Genealogy Chat

Advice needed please re a missing birth and death. Please see below

My father had a sister who died as a young baby. All we know about her is that she was called Wendy and was the first born child. I have searched the births and deaths from 1937 when my grandparents married to my father's birth with no success. I have tried my grandmother's maiden name and a year previous to their marriage, looked at the end under females, looked at all the mothers maiden names in case he had name wrong and cannot find her in births or deaths. Someone on here suggested that she may have been stillborn and although my dad is sure she lived we applied to still birth registrar explaining circumstances. After a 6 week wait we have today received a letter from them saying that she was not on their register. Can anyone offer any suggestions on where to go next please? I have seen threads saying for missing births apply to register office where registration may have taken place, but do I need to go in person or do you think I could do this by letter? Any advice would be very much appreciated, thanks Dawn

You could post the details on here and perhaps someone can help. Good luck Irene

Her details are as follows: Wendy Lloyd born c 1940 Parents names George William Lloyd and Dorothy Lloyd nee West. Parents married in Barnsley Dec 1937 My father was born March 1942 so her birth would have been before June 1941. My dad and uncles births both registered at Staincross, Barnsley. Dawn

Hi Dawn Have you tried church records. Its just a thought but if baby was born too early then there would be no birth or death record. My daughter had a son born too early and there is no record of the birth or death, but the burial in the church is recorded. Its just a thought. Regards Jo

Thanks for trying Bernice. Dawn

That could be a possibility Josette, thanks, looks like I'll have to have a trip out to Barnsley!

It may be worth checking backwards a year or so - just in case she was born at about the same time/earlier than the marriage. I know it might seem a bit of a longshot but could be worth a look. Jill

Already tried that Jill, but thanks anyway.

i know its not much help, but have you tried gwendoline?? thats another name for wendy isnt it? Julie

tried that thanks Julie. Think I will have a trip to archives and track down parish records. After telling my dad about Jossette's suggestion that she may have been born early and burial records may exist, he said that he does remember his mum mentioning her being buried in churchyard where his grandparents are buried. Said he has looked there before but no headstone, so church records may be best bet. Thanks for all your suggestions everyone. Will update this if I find anything!

Just a thought, but as it was during the war, is it possible she was somewhere else when she had the baby? Lots of pregnant women were shipped out to country districts to give birth as the main hospitals were full of wounded soldiers. Also - if she is buried, then she MUST have had a death certificate. I recently advised someone to contact the cemetery and ask for details of the last address, and this had a successful outcome - the death had been registered in the LOCAL Register Office, but had never reached the GRO. OC

Hi OC, Thanks for that.My dad thinks she would have stayed locally as cemetry is the local one and not really an area affected badly with casualties. I am going to visit archives and see if there is a burial record and then try Barnsley registry office if I get more of an idea of dates.