Another link to 31 Sturry Street

An internet search for "31 Sturry Street" yields only a handful of results. One of these is a messageboard posting on the workhouses.org.uk website from Lorraine Roberts. Keen to make contact with anybody else who had a relative born at Sturry Street, Lorraine's mother was born there in 1914.

Here are extracts from Lorraine's emails in response to discovering that Josephine too had been born at Sturry Street:

How nice to hear from somebody else who has a relative born at 31 Sturry Street. In fact our stories are very similar. My grandmother [Annie Stone] was 19 years old and unmarried when she gave birth to my mother in February 1914. She also did not name the father on the birth certificate but I do know that he was a soldier who went to war and Mum was told that he did not return. How true that is we will never know but a lot of young men were killed in that war so it is probably more likely than unlikely. My grandmother's family were from Hemyock in Devon and my original thought that she had become pregnant in Devon and then sent to London was because on my mother's birth certificate it gives the name and maiden surname of Mother as "Annie Stone - a domestic servant of Coombe Hill, Hemyock, Devonshire". Why would they have put that address if she had already been working in London? My grandmother kept my Mum until 1916 and then gave her up for adoption by her own brother-in-law's (her sister's husband) sister and her husband in Monmouthshire in Wales. Although adoption wasn't legal then adoption papers were drawn up by a solicitor in Newport, Monmouthshire in June 1916 and state that my grandmother was now residing at 4, Aldersbrook Parade, Wanstead Park, London, a single woman and domestic servant and that she could not afford to maintain her child. Of course it would have been very difficult for a single mother to work and look after her child in those days and it was very common for the "adoption" to be kept within the family. I would love to locate any records for 31 Sturry Street as who knows what information we would find there! Where was my Mum and her mother living between 1914 and 1916? This is what I know about the home: It first appears in the Post Office Directory in 1890 as Poplar Rescue Work Manor Cottage, Kerbey Street, however subsequent years give the address as 31, Sturry Street. The directories give Mrs Anna Wilkes as the founder (confirmed in Paula Bartley's book titled "Prostitution") and it is listed (in the 20th century) as being operated by Poplar Borough Council. In a 1911 directory it is listed as Manor Cottage Maternity Home (Mrs E Robinson, Matron) and the address is 31 Sturry Street, Poplar, London. The Salvation Army, Children's Society and the Catholic Children's Society have no record of it being one of their homes. Although the London Metropolitan Archives, the National Archives, Tower Hamlets Local History Library and East London History Society say they have no records I contacted them before I knew the name of the founder Mrs Wilkes so I feel I must try them again. Also Poplar Borough Council who must have received rates from the address or rent. I doubt the person owned the house. Apparently the website, www.adoptionsearchreunion.org.uk has a facility to search for Homes. Have you tried www.childrenssociety.org.uk to search for Josephine's move to Devon?

My grandmother never married either and I cannot begin to think how she felt parting with her 2yr old little girl. My mother certainly had a privileged life with her adopted parents also but she did have contact with her mother from 1952 until 1963. I have all the letters from my grandmother to my Mum and that is where I started my research. It has been a fascinating process as I have managed to make contact with my grandmother's niece whom she lived with in Hampstead London. It has been quite emotional but definitely worth the effort when you find more and more facts. So good luck in your research - I hope that I have been of some help. There are so many questions unanswered aren't there? If I do find out more I will certainly let you know . Keep in touch.

It is interesting to note that Hemyock is just 12 miles south east of Huntsham. Was it merely coincidence that two illegitimate births were linked to both these Devon villages and Sturry Street?

Another illegitimate baby ...

A fascinating story surfaced via David Wall of The Huntsham Society ...

My great grandmother, Marion Bale, started work at Huntsham Court some time in 1901. She was 15 years old. In 1902 she fell pregnant. She went home to her family in Bideford to have the baby, a son, (my grandfather Alfred Thomas), in November 1902. It was always assumed that the father was Hugh Acland Troyte!

Marion went back to work and her son was brought up by her parents, (Alfred's grandmother and grandfather). Marion used to go home once a week to see her son. Sadly in 1911 she died aged 25 after a visit to the dentist. Alfred was was only 9 years old at the time.

Then in 1917 when my grandfather was only 15 years old, he added two years on to his age so he could join the army. He was posted to India. It was while he was out there, in 1918 that he got the news that Hugh had been killed in action.

My grandfather died in in 1981. Amongst his possessions, tucked inside a bible, was an old newspaper cutting of the death of Hugh Acland Troyte.

So it would seem we both have a common interest in the family! I am longing to acquire as much information as I can about them. I have yet to visit Huntsham Court but would love to at some time in the near future. Without speaking ill of the dead, did Hugh take his secrets to the grave?

Email from Carol Scarfe.

On seeing a photograph, Carol was amazed at the likeness between Josephine and her own mother.

Notes

From the Huntsham Archive at Devon Records Office, Exeter.
This photograph was found at Frank Lunn's house. It could be Harry Story or perhaps Hugh Acland Troyte sitting in the library at Huntsham Court.
This photograph was found at Frank Lunn's house. Is it Gertrude's brother, Morris. Could it be Josephine's father?
From the Huntsham Archive at Devon Records Office, Exeter.

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