Genealogy Chat

Interested to find out if any one can help with my search for Frances Gertrude Swift, the only definite thing I know about her, is that she had a son John Sydney Swift, he was born in Cork 8th December 1917, there is no fathers name on the birth certificate, present at the birth was a Mary Dwyer from the Cork Union, which I presume was the workhouse, John came back to England and was eventuallly brought up by a family called Wright, in the Radcliffe area of Manchester, we beleive Frances developed epilepsy and was institutionalised, it is said that she died when John was about 13, John died in 1996, and never spoke of his early life. Any help would be appreciated

There are more women called Frances Gertrude than I would have expected (over a hundred on the England 1901 census, and a couple of thousand birth registrations), but just the one birth registration for one with the surname Swift. She was born in 1898 in Lancashire, a good fit for the 1917 birth of a son brought back to Lancashire.

Name: Frances Gertrude Swift
Year of Registration: 1898
Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
District: Warrington
County: Cheshire, Lancashire
Volume: 8c
Page: 194

No Frances or Fanny on the 1901 census to match that birth, but there is a Gertie:

Name: Gertie Swift
Age: 3
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1898
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: William
Mother's Name: Elizabeth A
Gender: Female
Where born: Haydock, Lancashire, England

Civil Parish: Haydock
Ecclesiastical parish: Haydock St James the Great
Town: Haydock
County/Island: Lancashire
Country: England

Registration district: Warrington
Sub registration district: Newton in Makerfield
ED, institution, or vessel: 5

Household schedule number: 156
Household Members:
Name Age
Alfred Swift 3 months b JFM 1901 Warrington
Maggie Swift 2 b Margaret AMJ 1899 Warrington
Gertie Swift 3 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
John S Swift 5 b JFM 1896 Warrington
Edith Swift 6 b JAS 1894 Warrington
May Swift 11 b AMJ 1889 Warrington
Willie Swift 13 b JAS 1887 Warrington
Elizabeth Swift 17 b AMJ 1883 Warrington
Elizabeth A Swift 40 b approx 1861 Parr
William Swift 48 b approx 1853 Ashton in Makerfield

(edited for siblings' birth registrations)

Perhaps the birth registration of Gertie's brother?

Name: John Sidney Swift
Year of Registration: 1896
Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
District: Warrington
County: Cheshire, Lancashire
Volume: 8c
Page: 213

[Edit - if this is the right family, then there are about 10 pages of info on Ancestry's WW1 pension records about John Sydney Swift's uncle, John Sidney Swift. He was invalided out in 1916 after serving in the trenches in France (John Sidney Smith of Newton le Willows b 1896 served with the Gordon Highlanders)]

Temporarily posting a possible death reg for Gertrude :

Gertrude Swift, JAS 1929 age 34 Glossop reg dist, refs volume no 7b page no 732

(this was the only Frances/Gertrude death reg of approx right age found on the complete index for Jan1929-Dec 1931). [Edit - Anne, do you know if Frances Gertrude married at all?]

- there is no guarantee that this death could be the one you are looking for - there are 22 Gertrude Swift birth registrations in 1895+/- 2 years.

You could try ordering the birth and the death certificates above, on the off-chance that they relate to your family. You might want to improve your odds though first.

Do you have any chance of identifying the Wright family and making a connection through them to your Swifts?

Logging off for today.

looking at the children on the 1901 census and wondering if a Swift daughter (ie a sibling of Farnces Gertrude) might have married a Wright, I found this on www.freebmd.org.uk

Marriages Jun 1911 (>99%)

Simms Emma Bury 8c 995
>>>>>Swift May Bury 8c 995
Williamson Herbert Bury 8c 995
??>>>>Wright George F Bury 8c 995


Could this be the couple that raised John???????????????????????


sylvia

Hi Sylvia, that's possible. JSS b 1895/6 gave May or Mary with a different name as his next of kin - I'll have a look for that marriage too.

Pension records give May/Mary Cunliffe, sister, of 267 Crow Lane West as the next of kin in 1915. I wonder if there was an older sister Mary who had left home before 1901?

Aha:

Marriages Sep 1901
CUNLIFFE Albert Edwin Prescot 8b 1407 <<<<<<
Pendleton Esther Ada Prescot 8b 1407
POWELL Richard Thomas Prescot 8B 1407
Swift Mary Prescot 8b 1407 <<<<<<

Deaths between 1901 and 1921 in Lancs of Elizabeth Swift b 1861 +/- 1:

Elizabeth Ann Swift abt 1861 1908 Apr-May-Jun Ashton Under Lyne Ches,Lancs

Elizabeth Ann Swift abt 1862 1909 Jan-Feb-Mar Warrington Ches, Lancs

Maggie will probably have married Hawthorn (in Warrington in 1914) or Lee (in Prescot in 1919) - the latter looks more likely since she was only 2 in 1901.

1891:

Name: William Swift
Age: 37
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1854
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Elizabeth
Gender: Male
Where born: Ashton in Makerfield, Lancashire, England

Civil Parish: Haydock
Ecclesiastical parish: St James
Town: Haydock
County/Island: Lancashire
Country: England

Registration district: Warrington
Sub registration district: Newton in Makerfield
ED, institution, or vessel: 11

Household Members:
Name Age
Elizabeth Swift 29
Elizabeth Swift 7
James Swift 10
Mary Swift 9
May Swift 1
Thomas Swift 15
William Swift 37
William Swift 3

1881:

Name: William Swift
Age: 27
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1854
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Elizabeth A.
Gender: Male
Where born: Ashton, Lancashire, England

Civil Parish: Haydock
County/Island: Lancashire
Country: England

Street address: Hoyes Green
Condition as to marriage: Married
Occupation: Coal Miner

Registration district: Warrington
Sub registration district: Newton In Makerfield
ED, institution, or vessel: 11

Household Members:
Name Age
Elizabeth A. Swift 19
John Swift 1
William Swift 27

Thanks for that marriage ref Sylvia. These are Wright birth registrations in Lancashire between 1911 and 1931, where the mother's maiden name is Swift:

Barbara H Wright 1915 Oct-Nov-Dec Swift Warrington
Stennett Wright 1914 Apr-May-Jun Swift Bury
Edna M Wright 1913 Apr-May-Jun Swift Warrington
Ruth F Wright 1912 Jan-Feb-Mar Swift Warrington

Anne, are any of these names familiar as members of the Wright family who brought up John?

Logging off - I hope some of this was useful.

A special thanks to you all, for all the information you have found,
I only put this post on last night, the answer to Stennet Wright is correct, I have just verified this with my husband John, (john sydneys son) we have known nothing at all about Frances Gertrude, other than her name, there is only one Wright remaining
aged 87, it was he that told me some years ago, about the epilepsy and her being sent to the workhouse, we assumed she died in Fairfield Hospital nr Bury Lancs, but that may have not been the case, I am going to print all this info, and will keep you posted, many thanks to you all once again.
Kind Regards Anne.

Further to above, no as far as we know she did not marry, Bill Wright once told me she went over to Ireland to be a Land Girl,and got pregnant by a Soldier? but that not may be correct Regards Anne