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Can you confirm that the marriage witness was Sybil VANE and not VINE please so that I can get rid of all this info??

Thanks,

Dea x

Yes, its definitely VANE.

Thanks Jan - I can stop following that line then.........

Back I go to Ms. Vane !! ;-)

Dea x

May I ask why? Do you think she might lead us to the elusive Agnes Mary?

Well Jan - you do seem to have a VERY elusive person in 'your' Agnes Mary so 'IF' we are to discover her story then we must follow every little scrap of info that we can find.

One of these 'little scraps' is the names of the 2 witnesses to her wedding. Now, they may have just been friends or people they worked with, neighbours, even strangers called in from the street to sign their names to the cert., but they could also be relatives who may just provide the link that we need.

See you later,

Dea x

I agree with Dea, when someone is proving difficult to find it is worth exploring every avenue- just sometimes it provides the link you need.

I found Clara Thorn/e in 1891-she was a lodging house keeper, so it seems realistic to think that Agnes was just lodging with her- but I'll keep looking into her just in case:

1891 England, Wales & Scotland Census

Welbeck Street, St Marylebone, Marylebone, London & Middlesex, England
Clara Thorn Head Widow Female 43 1848 Lodging Home Keeper Nottinghamshire,
Annie Plesket Servant Single Female 18 1873 Servant Domestic -
Emma Dennis Boarder Married Female 53 1838 - Berkshire, England
Maltown Dennis Boarder Single Male 10 1881 Scholar London, Middlesex,
Ester Annesley Boarder Single Female 35 1856 Living On Means Norfolk,
Marion Wright Boarder Single Female 24 1867 Living On Means

That just shows how crazy this is driving me - when I saw Austin say Clara Thorn was a lodging house keeper, my immediate thought was to email her to ask if she knew Agnes.

:-D may be you need a break Jan!

Jan- you haven't opened your messages. I sent you the burial registers in case you wanted the grave numbers.

Oh sorry Austin - I didn't notice I had messages. Thank you so much, that will be a great help if I hear back from Dorset FHS.

I've just received the death certificate, sadly it doesn't even confirm that this is our Agnes. I'd hoped it would at least say Maiden name Kelly :-(

22nd November 1966, Herrison Hospital, Charminster
Agnes Mary HARRINGTON, Female, 78 years
of "The Presbytery", White Cliff, Mill Street, Blandford, widow of - Harrington, occupation unknown.
1a Broncho-pneumonia, 1b looks like anterio silerotic dementia.
Informant someone at the hospital.

A Google search of the Presbytery, White Cliff, produces Our Lady Of Lourdes & St Cecilia

And Dorset FHS were no help either, unfortunately.

I need to find someone who lives in Blandford Forum who would be willing to have a look at the tombstone in the hope it gives date of birth, but I have no idea how to set about that.

Hey ho.

Wow - further to the above -

I telephoned the Presbytery, spoke to a charming gentleman. The Presbytery is just that, where the priest lives, so no idea why Agnes would have been there unless she was housekeeper (which seems unlikely).

However, to cut a long conversation short, when I explained why I was enquiring, he said that he would go to the cemetery himself to see what he could find out! Apologised for the fact that it would not be possible this afternoon !! Thanks to Austin I was able to give him grave number, and he said he'll call me back after his visit.

Jan, that's good news. Did you give him the grave for the daughter also?

I still think it's her- married, staunch Roman Catholic.

Perhaps Dorothy was looking after her there? Wondering if there is a grave stone? Hopefully he'll be able to provide more information.

Yes, he said he'd look for Dorothy too. I think it must be our Agnes, I just wish the death certificate had confirmed it.

I thought Our Lady of Lourdes etc must have been a nursing home she was in before transferring to the hospital, I wonder what she was doing there. And why she went to Dorset in the first place. She could only have been there for a year or so. I suppose if Dorothy was there she might have moved there for her to look after her, but then surely the husband's name and occupation would have been on the death certificate.

I told the priest that Agnes seemed to have appeared fully formed aged 26 at her marriage, he said Catholics were well known for their miracles.

I've ordered Dorothy's death certificate, to see if that sheds any more light on the problem. Will also be interesting to see what cause of death was.

I'm a bit perplexed about the 1939 Register entry for Dorothy, I understood from an earlier message here that she was transcribed as Herrington, a lay sister at a convent, which fits which what I've been told about her, but I couldn't find the entry on Ancestry so went to FMP to see if I could get the details. When I looked at the actual entry for the register, it was impossible to see the name, and the date of birth was wrong, so I'm not sure if this could be our Dorothy or not.

FMP tends to be more up to date than ancestry for the 1939 Register.

Dorothy is still a closed record on Ancestry 1939.

There's no reason to think that Dorothy was in Blandford, or looking after Agnes.

She's buried in Blandford, but that's all - she died in Surrey.

There couldn't have been any family easily contactable at the time of registration, so the hospital person would just have registered Agnes's death without Montague's details, which weren't a requirement in any case.

Yes I do understand why the details are not on the certificate, its just that I was hoping it would say Maiden name Kelly, or Widow of Montague Douglas, to totally confirm that its the right one.

The date of birth for Dorothy Herrington in the 1939 is 1918, whereas our Dorothy was born in 1917. As no name is visible, I wondered how the transcriber had been able to put a name to that entry. Are they able to see the register without the black lines?

The name is visible on the FMP version where the record has been opened, and therefore has been transcribed.

The black line is still on Ancestry, as their version predates notification of Dorothy's death to the National Archives.

Dates of birth on the 1939 register aren't always correct - human error, or incorrect information.

I still can't see the name on the FMP version as it is still covered with black tape for me but I can see the date of birth which says 31 July 1918.

However, I believe I can also see a correction to this written above but partly covered - It appears to say 30th July 1917 which is now the correct year for 'our' Dorothy.

Dea x

Ah, I see what you mean about the date - I thought that referred to the line above. My eyes are not good, which makes it rather difficult for me.