Lilian Maude Bowdler (nee Evans) 1885 - ??? (General)

by JaneyH , Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Thursday, January 23, 2014, 21:57 (3743 days ago) @ slowhands

Having encountered an unexpectedly fast response rate to my initial post, I thought I should narrow down my research areas more specifically. I'm principally looking for more information about my great-grandmother, Lilian Maude Bowdler (nee Evans). I suspect she was known as Maude rather than Lilian (and Maud may not always have had the "e" on the end!)

Here's what I know so far:
- born Broadoak in 1885, parents Walter & Ellen Evans
- married my great-grandfather Oliver William Bowdler 1908. Marriage register entry Jan/Feb/Mar 1908, Westbury-on-Severn vol 6a page 390.
- had the following children with Oliver William: Roland Dennis (1908 - my grandfather), Dorothy Louise Lilian (1909), Hubert Edward (1911), twins Elizabeth Mavis Helen and Sarah Jane Fidora (1913), George Godwin (1915), Charles Edwin (1917), Oliver W (1920) and Norman (1921). I've read an article on another family history website that suggests Norman may have been adopted to a family in the West Midlands.

I've found a newspaper article from the Gloucester Journal dated April 1922 which relates to a court hearing at Littledean Petty Sessions in which Lilian Maude Bowdler was charged with "wandering abroad" in Cinderford at night. She was asked to go the workhouse but had refused to go. There follows a sad story in which husband Oliver William Bowdler acknowledges his wife's behaviour, and explains that she has abandoned the family several times before. He further notes that he has eight children in the workhouse, whom he supports financially, and that he is in receipt of a War pension. Given the threat of prison, Lilian Maude Bowdler "expressed a willingness to go to Westbury for a few days". I assume this means the workhouse.

So - my areas of further research are as follows:

(1) Where might I find records of the Westbury workhouse? Would they be in the Gloucestershire County Archives? I'd love to find out how long Lilian (and indeed Lilian & Oliver's children) were there, and what their lives were like while living there.

(2) In relation to Lilian Maude's mental illness, the story my Mum tells is that grandad (Dennis) and his sister Dot lived for a while with an "aunt" Mollie (definitely -ie and not -y). Thus far I've been unable to trace her as a "proper" aunt - none of Oliver William's sisters had this name, nor the wives of his brothers. I don't think that Lilian Maude's sisters had this name nor her sisters-in-law. There must have been some substance to the relationship between my grandfather and "aunt" Mollie since my mother (Molly) was bequeathed a set of silver-backed hairbrushes and hand-mirror engraved with the letter 'M'. Mum recalls visiting Cinderford when she was a child (c.1950) and meeting "aunt" Mollie. Perhaps Mollie was in fact someone who worked at the workhouse?

(3) My searches so far have not yielded any information about Oliver William's war service. He must have seen active service to have been in receipt of a war pension, and he also conceived two children during WW1 so must have been home for some of the war. Any suggestions about where (and with which regiment) he may have served would be most appreciated. I know that many WW1 records have been lost so local sources may be crucial here.

(4) I don't know what happened to Lilian Maude Bowdler. Oliver moved to south Wales in 1922/23 and had further children with a woman whose maiden name was Brooks. However I have not yet found a marriage certificate to indicate Oliver William actually married her, nor evidence of either a divorce from Lilian Maude nor her death. Oliver William then moved to north Devon in 1926/27 and had two further children to partner Brooks (one of whom sadly died as a baby). The next information I have is of Oliver William's divorce in 1945 (via a newspaper article that annoyingly doesn't mention who he divorced from) followed by a (documented) marriage to Beatrice Manley in 1946. He had three further children with Beatrice. These are my Mum's aunts and uncles, although they are younger than she is! The big question is, what happened to Lilian Maude Bowdler? Did she die in the 1920s in the Forest of Dean? Did she move away from the area?

I appreciate that this is a lot to take in, but I hope that by sharing the detail I will have (a) given all your readers an insight into the lives of people from the Forest of Dean area and (b) possibly have stirred some connections for those who may be able to help me in my research.

Best regards, JaneyH