General Chat

I have a family mystery ... don't we all? Granddad sowed a wild oat during his apparently happy marriage to Grandma. Wonderful lady that she was, she brought up the boy as if he were her own son until one morning his birth mother arrived on the doorstep and took him away. He had been with Grandma for nine years and, as you can guess, she was heartbroken.
Of course this misdemeanor was hushed up but the teachers were perceptive. "How is it," they asked, "that Jack and Billy were born only six months apart?" Grandma let them into the secret. That gave me an idea of how to find out more about Billy. If I could go to Valence House and look up the attendance records for the two schools that Billy probably attended, I could get his actual date of birth. Armed with that, I could obtain his birth certificate and his mother's name.
There's only one drawback. I live in America and can only travel to England on special occasions. I'd be willing to pay a professional family historian if I knew where to find one. Does anyone have a recommendation, please?

Sometimes if you explain you live abroad they will do a straight forward check for free..

There are some School Admission & Discharge Registers on line which often have date of birth.

Can you advise roughly when Billy went to School and where?

I have worked with LMA records before and they have been really helpful, and their charges are very reasonable. However, they do need specific information (like a specific piece/document number) which I am unable to give. I think Billy was born six months either way of February 1919. Valence House is the repository for Barking and Dagenham records, and I hoped a local family historian would like to earn a few pounds by going there for me. I believe the going rate for a good researcher is about GBP25 an hour. I did write to one of the schools involved but had no reply. I'm afraid that happens a lot of the time.

What about looking for jacks birth then trying in the qrts near the birth for Billy

If his mum wasn't married you may find the birth with the same mmn

No guarantee though you will pick up the right boy

Thank you for your suggestion, Shirley. I have Jack's birth, and birth records of all siblings, except Billy's. I did look for births near Jack's, under surnames Piper and Edwards (which was his mother's surname at the time. No-one knows if she was married or single). Grandma and Granddad died, as did all my aunts and uncles, before I learned about Billy, and the only information I have is hearsay from cousins. Looking up school attendance records seems to be my only hope now.

https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/School-records.pdf

This is a list of school records available. It might help to pinpoint which of the schools might have relevant information.
Hope this helps

Thank you for passing on the link, Von. I know the two schools involved. I need someone to go to Valence House for me. I'm hoping a professional genealogist who lives in the Barking/Dagenham area will spot this thread.

Try contacting Barking & District Historical Society
http://www.barkinghistory.co.uk/index.html

Or the East of London Family History Society
https://www.eolfhs.org.uk

One of their members might be willing to make a visit in exchange for a donation to their funds.

Thank you, DetEcTive, for the links. I will check them out.

Ancestry has schools admission records for London on line. They usually include dob address and father's name or adult rellie.

I searched Ancestry with no luck. I also checked the National School Admission Registers, but Essex is one of the counties that is not included. Grrrr!