| Profile | Posted by | Options | Post Date |
|
ArgyllGran
|
Report
|
25 Dec 2025 12:41 |
|
When you've had enough of Christmas TV, you might like to try solving this mystery, just for fun!
I found my distant relation Edward McGarva 1913 in Newcastle in 1939. This query is NOT about him or his family.
I became intrigued by Watson Greenwell, a mystery man in the family with whom Edward was (presumably) boarding. The family are not part of my tree - I'm just interested.
Henry Greenwell married Evelyn Hildrew in 1919 in Newcastle. They had one child, Henry, sadly born and died in 1920.
Minnie Hildrew 1906 (mistranscribed as Maurice on Ancestry) was born illegitimately as Minnie Blair, and "adopted" by the Hildrew family, per 1921 census.
But who is Watson Greenwell ?? Born 14 Sept of unreadable year. - 1871? 1921?
He's not a child of Henry and Evelyn, and doesn't seem to be a brother of Henry, going by earlier censuses.
Watson Greenwell in the 1939 England and Wales Register Name Watson Greenwell Gender Male Marital Status Single Birth Date 14 Sep Residence Date 1939 Address 30 Gloucester Street Residence Place Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England Occupation Forge Labourer Line Number 41 Schedule Number 16 Sub Schedule Number 3 Enumeration District Gaai Borough Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Registration District 558-1 Inferred Father Henry Greenwell Inferred Mother Evelyn Greenwell Household Members (Name) Gender Birth Year Henry Greenwell Male 1896 Evelyn Greenwell Female 1900 Watson Greenwell Male Maurice Hildrew Female 1906 [ Minnie, born Blair ] Edward McGarva Male 1913
In 1921 Henry and Evelyn were at the same address, but nobody else with them. 30 Gloucester Street seems to have been four flats, as Evelyn's parents, and two other households (one of them her brother Robert and his wife), are also at that address.
|
|
Maddie
|
Report
|
26 Dec 2025 10:50 |
|
sorry cant see him anywhere fmp has transcribed his bd as 1871
Henry Greenwell 17 Sep 1896 Male Carpenter (Ship Yard) Married 16 1 Evelyn Greenwell 15 Oct 1900 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married 16 2 Watson Greenwell 14 Sep 1871 Male Forge Labourer Single 16 3 Minnie Blair (Hildrew) 30 Sep 1906 Female Domestic Servant Single 16 4 Edward McGarba 15 Mar 1913 Male Brass Turner Single 16 5
|
|
ErikaH
|
Report
|
26 Dec 2025 11:00 |
|
No idea how FMP could transcribe a birth year - it’s illegible
|
|
ArgyllGran
|
Report
|
26 Dec 2025 13:51 |
|
Perhaps he's a mistake by the enumerator, and wasn't a Greenwell at all.
He certainly doesn't seem to appear in any other record as Greenwell.
Thanks for looking, anyway!
|
|
ErikaH
|
Report
|
26 Dec 2025 15:27 |
|
As he was a Forge Labourer in 1939, he was certainly an adult, but that’s about all one can deduce from the record
|
|
ArgyllGran
|
Report
|
27 Dec 2025 00:27 |
|
???? 1939 enumerator's mistake?
Births Dec 1921 (>99%) Greenwood Watson Ward Bradford 9b 207
Mr Watson Greenwood in the England and Wales, Death Index, 1989-2025 Name Mr Watson Greenwood Gender Male Age 86 Birth Date 14 Oct 1921 <<<<<<<<<<<<<< Last Residence Betchworth, Surrey, England Postal Code District Rh3 Death Date 28 Dec 2007
??? Watson. Greenwood in the UK, British Army World War II Medal Cards, 1939-1945 Name Watson. Greenwood Rank Driver Birth Date 1921 Award Date 26 Jan 1951 Applicant's Delivery Address 19 Peterborough Terr. Bardford Yorkshire Service Group Number 42 Class of Release A Service Number 10687976 Regiment R. E. Stars/Medals Issued 1939-45; France & Germany; War
|
|
ErikaH
|
Report
|
27 Dec 2025 10:23 |
|
Sorry, AG, but that one is on 1939 in Bradford, with his widowed mother
|
|
ArgyllGran
|
Report
|
27 Dec 2025 10:50 |
|
Bother! Oh, well . . . . .
That's not showing up on Ancestry, which is why I hoped he was the man in Newcastle.
|
|
ErikaH
|
Report
|
27 Dec 2025 12:30 |
|
1939 Register 259 Otley Road, Bradford, Bradford C.B., Yorkshire (West Riding), England
Watson Greenwood 14 Oct 1921 Male Engineering Laboratory Assistant Single 99 1 Eliza I Greenwood 02 Jun 1881 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Widowed 99 2 Frances E Robinson 05 Jan 1876 Female Textile Wool Rover Widowed 99 3 Robert Pollock 17 Jan 1891 Male Transport Manager Widowed 99 5
|
|
ErikaH
|
Report
|
27 Dec 2025 12:35 |
|
Ancestry
Name Frances E Robinson Gender Female Marital Status Widowed Birth Date 5 Jan 1876 Residence Date 1939 Residence Place Bradford, Yorkshire (West Riding), England Occupation Textile Wool Rover Line Number 44 Schedule Number 99 Sub Schedule Number 4 Enumeration District Kbmv Borough Bradford Registration District 498/3 Household Members (Name) Gender Birth Year Eliza ?? Greenwood Frances E Robinson Female 1876
|
|
ArgyllGran
|
Report
|
27 Dec 2025 13:13 |
|
Thanks, ErikaH. I've reported the omission of Watson from the transcription.
|
|
ArgyllGran
|
Report
|
28 Dec 2025 15:44 |
|
Another possibility -
Watson Hutchinson Clark in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 Name Watson Hutchinson Clark Death Age 81 [81] Birth Date 14 Sep 1921 <<<<<<<<<<<<< Registration Date Jul 2003 Registration District Newcastle Upon Tyne Inferred County Tyne and Wear Register Number C80C District and Subdistrict 053/1C Entry Number 82
He married Isabella Wishart in 1941.
In 1947 he and his wife are at - guess where - 30 Gloucester Street. Evelyn, Henry, and Minnie are also still at that address.
Watson Hutchinson Clark in the Newcastle upon Tyne, England, Electoral Registers, 1741-1974 Name Watson Hutchinson Clark Residence Year 1947 Street Address 30 Gloucester Street Residence Place Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northumberland, England Register Register of Electors (Central)
Illegitimate birth:
CLARK, WATSON HUTCHINSON - GRO Reference: 1921 D Quarter in SUNDERLAND Volume 10A Page 1540
I don't see him in 1939 as Clark.
|
|
alviegal
|
Report
|
28 Dec 2025 18:37 |
|
That really looks like that could be him AG....well done. Here's Isabella in 1939.
1939 Register 8 Harehills Avenue, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne C.B., Northumberland, England Household members (6 people) First name(s) Last name(s) Birth date Sex Occupation Marital status Schedule Schedule sub number George Wishart 25 Oct 1892 Male General Labourer Married 171 1 Isabella Wishart 17 Feb 1895 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married 171 2 >>Isabella Clarke (Wishart) 18 Aug 1920 Female Café Waitress Single 171 3 Annie Allar Elsender (Wishart) 16 Jan 1923 Female Café Waitress Single 171 4 Jane W Charlton (Wishart) 16 Aug 1924 Female Kitchen Maid Single 171 5
|
|
ArgyllGran
|
Report
|
28 Dec 2025 20:06 |
|
Out of curiosity, I got his digital birth cert.
Watson Clark's mother was Hilda Jane Clark, 1894, whose mother's mn was Hutchinson.
Hilda is with her parents Thomas William and Elizabeth, and one of her sisters, in Frederick Street (which is where Watson was born) , Hylton, Durham in 1921, but I can't see any record of her after that.
She's in 6 Ancestry trees, none of which have any record of her after 1921 either. They suggest she died in Bishop Auckland - but without date or proof - and there's no such record.
Hilda Clark is a very common name, all over the country.
|
|
alviegal
|
Report
|
29 Dec 2025 12:51 |
|
Just a maybe? Going backwards
Storey Hilda Jane 25/10/1894 1977 England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007 Durham Western, Durham, England
Hilda J Barrass married one of these people James C Storey Marriage year 1959 Sunderland
Hilda J Clark married one of these people Robert Barrass 1947 South Shields
EDIT Newspapers notices have James Storey and Sons, 51 Frederick Street, Sunderland - solicitors in the 1950s.
Again, no idea if they are linked.
|
|
ArgyllGran
|
Report
|
29 Dec 2025 13:44 |
|
That's a good possibility, Alviegal.
It's a pity marriage certs aren't available digitally on GRO.
|
|
ErikaH
|
Report
|
29 Dec 2025 14:46 |
|
No sign of Hilda in 1939..........annoying, as it would have confirmed DoB
Her widowed mother was living with Dorothy and her family.
One Ancestry tree has wrongly linked a London school admission record.......that is for a child with DoB 26/04/1895. Unsurprisingly, the tree 'owner' is American
ADDED
Just got digital image of her birth cert
25th October 1894 at 'Water Side', Hylton, registered by father
|
|
ArgyllGran
|
Report
|
29 Dec 2025 17:06 |
|
Excellent! Thanks, Alviegal and ErikaH.
1921 must have been a bad year for Hilda's parents.
Hilda's sister Dorothy also had an illegitimate child that year .
[**** EDIT: NO, THIS CHILD IS WATSON'S TWIN - see next post ]:
CLARK, DOROTHY FOSTER - GRO Reference: 1921 D Quarter in SUNDERLAND Volume 10A Page 1539
Marriages Sep 1942 (>99%) Clark Dorothy F Shotton S.Shields 10a 1755 Harper Dorothy Shotton S.Shields 10a 1755 Shotton William H F Clark S.Shields 10a 1755 Shotton William H F Harper S.Shields 10a 1755
Death:
Dorothy Foster Shotton in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 Name Dorothy Foster Shotton Death Age 56 [56] Birth Date 14 Sep 1921 <<<<<<<<<<<< Registration Date Jan 1978 [Feb 1978] [Mar 1978] Registration Quarter Jan-Feb-Mar Registration District Sunderland Inferred County Tyne and Wear Volume 2 Page 1686
|
|
ArgyllGran
|
Report
|
30 Dec 2025 09:25 |
|
ADDED:
No, Dorothy 1921 is not Dorothy's daughter - she's Hilda's, and Watson's twin!
I thought it was far too much of a coincidence that young Dorothy and Watson should have the same birth date, so got her digital birth cert.
Dorothy was born at 1130, and Watson at 1215.
Dorothy senior must have "adopted" her, as the alternative surname Harper is on the 1942 marriage record. Maybe Dorothy senior also looked after Watson.
Or maybe the Greenwells "adopted" him, hence his listing with their name in 1939.
|
|
alviegal
|
Report
|
30 Dec 2025 12:18 |
|
Thanks for that AG...enjoyed getting to use the old grey matter on something complicated like that, too bad they're not part of your family and if someone else is searching for that family in the future, they may have problems.
And I see you like a mystery as well ErikaH :-D
|