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missing bride

Muckley Lizzie Fairfax - Worcester 6c 4[5_]3

Thank you ever so much Mike. It looks like you have found the right Lizzie for me. I wonder what I shall find out about her family. Every turn I make on this branch of the family means one more surprise.

I was going gaga wondering how I was going to find her.

Thanks again.

Jill

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Wonder if this is Lizzie


Births Dec 1857
Muckley Lizzie Sarah Urlks - Stourbridge 6c 177
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LIZZIE SARAH WILKES MUCKLEY--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 22 NOV 1857 Old Swinford, Worcester, England
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Parents:
Father: JOSIAH FAIRFAX MUCKLEY
Mother: HENRIETTA

Check Lizzie's marriage cert for father.
This may be her parents marriage

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Marriages Dec 1856 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ford Jane Stourbridge 6c 251
********Hughes Henrietta - Stourbridge 6c 251
**********Muckley Josiah - Stourbridge 6c 251
Talbot Alfred Stourbridge 6c 251

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Household: 1881

Joseph F. MUCKLEY Head M Male 49 Dudley, Worcester, England Importer Of Glass
Harry MUCKLEY Wife M Female 42 Kingswinford, Stafford, England
Lizzie MUCKLEY Daur U Female 23 Kingswinford, Stafford, England
Agnes MUCKLEY Daur U Female 22 Kingswinford, Stafford, England
Alice MUCKLEY Daur U Female 21 Kingswinford, Stafford, England
Florence MUCKLEY Daur Female 12 Kingswinford, Stafford, England
Louis MUCKLEY Son U Male 18 Kingswinford, Stafford, England
Jabez MUCKLEY Father W Male 78 Kingswinford, Stafford, England


Dwelling Audnam
Census Place Kingswinford, Stafford, England

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JOSIAH MUCKLEY--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth: 30 JUN 1831

Christening: 26 DEC 1832 Kingswinford And St. Marys Chapelry, Stafford, England

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Parents:
Father: JABEZ MUCKLEY
Mother: MARY ANN

Another brother

Births Jun 1865
Muckley Leonardo Fairfax - Barton 8c 512


sadly


Deaths Dec 1865
Muckley Leonardo Fairfax - Barton 8c 328

Thank you for the extra info Mike. Jill

Sidney Meteyard, according to my late mother, was her father. She was born out of wedlock on 2 June 1908 and her mother died in childbirth. Apparently Lizzie understandbly for those times, didn't want anything to do with her and she was boarded out to the Marchant family who lived in Upton On Severn and eventually 'adopted' by them. She appears in the 1911 census as a boarder with the family under the name Paula Huhm Meatyard. We knew her as Paula Beatrice. I don't know if this adoption was formal or not. Mum was told never to ask about her birth moher and the only information she had about her is that she was a lady in every sense of the word and was multi lingual. Researching Sidney's life is hard as he kept a low profileabout his first wife only referring to Kate Eadie. I am trying to find out who my grandmother was and would be very interested to hear if you turn anything up, I will let you know if I get anything if you are interested

Hi Susan,

I haven't picked up on anything I'm afraid. In fact you're the first person I have with Meteyard interests.

Have you seen your mother's birth cert? What was her name on it? Is Sidney shown on there? I've just tried to find her on FreeBMD and not succeeded. I'm not surprised that your mom's mom might have been a lady. I haven't learned as much about Sidney as I would like to but he did seem to move in upper social circles.

Of course there is another possible story of your Mom's birth and maybe you have even wondered it. Was Kate possibly her mother? Kate's family were not exactly poor so she might have spoken more than English - mind you where all the dosh went to is a mystery but from my late mil - failed businesses.

I would love to know what is on your mom's birth cert as it had to have been registered by law by 1908 (I'm sure). I am fascinated by the Huhm bit of her name. Kate's full name was Kate Muriel Mason Eadie. So far I have not found anyone with the first name of Paula.

Kate is on the 1911 as art student. I think that she may well have known Sidney very early on and who knows when they began some form of relationship. Lizzie's death is Dec 1939 and Kate's marriage was Sept 1/4 1940.

I believe that he was painting Kate by 1913 based on his Lady of Shalott shown on this webpage.http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=765

I have nothing more to offer I'm afraid. But I will keep in touch. xxJ

Hi Jill

Thanks for the prompt reply. No I cannot find my mothers birth certificate and I think the reason is she was probably registered in her mothers name, and father as unknown. I can't find out much about Sidney but in 1908 he was doing very well and I would think he would not have wanted any scandal. I think the very fact that no one knows very much about his life revolves round what he wanted to hide. I don't think Kate was was Gran. ( Sidney kept in touch with my mum for a few years and was very clear that her mother died in childbirth.) Kate had a very successful career in her own right mainly designing jewellery.

I am very new at this genealogy business and I need to find out if I can research the birth and death records in Dudley for just one day -June 2nd 1908,-if not I will have to try and find out if the adoption was legal and if there is a certificate.

Good luck in your own research, personally I am finding it very addictive!!

Hi Susan,

I've never heard of it being possible to research just one day but you never know. I wonder if Dudley Reg Office has a resident genealogist who is available to advise. I think some offices do. I wonder if an understanding Registrar might help if we could narrow the possible births. I have an idea but it's going to take some doing. And there's a fair bit of hope involved. I'm sure that her middle name of Huhm must be significant in some way because it is so unusual.

Do you have any clues or hints at all beyond what you've said you know about your mom on here? And how certain are you that she was born in Dudley?

My only idea is that I've got access to the 1911 and if you have too, we could note all the female births registered in Dudley for June quarter 1908 and see if we can find each child either as a death on the indexes or in the 1911. As we know where your mom was in the 1911, we should hopefully be able to discount most of the names in the index. It's a big list for sure and will take a few hours I would imagine but I'm game if you are. And if you haven't got the 1911, I'll do it - but slowly :-S :-S

Then maybe we could approach the Registrar with hopefully just a handful of names. If nothing shows up, we will have to face the possibility that the birth wasn't registered before the end of June so we will have the September quarter to go through the same way :-( :-( :-( :-(

Let me know what you think. I've got a vague idea that adoptions weren't official until 1920-something.

Jill


you are quite right


Legal adoptions did not come in until about 1927


The 1911 Census on ancestry says she was born in Walsall, Staffordshire.

I've been looking at this thread and followed the links and those pictures are absolutely beautiful.

I'll have a poke through the newspaper archives and see if there are any clues .....
EDIT: Nothing of note - he may have been fined 2s 6d for his chimney catching alight in 1896.

I've looked at the Huhm angle and can't find one single person on 1911 with that surname, there are a few Huhns though.

Nothing of great significance in Sidney's probate - wonder if it would be worth getting a copy of his will?

England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
Name: Sidney Harold Meteyard
Probate Date: 10 Sep 1947
Death Date: 4 Apr 1947
Death Place: Warwickshire, England
Registry: Birmingham, England

Lived at Malthouse Farm, Cook Hill, near Alcester, Warwickshire. Probate to the reverend Oswald Ernest Meatyard, clerk, and Maggie Jane Eadie, spinster. Effects £3141 12s

Oswald Ernest is Sidney's brother and Maggie Jane must be Kate's sister.

If you really believe that Paula's mother died in childbirth, and that it's not a means of protecting the innocent no matter how well intentioned and sincerely delivered, then another approach would be to look at all of the deaths for females of childbearing age in the appropriate area (could be Walsall or Dudley) and then look for female births in the same surname.

Might the mother have been one of his models? Is there any way of finding out who they were and tracking them?

I think you might need the help of that Philip Mould, art chappie from Antiques Roadshow.

Thanks Sylvia and MC. It's going to be a fun search with no promise of a result but worth it in the end to provide Susan with her mother's birth cert.

I wonder if Phillip Mould would be interested. I know that he likes a mystery because I read his book about identifying old masters.

I'll wait to hear from Susan and then as soon as I have some free evenings, make a start. I can but hope that if we could show that we have made every effort possible to find her mom's birth and provide as few a number of possibles that we can, there will be a registrar with a kind streak who might help.

Of course, this all hinges on the truth of the situation as told to Sue's mom.

Oh and you are correct. Maggie Jane was Kate's sister. I did find some info about the Meatyards on the internet. Not part of the poorer community.

xxJ

Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries .
Berrow's Worcester Journal (Worcester, England), Saturday, April 30, 1892; pg. 5; Issue 10359. 19th Century British Library Newspapers: Part II.

Meteyard-Muckley
April 16, by the Rev. R. Wylde M.A Rector of St. Martin's Parish Church (by special licence) Sidney Harold, second son of Oswald George Meteyard, of Stourbridge, to Lizzie Fairfax, eldest daughter of Josiah Fairfax Muckley, of Stourbridge.

Chris :)

Thank you Chris. I had no idea that Sidney and Lizzie were married by special licence. Given his apparent attraction to the ladies I might take a guess.

Found, I think, the person who was my grandmother. She has variously been described as an artist, and on her death certificate as a foreign correspondent. Her family were of Prussian descent and her father was a naturalised British Subject. All of the details of my mother's birth have been slightly altered and of course, after such a long time only DNA tests would confirm what I am 99% sure is correct. The Victorian and Edwardians certainly knew how to cover up their murky misdemeanours!