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Corbett

Bob Davis

Bob Davis
One of the mysteries in my mothers family is whatever happened to her Grandfather. John Frederick Corbett was born in 1856 in Aston, the son of Frederick Corbett - steel pen maker and Ann Elizabeth his wife. In 1878 he married Amelia Smallwood, also of Aston and they appear in the 1891 census with their daughter Ettie Amelia Corbett. In the 1901 census Amelia Corbett is living in Albert Road, Aston with a number of 'lodgers?' and her daughter and there is no mention of John Frederick. He does not appear as having died in any of the intervening years in any records. Family rumour/myth/legend (call it what you will) has it the he died in Hungary and there were some postcards and stamps from that country that I remember as a child. A search of deaths recorded abroad at the family history centre (when it was in Faringdon) revealed no record of his name. I have been aware of BHF members supplying details from Kellys directories and from old newspapers, and I just wondered if there might be any information that I was not aware of available from any sources that I know nothing about. In the 1911 census Amelia, he daughter and lodgers are recorded as living at 160 Slade Road, Erdington.

Bob
 
just what we like bob....another mystery to help with..keeps us out of trouble hopefully:) i am quite sure that myself along with a few of our other members will have a scout around for you when they can...fingers crossed

lyn
 
Could not find anything in directories, though htis was not surprising, as, unless he was in business for himself or well off, I would not expect it
No John Frederick Corbett comes up in the whole range of papers in the archive. unfortunately John Corbett is a fairly common name, and even if we restrict to birmingham, brings up a large number of items, a lot of which refer to a local MP, but none of the rest that definitely would be him. There was however a john corbett ,scalemaker (56) who died in 1891. Possibly his father?
 

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Could not find anything in directories, though htis was not surprising, as, unless he was in business for himself or well off, I would not expect it
No John Frederick Corbett comes up in the whole range of papers in the archive. unfortunately John Corbett is a fairly common name, and even if we restrict to birmingham, brings up a large number of items, a lot of which refer to a local MP, but none of the rest that definitely would be him. There was however a john corbett ,scalemaker (56) who died in 1891. Possibly his father?
Many thanks, his Father was Fredrick Corbett a steel pen maker. it was just a thought, but thanks for looking.
Bob
 
On the 1911 census and the 1939 register Amelia styles herself widow. It is hard to tell what is shows on the 1901 census.
 
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John is with her on the 1891 and on the 1901 he is not but if you view the other original entries on that page for Single, Married or Widow, her entry is Wid.
There is no entry for John Corbett death in England or Wales whose birthdate matches between 1891 and 1901.
I would imagine that Etties marriage to Walter Vanstone in 1914 will have father deceased
 
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John is with her on the 1891 and on the 1901 he is not but if you view the other original entries on that page for Single, Married or Widow, her entry is Wid.
There is no entry for John Corbett death in England or Wales whose birthdate matches between 1891 and 1901.
I would imagine that Etties marriage to Walter Vanstone in 1914 will have father deceased
Thank you all for your efforts, apparently there was a great scandal attached to all of this which neither my great grandmother or her daughter would speak about. My mother would make disparaging remarks about him, but I suspect that she really never knew what happened, as I said Hungary kept being mentioned and there was a great deal of Hungarian memorabilia and ephemera which had all disappeared by late 1940s, which annoyed me as I was a stamp collector and there had been any number of stamps there. I searched the records at both Faringdon and Kew but there was no record of a death in the UK or recorded via the British Consulates. In the case of Etties marriage to Walter Vanstone, his first wife Lucy (nee Delaney) was registered in the March Quarter as having died and his marriage to Ettie was in the June quarter. Unfortunately I did not know tgis until it was too late to ask questions. Amelia Corbett was a mischievous old lady who spent all the years that I knew her in the front room of 20 Queens Road. She had the habit of suddenly whipping a bottle of smelling salts from under the bed clothes and thrusting them under my nose. These certainly made my eyes water. However the mystery will need to stay unresolved.

Bob
 
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