Unknown Father

[grahamm684]

Hello Everybody,
I haven't been on here for some time so a bit rusty with the site. I am looking for some help to find how or where to look fo my Dad's father.
Dad is 90 in November and he had recently disclosed to me that his mother had him out if wedlock before she married his adopted father in 1938.
 Golding is his mother's maiden name.
Dad tells me she worked as a barmaid in a pub in Bournemouth with her sister Hilda where they lived in I think it might of been the Criterion pub. This is where she got pregnant.
The only information Dad had of who the father might of been was an Alan Dowding who was in the RAF at Hurn airport.
I looked up this name recently to find nothing on freebmd, although I did find an Alwyn Dowding who married in 1936, had no kids and died about 1968.
I have done the DNA test on ancestry, although I haven't been paid up for some time now due to an over whelming family 🙃.  I would love to find out if possible, but would like any help or advise with what direction to go in.
I found this out a few years back while on ancestry looking up birth certs,
but was sworn to secrecy by my mum, as she thought dad didn't know but he did.
Look forward to any advise.

Cheers, Graham

[CaroleW]

Rootschat does not allow the names of living persons - even with the persons permission so you need to remove your fathers name from your post.

As no fathers name is on the birth cert you have done the only other possibility which is DNA

Alwyne Dowding had no children as you say.  He had a sister born in 1905 - Phyllis May Brinsdon Dowding who never married

[grahamm684]

Thanks for your reply.

[CaroleW]

There is no certainty that Alwyne Dowding was his father so tracing his ancestry may be a waste of time.  He was born/married/died in Wiltshire & is in Wiltshire on the 1939 register with his wife.

I can't find anything to show he was in the RAF to connect him to your fathers birth in Southampton

When did you do the DNA test?

[grahamm684]

I did the DNA test on Ancestry, 10 yrs ago approx. By the way Dad called him Alan Dowding. Alwyn was my near to replacement.

[jorose]

RAF Hurn did not open until 1941, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Hurn

There was another airfield nearby which was open earlier, but was civilian at this time.  The RAF didn't get involved there until WWII. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_Airfield

So if your father knew him (or heard of him) as at Hurn, he might have been there in WWII or later.

[CaroleW]

I was quite surprised to find no births for an Alan Dowding until 1922 which does make Alwyne a possibility.  Pronunciation could sound like Alan.

However - your father was conceived early 1935 & if RAF Hurn didn’t open until 1941 it makes him less likely. 

[jorose]

Did you have any sort of matches with the DNA test?

There was an Alan C Dowden born about 1913-1915 who married in Bournemouth in 1940.  It appears he likely had likely three children in the 1940s in Bournemouth (the eldest sadly died as an infant).

Struggling to see his birth anywhere.  He passed away in 1968 in Nottinghamshire.

In the 1939 register he appears to be living in Bournemouth (26 Luther Road) as Allan Dowden.

There appears to be one hit on www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk showing (badly OCR'd) in the Bournemouth area a Sguud-‘ ron-Leader Alan Dowden DFC as the best man in 1944, as well as in 1948 Mrs and Mrs Alan Dowden at the R.A.F. Association Ball in the area.

DFC citation, showing his middle name was Christopher
https://www.rafcommands.com/archive/20459.php

Picture of A. C. Dowden here:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205450465

[grahamm684]

Good morning, Just been looking at some of this info, seems it could be the Alan Dowden my Dad's mum used to go on about.
He only knew his name and that he was based at the RAF Hurn airport.
I have quite a few matches though the dna testing will have to look through them again. There must be better photos of this man somewhere, the one with the flight crew is not bad but the face a bit blurred but it is him as the 1939 survey, timber merchants clerk.
This is very interesting.

Thank-you.