Assistance from a professional genealogical researcher

On returning to South Africa after our family holiday in the UK, I was thrilled to receive an email from Judy Lester, the researcher I enlisted to help me find a birth registration for my grandfather, David Scott Ritchie. Judy is a member of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives [AGRA]. Her company, Kerrywood Research,, is based in London.

The brief was straightforward; to find documented proof of Grandad's birth to support my application for UK citizenship. I had a certificate for his parents' marriage in 1902 and a timeline for their early lives but there were big gaps in the story. For example, I wanted to know why my great-grandmother Maude was shown to be living apart from her husband and son at the time of the 1911 census. The biggest question, though, was why it had been necessary for Maude to sign a statutory declaration of David's birth when he was 16 years old.

Judy had said she was requesting two separate searches to be done, one at the General Register Office [GRO] and the other at the Westminster Register Office. The second request was initially rejected because pre-1909 records for Paddington are held off-site. Since this fact was not stated on the website, however, Judy took the matter up with the records officer. He eventually agreed to search in Westminster's "deep store" off-site repository but even this extensive search yielded no results.

The report I received convinced me that what we were looking for simply does not exist. As Judy said, it's highly likely that David was born before the date given by Maude on the statutory declaration. Back then, it was very uncommon for a marriage ceremony to be conducted when the bride was seven or eight months pregnant. The date of 31 March 1902 was chosen because it legitimised David's birth.

While I felt disappointed that Judy's investigation hadn't unearthed the missing birth registration for my grandfather, I was nevertheless excited by the conclusion she reached. My sister and I had already speculated at length about the possibility of Grandad being born earlier than Maude claimed. It also lent credence to our conviction that David was the son of someone other than Maude's husband. He had probably been registered under a completely different name. That most certainly deepened the mystery.

Judy Lester's report contained a lot more information besides, which I will share in future blog posts. For now, let me just say that I was more than happy with her services. If you too would like professional help in finding your English ancestors, visit Kerrywood Research and drop Judy Lester a line.

Photo credit: Westminster Walk by Catherine Poh Huay Tan.