More............

Although findings have slowed down a bit it is amazing what you can find out on the internet.
Firstly i had another certificate come. Now this is irrelevant in my searchings but it was something i just wanted to know. That is why did Harrys first wife Beatrice die so very young(she was 29). I ordered her death certificate and it seems she was pregnant and died from a ruptured uterus and shock. What a very awful way to die and i do actually feel sorry for Harry as he must have lost not only his widfe but unborn child too.
I still hadn't had any luck finding Harrys birth registry but came across a family tree on Ancestry of a lady with the surname Gower. It had Harrys father James in there plus his brother James Leeson Gower. Harrys fathers middle name is a bit of a mystery. On Harry and Roses marriage certificate it says James Butler Gower. On Harry and Beatrices marriage certificate it says James Buckley Gower(as it says on the ladies family tree on Ancestry). But for the time he was born the only James Gower i can find is James Buckby Gower so god knows which one is correct!!
As if that isn't enough James appears to have been married twice. It looks as if James and one of his wives had a child out of wedlock. The wifes name was Mary Ward. There is a childs name with a double barrelled surname - Ward Gower. I have found a Harry Ward born at the right time so i am hoping that this is indeed Harry Gower born illegitimately. Can't do anything until i get the birth certificate now.

Yesterday i managed to find out where Rose Gower is buried. At first it seemed like we would never know because the Cemetary at Burngreave had no plot number next to her name. I had to call Bereavement services who at first told me the same thing, then she went away and searched for me and came back with Plot MM grave no 1839. I was ecstatic that i had managed to find out. After going to the cemetary though it wasn't that easy to find and i came away no being able to find it :( I have asked Burngreave cemetary if they can tell me graves nearby so i can locate it. It's an unmarked grave and what they call a common grave so there are many bodies in there, all unrelated. It unfortunately means that we can never put a headstone there.

I did have a bit of luck though. I managed to find the grave of the Charlesworths. They were my mums adopted family and my grandparents and great grandparents. I have started their family tree too so more work for me to do!!The Charlesworth Grave

Grandma Rose is there somewhere!

Bloomin heck!

Well it doesn't rain does it but pours!
I have found out as much info in 24hrs that in about 2 wks i think!
I don't really know where to start so i guess i shall have to condense things.
Firstly i received Clarries marriage certificate which clarified that she indeed was born illegitimately and was therefore Clarrie Wild Innocent. They were indeed married in 1916. Her father was Arthur Wild but i don't know too much about him. I have ordered Clarries birth certificate for more info although it could well be blank as his name wasn't on the wedding certificate. Clarries mother was Mary Jane Innocent born c1871. I've also managed to find Mary Janes parents. They were George Innocent c1837 and Sarah Ann Gibson c1840. Normally finding a womans maiden name is difficult but fortunately for me Sarah Ann and George were living with Sarahs parents and so her maiden name was visable in the census. I have managed to go back to the 1700s on this line but will blog about that another day or i'll just confuse myself.
I've also done a bit more digging on Harry who has remained very elusive! I found his father on Ancestry.com. He was called James Buckley Gower although on his marriage certificate to Rose it said he was James Butler Gower. Anyway, someone else has him in there tree on Ancestry and through that i managed to find him in the 1901 census. It seems he was married twice and it looks like Harry may have been born out of wedlock. His mother may have been Mary Ward and on doing a search i have found a Harry Ward born around the time he would have been and in the area. So i have ordered the certificate and am praying it's for the right Harry! I also managed to find out James parents. They were Thomas Gower born c1814 and Elizabeth ? born c1827. they seem to have come from Lincolnshire. Will let you know more another time otherwise your brain may fry like mine!!

Family

Today i went to meet my Auntie Iris.
I have met her before but only as a child so i was very nervous and had butterflies.
She was really nice and talked really freely about everything we asked.
I think the first thing i asked was if they had ever found Roses grave. As she had been uried a pauper she had no headstone but apparently she is in Burngreave cemetary and so i am now on the case to find out the grave number.
She mentioned Harry, her father, and how she had tried to find him as a girl. She knew when he died. Apparently he was found underneath a hedge. He allegedly died from pneumonia but it's likely he drunk himself to death.
I asked about Green Wheel house where Mum had been born and she confirmed that they used to live there. They used to share it apparently and the lived on the ground floor. She remembers there being a very big apple tree next to the house and a little stream ran by which she used to go too and make mud pies. Below is a picture of the house and also a map from 1885 which shows the Mill and the house in situ . The outhouse to the left of the house is all that remains of the Green Mill works today.



They had to leave the house(although i'm not sure when) because they fell behind with the rent. From here i believe they went to Jenkinson street.
From looking at the 1901 census i knew that Roses parents were Alice and Ambrose. I also knew she had 2 siblings in Eveline and Alice. However it turns out that Rose was one of 10 children. In addition to the 3 there were Ethel, Freda, Frank, Fred, Tiny(not his real name i hasten to add!), Ambrose and Lillian. This is why i cannot understand why she was buried a pauper when she had so many living relatives.
Iris remembers so much about her childhood, i was amazed by her memory. She had some amazing info for me too. She let me have some sheets of paper that Doreen had given her. They were records obviously from Fulwood cottage Homes showing there dates of birth, when they first went in(26th June 1945, a month before the incident with Harry and Rose), which cottage they went into and where they moved about too, fosters and adoptees are named too and when they eventually left. This was like finding the golden ticket for me, it answered so many questions. I'll now scale the newspapers again to see if anything was written in the newspaper about the children going into care. Iris recalls that she came home from school and remembers an ambulance being outside the house. They were all taken to Lodge Moor Hospital and never returned home. They saw Rose regularly but never saw there father again.
Iris was aware that Harry had been married before and what i recently found was a child that Beatrice and Harry had. iris was also aware of this. They all have a half brother called Leslie who was born in 1930 and could still be out there somewhere.
Iris showed us some lovely pictures and she said she would get them copied for us. It felt really weird to see photographs of our grandparents, albeit only a couple. After all this time we actually know what they really looked like now. My sister however is a little bit more impatient(hard to believe) and so snapped a couple of pictures with her camera phone. The one of the little girl is my Mum! and that didn't turn out too bad. the one of Harry and Rose on their wedding day is a little bit more difficult to see.

Iris talked about her brothers and sisters. She wasn't particularly close to my mum but was and still is to Sandra, Doreen and Rita. Rita unfortunately died from Ovarian cancer last April but Doreen and Sandra and still in good health, as is Iris. Gordon turned out to be the black sheep of the family and without going into detail he did some terrible things. he died in 2006. Michael is not known to anyone as he never stayed in touch.

i think that's about it for now. I'm sure i'll remember more at a later date :) All in all it's been a good day x

More stuff and frustration

Well i didn't think i could get any further with Harry but i did a bit more digging and managed to find more. It seems i have stumbled across his first marriage.
He married a Beatrice Ibbotson in 1927 at the age of 25(they both were). However, the marriage didn't last long and she died some 4 yrs later at 29yrs old. Now forgive me for being suspicious but doesn't it seem a bit odd that he had 2 wifes and both died at very young ages? I have ordered their marriage certificate and Beatrices death certificate to investigate further. I'll have a reputation as the next Miss Marple at this rate!
So last night i decided to switch tactics and look at dads side of the family. I know his mum and dads name and have his mums birth certificate so tracing her family is a bit easier than his Dads. His mum Clara Wild was born on 3rd December 1898 to Joseph and Clara Wild nee Jackson. At the time of her birth she had a sister, Doreen, who was 2 yrs older. They lived at 9 Court, 5 House, Bernard Street, Sheffield. Joseph was an Edge Tool Grinder. However, finding James barker is more difficult. First port of call i thought would be a marriage registry but one doesn't seem to exist and i'm a bit stumped now. I'm going to get in touch with the local registry office and see if they can help as i'm sure they must have been married in Sheffield. Now Dad was one of 16 children, yes 16!!!! I've done a search and can find 14 registrys but am struggling with a couple so i'll let you know how they go.
So here are a list of the ones i have found so far. It seems Grandma was having a baby every yr for a lot of her life!

Harry Barker 1922
Edward Barker 1923
Evelyn Barker 1926
George Barker 1928
Leslie Barker 1929
Mary Barker 1930
Elsie Barker 1932
Dorothy Barker 1933
Alan Barker 1934 (My Dad)
Myra Barker 1935
Lilian Barker 1937
Margaret Barker 1938
Arthur Barker 1940
Roy Barker 1945

Dissapointment and confusion!

So yesterday was very disappointing. I went back to the library to see if i could find any more headlines about Harrys assault on Rose. I spent 2 hrs trawling through newspapers only to come away with nothing. Well, i did have a headache but don't think that counts!
I did however manage to print off the stuff i found so at least i have hard copies of them now. One very tiny piece of info i found was that after Harry came out of jail it looks like he lived on Pitsmoor Road so maybe he did stay in Sheffield or maybe he had to for a while because of the crime? One small thing that is puzzling me. Harry and Roses wedding certificate states they were living at 50 kelvin street. At the time of this crime, some 11 yrs later it seems that they had moved to Jenkinson street. Nothing wrong with that except that in the newspaper it states that when Rose died she lived at Kelvin Street? My only thought is that this is where her parents lived and that they lived there when they got married and after the assault Rose moved in with them. Can't really think of any other solution.
Today i got my mums birth certificate. I felt really strange when i opened it, almost like she was alive again! Anyway, seems they moved about a bit(but i guess when you expand your family by 8 in 11yrs you would need too!) They were living at Greenwheel Lane House on Green Wheel Lane in Bradfield. Harry was steel rod mill runner through. She had no middle name and was registered as Irene so the Marguerita that she told of being her name must have come from Nan nan and Grandad Charlesworth.

Headache!

Yes, i have a headache haha. A combination of too much time on the internet and all the information my brain is trying to process!
Firstly my sister spoke to Iris my mums sister yesterday and she more or less reiterated what i had found out from the newspapers yesterday. Apparently grandad was an alcoholic and spent all their money on booze hence why they live in squalor. She said that Rose, their mum was a good one but had to put up with a lot. Apparently Rita, as well as Gordon, has passed away, they haven't seen or heard from Michael since they were in care because he was adopted. iris is still in touch with Doreen and Sandra. Apparently Doreen has written a book about her experiences so it is going to be so amazing to read that. Sandra wrote one too but hers was just a small book. So hopefully one day next week we are going to see her :) I'm nervous and excited at the same time!

So on to today.
I thought i was getting nowhere. I'd trawled through censuses looking for Roses dad Ambrose but came up a blank everytime. So i thought i would switch tactics and using Roses birthdate i thought i would see if i could find a marriage registry. Not as easy as it sounds lol. Rose was born in 1912 and i had to go back to 1897 to find when he was married but i did find it. Ambrose seems to be an unpopular name and i only found a couple, the first one drawing a blank. then i found 'the' one. It was registered in Doncaster so not far from us. I knew from Roses birth registry that her mums maiden name was Rich so after doing a search for Rich for the same quarter and year i found Alice Rich! So armed with this information i headed for the 1901 census and bingo, there they were. In 1901 they lived at number 9 Albion .........(i can't read it!) There was Ambrose, 24, Alice, 24, and 2 daughter, Eveline aged 2 and Alice aged 1. Ambrose is described as being a Railway coach painter. Going further back i have also found Ambroses family but i need to digest everything before i write anything down!

Revelations

Well today i have found out more than i ever imagined.
I headed off to the Local studies library this afternoon to try and find the possible newspaper clippings about Harrys crime.
I was amazed and saddened by what i found.
They didn't have a microfilm printer available so i had to write it down.
I found 3 articles, here is what they said.

Monday June 25th 1945

Alleged attack to kill wife

A heavy coal hammer and bent carving knife were exhibits in Sheffield today when Harry Gower aged 44, Jenkinson Street, Sheffield, was remanded in custody to July 10th, charged with attempting to kill and murder his wife Kate Gower*.
Detective Inspector butler said that in the early hours of today he went with Detective Sergeant Hanson to Gowers home where he found Mrs Gower partly dressed and in a semi conscious state. The upper part of her clothes was covered with blood and Mrs Gower had severe injuries to the head and a stab wound in her left side.
After the woman had been removed to the Sheffield Royal Infirmary, where she remained in a very serious state, he examined the house where there was no sign of Gower, who was apprehended later. He saw a bed couch smothered in blood and near it were the hammer and knife produced.
At Hammerton Road police station he interviewed Gower who made a statement aqdmitting he was responsible for the injuries to his wife. Gower had 8 children, 6 of whom had been taken to the Fulwood Cottage Homes on the intervention of the NSPCC. He was afraid Mrs Gower would not be well enough to attend on July 10th as she was in a very serious condition.

July 10th 1945

Accused of Wifes stabbing

Harry Gower, aged 44, millhand, Jenkinson Street, Sheffield, was remanded in custody for a fortnight in Sheffield today on a charge of attempting to murder his wife Rose Gower by stabbing her and striking her on the head with a hammer.
Detective Inspector Butler said that at 230am on June 25th the accuseds wife aroused a neighbour who found that she was suffering from severe injuries to the head, face and body.
In the home of the accused Inspector Butler said he found a 7lb coke hammer and a meat knife, the blade of which was 8 inches long, both of which were blood stained. The accused subsequently made a statement in which it was alleged he admitted that he was responsible for his wifes injuries, having attacked her with the hammer and knife.
The woman is still in the Royal Infirmary in a critical condition. The most serious wound is one which penetrated the body near the heart and anything might happen to her the Inspector stated.
Mr Morton Slack representing Mrs Gower asked if the police could give any undertaking to go on with the case on June 24th. Chief Inspector J.Moore said it was impossible to say. everything depended on the condition of the woman.

July 24th 1945

Harry Gower, aged 44, Steel Worker, Jenkinson Street, Sheffield, was committed for trial at Leeds Assizes in Sheffield today on a charge of attempting to murder his wife Rose Gower, by stabbing her and striking her on the head with a hammer. He pleaded not guilty and was granted bail.
Mr W.K.G Thurnall prosecuting said that Mrs Gower was still seriously ill and detained in hospital. The wounds alleged to have been afflicted were very serious.
Mr Thurnall said that about 230am on June 25th a neighbour heard knocking at her door. She saw Mrs Gower, who was covered in blood and in a very distressed condition. The police were called and Mrs Gower was removed to hospital.
Her condition was found to be so serious that she required a blood transfusion. meanwhile, the accused went to another neighbours house. He was noticed to be in an excited condition. His hands were covered in blood and blood was splattered on his clothing. It was alleged that he had said "I have done the old lass in". Later he gave himself up to police.
Mr Thurnall said the police found a knife and hammer in the accuseds home. It was alleged that the 2 stab wounds, one very near the heart, had been caused by the knife, and that the hammer had been used to batter Mrs Gower.
Gower, it was alleged, made a statement admitting that he was responsible for the injuries to his wife. Dr Betty V Slesser, Sheffield Royal Infirmary said that in her opinion Mrs Gower would have died had she not received immediate medical attention. Witness thought she would now recover. The wounds could have been caused by the knife produced.
Police Sergeant Longley said he was on duty in Hammerton Road police station when the accused entered. He said "I have come to give myself up. I have done my wife in". Gowers hands and shirt-front were blood stained. Answering Mr Morton Slack defending, witness said Gower appeared to be in a dazed condition. Detective Inspector T Butler said there was a four weeks old baby on a bed in the living room. A hammer and knife both blood stained were near a pool of blood on the floor.
Witness said he questioned Gower who said, "I have done it. I do not know what i have done it for. I was sitting in the chair when something came over me". Later, Gower said there had been trouble for a long time. he and his wife had a few words because he went for 'a pint'. They had rowed all day and the previous night. Cross examined by Mr Slack, Inspector Butler said the place was filthy. He knew 7 children had been removed by the NSPCC because of the conditions.