Birth of Winifred May Spearing

[LockeLad]

I am seeking more information on the life of Bessie (baptised as Bessy) Look, born in 1874 in the Frome area of Somerset. Also some information about her daughter, Winifred May Spearing, who, after her marriage to Arthur Henry Locke, lived in Somerset. I have details of Winifred's life as a teenager but I am particularly interested in the circumstances of her birth which do not follow the same pattern as that of her siblings. Winifred was born on 31 March 1903 in the district of Chelsea, sub-district Chelsea South. It is likely that, about the time of her birth, her mother, Bessie, was living in London at 27 Pont Street, Chelsea. Bessie was a ladies maid to the wife of John St. Loe Strachey, a Newspaper Proprietor (of the Spectator, father of John Strachey MP). From census records Bessy was living there in 1901. As far as I can ascertain, soon after Winifred's birth, both mother and baby returned to Somerset. 
It looks, suspiciously, that someone in the household of the Strachey family, or living nearby, was Winifred's father. (This in contrast to her siblings whose father was William James Spearing.) Hence the support for Winifred's mother during her birth. Unlikely to be proven but a closer knowledge of the birth circumstances is of interest to me.
Thank you.

[Mabel Bagshawe]

I think this is Winifred's father

Marriages Q3 1902
Bessie Look
William James Spearing

Langport Vol    5c  p643

Presumably the marriage didn;t last very long, for whatever reason

[Mabel Bagshawe]

Bessie Look  27
Father  William Look, labourer

William James Spearing     29    gamekeeper, Street
Father    John Spearing  gamekeeper

Marriage    23 Aug 1902    Barton St David, Somerset
By license

Witnesses Henry Chislett, Frederick William Henry Reynolds

[CaroleW]

Given the marriage & birth dates Bessie was approx 2mths pregnant when she married. 

Winifred was born in Chelsea in 1903 but the marriage was in Somerset in 1902. 

[CaroleW]

Where are Winifred & Bessy/Bessie in 1911

[Mabel Bagshawe]

They're in Ireland

One son William Reginald was b Kent, baptised     13 Oct 1907  in Acrise  but two girls were born before then in County Meath and another boy afterwards in County Wicklow

SPEARING, WILLIAM  REGINALD      
mmn LOOK     
Q4 1907
 ELHAM  Volume 02A  Page 1105

[LockeLad]

Thank you for your postings, Marquessate,

William James Spearing was indeed the registered father of Winifred Spearing. The marriage of Bessie Look to William Spearing lasted many years as is indicated by the six children that followed after Winifred who was the eldest. William returned from Ireland in 1920 and became gamekeeper on the Kingweston estate, living at Barton St David in Somerset.

[Mabel Bagshawe]

I'm not sure I understand why you have suspicions that William is not Winfred's father, except her birth in London.

[LockeLad]

Winifred Spearing was born in an age well before my time. When I asked for further information about her birth circumstances, it was possible that the RootsChat experts had come across similar stories to those of Winifred's mother, Bessie. I am an optimistic rather than pessimistic person. So I give Bessie the benefit of the doubt and view her as a reliable and hard working domestic employee. Consequently, the St. Loe Strachey family would have ensured that Bessie was well cared for during the birth of her daughter and for the subsequent safe return of mother and baby to Somerset.