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On reflection they're still there in 1950...never mind! Back to the drawing board!

Name: Frederick Albert Plant
Year: 1939
Street address: 43 ERDINGTON HALL ROAD
Residence Place: Birmingham

On this record he is living with an Elizabeth Plant - this is the maiden name of Alfred Cleatus' second wife, who was widowed by this time.

I am thinking whether this could be the elusive Albert Street aka Albert Frederick Currell... also here in 1935

I don't think I would worry too much about that. He has shown himself to be a wee unreliable. I can't help but wonder if his wife knew why he had changed his name or knew why he left his family but just kept it to herself.

Pity we can't find out what happened to him.

Thanks for your reply. What about the age discrepancy.. it's almost 2 years out compared to the marriage certificate?

I think that is the correct Albert. I think he added the Frederick when he took the name Currell. It's not unusual for a father's middle name to be missed from the birth registration of a child. The registrar would only record the names Emma gave him.

Thanks for letting us know that the certificate arrived.

Albert's birth certificate arrived:

Albert Street b.15/08/1884 in Becket Street, Bilston, Stafford. Father is Albert Street and mother is Emma Street, formerly Jones.

There is no mention of Frederick as Albert's middle name, nor Cleatus as Alfred's middle name. Informant was Emma who was illiterate, don't know if that makes a difference or not - maybe she didn't mention names as she wouldn't have been able to spell them, if asked...? Although this was probably not uncommon at the time...

Becket Street address ties in with the 1881 census and the same family which follows through to the 1891 census.

On Albert Frederick Currell's marriage certificate - to Rachel Aston - Albert's age is 24 in May 1910. If he was born in August 1884 it should read 25 years old, Albert's 26th birthday being only 2 months away.

What does anyone think? Is this the correct Albert (Frederick)?

Maybe, although my uncle did say he was a wanted man by people in Ireland...

Hi Angela



Looking at your Irish reference, maybe that's where he took off too?

I can find them in the electoral registers 1920-25 living at Douglas Road, 85 Rose Terrace (Albert and his wife Rachel).
A bit of a trawl though to find them in 1927 as there doesn't seem to be a search facility on the register. I looked at Douglas road as I already had the address elsewhere.
The couple Rachel is living with in Regent road 1935, the Kings, are her daughter and son-in-law.

Flip, I just spoke with my mom and she said that her grandfather had left when his daughter b1929 was quite young - couldn't be more specific. I think it's definitely a possibility that Rachel was living with her son...

Just going back to the 2nd post on this thread - it was assumed that Albert Frederick living with Rachel in 1935 was her husband - it could have been the son who married that year. So Albert (the father) may have disappearred earlier than previously assumed!

I'm actually inclined to believe it was the son - he only had residency qualification for parlimentary elections and not eligible for Local Govt....but someone with more knowledge on eligibility may be able to throw some light on this.

My mom phoned her elderly brother last night. He recalls Albert Frederick Currell, married to Rachel Aston, as being a bit of a bad lot. He was wanted for tax evasion and had a bakery and then a dairy. He was also recruited as a 'black and tan' in Ireland - although I believe from looking online that this would likely have been around 1920, by which time he had already changed his name.
The tax evasion issues may well have been the reason for the name change though.

We also looked at my grandmother's bible and did find the surname 'Street' along with other surnames in the family. Beyond this there was no other information.

Thanks :-) I thought that too...fingers still crossed that my elderly great aunt recovers her health and is able to enlighten us.

Well found Angela. Just wish we could have found an answer to your original brick wall. I wondered if Albert had reverted to Street after he left hid family but still found nothing.

Just found Alfred in the 1861 census at 37 King street west brom. Again they are wrongly indexed this time as Shelt.

I found Alfred c Street and Emma Jones at no.20 Dudley Road on the 1871 census. Alfred has been transcribed as Steel - quality of the writing is dreadful!.

Next step is to send for birth certificates and keep nosing at other trees and forums. I'll keep you posted should I discover anything relevant. Thank you.

Angela, I think the concrete connection is the name Albert gives for his father. It's lucky that Alfred has such an unusual middle name. If Albert's descendants have all used the surname Currell, I would have him on my tree as Albert Currell nee Street. Perhaps you'll never know why he changed his name or why he chose Currell rather than something like Smith or Brown. So far there hasn't been an obvious connection between the Street family and the surname Currell but perhaps we have just missed it.

Yes, I agree with you. I know the alfred b1868 is not 'mine'. I ordered it because it was on someones tree - incorrectly.

I was just thinking out loud, really, about how to approach tying the two names together with something concrete.

Thanks for you input :-)

Hate to say this Angela but I don't think that Alfred Currell born in 1868 in Shipston on Stour is Albert's father.

The consensus of opinion here seems to be that your Albert Frederick Currell was actually born as Albert Street, son of Alfred Cleatus Street born 1848 in Bilston. When your Albert married he had changed his surname to Currell so looks like he changed his father's surname then too, probably for appearances. His father can be tracked on all the census with the surname STREET not Currell.

It looks to me like Albert was the only one in his family that changed his name from Street to Currell. His father's death has already been posted and his death was registered in 1925 as Street not Currell.