Tuesday 29 January 2008

Annette's First Home

As mentioned earlier, Annette was born at Cleveland House, Sutherland Place, Wolverhampton in 1935. There is a reference to Cleveland House, in the "Wolverhampton Red Book for 1942-3", where it is described as "A hostel and maternity home for women and girls suffering from venereal Disease. Applications to be made to the Lady Superintendent."
Source: http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/news/2007/news27.htm
I don't quite know what this tells us, but it does suggest that Annette did not have one of the best starts in life.

Tuesday 22 January 2008

Thoughts

Because I was never told about my sister, by my mother, a number of people have asked me if I feel that I have been deprived of something all these years. The simple answer is, no. It is said you cannot miss what you have never had, and that is how I view the situation.

Some have asked me if I "blame" my mother for never telling me about Annette. No I don't. I can't imagine what she went through all those years ago, an unmarried mother in the 1930's and having to give up her first child. She had her reasons for not divulging her secret to me and I must accept that.

Now I do know about Annette however, I would love to know what happened to her. If she is still alive it would be wonderful to meet her.

Friday 11 January 2008

Our Dad

Throughout my Mum's life she always insisted that my father died when I was very young. As I got older however it became more obvious to me that this was not the case. I never challenged her on the issue because clearly it was not something she wished to discuss.

During my research, in attempting to trace my sister Annette, I discovered a number of things about our father:

My Dad, and presumably also Annette's, was Charles John Anthony Walker (known as Jack). He was born about 1922 at Wem, Shropshire. Jack married Margaret Olive Lane (my mother's sister) on 10 January 1929 at Shrewsbury, Shropshire. At the time of his marriage his occupation was recorded as "Boots in Hotel" and his address was 85, High Street, Wem.

Thursday 10 January 2008

Surprises

As a consequence of my research a couple of really nice things have happened. A first cousin of mine, who I had heard of but never met, contacted me. We are now in contact and hope to meet up soon.
A distant cousin of mine, who lives in Canada, also noticed my research on-line. We are now in contact by email. Sadly there is not much chance of us ever meeting.

Monday 7 January 2008

Research

Fascinated by the revelation, and with the encouragement of my family, I carried out a considerable amount of research to see if I could find out what happened to my sister.
In brief:
Examination of an old family photograph album revealed the name "Annette Mary" on the inside cover. An attempt had been made to erase that name. Searches, over many months, of the Birth Index at the General Register Office revealed that an "Annette M Lane" was born in 1935 at Wolverhampton. This information facilitated the obtaining of a copy of the birth certificate which revealed that "Annette Mary" was born on 21 February 1935 at Cleveland House, Southerland Place, Wolverhampton. The child's mother (also my mother) was registered as a "General Domestic Servant" of 40 Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham. There was no entry naming the father indicating that Annette was illegitimate. The copy of the birth certificate also notes that Annette was subsequently adopted.
Searches, at the Birmingham Central Library, of the Electoral Register for 1935 revealed the occupants of 40 Bristol Road at the time as: Solomon Wand and Clara Wand. Further ersearch identified Dr Solomon Wand as the somewhat famous Chairman of the GMSC who, in 1948, championed the cause of GPs working within the new NHS. I have traced who I believe to be a decendant of Dr Wand and have written to them seeking any information they may have in respect of what happened to Annette. Sadly, depite the passage of several months, I have received no reply to that enquiry.

Sunday 6 January 2008

The Revelation

My unmarried mother died in 2005 at the age of 93. It was some time after this that a younger sister of hers (my aunt) wrote to me and told me that I had an elder sister. This had been a family secret for many years and my aunt had promised my mother never to divulge this to me during her lifetime.
The only information that my aunt had was that my sister was called Annette and that her father was the same as mine. She was adopted very young by a family with a name that sounds like Allibon. My aunt also had a photograph of Annette as a young child (see top of page 1).

Saturday 5 January 2008

Background

I have a sister who, until 2006, I did not know existed. She was born on 21 February 1935 at Cleveland House, Sutherland Place, Wolverhampton, England. Her name then was Annette Mary Lane but shortly after her birth she was adopted. We do not know her adopted name, who she was adopted by or what became of her.