How can I trace a child who died in infancy?
QMy father Reginald Scholey was born on 19 February 1912 to Ernest (1882–1958) and Edith Minnie Scholey (née Leigh, 1878–1936).
He told me that his parents had had a son (I think Alexander) born before him who died in infancy. I’ve searched the records for this child, with no luck. How can I find him?
Sharron Baroudi
AYour grandparents Ernest and Edith married on Christmas Day 1910 in Sheffield, and your father was born just under 14 months later, so there is insufficient time for two full-term pregnancies to have taken place after the wedding. The 1911 census entry also shows no children, living or dead, born to their marriage by that year.
From the General Register Office (GRO) birth indexes ( https:// www.gro.gov.uk/gro/ content/certificates) it looks like only your father was born after the marriage, but at the ages of 29 and 32, Ernest and Edith were a little older than most for a first marriage at that time, and you should investigate the possibility that one of them had a child before this marriage.
To look for any possible child born to Edith, search the GRO indexes for Leigh births with no maiden name shown. Finding a child fathered illegitimately by Ernest will be much more difficult with no details of a potential mother to search under.
Yorkshire parish records are available on findmypast.co.uk and include many parishes in the Sheffield area, which could be checked for a potential baptism or birth.
I sadly wonder whether this was a stillborn child, or a premature baby who lived for only a very short time. Any child born alive who then dies should be registered as a birth, and then have a separate death registration, but there are many examples where only the death of such an infant has been recorded, or indeed neither event has been registered and the birth therefore doesn’t appear in official records at all.
Antony Marr