Phyllis May Witts born Newent 1920 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, August 30, 2012, 00:59 (4471 days ago) @ unknown

Hi Wayne,
yes you're right she may have died a spinster although this lady may still have mothered children.
However, wthout wanting to doubt MPG, I think this may be the wrong Phyllis. This possible error is understandable as using the free Ancestry search page I see there are a surprisingly (to me) high number of ladies named XXX May Witts. I see there are some in Wiltshire, I wonder if this was why the cards' seller in Calne had them ?
Wayne, was the seller a Witts too, I'm sure they wouldn't mind you asking if they owned the cards while researching their Family History ?

The Ancestry search shows some quite recent Death Records for various ladies named XXX May Witts in Glostershire, could they be descendants ??
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gl=ROOT_CATEGORY&rank=1&new=1&...

Of course having a subscription MPG may know from the full details these people are not relevant to us. However it seems to me the name May could be a traditional "family" name in the Witts lines ?

Eitherway moving on;

From FreeBMD http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
I find this marriage in Gloster Rural district(includes Newent etc) which may be our Phyllis ?

Surname First name(s) Mother/Spouse/Age District Vol Page
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Marriages Sep 1948 (>99%)
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Mansell Frederick Witts Gloucester R. 7b 1299
Witts Phyllis M Mansell Gloucester R. 7b 1299

Happily GlosBMD http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/bmd/MainMenu.aspx
confirms this and with added detail, she is a May AND from Newent !

Marriage Details
Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
MANSELL Frederick WITTS Phyllis May Gloucester Newent St Mary the Virgin 1948 54 No 5 20

So seems promising....searching Fred on FreeBMD throughout UK gives several possible hits from 1948 back, Frederick's a popular Mansell name, but the majority are in the Midlands. This is a standout tho', right locality and age

Surname Given Name Mother District Volume Page Transcriber
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Births Jun 1922
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Mansell Frederick Booker Ross 6a 815 OurSmallCapital

Now of course no proof as such, but I think reasonable evidence to suggest Phyliss did marry and there may be decendants alive now still. Sadly I cannot find any subsequent births on this FoDFH site, FreeBMD or GlosBMD, not surprisingly as these sites rarely help post 1950 due to the confidentiality rulings etc re searching possibly living people.
Searching Ancestry may help, or I suggest a good start would be the Phone Books (altho they're so thin these days), or maybe best a letter to the local Newent newspapers, someone may know something or someone.

Please read http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=10668

I must say Wayne I think it grand you wanting to reunite these photos with the family, it always upsets me when I see old photos for sale apparently unwanted by the descendants; well done sir !