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Eva may have been fostered long term by her adopted parents before the adoption went ahead so she may have been known as Wendy from when she was first fostered.

I know of someone who adopted two children but they had fostered both children for quite a few years before it was decided that they could adopt them. Because the plan had always been to adopt the children eventually if the birth mothers agreed the children were given the names that they grew up with and not what was on their birth certificates.

Kath. x

thank you all for your help

I gave you the 1939 info for the address…….please note

No-one can look for her with any degree of accuracy without knowing when she was born.

Her adoptive parents may not have liked the name Ava. Speculating about the change is pointless.

Did your contact ever ask them?

what i dont understand is that she was born ava and was adopted in 1952 and her name is wendy now

Thanks, Kath.

The adoption file would only have in it any information that the social workers were given by the mother. Sometimes it would have addresses, other family members names, even the father might be named. Sometimes a reason for giving up the baby would be given. It all depends on the mother and how much information she wanted to give.

Kath. x

I thought that the address for Nellie which was said to be in 1940 might have been a typo and meant to be 1946 and was taken from the birth certificate of the daughter.

Kath. x

As already asked - what leads her to think that Nellie was born about 90 years ago?
Does she have any documentation to say so?


You said Nellie was at that address in 1940.
If your friend was born in 1947 - how does she know that?

[I don't know what's in an adoption file - does it give the mother's address history before the birth? ]

she must have as she said her mother lived at 105, Barrow Rd ,sheffield in 1940 is it possible to find her in the 1939 reg.

Has your friend accessed her adoption file?

Kath. x

There was a Nellie Bancroft on the 1939 register living in Wakefield born on 31st Dec. 1919. She married a man called Eric Ambler in 1950.

If she were the right woman it is possible that she gave up Eva because she wasn't married at the time. She possibly went to Sheffield to have the baby (about 25 miles away).

This is her death:-

First name(s) Nellie
District number 0991A
Last name Ambler
Register number A54A
Gender Female
Entry number 289
Birth day 31
Date of registration mm/yy 1199
Birth month 12
County Yorkshire
Birth year 1919
Country England
Age -
Record set England & Wales Deaths 1837-2007
Death quarter 4
Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
Registration Month 11
Subcategory Civil Deaths & Burials
Death year 1999
Collections from Great Britain, England
District Wakefield

Kath. x

As mentioned above - couldn't C&P at the time as was using iPad

1939 Register
105 Barrow Road, Sheffield, Sheffield C.B., Yorkshire (West Riding), England

Joseph Pearson 22 Jan 1877 Male Steel Dresser Single 79 1
Alice Thwaites 02 Feb 1881 Female Cabinet Case Liner Divorced 79 2
The record for this person is officially closed.

So, if the mother was allegedly born in 1932, she'd have been no more than 14 when she conceived

Has your contact bought a copy of her original birth cert?

just fiund out the daughter was not born in 1952 that was the year she was adopted she was born 1946 name of eva bancroft birth registered in march quart 1957 Births Mar 1947 (>99%)
Bancroft Eva Bancroft Sheffield 2d 201 she thinks she was fostered out till she was adopted

What leads your contact to say that her mother was born c1932? Does she have any documents which give her age at the time of the daughter’s birth?

thank you i has asked t he lady what her birth name was when she was born in 1952 waiting fo hear from her

Mary E Turner must have been at least 16 in 1944, so born 1928 or earlier.

Ancestry suggests this is her death (though their suggestions are often very wide of the mark):

Mrs Mary Elizabeth Bancroft
in the England and Wales, Death Index, 1989-2021
Name: Mrs Mary Elizabeth Bancroft
Gender: Female
Age: 88
Birth Date: 1922
Last Residence: Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Postal Code District: S13
Death Date: 15 Apr 2010


Harry was born 1923, and died 2004.
He's on the Sheffield ER with Mary until 2004, and then Mary's on it alone until 2008.

Is the lady who says she is Nellie's daughter called Christine?

There is a birth with this first name in 1952 in Sheffield with mother's maiden name of Turner. There is this marriage in 1944:-

First name(s) Harry
County Yorkshire
Last name Bancroft
Country England
Marriage quarter 4
Volume 9C
Marriage year 1944
Volume as transcribed 9C
Registration month -
Page number 892
MarriageFinder™ Harry Bancroft married one of these people
****Mary E Turner****
Record set England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005
Spouse's last name Turner
Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
District Sheffield
Subcategory Civil Marriage & Divorce
District number -
Collections from Great Britain, England

Perhaps Mary E. Turner's middle name was Ellen and she was called Nellie as a pet name from this.

Just a thought really.

Kath. x

the lady looking for nellie bancroft said she was her daughter and was born in 1952 and was adopted and nellie would be about 90 if still a live nellie was living at , 105 105 Barrow Rd sheffield in 1940

Ditto Ellen, which is the usual ‘root’ for Nellie