Margaret Wilkinson

[spurbro]

My mother Margaret was born on 15/02/1913 at Houghton-le Spring.Durham.The address on her birth certificate is 2 South view,Newtown.Only her mothers name appears on the birth certificate which is Hannah Wilkinson nee Walter her fathers name was Thomas I believe she had half brothers but from which of her parents i do not know.I would be grateful if anybody could shed any light on her family as I have drawn a complete blank .many thanks.

[Mr Veritas]

Hannah Wilkinson's from the 1911 Census:~

WILKINSON HANNAH F 1871 40 Houghton le Spring Durham
WILKINSON HANNAH F 1900 11 Houghton le Spring Durham
WILKINSON HANNAH F 1872 39 Houghton le Spring Durham

Thomas Wilkinson's from the 1911 Census:~

WILKINSON THOMAS M 1896 15 Houghton le Spring Durham
WILKINSON THOMAS M 1872 39 Houghton le Spring Durham
WILKINSON THOMAS M 1896 15 Houghton le Spring Durham
WILKINSON THOMAS M 1887 24 Houghton le Spring Durham
WILKINSON THOMAS M 1906 5 Houghton le Spring Durham
WILKINSON THOMAS M 1905 6 Houghton le Spring Durham
WILKINSON THOMAS M 1891 20 Houghton le Spring Durham
WILKINSON THOMAS M 1859 52 Houghton le Spring Durham
WILKINSON THOMAS M 1904 7 Houghton le Spring Durham
WILKINSON THOMAS E M 1872 39 Houghton le Spring Durham
WILKINSON THOMAS ED M 1886 25 Houghton le Spring WILKINSON THOMAS HUNTER M 1909 2 Houghton le Spring Durham
WILKINSON THOMAS WILLIAM M 1886 25 Houghton le Spring Durham

If you want to see these entries in detail(by household that is) you can join the census for free at:~
http://www.1911census.co.uk/
but to see detail you will need to load your membership with credits.
�6.00 is the minimum which gets you quite a lot of information.

[Mr Veritas]

PS:~
The above (especially the Thomas') are obviously not all the same household,there just appear to be a lot of Wilkinson's in Houghton Le Spring.
Luckily there are fewer Hannah's.I would guess that Hannah the elders (either the 39 or 40 one) is your Grandmother,and (possibly) "little Hannah might be your Mother's elder sister?but it's all guesswork.
With the Thomas's you may have to trawl through all the entries till you get a Hannah and Thomas in the same household. Of course the possible half brothers would be another surname.
Good Luck.

[Mr Veritas]

PPS~
As you have the address(which appears of course on the census entry) you should be able to narrow it down relatively easily.
Any problems,just ask.
OK.

[dot.haukes]

If your Mother's fathers name does not appear on her birth registration entry, but her mother's name does appear (assuming as the informant) then your mother's father was not married to Hannah Wilkinson nee walter.
Margaret mat have been brought up with half brothers who were the sons of Thomas and Hannah Wilkinson, and she may even have been bropght up BY Thomas and Hannah, but Hannah cannot have been married to her father at the time of registration.
This is because the only way a mother can add the fathers name to a registration in his absence is if he was her husband.
One possibility here in this particular scenario is that Hannah was pregnant by another man when she married Thomas Wilkinson, and therefore she was quite right to put her name as HANNAH Wilkinson nee WALTER.
It could be that Thomas and Hannah Wilkinson (your grandparents) did not realise the implacations of not adding the real father in later life, but at the time Hannah attended the register office, she was either under pressure not to put Thomas as the father OR she knew Thomas was not the father and felt it would be wrong to put the incorrect name.

[dot.haukes]

Just to clarify, the reason i believe there were outside pressures on hannah NOT to put her husdand's name as the father in the register, is because the registrar would have asked her for the father's name after writing down Hannah's married and mauden names. the registrar would have then asked for the father and expected Hannah to put her husband, BUT she hasn't and so there must have been a reason, not a legal one, why hannah could niot have put her husband down.
I am wondering if Hannah maybe married two wilkinsons, have you found Hannah and Thomas's marriage entry?

[spurbro]

Thanks Dot.We have never found any other certiftcates other than my mothers birth certificate.The only information she ever gave us was her parents had both died and she had come to London to work in service aged 14 she always said she remembered nothing of her childhood other than she thought her father worked for a brewery.

[dot.haukes]

I would suggest your next step is to obtain a birth certificate for one of her half-siblings, to do this I would look closely at the 1911 census for hannah Walter or Wilkinson matching an address for a Thomas Wilkinson or even go to the 1901 census to find hannah walter maybe.
by going sideways to the half-brothers you may well uncover the mystery. if you have not found a marriage of Thomas Wilkinson to hannah ward before or AFTER feb 1913, try looking at all Hannah ward marriages in the Houghton-le Springs district,
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/districts/h oughton-le-spring.html
I have done a person search of the 1911 census for a hannah and Thomas Wilkinson living in the same house and there is only one and it is hannah wilkinson born 1872 aged 39 living houghton-le-springs and Thomas Wilkinson also born 1872 aged 39, try looking for a birth registration in H le Spr. for a Thomas Wilkinson born 1906, he may be a son of the thomas you want as the household contained a Thomas and hannah and a child thomas, you can search the 1911 for the people you want to find at the same address and it is a good clue.

I have looked for Hannah Walter b @ 1872 (exact spelling) on the free 1881 census index (familysearch.org) and there are only 2 in the whole country at that time, one was born in Cumberland in 1870ish the daughter of John walter a ships carpenter of crosscanonby Cumb.and another was born in Northampton the daughter of William Walter a dealer and poulterer.

The name Hannah Walter on being on the birth registration is probably her correct maiden name, but in the census there may have been an alteration, like Ann not Hannah or walters not walter, but these two above are the only hannah walter in 1881 of a girl around the right age for the hannah wilkinson living with a thomas wilkinson both aged 39 i

[dot.haukes]

sorry I didnl;t mean ward i meant walter and i meant 1905 for the som thomas's birth registration not 1906!

[spurbro]

Thanks Dot.You have given us a lot useful information Im optimistic that at last I may be getting somewhere ,many thanks.