Find Living Relatives

Hello Pauline,

Have you been in touch with a Giles Brearley ?

He is / was a member of GR (just go to top right corner --on "Search" drop down menue to "Search all trees" put his name in the search box and send him a message, I advise you delete the Auto message in the message box and write a message of your own)

He is a great Historian for the South Yorkshire district ---Swnton, Mexborough, Rotherham etc. and has many books published --and films made of these places.
(If you "Google" his name a lot of things come up for Giles)


I am not saying he will know anything about Winifred --but it is worth a try, and although a very busy man, he is very nice and I am sure will help you if he can.

Hope this helps a little and good luck in your search

Barbara x

After searching through records I have come up with a Winifred Miller who married a Samuel J Brearley in the district of Rother Vale in l938. This date would seem to be about right so does anybody out there know a Winifred Miller nee Brearley I have no date of birth but would think it would be in the region of 1915 give or take a year or two

May also be Shirley baby had to be kept a secret from Mr Fletcher or a compromise had to be met.....baby or husband.?

Sounds like it could have been the first as any intent to an adoption then Mr Fletchers agreement and signature was needed even though he may not have been the father,because they were married it was presume he was.

It would seem there was no family connection for Dorothy and Winifred so you may never know why she was entrusted with you after you were born,

In those days a mum was in hospital for 14 days after a birth so would seem when Dorothy came out of the hospital she handed you over to Winifred to be looked after. Dorothy was probably in the position of not being to have a baby at her digs or on base if she lived in.

Again maybe Winifred husband objected to her having you and him providing so she left him.

Its all supposition and unless you can find someone who knew the
circumstances then don't think you will get to the bottom of it.

So more was known about Winifred and where she lived. would have helped knowing that info.

Possible:

Births Mar 1914 (>99%)
MILLER Winifred Chambers Rotherham 9c 1538

You should contact the closest library to 5 Central Drive, Thurcroft, Rotherham to look at old electoral rolls.

Rose

Thurcroft comes under Rother Valley,

So this could still be the marriage:

Marriages Dec 1938 (>99%)
Brearley Samuel L J Miller Rother V. 9c 1773
Miller Winifred Brearley Rother V. 9c 1773

There is another Brearley/Miller marriage in Halifax and one in the Leeds area that could explain the births Shirley mentioned. One Halifax birth is before the marriage though.

Samuel again marries in the Rother Valley district in 1959.

Rose

Dorothy's parents:

Marriages Sep 1915
Beckett Martha E Ward Sculcoates 9d 477
Ward William E Beckett Sculcoates 9d 477

Rose

More information:

I am trying to trace a Dorothy Mary FLETCHER nee Ward who was I believe born in l916. On the 17th October, l936 she married a Cyril Washington FLETCHER who was a fitter in the RAF. They were married at the parish church of Edward the Confessor, BARNSLEY. Her father was a WilliamEdgar WARD. The only other details I have is that at the time of her marriage her residence was The Gables, Dorworth Road,? Barnsley. Also I know that in 1944 she was a cook in the National Fire Service in Blackpool. She may also have had a connection with a Winifred BREARLEY who resided at 5 Central Drive, Thurcroft, Rotherham, and this person subsequently moved to Brighton in 1944.

Rose

Winifred and Samuel Brearley had children from 1938-1958 so that rules them out .

Harold and Winifred nee Bramley didnt have any children so maybe they were going to adopt you but he changed his mind so she left him and took you with her , Its all a bit maybe though

If you were born in Blackpool and Winifred lived in Rotherham then she must have known your mum and her busines to be in contact enough for Winifred to go to Blackpool to collect you.

Was your mums name Fletcher and where you born a Fletcher. Maybe Winifred had a family connection or maybe was just a friend who was willing to help out. One wonders why she left her husband to take you to Brighton .

Unless you can establish who her family was then the puzzle may never be found.

Have you researched your mums family to see if maybe she had a sibling Winifred ?

Name: Winifred Bramley
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1909
Registration district: Halifax
Inferred County: Yorkshire West Riding
Volume: 9a
Page: 376

Name: Winifred Brearley
Birth Date: 15 Jun 1909
Date of Registration: Mar 1990
Age at Death: 80
Registration district: Leeds
Inferred County: Yorkshire
Volume: 5
Page: 418


Just looking around for any clues .

It may help if you can find out her husbands name when she lived in Rotherham

?


Name: Samuel Leonard J Brearley
Birth Date: 17 Mar 1904
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1975
Age at Death: 71
Registration district: Rotherham
Inferred County: South Yorkshire
Volume: 3
Page: 0699


So lived in Rotherham reg district

.??

Name: Winifred Miller
Spouse Surname: Brearley
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1938
Registration district: Rother Valley
Inferred County: Yorkshire West Riding
Volume Number: 9c
Page Number: 1773
Find Spouse: Samuel L J Brearley


Name: Winifred Bramley
Spouse Surname: Brearley
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1942
Registration district: Halifax
Inferred County: Yorkshire West Riding
Volume Number: 9a
Page Number: 1074
Find Spouse: Harold Brearley

What about the address in Rotherham that the lady remembered her living at with her family

I wonder whether she would be on Brighton electoral rolls after 1946 when they were resumed

They won't be online though but would need to be looked for at the local main
Library

My mother Dorothy Mary Fletcher gave birth to me in Blackpool having already had and left 4 children in Yorkshire. 5 years ago I traced my mother (who died in 1993) and am in contact with my remaining brother and sister - still not sure whether we have the same father! The final part of the puzzle is Winifred Brearley. I have an ID card for 1944 with my name on it and the signature of Winifred Brearley. I was taken into care in Brighton when I was about 2 yrs. old and the only information I was given on leaving care at 18 was that a Mrs. Winifred Brearley had come down from Rotherham with me and I was taken away from her because a neighbour had reported her - what for I don't know but that was the reason I was taken into care. I had no addresses for Mrs. Brearley until my foster mother died a few years ago and the ID card came to light. I am just intrigued how Mrs. Brearley came to travel from Rotherham to Blackpool to collect me. This story was born out when I visited Rotherham some four years ago and spoke to an elderly lady who remembered a Mrs. Brearley living opposite her and she said "I remember she left her home and returned with a young baby and then left her husband and went down south with the baby". I have no other information but feel there must have been a prior connection between my mother and Mrs. Brearley - the final piece of the puzzle I suppose

OR are you saying your mum left HER marital home when you were two weeks old and took you to Brighton and handed you to Winifred.

Cant imagine someone would hand over their baby to a complete stranger and why select Brighton from Rotherham. There would seem to be some family connection somewhere

If contact was 'lost' in the late 1940's, who raised you? If I read your post correctly, you would have been no more than 6 years old...........

Why would Winifred leave her 'marital home' after you had been 'given' to her?

Do you have your own birth cert?

So a bit puzzled ?/ if you were given to Winifred and then taken to Brighton did she bring you up ?