when she got together with Albert? Is the wedding just a coincidence which happens to have the same dates and names?

Is it another coincidence that Ada Smallwood aged 44 is living with someone called Arthur Hammond aged 70! in the 1939 Register?

Ada May’s partner Albert died in 1923 and in the 1923 and 1924 Electoral Register she is still living in Wood Square and so is William Arthur Hammond, no mention of Fanny so presumably she had also died.

Why did Ada May’s children, Lily Violet and Ada Frances go into the children’s home on 28th December 1925? Did Ada May abandon them? Did Ada May go back to her married name of Smallwood? Do you think that Arthur Smallwood age 70 was her uncle?

The only conversation I ever had with my mother about Ada May was very brief but led me to believe that Ada May might have resorted to prostitution in order to support her children.

I’m sorry to have bombarded you with so much information but if you have any ideas about these coincidences and questions I will be very interested to hear them.

Thanks once again for your interest.

Best Wishes,

Historylad1

[bbart]

Hello, and welcome to Rootschat!

A couple of questions:  what was the age given for Albert Preddy on the 1921, and secondly, you mention he died in 1923; where did you find his date of death? (I just want to know I'm chasing the right Albert, and no death shows in freeBMD or GRO)

I was sifting through the army records of Alf Smallwood; he first enlisted in 1911. After his marriage, Ada was added as his next of kin, but address was "unknown"
Later in the records, they listed next of kin as Ada Mary Smallwood, address of 11 Providence (the ink fades out, so whether that is Street, Place, Road etc, no idea).
After the war, in 1920, Alf re-enlisted.  I'm not sure they ever did live together.

[garstonite]

you say 1921 census Albert Preddy born Surrey - was it Battersea ,Surrey - is this him ?

https://gw.geneanet.org/janetw34?n=preddy&oc=&p=albert

[Historylad1]

Hello bbart,

Thanks for your questions and the information about Alf and Ada.

Albert is shown on the 1921 Census as being 36yrs and 9mths but this is wrong, Albert was definitely born in 1874 and was therefore 47 years old at the time of the census. and I do not know how or why this occurred.

In the Free BMD Birth index the Registered Place of Albert’s birth is Chippenham Wiltshire Volume 5A Page 76 and the date is Jan, Feb, Mar. 1874
The 1881 Census shows a birth date of 1874
The 1891 Census shows a birth date of 1874
The 1901 Census shows a birth date of 1875
The 1911 Census shows a birth date of 1874

The 1921 Census also shows the wrong dates for Ada May 34yrs 2mths
She was only 26
Fanny Hammond is 63yrs 4mths
She was 57
William Arthur Hammond is 27yrs 8mths
He was 29

The previous census records for all of the above all confirm my ages. I have no clue how these anomalies came about, it is very strange but I am 100% certain that you have the right Albert.

Albert died in June 1923 and he was buried in Farsley Baptist Church Burial Ground in Bagley on 12th June 1923.
The following is taken from the transcription of the grave book of The Baptist Chapel at Farsley: 2. [100.00] Farsley Baptist Burial Registration 74 PREDDY Albert Farsley 1923 06 12 http://www.calverley.info/fars_bap_graves.htm - 579.9kb

With regard to your information about Alf and Ada Smallwood I am beginning to think that Ada was not a nice person! It looks as if she left Alf to take up with Albert and when her daughters were put in the children’s home (presumably abandoned) Ada reverted to her real married name and started a new life.

Albert was also a bit of a rogue! 3 women in his life. The first went in a workhouse with their 2 childen (Albert did not) the second had their second baby in June 1916. His third (Ada May) had his first child (my mother) on 24th August 1916! He was also sacked from a job because of bad timekeeping.

If you are researching the Preddy family, did you know that Albert’s father, (James Preddy) was knocked down and killed by a chauffeur driven Yellow, Renault Landaulette car in 1909? I have much more information about this if you are interested.

With regard to your research into Ada Smallwood neé Hammond I would be very interested to have more details. I am new to Rootschat so I don’t know if there is any facility of putting members directly in touch with each other so that we could share documents, pictures etc? Please tell me how we do it if possible.

Hope this is useful.

Best Wishes,

Historylad1

[Historylad1]

Hello Garstonite,

Thanks for your question, I have followed the link you provided and seen the relatives of ‘your’ Albert and I am certain that ‘my’ Albert is not the same person. Albert’s parents were James Preddy 1839-1909 and Emma Preddy 1838-1911. His siblings were Elizabeth, Frances Matilda, Lucy Anne, Henrietta and Frederick.

Best Wishes,

Historylad1