Genealogy Chat

I have just received the marriage certificate of my great grandparents and the birth certificate of my grandad 4 months later. The address where he was born is different to that where they lived when they were married. So, apart from the home, were there special places (eg. a midwife's house) where it was normal for babies to be born? This was in 1901. Jeannie

Hi Jeannie I know that it was common practise for mothers to go and stay with a relative to have a baby, this certainly happened when my Grandfather was born (also in 1901). I may well be that they stayed with a different relative, or that the relative they went to had moved. Regards Maxine

Hi Jeannie It was often the custom for the women to go back to their mother's house to have the first child. I have found this several times in my own research. Hope this helps. Yvonne

Thnaks Maxine I hadn't thought of that, I suppose the most obvious choice was to stay with your Mum or older sister. Also, I suppose it was 'in the hands of the Gods' if you were poor (couldn't afford a doctor) and had a bad time giving birth whether the mother and/or baby survived. Jeannie

There were little maternity hospitals in 1901. Very often they were small charities, founded by a rich benefactor. I have discovered two of these places when looking for my own relatives. If you think the address sounds like a hospital (e.g. St Lucy's) you could try typing it into Google. Hope this helps, Jennifer Pittam

My Uncle was born in a maternity home during the second world war where specialists were on hand to help with the birth.

My Grandad was born in New Houses, Beal in North Yorkshire. Does anyone know anything about New Houses? Was it a village, or, as his mum was a single parent, was it some sort of a home? Maggy, West Yorkshire