Mystery unravelling! Partial answers.
 

Now I am retired I am chasing up loose ends.

My great-aunt Florence Emily Williams is a bit of a mystery. I was told she'd married a chap called "Alf Sibley" and my mother was not aware of any children. I knew they had lived at 40 Bullen Street because I have letters with that address.

I couldn't find a marriage for Florence but I did find her and an Alfred Sibley on various electoral rolls.

Alfred Sibley married Violet Mabel Milton in Dec 1913 in Battersea.

I had assumed that Alfred was unable to get a divorce and he and Florence posed as a married couple for respectability.

Just went back to find her on 1939 register and with her is listed an "Edward Sebley". He was born 29 Jan 1914, a year after Alfred and Violet married.

I've now found his baptism Feb 1914 as Donald Edward Sebley - in Battersea - parent are listed as "Alfred John & Florence Emily Sebley of 40 Bullen Street.

I can only conclude that Alfred and Violet's marriage was doomed from the start. If Florence carried Edward to term he would have been conceived 4 months after the wedding!

But now I find I have Florence E Sebley on electoral rolls with Edward Sebley in Battersea at the same time as an Alfred Sibley & Florence E Sibley which I previously thought were my lot!

There are quite a lot of Alfred Sibley/Sebleys. I've found a death in 1939 of an Alfred (no John) which might mean Florence E Sebley is "widowed" on the electoral roll with her son and the other couple are unconnected.

Nell, do you know your Florence's exact date of birth? If so then does it match the Florence who you found on the 1939 Register?

Yes, that's why I'm sure she's (Donald) Edward's mother. I have her birth date from her baptism register.

And there is a birth reg Jan-Mar 1914 in Wandsworth, Edward Sebley, MMN Williams. Also listed under the surname Williams.

There is an Alfred J Sebley death Jan-Mar 1929 Chelsea, age 50. Alfred John Sebley born Jan-Mar 1877 Chelsea. And an Alfred Sebley marriage in Chelsea Jul-Sep 1896 to either Ellen Barnes or Annie Scoltock.

Edit - going by subsequent birth regs, I think he married Ellen Barnes.

And there is an Ellen Sebley death Oct-Dec 1960 Surrey Mid E age 84. Have to go and make dinner now.

Thanks KiteRunner, I'll take a look at those now.

There is a Violet Mabel Sibley death in Kensington so I think the Alfred of that original marriage isn't yours and the Alfred Sebley death in Kensington is her husband. I am assuming Sibley is a transcription error, anyone one with a sub to deceased online could check if there are images and addresses, I let mine lapse.

Or if it is him he might have been leading a double life and flitting between the two or he was just living with Florence in Battersea.

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/...off=&ml_rpos=1


https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/...off=&ml_rpos=1

I am coming to that conclusion myself. Thanks for looking, Maggie!