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Back of 96 Albion Road, Greet

B

bonzobob

New Member
Dear Birmingham History Forum,
Thank you for your welcome.
I hope that someone is able to help me with the following:
My Father's birth certificate states that he was born in the "Back of 96 Albion Road, Greet" in 1920.
Could this have been one of the "back to back" houses that were still around at this time?
Thank you in anticipation,
Dave.
 
This map is from 1916 (same as link from Morturn). A later map lists number 96 right at the Warwick Road end (pink dot) and as you can see there is an alley up the side that appears to lead to another house (green dot), so this may be it. Either way it doesn't seem to be a traditional back to back.

0 - Albion Road.jpg
 
Bonzobob.
Unfortunately, there is a problem with that. According to the Kellys directories of the period (and also the numbering on the few houses still there today on streetview/Google maps), the numbering was consecutive and ran up the south side (where the terraces mentioned by Morturn are shown)to about nom 59, and numbers 60 and above were on the northern side . Thus no 96 must be on the north side of the road. The electoral roll for 1920 (shown below) does not list a back 96, but does list a back 95, which I suspect is the building marked on MES's map. No 96 possibly was subdivided unofficially, into two flats? Is walker a family name?,
 

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  • electoral roll 1920 part albion road.jpg
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I missed one point out above. For "back" houses, they are numbered as back of the house next to the entry that leads to them. In most cases this is taken as the lower number (ie if the entry is between 95 and 96 it is labelled as back 95. However sometimes different authorities or people, for some reason, take the number on the other side of the entry . Thus "back 95" could also be "back 96" in the minds of the inhabitants, though officially it is "back 95"
 
Thank you all very much for your replies and for contributing pieces of the jigsaw. I have obviously come to the right forum. However, I am a "newbie" with regard to forums and I am not sure if my appreciation will get back to all 3 of you. Do I click on "Appreciate" on all of your replies?

Back to the question in hand, my family name is Pollock and David Pollock was my grandfather who, according to the 1920 electoral roll (thank you mikejee), lived at "back 95". Is that correct as the attachment is a little blurred? If so, my grandmother, the informant of the birth of my father, preferred to use "back 96".

I have tried searching the Findmypast electoral rolls for my grandfather's 1920 entry but with no luck. My search returned other years with that name but not 1920. The 1921 census for England and Wales draws a blank also, so I'm guessing the family moved back to Scotland soon after my father's birth. The release of the 1921 census for Scotland later this year will hopefully provide another piece of the jigsaw.

Thanks again, Dave.
 
Dave
I am surprised you could not find the entry in FMP, though I do not use them , but use https://www.midlandshistoricaldata.org/. On there a search also finds David Pollock (alone) at 4 Alexandra Place, Albion Road, which would be one of the terraces earlier mentioned on the other side of the road, in 1925, and at no 32 Albion Road in 1930 with Violet Pollock . In 1939 David Steve Pollock, Violet Priscilla Pollock, William Lindsay Pollock and Ernest Purcell at 71 Baker St, which is not very far away from Albion, St , a little further down Warwick Road, in 1939.
 
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If your grandmother was Violet Priscilla Sargent then they had a number of children in the 1920s (Bham area), so must be about.
 
Thank you for all of your very useful replies.
I apologise for not responding sooner. Good Health has not visited our house for quite some time.
Violet Priscilla Pollock (nee Sargent) is my grandmother, David Steve Pollock is my grandfather (why he occasionally used "Steve" as his middle name is unknown), William Lindsay Pollock is my half uncle from my grandfather's previous marriage and Ernest Purcell is an unknown, perhaps a lodger.
I have now subscribed to Midlands Historical Data, thank you mikejee for the link, so I am now able to research the Sargent side of my family also.
According to family word of mouth, my grandparents met while my grandfather was recovering from wounds and/or gas inhalation during WW1. Apparently, my grandmother visited him in hospital (in the Birmingham area?), perhaps as a volunteer. Do any hospital admission/discharge records dated 1914 to 1918 for the Birmingham area still exist?
Thanks again for your help,
Dave.
 
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