( the family that my mother chose for me)Because of the lack of help and cooperation by Barnardo's Family Connections UK, I have had to make this a very much more public search than I would have wished to do.
This page has been compiled from posts made to Internet forums
Apologies to all who have seen this too many times before. Because these people seem to have disappeared from the face of the UK , I'm trying to widen the field of search a bit. I'm inclined to wonder whether Penelope & Cynthia fell victim to the Child Migration Scheme.
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Just on the off chance that anyone recognises the names. I am searching for members of my foster family from before my time in Barnardos. I am trying to find Penelope and Cynthia who in 1954 had the surname Threadgold.
I believe Penelope was then 7 years old and Cynthia 12. They lived at various addresses in York Rd Southend-on-Sea, with Frank and Hilda Threadgold.
The problem is that although Penelope and Cynthia used the name Threadgold there is no evidence that they were actually the children of Frank and Hilda and no evidence that either of them married using the name Threadgold.
It would appear that in 1956/7 Frank and Hilda returned to Manchester where they had originally come from. Frank's parents lived in Winsford near Over, Cheshire and his mother died there in 1956 so that may explain the sudden departure from Southend on Sea
I know that in the early 1960s Penelope was resident in the borough children's home in Shoeburyness Essex.
Penelope and Cynthia would have known me as Gareth Dafydd Curle.
Searches using info-disk the UK electoral register etc. have all been unsuccessful they simply do not appear there.
Hilda may have died at Withington Hospital Manchester in 1989. I have a death certificate which shows the deceased's usual address as Withington Hospital Manchester the informant was a James Fitton of the same address, qualification Occupier.
There seems to be some confusion over some of the deceased's details, I suspect that she is the Hilda Threadgold who I have been searching for many years but the death has been registered in the name Hilda Lloyd widow of ---- Lloyd Occupation Unknown.
Hilda Threadgold's husband's full name was Frank Lloyd Threadgold, Mrs Threadgold and Mrs Lloyd have the same date of birth, both were supposedly born in Manchester, I strongly suspect given that Hilda Threadgold has disappeared of the face of the earth, that they are the same person, but need to be able to prove it.
Frank died at the Withington hospital in 1969
Robin Harritt
Anyone who has any comment or information please call 020 7871 1835 Fax 020 7691 9668
UPDATE
When I first posted this I deliberately left out a fair amount of detail from my account in case I was barking up the wrong tree and someone somewhere knew differently. I also had to consider the possibility that one or other of the senior Threadgolds were still alive. So I'll try to give the whole story now.
Frank and Hilda when they were in Southend wanted to adopt they had been my 'parents' for much longer than my natural mother. See letter that "leaked" from Barnardos:
Some Threadgold Genealogy
Very few Frank Threadgold on the Birth Register
This is the only marriage of a Frank Threadgold to Hilda in the first half of the 20th Century in England & Wales
Birth certificate of Frank's wife Hilda Threadgold nee COVERLEY.
There are no births on the Birth Registers for England & Wales or Scotland for any Cynthia or Penelope Threadgold in any of the appropriate years for them to have been 7 & 12 years old in 1954, so they were almost certainly not Frank and Hilda's natural daughters.
Frank's death certificate, note his occupation shown as a bricklayer the same as Frank Threadgold in the letter to Dr Barnardo's Homes. The address at death 76 Bishop Street, Manchester M16. Was that Moss-Side or Hightown?
This I assume is Hilda Threadgold's death certificate. She seems to have died in unfortunate circumstances where no one really knew who she was.
In letters to Southend on Sea Children's Officer Frank signs himself Frank Threadgold and in the letter above to Barnardos he states that he 'has good work as a bricklayer'. Frank appears in Kelly's Directory for Southend as bricklayer until the 1957 edition that would have been compiled in 1956.
I've checked the Calendar of Deed Polls, nothing there, they could of course have changed their names by statutory declaration, which is much more common in recent years, the only record of that would be a document in their own possession and perhaps a copy at the office of a solicitor somewhere.
I have checked the marriages indexes from about 1910 to 1954 as no indication is given in letters of their ages. There is only one marriage of a Frank Threadgold to a Hilda, that took place at what looks like Gorse Hill Methodist Chapel, Stretford(?) (or could be Shefford) in the district of Barton, County of Lancaster, on the 18th May 1940. I don't know much about that area.
The marriage certificate shows clearly that that Frank's full name was Frank Lloyd Threadgold his 'Rank or Profession' at that time was 'Crane Driver at a Dynamo Manufacturers'. Hilda's maiden name was Coverly. One of the witnesses was a V. Arathoon again the registrar's writing is not good. Frank's father was a 'Boot and Shoe Repairer'
Working back, this Frank's birth certificate shows that he was born in Over near Northwich Cheshire on 'Thirtieths September 1910'. Name and surname and maiden name of mother, Edith Parry Threadgold formerly *Lloyd* which is where the Lloyd comes from, it was common in that area to use the mother's maiden name as a middle name. Hilda Coverley was born 24th July 1910 in the District of Manchester sub-district of Ancoats at 122 Sandal Street the daughter of an Iron Turner one John Coverly and his wife Ada nee Webster.
Frank Lloyd Threadgold died 6th January 1969 at Withington Hospital, again the copy of the certificate is not good but the informant is Hilda Threadgold and her address appears to be '76 Bishop Sans Manchester 16' though the 'Sans' could be something completely different it is a very blurred copy, but it is quite clear that his occupation is given as Bricklayer.
In the time for which death indexes are available in digital form (from 1984?) seven Hilda's with the date of birth of 24 July 1910 have died. Hilda Lloyd is the only one in the Manchester area (thanks to Mike at Peopletracer UK for looking that up for me). Hilda Lloyd's death certificate shows the following. That she died 22 December 1989 at Withington Hospital, Manchester.
The entry for maiden surname is crossed trough. Occupation and usual address states; Widow of ---- Lloyd (no given name stated) Occupation Unknown.
Withington Hospital, Manchester is given as her usual address. The informant is James Fitton his 'Qualification' is given as 'Occupier' and his usual address as Withington Hospital Manchester.
She died of bronco-pneumonia, certified by M. Islam MBBS. I was never able to find a death or remarriage for Hilda Threadgold and she has not appeared on recent Electoral registers.
At the time of my adoption the G ad L tried to find the Threadgolds at their last known address in York Rd., Southend they were no longer there, that was May 1956.
In 1956 Frank's mother Edith died, see
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/laura.vizard/mypage2.htm
Which may explain why the family left Southend and returned to Cheshire / Manchester area.
In their letters to Southend Borough Children's Officer, Frank and Hilda state that they have daughters Penelope and Cynthia who were seven and twelve years old in 1954, however there are no records of births in the relevant years in England and Wales or in Scotland for a Penelope or Cynthia Threadgold.
There have been no marriages in England and Wales of either a Penelope or Cynthia Threadgold.
I have been told by someone who has seen my post on the LookupUK website that she was in the children's home in Shoeburyness with a Penelope Threadgold in in 1961 when she was 14 this is the same children's home that my brother grew up in but in a different house, he does not remember her.
Barnardos have stated that the Threadgolds were not considered as adopters because their housing was inadequate, however they were living on one floor of a large house that I visited many times in my childhood and teens and long before I knew very much about all of this.
It had by then become an old peoples home, where the elderly aunt of a family friend was residing.
But then much of what Barnardos have to say about this, is less than believable. The Social Services at Southend simply say that the adoption was not considered appropriate.
Whatever, my original mother was with me for only the first six weeks of my life, the Threadgolds for the first eight months, I have always considered them my first parents as well as my natural mum and feel that I have as much right to know about them as I do to know about Jean (my natural mother). Barnardos was *very* upset that one of its social workers gave me any information at all about the Threadgolds and managers there even considered trying to take action against the local authority for doing so, but I did not feel inclined to co-operate with them in that effort.
I've always considered that I was pretty much kidnapped from the Threadgolds who appear to all accounts to have been a very kindly couple. Records that I have seen, make it clear that the Borough Children's Officer, Doris Ridd was very much against the Threadgolds being considered for adoption, even though everyone else involved was prepared to consider them, my guess is that she was concerned that they would remain in contact with my mother and brother. The only other possible objection that I know of is some allegations about the disappearance of a family allowance book, but not as far as I know, any suggestion of fraud.
Obviously I still have no absolute proof that the Threadgolds from Manchester are the same Threadgolds as those in Southend, but given the disappearance of the Southend Threadgolds it does seem likely to me that they are the same people. Threadgold is a relatively common name in the south east Essex area well as in Cheshire, compared to rest of the country, but most of the Threadgolds in SE Essex are a good deal more affluent than Frank and Hilda appear to have been, another Frank Threadgold in that area was according to his Will a wealthy landowner with race horses amongst his estate, but not it would appear ever married to a Hilda.
I am speculating that Hilda who died in Withington Hospital was destitute and senile and the death certificate has been filled out as best as anyone was able to with limited information available, by the manager of the unit she was in.
I hope that all explains more fully and that anyone who can throw any further light on this will contact me.
Robin Harritt
E-mail robin at robin dot org
http://robin.robin.org/policy_and_law
Read about my problems with access to records at Barnardo's
http://robin.robin.org/barnardos/
BTW
Does anyone know who a V Arathoon might have been? A rare enough name. V Arathoon was a witness to Frank and Hilda's marriage.
Robin Harritt
Also
Also I am looking for Tina Tuner, probably full first name is Christina (sp?) or a variant of. Originally from the Romford area I don't know her married name, and think she may have moved abroad. She's probably well in her 50s now. Tina had a brother Martin (?) but I believe he died relatively young, also interested in contacting any family that he had, I don't yet know if he married. As Barnardo's records mention three children, it may be there's another one that was adopted.
Just want to keep Tina up at the top of the charts for a while.
Anyone got any idea how I might find out if she turned up in Australia, guess I've got to get a married name first.
Total lack of any cooperation at all from Barnardos the adoption agency and ASA that arranged my adoption and knew that my alleged father had already fathered three other kids in addition to me and my brother, outside of his marriage.
Why on earth do people think that 'Barnardo's Family Connections' are good at dealing with post-adoption issues. Barnardos are useless at anything out of the ordinary. Ten years worth of ridiculous bureaucracy and something might be done to help re adoption records and natural father's families, five years after every other major children's charity and adoption agency have a policy in place, no doubt.
Robin Harritt
Farm Hill, Kelvedon
Interested in contacting anyone who worked at, trained as a nursery nurse or was resident at, Farm Hill West in Kelvedon Essex. 1954/55
Robin Harritt
Sunnedon House, Coggeshall.
Interested in contacting anyone who as at Sunnedon House, Coggeshall in about 1945.
Robin Harritt
If this site has anything important to say it is that: Access to your care or adoption records should NEVER ever be on condition that you sign an agreement not to take legal action against the holder for any abuse or illegal action of any kind that occurred in the past. I would never advocate or approve of anyone trying to profit from past abuse, but If you are asked to sign such an agreement, you should always seek proper independent processional legal advise before you sign. Even if you do not consider that you suffered from any abuse whilst you were in care, do NOT rely on legal advise from the organisation that holds your files. No access to records should ever come with conditions of that kind attached. It is deeply morally wrong that a childcare organisation should ever encourage its past clients in to such an agreement.
Despite the fact that it now has as its president our most famous human rights lawyer, Cherie Booth QC (aka Mrs Blair, wife of our current Prime Minister Tony Blair) Barnardo's policy on access to records remains unpleasant, nasty, pernicious and unnecessarily restrictive in comparison to that of almost every other children's charity in Britain. I do hope in this year of the 100th anniversary of Thomas Barnardo's death we are going to hear a few apologies made amongst the campaigning, both to those people whose families were split up sent across the world and those that were unnecessarily split up here at home in the UK and that they may at least be given back a little bit of their past in the form of proper access to their records.
Previous Page
One day I'll have to list all the things that have happened since I first contacted Barnardos in 1991. The late Alan Levy QC described it as Kafkaesque and like bad episode of 'Yes Minister'. Recently it's looking more like a bad laurel and Hardy script.
I have had problems with Essex and Southend-on-Sea Social Services departments but nothing like as bad as Barnardos. When I first got my records from Essex, Barnardos were desperate to know what Essex Social Services had shown to me, because it wanted to try and take legal action against Essex Social Services for showing me documents about my time in care and adoption that Barnardo's would not have. Some people at Barnardo's in London really are that petty, that nasty that steeped in pointless professional arrogance.
Робин Гарритт
Барнардос - мой рассказ
For all of those of you have been touched in some way by Barnardos (Dr Barnardo's Home)
