Find Ancestors

Thanks so much.

Using Ancestry you can search using exact birth dates. These are the death records Kay mentions:

Name: Nellie Bellwood
Birth Date: 16 Nov 1881
Date of Registration: Jun 1971
Age at Death: 89
Registration district: Nottingham
Inferred County: Nottinghamshire
Volume: 3c Page: 883

Name: Nellie Brittan
Birth Date: 16 Nov 1881
Date of Registration: Mar 1972
Age at Death: 90
Registration district: Cardiff
Inferred County: Glamorganshire
Volume: 8b Page: 1500

Name: Nellie Errington
Birth Date: 16 Nov 1881
Date of Registration: Mar 1971
Age at Death: 89
Registration district: Leicestershire Central
Inferred County: Leicestershire
Volume: 3a Page: 1398

Ancestry allows you to enter an exact DOB and just a christain name,other sites only allow a year.

How did you find the 3 Nellie deaths? When she was in India, she was at this point calling herself Mrs. Irene Ranyell. I'd love to follow up on that. Thanks so much.

If she returned to England/Wales under another surname name,there are 3 listed deaths of *Nellie* with an exact matching birthdate.

If she remained in India and died there her death wasnt registered under consular indexes.

If she married in India she may have taken a new name to conform with a religion?

Once again - I can't thank you enough for your contributions. During this last stay in India under the employ of the Manavadar Service, she stayed at the Watson's Hotel, 130 Watson Annex, Apollo Bunder, Bombay (hard to transcribe). This has since been demolished but I wonder if records exist??? She is listed in correspondence as Mrs. Irene Ranyell and as being 32 although she was in fact probably a couple of years older. The Asylum in Poona is likely to be the Yeravda Asylum.

Yes Sylvia, a couple of times (I read the thread last night) :-)

she left England again after that.

Have we already found this return to England from Bombay of what looks like Nellie in 1911?


UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960

Name: Miss Ranyell
Port of Departure: Bombay, India
Arrival Date: 1 Apr 1911
Port of Arrival: London, England
Ship Name: Egypt
Search Ship Database: Search for the Egypt in the 'Passenger Ships and Images' database
Shipping line: Peninsula and Orient Steam Navigation Company Ltd
Official Number: 105581


She's shown on the image as "nurse"

Frederick Milward Marston, one of the partners, apparently died in 1949 (b.ca 1875)

Googling the name of the solicitors, they were still active in 1939, according to the publishing of a notice looking for heirs of a client in The London Gazette 26 December 1939

Also a similar notice in the Gazette 1947

I think Joonie is quite correct in that Nellie's remained on the Midwives Roll simply because they had not been notified of her illness or death ................

It is only fairly recently that such professional organizations required regular updating of skills by their members in order to maintain their registrations with the organizations.


I could only suggest that you try Googling for Lunatic Asylum Poona

The lawyers would presumably have been notified of her death or recovery.

I very much doubt that the Marston and Robinson are still in operation, but what happens to their files when a lawyer's office closes down to merges with another company. Are clients' files kept or destroyed? If kept, where might they be kept?

Would a lawyer's association know the answer to the questions?

Juliet she may have remained on the midwives roll even if she was not in the country or was deceased, simply because she had not been struck off or her death or departure had not been reported - ?

The Midwives Roll 1920
No 24906
Oxford House
Dartrey Road
Chelsea
London SW

Enrolled 30/05/1907
CMB Examination

We received information from Fegan's where Harold was taken in. This letter was on his file:

Marston (Fred. M) & Robinson (Harold) 30 Essex Street
Solicitors. Strand
London WC2
6th August 1918 Dear Sir On Tuesday last Mr WJ Allen, Superintendent of the Barnardiston Branch, Suffolk, of the YMCA called upon us with reference to a lad named Harold Ranyell who had been found wandering in that district and who is now being taken care of by the Association.

Mr Allen informs us that his Association does not take charge of Boys but that the lad will be cared for and kept until such time as a Home can be found for him.

Mr Allen advised us to communicate with you as he felt sure that provided you had a vacancy in your homes and under the circumstances hereafter related you would endeavour to give the lad a home.

We called at Horseferry Road in the hope of seeing you but as you were out of London we were advised to write to you with full particulars of the case. The circumstances under which we came to act in the matter are as follows:

The Boy's Mother has had two illegitimate children by different Fathers himself and a Sister.

In the year 1914 we received instructions to act for the Father of the Daughter and subsequently received instructions from the Mother to act on her behalf with regard to this Boy. We understand that the Boy's Father is dead.

Acting upon our instructions received from the Mother Mrs Ranyell we placed the Boy with his Sister who already was and now is with a Mrs Helsdon of Lincoln House, Pottergate Street, Norwich. This person was recommended to us by a Norfolk Rector and the children were fortunate in being placed in such a refined home where they would only be taught what was to their good.

In June 1917 we received a letter from Bombay informing us that the Boy's Mother had been an inmate of the Lunatic Asylum, Poona, since July 1916.

Eventually the Boy, Ranyell, obtained a situation as a clerk on the Great Eastern Railway at Norwich and appeared to be giving satisfaction. However in June last it was discovered that he had been stealing the Company's stationery to the amount of £2 or £3 with the result that he was dismissed, the company agreeing not to prosecute provided the lad left Norwich.

Mrs Helsdon then interviewed the Norwich Police Court Missionary, Mr Clarke, with the result that he voluntarily agreed to go to a home at Leicester under the supervision of the Church Army. From this place he ran away and was found at Barnardiston as previously mentioned.

We do not think much importance should be attached to the fact of the Boy having taken some of the Railway Company's paper because he only used it for scribbling upon and it was outsold by him. It appears to us to be merely a thoughtless act.

As regards being able to make any contribution towards the Boy's maintenance in the event of your deciding to take him into your homes we have no money whatever and since the Mother's illness she has contributed nothing towards the Boy's keep and what little money Mrs Helsdon received was earned by the Boy himself.

The Boy's Mother prior to her illness was a Professional Nurse.

The Boy is strong and sturdy and from his ability to earn his own living we think he is of average intelligence. We know of no infirmity of any kind. Had such there been Mrs Helsdon would have reported to us.

We have taken every care we could in the Boy's interest during the last four years and we should deplore to see the Boy by force of circumstances and lack of control adopt any course which would lead him to commit a criminal act.

Our position is somewhat difficult owing to the Mother's illness but what we have done during the last four years have been without any fees and in fact we have expended our own money in the Boy's interest.

The Boy does not know his parentage or the condition of his mother.

In conclusion we hope after you have considered this letter that you will be able to find a vacancy for the lad and give him a helping hand. If you would like to see us we should be pleased to call upon you at any time by appointment.

You'd faithfully
Marston & Robinson

W J Fegan
(Mr Fegan's Homes)
62 Horseferry Rd
Westminster SW1



• 1903 Born at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, Marylebone
• 1911 He and Nana were ‘nurse children’ at :

John Thomas Waller Head - Male Army Pensioner 67 1844 Chelsea, London
Marie Anne Waller Wife Married Female - 51 1860 Bermondsey, London
Frederik Hobbs Grandson - Male - 11 1900 Marylebone London
Harold Ransell Nurse Child - Male - 7 1904 Marylebone London
Irene Ransell Nurse Child - Female - 5 1906 Clapham
Kathleen Brown Nurse Child - Female - 0 1911 Twickenham
Address 11 Sherland Road Twickenham
Parish Twickenham
County Middlesex

He possibly attended St. Michael’s College.

• 1913 He attended King Edwards in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
• 1914 Boy's Model School Norwich (Frederick William Helsdon, Guardian)
• ? - ? Mrs Edith Fanny Helsdon, Lincoln House, 104 Pottersgate Street, Norwich, Norfolk
• 04/04/1917 Left school to go to work
• 30/08/1918 Fegan's Training Farm, Goudhurst
• 13/11/1919 Employed in farm office
• 17/10/1927 Left to work at Mission of Hope, Hurst House, Croydon
• 23/01/1928 Housemaster at Fegan's
• 30/11/1929 Position with Dr Barnardo's Homes, Jersey

30 Aug 1918 - height 5' 11". Weight 7st 7lbs
"A bright and cheerful boy. He has a desire to make his way and is at the age when he requires discipline and control. Very clean and tidy. The boy is absolutely homeless without a relation to take the place of his mother".

A lot has happened in the intervening months. Nellie went as midwife to the Begum of Manavadar December 1915 - January 1916 but according to new information, she was an inmate at a 'Lunatic Asylum' in Poona, India by July 1916. Would anyone know how to find out what happened to her. Strangely, she appears on the Midwives Roll in 1920 - how could this be? Was she sent back to England or did she die in India?

Her birth certificate details are as follows:
Nellie Ranyell
Born November 16th, 1881 (registered Feb. 27th, 1882)
131 Tiverton Road, Stamford Hill, registration district Edmonton, Sub-district Tottenham in county of Middlesex.

I can only assume that she suffered a similar fate to her brother Ernest.

Juliet,

If you know the actual date of birth of Nellie coud you post please.

I'm not sure Jessie would have the the option to go home- I think Eliza was struggling herself at that time- she received poor relief in 1920.

Poor Law Removal and Settlement Records, 1698-1930
Name: Eliza Ranyell
Age: 68
Birth Year: abt 1852
Record Type: Settlement Papers
Event Date: 30 Aug 1920
Poor Law Union or Parish: Hackney
Residence: Hackney
-----------------------------------------------

Some of the family did pull together later. This is Eliza 1933 Electoral register:

18 Appach Road, Lambeth
Emily Bennett
Gertrude Bennett
Beatrice Buchanan (this is Nellie's sister, Maud Beatrice Ranyell, b, 1891)
Alice Mayo
Eliza Ranyell
Ethel Ranyell
---------------------------------------------

I don't see Nellie/ Irene on the 1939 register under the name Ranyell (although she may have taken on a different surname)

Thanks to you all, we are getting a much clearer picture of my ancestors. It isn't pretty, by any stretch of the imagination... In fact, terribly sad. They don't seem to have been a very close family by the looks of things. I would have though Jessie would go home to Eliza rather than the Workhouse.

Strangely, Nellie, Ernest and Jessie were baptized in 1898 (a year before their father's death)... Nellie would have been 16 at the time. Any ideas why the three would have not been baptized at birth? Perhaps they changed religion??? George's father was a Methodist missionary - just seems odd.

Also, would Nellie Ranyell, b. 1882, be listed on the 1939 Census? She can't just have disappeared... but perhaps we have to consider that other members of the family had mental health issues...

Jessie marries in 1912 to the man she was living with in 1911:

Name: Jessie Ranyell
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1885
Age: 27
Spouse: Robert William Walter Utton
Spouse Age: 40
Record Type: Marriage
Event Date: 24 Nov 1912
Parish: Holy Trinity, Lambeth
Borough: Lambeth
Father Name: George Alexander Ranyell
Spouse Father: John Utton
Register Type: Parish Register

I'm not sure what happened to Jessie. She's discharged from St. Pancras workhouse in 1922, but I see nothing after that. The workhouse record has her next of kin but I'm struggling to read it, but possibly ??? Ranyel, 14 Chingford Road, Walthamstow .

I don't think they were twins- Jessie was older. Ancestry transcription 1891 has Jessie & Ernest age 5, but image says age 8 for Jessie.

Births Jun 1883
RANYELL Jessie Edmonton 3a 288

I don't see Ernest's birth on freebmd, but perhaps mistranscribed?

Births Jun 1886 (>99%)
RANDALL Ernest Edmonton 3a 339