Thomas Connolly & Edith Sharratt
 

Mindful of my previous advice to myself:
I have come up with a couple of interesting points regarding the marriage of Thomas (Patrick) Connolly & Edith Mary Sharratt, Jan 1931.

• A possible child born the year before their marriage
• A prison sentence for Thomas a month after their marriage

I've started a new thread with the details and will hopefully get some feedback/comments on my thoughts before I go off on a tangent!

Please don't give the name of the possible child though, unless you know for sure that s/he is dead.

With regard to the child, if it's the one registered in the mother's surname, then, yes, it could be Edith's, but there are quite a few other unmarried Sh?r?tt women in the area and sometimes an illegitimate child would be born away from where the woman lived so that means a load more ladies who might have come in to Cheshire for the birth and then moved on again.

Thomas and Gladys appear to have two children with them in 1939 and they may well be the son of Thomas and Edith and the one child they seem to have had together. I have looked at two other Sh?rr?tt women married soon after 1930 in Wirrel district and both of those have the correct number of children living with them in 1939 to reflect the number born in their marriages.

Of course sometimes an illegitimate child (or any child!) ends up living in a different part of the family, so the truth may be different again. Only to add that the 1930 child doesn't appear with the maternal grandmother in 1939, which could have been a possibility.

I think you may be stuck with getting the birth cert if you want to find out more about that child!

Oh, I wish you had said it was the crime that led you to believe that child belonged to Thomas and Edith!! If only I'd looked for the crime first! lol

So, Thomas already had a child by Feb 1931? Yes, it could be the one you were looking at. I wonder which child is missing in 1939?

Crime?

The newspaper article about TPC's crime mentioned he had been disowned by his father. However, Thomas senr may not have been perfect either! I don't have time to go back and post all the links right now, but here:

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/...nolly%20wirral

he seems to be the co-respondent in a divorce case in 1942.

Back in 1939 Thomas senr was living with his wife, Mary Chapman b 1883. George Williams and his wife were together (she was born 1897). Her surname wasn't written, as it was the same as her husband's, but a different hand has squeezed the name Connolly into the space which confused me for a minute! It turns out Mary A Williams (also Drummond) married Thomas Connolly in 1943. There's a likely death for the first Mrs Connolly in Q4 1941.

Yes, Maggie, this:

was where he tried to defraud someone out of £3 by giving them a sob story about his circumstances which were untrue and he was found out.

Since this all fits together, we can post the name of the 1930 birth since I have found a death (sure hope I was looking at the same birth you were!)

Ethel Sharratt birth registered Jan-Mar 1930 Wirral, MMN Sharratt (no MMN shown on GRO site)
Ethel Sharratt marriage to Neilson Apr-Jun 1953 Chester
Ethel Neilson / Sharratt death 2018 Bellshill, Scotland, age 88, MMN Sharratt (on Scotland's People).

Will just check back on Ancestry because there was also a death / burial record on there... edit: never mind, that was a different year!

Since she died in Scotland, I don't think her 1939 Register record will have been opened.

I think I saw a couple for Thomas the father. I found that birth of the other child in Kite's post yesterday but I didn't look any further.