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Evacuee or Refugee from Belgium - Help requested

Sleuth

New Member
If this is not the right place, then please forgive me, and tell me where to make the request.

This relates to a family member of a work colleague.

A family was evacuated/sought refugee from Belgium status in 1940 and was settled at 411 City Road Edgbaston. They were Franciscus Coen, and Pauline Matilda Julia Coen néé van de Wouwer. They had a 12-year-old daughter Marie-Louise Coen (the cousin of the work colleague). During the air raid of 11 December 1940, the parents were killed, they are listed on the Tree of Life in Edgbaston Road.

As they had arrived only a few weeks earlier, Marie-Louise would not have spoken a word of English.

If she survived the air raid, does anyone know where I can find the information where she would have been taken?

Thank you very much for any help in pointing me in the right direction.

Extract of the Coens death from Ancestry.com.png
 
hi could be difficult but i dare say some of our member will try to help.. unless you already know this i can tell you that there were other belgian subjects living at 411 city road...some also lost their lives and some survived so it must have a been a large shared house and it must have been a very bad raid as a lot of houses in city road was hit..but it does seem as though marie did survive



Last NameForename(s)AgeCivil Defence Status
BennettGeorge11/12/1940419 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
BennettMargaret Augusta11/12/1940419 City Road, Edgbaston53CivilianView
ClarkeChas11/12/1940423 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
ClarkeFrederick11/12/1940423 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
CoenMarie11/12/1940411 City Road EdgbastonCivilianView
CoenPauline Matilda Julia11/12/1940411 City Road Edgbaston40CivilianView
ColeMargaret Ellen11/12/1940413 City Road, Edgbaston18CivilianView
DaemanPetrus11/12/1940411 City Road Edgbaston61CivilianView
DaemenMarie11/12/1940411 City Road EdgbastonCivilianView
EmmensMargaret11/12/1940413 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
GroomeAlice Beatrice10/04/1941128 City Road, Edgbaston58CivilianView
HaleAvril Cynthia11/12/1940413 City Road, Edgbaston8CivilianView
HaleEllen Maria11/12/1940413 City Road, Edgbaston46CivilianView
HaleRonald11/12/1940413 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
HaleStanley Lawrence11/12/1940413 City Road, Edgbaston12CivilianView
HaleWillliam James11/12/1940413 City Road, Edgbaston66CivilianView
HalesEdna11/12/1940413 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
MacleanAlexander Murchison11/12/1940417 City Road, Edgbaston54CivilianView
MacleanMary Muir11/12/1940417 City Road, Edgbaston46CivilianView
RavytsJeanne11/12/1940411 City Road Edgbaston34CivilianView
RavytsSimone11/12/1940411 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
RavytzE.11/12/1940411 City Road EdgbastonCivilianView
ThomasDavid11/12/1940437 City Road, EdgbastonCivilian
lyn
 
According to the BARRA Marie was injured.
I can't find a death registered between 1940 and 1942 for Marie so I assume she survived.
yes i think she did jan but the question is what happened to her...at the age of 12 she could not fend for herself maybe if she had any other family here they may have taken her failing that she may have been put into care...very difficult one..

i did find a death record for a marie louise coin..born 12th jan 1928 france..died 17th feb 1998 france..not so much bothered that surname is spelt coin not coen but born and died france maybe expecting too much for it to be our marie louise.. unless of course although her parents were she was not born in belgium

lyn
 
Last edited:
i also found this marr but no good as i have her on the 39 reg...year of birth is wrong

Marie Coan
Jan 1950[Feb 1950][Mar 1950]
Jan-Feb-Mar
Leigh
Lancashire
Vivian J Heaps
10d
115
[th width="176.471px"]
Registration Date​
[/th]​
[th width="176.471px"]
Registration Quarter​
[/th]​
[th width="176.471px"]
Registration district​
[/th]​
[th width="176.471px"]
Inferred County​
[/th]​
[th width="176.471px"]
Spouse​
[/th]​
[th width="176.471px"]
Volume Number​
[/th]​
[th width="176.471px"]
Page number​
[/th]​
 
hi could be difficult but i dare say some of our member will try to help.. unless you already know this i can tell you that there were other belgian subjects living at 411 city road...some also lost their lives and some survived so it must have a been a large shared house and it must have been a very bad raid as a lot of houses in city road was hit..but it does seem as though marie did survive



Last NameForename(s)AgeCivil Defence Status
BennettGeorge11/12/1940419 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
BennettMargaret Augusta11/12/1940419 City Road, Edgbaston53CivilianView
ClarkeChas11/12/1940423 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
ClarkeFrederick11/12/1940423 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
CoenMarie11/12/1940411 City Road EdgbastonCivilianView
CoenPauline Matilda Julia11/12/1940411 City Road Edgbaston40CivilianView
ColeMargaret Ellen11/12/1940413 City Road, Edgbaston18CivilianView
DaemanPetrus11/12/1940411 City Road Edgbaston61CivilianView
DaemenMarie11/12/1940411 City Road EdgbastonCivilianView
EmmensMargaret11/12/1940413 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
GroomeAlice Beatrice10/04/1941128 City Road, Edgbaston58CivilianView
HaleAvril Cynthia11/12/1940413 City Road, Edgbaston8CivilianView
HaleEllen Maria11/12/1940413 City Road, Edgbaston46CivilianView
HaleRonald11/12/1940413 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
HaleStanley Lawrence11/12/1940413 City Road, Edgbaston12CivilianView
HaleWillliam James11/12/1940413 City Road, Edgbaston66CivilianView
HalesEdna11/12/1940413 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
MacleanAlexander Murchison11/12/1940417 City Road, Edgbaston54CivilianView
MacleanMary Muir11/12/1940417 City Road, Edgbaston46CivilianView
RavytsJeanne11/12/1940411 City Road Edgbaston34CivilianView
RavytsSimone11/12/1940411 City Road, EdgbastonCivilianView
RavytzE.11/12/1940411 City Road EdgbastonCivilianView
ThomasDavid11/12/1940437 City Road, EdgbastonCivilian
lyn
Thank you very much for this.

I didn't know any of it. I grew up in Essex (sorry), and I'm now living in Belgium.
 
you are most welcome but this is a difficult one as we have very little information to go on...would your friend have anymore information that may have been passed down the family?

lyn
 
just wondering if someone could check the newspaper archives on line ..long shot i know but maybe there was something written about the daughter that survived

lyn
 
Just a thought - as she was a Belgiam citizen is it worth contacting the Belgian embassy?
I think they might have a Birmingham representative now or the Embassy in London.
If the family in Belgium were told of the deaths then who informed them?
 
Just a thought - as she was a Belgiam citizen is it worth contacting the Belgian embassy?
I think they might have a Birmingham representative now or the Embassy in London.
If the family in Belgium were told of the deaths then who informed them?
The family was not told of the deaths. It was found through research for a missing relative. In 2007 I paid a genealogist and she saw the info for me. I am Linda by the way. Sleuth was kind enough to discover this site.
 
Welcome to the forum.
It is difficult to help as a lot of more recent records are not published as we have 100 year closure before things can be published.
 
What would happen to a British orphaned war victim? Was there a standard procedure followed in these cases? Where would they have been taken? Perhaps that would open up a perspective for research?
 
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