Anyone fancy a mystery?

[ActonBell]

I’m trying to track down what happened to my great aunt. I’m named after her at my Grandfather’s request (and because my parents thought it was a nice name!) but this has always been a bit odd since she disappeared as far as he knew in about 1930, a year after the death at age 16 of my Grandfather’s only other sibling.
Nothing untoward suspected as such - she just stopped contacting her family and never did ao again but they heard through mutual acquaintances that she was still around in London for a while after. I have found her on a 1934 electoral register so I know she was still around then but after that the trail goes cold.

I have found her birth certificate and marriage certificate. She married at 17 a man twice her age with a thankfully very unusual surname (though it’s spelt at least 3 different ways in the records). He appears to have been from South Africa and they went to live in Portuguese East Africa as it was then (Mozambique) for a couple of years. Then they came back and settled in London.

They’re living together in Wembley in 1931 but in 1934 she’s living in a boarding house in Ealing without him. Maybe he had sailed ahead of her back to South Africa/Mozambique? I can’t find him on any shipping records for that time though.

After that I can’t find a trace of either of them. I’ve been working with Ancestry and Find my Past. Any thoughts on what I could try next?!

Have you searched the 1939?

Try British newspaper archives. I think they are free to search this week for the jubilee.
Also, have you done a DNA test on ancestry or 23andme to see if you have any relations?

@FuchsAndMöhr Yes I have and can’t find them. I need to run through some of the possible spellings of the surname and just double check those.
Unfortunately her maiden name is very common so that’s no help if she reverted to that.
I’ve found someone with the same name as her married name travelling to South Africa in the 50s but the age given is a few years out so I don’t know whether it’s her or not.

@Rayray18 - I will try newspapers, thank you!
I haven’t done DNA because I’m a bit nervous about the privacy aspects but maybe I should give it a try.

Could she have remarried?

She may have forged her name… or her marital status, ie said she was widowed when she wasn’t.

There appears to have fewer checks on identity in those days.

what a great little mystery!

It could be but I guess you’ll never know unless there is a way of then tracing her in SA.

Good luck, I ‘lose’ my G Grandmother in 1915, I was so excited for the 1921 census but it really didn’t help me 😢

Have you looked to see if there is a local FB group? We have a local history group. Post with a pic if you have one and details?

I agree with a pp, she could have been widowed and remarried - have you checked to see if there is a death record for him?

Also, have you looked to see if they had any children?

The other thing to search for would be a will.

@ToriesKillingNHS - yes, when they first sailed to South Africa shortly after their marriage her age is given as 24 when she was 17 so either she was telling fibs or there is some mistake there. She could well have remarried. It’s so tricky!

I found my grandfather over lockdown. Others had tried before but records had never been so available as they are now. I found the key to tracing him was through others in his life. I tracked their records over he years and every now and then he would pop up again. However, one thing I did that I suspect wont be an option for you is to contact people where I could. I literally turned up at a couple of addresses and googled phone number for ppl with unusual names and called round until I found them.
One thing that was very useful, I purchased marriage certificates and others such as death certificates where I found them. Often these had extra key info I never would have found and were key to my search. Additionally we purchased the world wide subscription on Ancestry and find my past.
We still have a few mysteries to solve but have come to dead ends for now.
Good luck!

@FuchsAndMöhr - I’m sorry about your grandmother. It’s sad not to be able to fill in these gaps.

Thanks all - I really feel like I should be able to find a death certificate/will but nothing so far.

@PlntLady - good point about looking at people close to her. I think I need to go through some old paperwork as well and see if we have anything in the family folders that relates at all.

Can you systematically look for all her known relatives in the 39 census to see if she was living with them, or even listed as a visitor…? I’ve found a few hitherto ‘lost’ people in the 1921 census listed as visitors and with a whole new surname (but consistent other details).

good luck!

Are there any records for the boarding house? They may have a record of where she went. Also, a bit morbid but check the registry for burials and cemeteries in her maiden and married names for areas locally to her last known whereabouts.

I’ll go back to the 39 register but the problem is she doesn’t have any relatives. Her parents and her brother (my grandfather) never saw her again after 1930 and her other brother died in 1929. They didn’t have children between when they were married in ‘23 and 1930, unless they were born in Africa (but then what happened to them when they came back to England?)

I will try cemetery records.

I have found that she was still at the Boarding House in 1935. Still under her married name, still without her husband. So it wasn’t a temporary arrangement…. But in 1939 she’s not at that address and it’s no longer a boarding house. That gives me a window to look into at least!

If you know her date of birth, you can search the 1939 census for all people with that exact date of birth using Findmypast. That hopefully narrows it enough to look through the list of hits for any possible names that have been misspelt.

@Saker - thanks. I’m working through that but no joy so far.
The thing I find odd is that both of them vanish from the records but vanish separately if that makes sense? There’s nothing for her after ‘35 and nothing for him after ‘31. The only thing I can think is that they each went abroad, separately and died there. The war obviously made it difficult to keep track of people.

Her parents both died in the early 50s and she didn’t return for their funerals, though she may not have known they had died.

Another quirk, the husband (Hubert, though once recorded as Herbert) is on the electoral register on his own at an address in 27-30 but then they are on it together in 31.
I’ve found business premises for him in the late 20s. He’d previously put accountant down as his job on the shipping records and other person based at the premises was a solicitor so it may be he was working from an office there as an accountant.

No mention of either of them in the papers anywhere as far as I can see.

There was a family rumour that they once owned a shop on Finsbury Pavements but I’m finding it hard to find any evidence of whether or not that was the case.

Other rumours include that she worked in a chemists and as one of those women who modelled dresses for the rich to look at before they bought them.

Have you tried the newspaper archives? Access is free via fmp this weekend. Could she have changed name again after 1935?

Also her age is wrong on the shipping records for when they first went to Africa together. It must be her because they are together and the name is too unusual for any other pair of people to have that name and be travelling just after they were married back to where Hubert was based.
She was only 17 then. Did she lie about her age? And why?

The other things that gets me is that they can only have known each other face to face for 3 months max (probably less) and then the next time they see each other they were married within a fortnight.

I would definitely search to see if either of them remarried. That might suggest the other one is dead, although could also be divorced obviously.
In terms of electoral registers, I was looking at someone on the electoral roll in the 1940s and it seemed they were registered at all their separate addresses including business addresses, but then it said "also living at". So as you say, it might be business addresses that you are finding for him.

Have you tried any local history groups covering Finsbury or where the business of 1920s was based.

The other things that gets me is that they can only have known each other face to face for 3 months max (probably less) and then the next time they see each other they were married within a fortnight.

She wouldn't be the first to fall in love with a handsome man with an accent and the promise (however full or empty) of a new life in the sun, especially considering London in 1923 wasn't exactly fabulous - unemployment was high, prices were 80% higher than they had been a decade before, the government was quite weak and I think the establishment of Ireland (particularly in the context of what had recently happened in Europe) must have had a significant impact on the view of Britons considering their position in the world and the end of a colonial status quo.

Who were the witnesses on the wedding certificate? She was underage to marry. Was it possible she lied about her age to marry. That would account for age differences on ship manafest.

If the witnesses were not her family can you find them on census and see if they were with them on later censuses.

It would seem quite likely that she was pregnant if they got married that fast. Maybe worth looking for a record of a birth/death 6 months after marriage. That might give a family name (eg aunt) that could give you a clue.

Would she have lost her british citizen when she married? At one point women took their husband's citizenship automatically on marriage. There might be a record of her at the embassy or in a register of aliens at the start of the war.