Some exciting new information has come to light about my grandfather's whereabouts following the 1911 census. It came through an interview I did with my oldest living relative, my aunt Gillian. I conducted the interview via Zoom using the recording function, then transcribed the important parts into my notes. Here is what I learnt:
My aunt travelled to Europe with her friend in the fifties. While in London, she visited several elderly relatives, among them her father's uncle, Uncle Alf. This would have been Grandad's mother's youngest brother whom I had on record as Alfred Parker. According to my aunt, Uncle Alf was like a father to her dad and her Dad was very fond of him.
"He was a big man and he was a lovely man," said my aunt Gillian. "He really was. He and his wife, they were very happy and they lived very simply. At that stage, I didn't really take much notice, I went over there, we had a cup of tea, and that was Uncle Alf sorted out." She added, "To us, he was old. I don't know what age they were but to us they were old, whereas we were young, we were hitching around Europe."
Hearing my aunt talk about her visit, I was surprised. According to what I had found out so far, Alfred was born in 1884 in Marylebone and was living with his widowed mother Jane in both the 1901 and 1911 censuses. This had led me to assume Alfred had never married but I was wrong. Preliminary research turned up a record on Family Search that showed he married Florence Edith Harper in 1912.
Even more surprising was the information that Alfred was like a father to David. Did this mean David had lived with Alfred and his wife? The 1911 census showed that David was at the home of his maternal aunt and uncle, Emily and William Smith, in St John's Wood. Now I wondered if he had just been visiting, or if he had moved in with Alfred and Florence when they married the following year.
I did my best to imagine how the relationship between Alfred and David had developed. Alfred would have been 18 at the time David was born. He would have been 25 when David's father, David Scott Ritchie Sr, was admitted to the Hanwell asylum. The Hanwell admission records show that he was with Emily and William in 1909, which is where he was in 1911 as well. Perhaps, then, he did only move in with Alfred after Alfred got married. The marriage certificate might provide clues but even more useful would be the 1921 census, showing where David was living at age 19. Access to the 1921 census is currently prohibited by the 100-year privacy rule but that restriction will fall away next year.
I'm not sure what year my aunt visited Uncle Alf in London. The record on Family Search states that Alfred died in 1956 at the age of 72. Gillian would have been 24 at the time. I doubt she and her friend would have travelled to Europe earlier than that, so her memory of him as an old man was accurate.
My aunt Gillian is 88 going on 89 as I write this, and in very good health. It's truly a privilege to be able to learn family history from her first-hand accounts. Speaking to her gave me some excellent leads which I will be following up with online research and assistance from a professional genealogist. Look out for more information as I come across it!
Photo credit: "Wood Marylebone, Marylebone, NW1" by Ewan Munro
