Bowdler family - Aunt Mollie finally located! (General)

by JaneyH , Tunbridge Wells, Kent, Saturday, July 06, 2019, 15:08 (1974 days ago) @ JaneyH

Five years on from this thread and I have learned much more about my Bowdler ancestors, so I thought I would share an update.

The mysterious 'aunt Mollie' is has been identified. I've been in contact with a new member of this forum (who turns out to be a first cousin to my grandfather, Roland Dennis Bowdler - there are some funny age-gaps!). She also recalled aunt Mollie as a child and said that she had worked as a nurse for much of her life.

This immediately rang bells with my great-grandfather's sister Mary Bowdler (mentioned already on this thread). Having checked back to the Censuses she was a sick nurse at a private residence in Painswick in 1901, and a sick nurse again in 1911 - this time to a lady of independent means in Paddington, London. After that the trail went cold.

Several Ancestry trees show her marrying an Alfred Webb in 1914 in W-o-S district, having two daughters and then dying in 1939 in Stroud. (This Alfred Webb was a Wales rugby international, by the way.) There was one small problem with this Mary - my Mum couldn't have met her, because she died in 1939 and Mum was only born in 1943!

On another forum someone suggested I look at a marriage of Mary Bowdler to James Walter Harris, in Hereford in 1916. I knew from my research into family members in Westbury workhouse that another of my great-grandfather's sisters had moved to Hereford, so I took a gamble and ordered the marriage certificate. This was the correct marriage - bride's father shown as George Godwin Bowdler, occupation gamekeeper, and her age matched. The icing on the cake was that her sister Florence (who lived in Hereford) was one of the witnesses.

With this I've found her in the 1939 Register - widowed and living in Gloucester, and finally her death in 1953, which WOULD fit with my Mum meeting her as a small child. The probate entry shows that one of her brothers was an executor. Her last address given was 15 Buckshaft Road, Ruspidge. Buckshaft Road, Ruspidge was almost a 'family' road at this time: in the 1939 Register brother William John Bowdler lived at number 2 with his family; sister Annie Gwendoline Edwards was at number 17, along with elderly mother Sarah Jane Bowdler, while brother Hubert Roy Bowdler lived at number 27!

It just goes to show that paying £11 for a marriage certificate can be a good investment!