Elon Musk's Liverpool Ancestors

[Blue70]

I was interested to read that Elon Musk's grandmother was from Liverpool. Newspapers reported that Cora Robinson was from Mossley Hill Liverpool but this is actually incorrect she was from Edge Hill Liverpool:

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/elon-musks-scouse-nan-childhood-30622801

If you look at 36 Bridge Road Mossley Hill it's a new build property. So you have to look at old maps to look at what was there in the past to see if older houses were once there. On old maps that land was once a school and later an engineering works no sign of any houses. So where did she live if not Mossley Hill? 

The answer is in the 1921 census transcript and extra images! If you only look at and download only the two main images you will miss that it says 36 Bridge Road was located in Edge Hill! The Robinsons, John and Elizabeth, are also shown living there on the electoral registers from around 1919 to WW2. It's no longer used for housing:- 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/L39LcrVupvLQ9qrB6

The first of Elon Musk's Robinsons to come to Liverpool was his great, great grandfather Levi Robinson he came to Liverpool in the 1870s he was originally from the Cheshire/Staffordshire border area. In 1911 Levi Robinson was living in Wellington Road off Park Road in Dingle, Liverpool. He was a crane driver on the docks. His son John emigrated to South Africa and married an Afrikaans (Dutch speaking South African) woman called Brechie Elizabeth Theron in 1911. They later returned to Liverpool and Elon Musk's grandmother, Cora Amelia Robinson, was born in Liverpool in 1923.


Blue

[tornado]

Well what a discovery , but are you sure it is The Elon Musk we all know ?. Somehow Elon and Liverpool and especially his crane driver relative seem at odds . It may just be me . Elon has certainly rose up from his humble roots it seems . Humble is not a word I would equate with him though . Thanks for this bit of social history . 

[Viktoria]

He is far too powerful for my liking!
Wealth ought not to automatically bring power.
He could do so much good.
I know very little about him but wealth often buys power, for the wrong reasons.
Viktoria.

[Ruskie]

You may or may not be allowed to pursue this family history here.

I started a search some time ago about a public figure and it was deleted. I still don’t fully understand the reasoning as all the information was in the public domain.

Just wanted to let you know. You might want to save useful replies in case the thread disappears. 

With the SA connection it seems like the right family, but newspaper reports can be wrong, depending where they got their information from, so worth double checking using the usual sources if interested in this person’s FH. 

[Ray T]

Presumably under the “no discussion of living people” rule although some living people seem to thrive on publicity; good or bad.

[Blue70]

The person that was researched here is the grandmother. She died in South Africa in 2011. My main reason for this thread is to address the mistake made in researching the grandmother's home address in Liverpool. She grew up in Edge Hill not Mossley Hill. I've tried to provide evidence to improve and correct previous research.   


Blue

[Blue70]

Elon Musk's Liverpool Ancestors

https://merseysidebiographypages.weebly.com/elon-musks-liverpool-ancestors.html


C

[Blue70]

Man claims to know truth about Elon Musk's Scouse nan

A family history researcher delved into the archives to investigate claims about Cora Robinson

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/man-claims-know-truth-elon-31010424


C

[UKgirl]

7 Jan 2025 (in his own words)

My British grandmother, Cora Amelia Robinson, was an important part of my childhood. She was very strict, but also kind and I could always count on her.

She grew up very poor in England during the Great Depression only to be bombed in WW2. To earn money for food, she cleaned houses, leaving me with a lasting respect for those who do so.

My Nana was one of the poor working-class girls with no one to protect her who might have been abducted in present day Britain.

************
This was written by Elon Musk on X/Twitter about his grandmother, in reference to the problem of so-called “grooming gangs” in Britain which at the time was being widely discussed throughout the world.

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1876582315062858159?lang=en-GB
(viewed more than 51 million times)

UKgirl