Genealogy Chat

Also, don't forget how prim the Victorians were. If a girl became pregnant out of wedlock she was often shipped out to another part of the country to have the child in privacy before givng it up for adoption and returning to her family to resume business as usual.

have you-tried just teresa with a rough birth date and area of birth leaving out the surname all together. It maybe she was usung another name or the transcriber was not reading the name correctly, have you tried other spellings of teresa? There is a Theresa Waller and a Theresa Warner both within London area of roughly the right age on the 1881?? Kim

Thanks for the help guys. I'm sure Mary's reply will reassure my Mum at least!

Hi Elizabeth My Great grandfather's sister died in The Convent in Roath, Glamorgan in 1887 aged 18. She died from TB and I am sure that at that time it was described as an 'Asylum' - I am fairly sure she wasn't a 'fallen woman' as she was remembered fondly in the family - both her brothers named a daughter after her and in a Catholic family I am sure this would not have been the case. Any chance your relation could have had TB Mary

This won't be a great deal of help, but just to add a little bit of info .... I was always led to believe that a 'fallen woman' was one who became pregnant before marriage. They were then shipped off to these homes, and she could have ended up in Cardiff simply because that was the only RC one with a vacancy! Even more recently, my own birth mother was sent off from Surrey to have a child in Hampshire, then to have me in Devon. Good luck in your search, Mandy :)

little nudge

Elizabeth, Fallen might also mean homeless. Can you list some more info. such as her father's name and her husband's name, when married etc? Perhaps they can be linked to Roath in some way also. Crista

Can any one offer me ANY advice? The only woman in the whole of 1881 census who vaguely matches my g. grandmother was living as an inmate in House for fallen women R.C. in Roath, Glamorgan, (which I believe is now part of Cardiff.) My mother totally disowns this woman as her grandmother! but it has raised allsorts of questions; TERESA WALKER'S father was probably dead by then (can't find him in 1881 census). She was born some where in the East End (in 1901 she said Bethnall Green) at any time between 1862 & 1864, she seems to get younger everytime I find a record of her, & GRO are currently searching for her birth cert. for me. First question is isn't Glamorgan a long way to "fall" from the East End-what on earth was she doing there? Did "fallen" mean she was a prostitute, or was it that she had a child out of wedlock? She was almost certainly raised as a protestant. Did she have to convert to get in the house, or bluff her way in. (She went on to marry a Catholic, in St. Monica's in Hoxton) What would have happened to the child, if there was one? My head is spinning with questions-any one got any tips, clues, advice, especially about the home in Roath? Her father was Alfred Walker, a printer, probably born in the Sitalfields area around 1834. He was almost definitely dead by 1885 & probably by 1881, as I can't find him in the census on LDS. In 1885 Teresa married Cornelius McCarthy, also a printer at St. Monica's Hoxton, & they went on to have 9 children. Incidentally, GRO haven't been able to find a registration for her birth between 1861-1865