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Your great grandmother could have been born virtually anywhere, and until some factual info about her birth year can be found, it's going to continue to be a problem to pinpoint her.

If she was being truthful when she said her father had been in the merchant navy there is the possibility that they moved around to fit in with his service

Ok thanks for all your help . I've ordered Ernest james birth cetificate so hopefully that will lead me to his death cetificate and then see what info that throws up
Thanks once again . Much appreciated

thinking about the 1918 marriage posted by Rose and the further info posted by Jacqueline

and now what Sharon has said which suggests that Ruth A Jones James may have died between 1921 (when Sharon's nan was placed in the first home) and 1925 (when she was moved to the second home)

I wondered about this death

Name: Annie Kendrick
Birth Date: abt 1896
Date of Registration: Mar 1923
Age at Death: 27
Registration district: Bucklow
Inferred County: Cheshire
Volume: 8a
Page: 234

Age 27 in early 1923 would match with our Ruth Annie's age 21 in later 1916 (i.e. birth between March 1895 and 3rd quarter 1895)

there are other Annie + Kendrick marriages, for instance in Chorlton and Wigan, that could account for that death ...

however ... for the Kendrick-James marriage there actually seems to have been a birth registered in first quarter 1916 in West Derby (i.e. possibly born 1915) as surname James, mother James, with middle initial K, reregistered in 4th quarter 1929 as Kendrick with mother James ... the reregistration would fit with the travel of RL Kendrick to South Africa in 1930 ... an R Kendrick born c1915 travelled to South Africa in 1935 (but so did other Kendricks, also to Cape)

since that James-James birth precedes the James-Jones marriage, that marriage does seem unlikely to be our Ruth ... it seems more likely to be a Kendrick-James couple who had a child before marriage, possibly while the husband was at the front, then married asap after the war, after which the wife died and the husband then went to SA and the child followed ... SA archives do show a Robert Kendrick, no middle name, involved in divorce proceedings in SA in 1969 ... the Robert Kendrick born 1915 who died in Enfield in 2001 is not the 1915 Robert Kendrick-James

so I think I've ruled out that James+Kendrick marriage ... because it would not have made sense for our Ruth Annie Jones to register a birth as James-James before her marriage to Ernest James, and for him to be subsequently registered as Kendrick ... unless ... he was really Ernest James's son, and Ernest died in the war and Robert Kendrick took the son on as his own ... but in that case why not the daughter too?

someone has corrected Robert Kendrick's name in the 1911 census at Ancestry

Name: Robert Hendrich [Robert Kendrick]
Age in 1911: 18
Estimated birth year: abt 1893
Relation to Head: Stepson [it says Son, not Stepson]
Gender: Male
Birth Place: Birkenhead, Cheshire, England
Civil Parish: Birkenhead
County/Island: Cheshire
Country: England
Street address: 15 Barnston St Bhead
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Appentrice Joiner
Registration district: Birkenhead

it could be worth enquiring (the person was active at Ancestry today so is reachable)

also one person has Robert Kendrick 1893 Birkenhead in their tree here at Genes Reunited

this could be a quick way of ruling out that marriage (or not)

Ok thank you very much I'll have a look on ancestry shortly and message some people . I've also found a baptism for an Annie Jones born oct 1894 . Father is john Jones and he's a sailor .. Maybe she just liked the name Ruth and called her daughter Ruth too . Obviously just a possibility but once I've cooked the kids tea i'llget searching all possibilities
Thankyou for the help

not a bad possibility at all! ... where was it?

yes, she might have just liked the name Ruth ... and truly at that time, it was not unheard of for modern young women to change their names like that when they married ... my grandmother did :-)

... uh oh ... is it this one?

Name: Annie Jones
Birth Date: 24 Oct 1894
Baptism Date: 1 Jul 1895
Parish: Toxteth, St James
Father's name: John Jones
Mother's name: Annie Jones
Reference Number: 283 JAM/2/6

that father was a Tailor, unfortunately

rather than 'sailor' a record will usually say 'seaman'

yes i've just had a look and realised..thanks. ill try and find the other trees and send a message
thank you