Florence Gerrell, supposedly born in Byker c1892

[Mabel Bagshawe]

Louisa's son is definitely Phillip Curtis Renwick - he's on electoral registers at 31 Elm St just after WWI.  I wondered about Philip Curtis of South Shields as well

There's a Phillip Curtis Lee b the same period in southern England, but he can be followed in later censuses

[jonwarrn]

There is a nurse child in 1901.
Could Florence have been a nurse child that Louisa decided to adopt? Perhaps Philip as well.

[mckha489]

Trees have his birthday as 27th December 1885
No source of course. But I haven’t looked at them all yet.
Fits with age in 1921

Definitely his marriage in 1920. 

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-share/9b62a9b1-68c7-4bbc-b2b6-aea72c4a7a9f

Looks like 7 children (Newcastle on Tyne reg, MMN Turner) 

[Silverhawk]

Wow, you've all been busy.

Have you tried "J"
Her children
William John 1913, Henry 1917 and Albert 1922 mother's maiden name Jerrell

Lilian 1914, Thomas 1919 mother's maiden name Gerrell

Yes, sorry, I checked the J spelling. I should've specifically mentioned that. I said in general I'd gone through a lot of different spellings, that was one of them.

As to everything else, I took a quick look myself and can't find any obvious GRO matches for Louisa Renwick's children. Neither can I find a marriage for her and Andrew Renwick. There's nothing that obviously links Louisa beyond living at the same address in different years, except possibly that her daughter Florence is roughly the same age... hmm.

There is a nurse child in 1901.
Could Florence have been a nurse child that Louisa decided to adopt? Perhaps Philip as well.

Interesting. Going back to that Florence Gerrel who died in 1894 for a minute, if she was the younger Florence's mother, younger Florence would've been 2-ish... it's a theory. You think Louisa adopted orphaned children when she could? It would mean younger Florence probably just made up a father's name so everything looked 'right'. Although as I said, I didn't find any likely census entries for older Florence in 1891, so it still looks like something of a dead end at present. But maybe it could lead to something.

Some interesting stuff to tell my friend for sure. I'll look forward to seeing what else you find out. It's more progress than I've made on this for months at any rate. Thanks everyone. 

[mckha489]

I couldnt  resist….the death reg for Florence Gerrel 8 October 1894. Look who notified the death

[amondg]

Wow.

[mckha489]

Cannot see a birth to match the confinement,

[mckha489]

Who were the witnesses to the 1912 marriage?

[Silverhawk]

  Have to admit I wasn't 100% sold on the theory, but now things just got interesting. Looks like we can definitively link Louisa Renwick to the Gerrell family... it's making it more likely now that Florence Renwick in the '01 and '11 censuses is the younger Florence Gerrell, especially as a natural born daughter can't be found. If so, it looks like younger Florence used her grandfather's name for the father's column when she got married. Why does she not have a birth certificate in any name though? I though registration was compulsory by this point?

Thanks very much for that, mckha489 Now I want to know what this older Florence's story is. Bunch of mystery women these Gerrells.

EDIT

Who were the witnesses to the 1912 marriage?

Samuel John Nichol and Eleanor Ellis, whoever they are. My friend doesn't recognise the names.