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Bobo Tourey - Edgbaston/Handsworth/Erdington

J

JessicaWho

proper brummie kid
If anyone has any information it would be so appreciated -
I am looking for anyone who knows of or thinks they may be related to Bobo Tourey he was of West African heritage and lived in Birmingham in the late 1940’s/50’s onwards. Believed to be born in 1921 but no exact birth date. Believed to have fathered a son in 1955 but not documented on the birth certificate he was then married in 1956 to Kathleen Lapworth I have a marriage certificate showing this. His father was stated to be Sackerforey(Sakafore) Tourey already deceased. Other than a newspaper article in 1959 stating he resided in Edgbaston I have no further information about his whereabouts after this. There is a death record in 1980 for a Bobb Tourey aged ~59 buried at Handsworth cemetery I strongly feel is the same person but visiting the plot there is no headstone with further information. This individual last resided at burcombe tower erdington and died at selly oak hospital. I have been using Ancestry and only have two <1% matches. Really hoping that this unusual name triggers some recollection of anyone living around these areas up to 1980. Any info at all please reach out!
 
hi jessica with such an unusual name it does look like the 1980 death you found could be correct and the death age seems to match as well..i am just wondering if it would be worth your while contacting handsworth cemetery as they maybe able to give you more info..also have you considered purchasing the 1980 death cert which will also give you more information..i guess it all depends on exactly what you are searching for but good luck

lyn
 
Hi Lyn thanks for your reply! I have purchased the death certificate just waiting for it to arrive it said 30+ days so fingers crossed. Handsworth Cemetery office is closed I have purchased the £10 burial info which is where I have gained the age and place of death so was worth doing. Really appreciate the helpfulness on this forum so hoping it leads to something
Best
Jessica
 
JessicaWho said:
Hi Lyn thanks for your reply! I have purchased the death certificate just waiting for it to arrive it said 30+ days so fingers crossed. Handsworth Cemetery office is closed I have purchased the £10 burial info which is where I have gained the age and place of death so was worth doing. Really appreciate the helpfulness on this forum so hoping it leads to something
Best
Jessica
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thats good jessica...you are top of things then..if you wish please let us know if you find what you are searching for and if there is anything else we can help you with...all the best

lyn
 
There are newspaper articles concerning a Bobo Tourey, but there are questions about his age.

In 1949 a Bobo Tourey was arrested and his address was 34 Belgrave Rd. His age was given as 21.

A Bobo Tourey was also arrested in 1959 where his age was given as 34 and living in Clissold St.
 
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Hello! Yes I’ve seen the clippings you’re referring to I feel like the 1949 could be an error maybe 31 instead of 21 as the marriage certificate stated 32 in 1956 so 34 in 1959 is not far off. As they all just state ages with no date of births I feel there is room for error or guesses or white lies in terms of his age as I can’t imagine several Bobo Toureys in their 30’s around edgbaston at the same time haha. Hopefully the death certificate has an actual date of birth on there
 
JessicaWho said:
Hello! Yes I’ve seen the clippings you’re referring to I feel like the 1949 could be an error maybe 31 instead of 21 as the marriage certificate stated 32 in 1956 so 34 in 1959 is not far off. As they all just state ages with no date of births I feel there is room for error or guesses or white lies in terms of his age as I can’t imagine several Bobo Toureys in their 30’s around edgbaston at the same time haha. Hopefully the death certificate has an actual date of birth on there
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the death cert will not give his date of birth only his age at death and if no one knew his actually date of birth that could be a guess..you need his birth cert which may prove difficult if bobo was born in a different country..however fingers crossed that the death cert may offer up a clue

lyn
 
Ohh ok, the death record says “About 1921” so definitely not really known at the time of his death, which makes me think he didn’t have other kids or partner in his life that knew him when he died
 
JessicaWho said:
Ohh ok, the death record says “About 1921” so definitely not really known at the time of his death, which makes me think he didn’t have other kids or partner in his life that knew him when he died
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this is where his death cert may prove useful as it will give you the name of the person who registered his death..it would usually be a close member of his family if he had any..something else sprang to my mind...you said he was buried..even back in the 80s when cremations were becoming the norm a burial did not come cheap..but a burial does kind of suggest to me that maybe he did have a family who could afford a burial...i would have thought that handsworth cem would know who paid for the burial..just a couple of thoughts on my part because i myself have got the paper work from yardley cem which gives all the details and names of a family burial plot that was bought in the 1920s

lyn
 
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Hello! Only info on 39 Reg is what I already found the marriage in 1956 the death records in 1980 with approximate birth year 1921 nothing noted from overseas unfortunately
 
Astoness said:
this is where his death cert may prove useful as it will give you the name of the person who registered his death..it would usually be a close member of his family if he had any..something else sprang to my mind...you said he was buried..even back in the 80s when cremations were becoming the norm a burial did not come cheap..but a burial does kind of suggest to me that maybe he did have a family who could afford a burial...i would have thought that handsworth cem would know who paid for the burial..just a couple of thoughts on my part because i myself have got the paper work from yardley cem which gives all the details and names of a family burial plot that was bought in the 1920s

lyn
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Thanks for this Lyn I know Handsworth cemetery office is closed but this prompted me to look further and the cemetery is being managed by another so I have contacted them by form today to request any information regarding who paid for the funeral I have the receipt number etc so hopefully they have records of this. Thanks again
 
Any handwriting experts who can decipher the surname of this signature? One of the witness signatures on the marriage certificate for Bobo in 1956
 

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It looks like Camara to me, interestingly there is a company with connections to Africa of that name and Wiki says ...

The name 'Camara' comes from a west African Bantu dialect and means 'teacher' or 'one who teaches with experience'. Many people read it as 'Camera' and pronounce it as such, however the correct pronunciation is 'Ca ma ra'.

From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camara_(social_enterprise)

There is also an African footballer with that surname.
 
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pjmburns said:
I agree.
Also wondered if Bobo's surname might originally have been Toure. Like the two Ivory Coast footballers(Kolo and Yaya). Bobo is referred to as West African in one of the newspaper articles.
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This crossed my mind too that could open up questions about the rest of his name even his first name being short for something else eg bouboucar or other variants. The marriage certificate states “Bobo Tourey” however his signature looks like something else (see photo) looks like Blues Tourey to me
 

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Update

The death certificate shows the person who registered Bobo’s death was Salifu Kontah of Vincent Parade Balsall Heath. This person is now also deceased they died in 1991 at the age of 69. I say they as Ancestry has one record of same name same address being ‘F’ but the death record on Birmingham council says ‘M’. I am going with a male as there was a Salifu konteh registered at a Birmingham address in 1957-60 with a female who changed surname to ‘konteh’ between 1957 and 1960 although I didn’t see a marriage certificate one would assume she married Salifu. Also the benefit of looking for such unusual names they’re highly likely to be the person you’re looking for.

Slightly disappointing as the death certificate doesn’t show any obvious family. However it does show I made an error reading the funeral record and Bobo/Bobb was not a resident of burcombe tower! His last known residence was Cannon Hill road.

I can see an electoral roll list of names at an address with Salifu Konteh but I tried to search for an electoral register or something that would show names at an address for the Cannon Hill road residence but couldn’t find anything..any suggestions?
 
I didn't think the ERs were online in 1980.

Though it may be that none of the residents (if Bobo wasn't living alone) at the address were entitled to vote, I'm not certain what the qualification needed to do so - residency etc - was at that time.
 
I think master brummie has got it right Bobo/Bobb probably wasn’t qualified to vote and I have found on the national archives that Salifu konteh was given British citizenship hence on the ER
 
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