Genealogy Forum UK

I know that adoptions were formalised in 1927 but curious to know what, if any, legalities were required prior to this date and if a legal transaction was made, where it might be recorded. My reason for asking is that my grandmother b. 1904 was adopted in around 1907 - she found out when she had to get her birth certificate 30 years later which gave her real surname and mothers details - and am trying to trace her mother.

do you have the details clovis, if so post them and we will se what we can find for you

There was paperwork to ensure that the child was covered by probate.

There was also paperwork in the Parish Chests so that a child was covered by the poor laws etc.

But this was not a centralised register so it is a bit "hit and miss" what you may find.

The ability to obtains adoption information is far stricter in the UK than in Australia.

Only the adoptee can apply for identifying information in the UK.

Siblings, children and grand children can apply for identifying information in Australia.

In Australia about 10% of hte time a form of guardianship, rather than adoption, is granted.

I assume the percentage would be the same in the UK.

Hi Clovis are you still wanting some help on this?
Jo

Apologies, I hadn't realised that I had some responses on this subject!
My grandmother was Mary Aurelia Conroy Schofield born 5 Mar 1904 in Bath. Although family legend is that she was kept by her mother (Mary Ann Schofield born aldershot in Jan 1875) for a couple of years (which possibly has some truth as unlike her siblings, she was baptised by her mother), she was adopted out to Florence & Howard Mountford who lived in Wednesbury (on 1911 census she is shown as being Florence's natural daughter). Mary Schofield also had 2 further children out of wedlock - a daughter Barbara born in Bath in 1910 who was adopted by the Hathaway family near Oxford (Hathaway was given as a middle name on her birth certificate so I assume adoption arrangements were made during pregnancy for her) and a Mervyn Philip Conroy Schofield born 1915 in Bath who was adopted by local family in Bath.
Mary Schofield, the mother, was a nurse and it appears that she probably used her nursing contacts to find suitable adoptive parents (the Mountfords couldn't have kids, Mervyn's adoptive family had been married less than a year at the time of adoption but had no other children, and one of the Hathaway family was a nurse in Bath at the time). The Hathway family have nothing about the adoption but found a couple of letters which suggests that they were either being given some money for the child's upkeep or at least some sort of endowment policy had been set up.

Hi Clovis,
just so you dont miss a post in the future.
When you reply to a thread or start a new topic if you go a little further than the box you write, there is an area thats blue and has options on there. There is a box you can tick "Notify me when a reply is posted"
You will get an email to say a reply has been made on that thread.
Hope that helps.
Jo

grangers14 wrote:Hi Clovis,
just so you dont miss a post in the future.
When you reply to a thread or start a new topic if you go a little further than the box you write, there is an area thats blue and has options on there. There is a box you can tick "Notify me when a reply is posted"
You will get an email to say a reply has been made on that thread.
Hope that helps.
Jo

You can also set your board preferences see this thread

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4429

Thanks for the tip - will be notified from now on!

How odd? To go through all that process of naming a child all them names and then adoption? Wonder what the Conroy means. Do you have her in 1911? I didnt see her?

Is this Mary Ann in 1901?
Belmont, Box,
William Henry Bateman, head, 37, Rollerman Stean flour Mill, Cold Ashton, Gloucester
Henrietta, wife, 36, Cold Ashton, Gloucester
William Henry, son, 7, Box, Wilts
Kathleen H?, daur, 5, Box, Wilts
Mary Annie Schofield, boarder, s, 26, Monthly and district nurse, Aldershot, Hants

hi - that was her in 1901. In 1911, she calls herself Mary Annora (a name she uses on the kids birth certificates) - her birth place of aldershot gives her away (no other mary schofields were born in Aldershot within a 10 year period). The Conroy bit got me excited at first but I found out it is the maiden name of her mother - who is given various names, including Honora, Hannah Nora, Annie on the docs I find relating to her. All the names for Barbara were, I expect for the benefit of the Hathaway family, but I agree that it is quite strange for the other 2. Another odd thing is that for the christening of Mary Aurelia in 1904, she gives the parents as being William and Mary Schofield with William being a 'gentleman' from Bulkington. I can understand why she has said she is married but don't know whether there is any significance in her naming of William or Bulkington. Bulkington is an obscure hamlet in Wilts and there was a man of private (but fairly modest) means called William there at the time according to Kellys but his surname is Hillier. I guess I will never find out

In 1911 census, she is shown living near Rochester (Cliffe on Hoo) as a live in nurse. I don't know her movements between 1901 and 1904 or 1904 and 1910 but the Hathaway family have a letter from her in Ireland in late 1910 where she was a monthly nurse for the Wyndham Guiness family and about to return to UK. From the other quite frantic letter in 1913, she has just left her employment in Rochester and is in Chipping Norton and apparently unemployed due to some personal tragedy (supposedly her fiance has died and she is trying to sort out legalities with executor). Interestingly - the William from Bulkington dies in 1913, but my gut feeling is still that all 3 kids had the same father - I can't see someone who has managed to get to 29 with no kids, having kids with 3 different men. Unfortunately there may be other members of the Hathaway family who might know more but this is a very sensitive subject (not happy to discover that barbara was 1 of 3).

On a different note, after the birth of her final child, I lose track of Mary Annora completely. The Hathaway family have an undated newspaper photo of a Mary Schofield who is becoming a matron at a hospital in Windsor which ties in with what my mother was once told (her parents tried to find her in 1928 but they wouldn't talk about what happened). I am not entirely convinced that this is her as my husband just looked for her in a couple of nursing registers in the NA - she is not shown in the first register or in the 1928 register - but I need to go through them systematically to check.