Sarah Walls - Death registration

[Hils Hoppo]

Can anyone help me find a death registration for Sarah Walls born 1847 in Rotherhithe (Southwark) She also used the name Anne, was unmarried, although gives herself as 'widow' on various census, and was still alive in 1901. Her only son married in 1906 and moved to Wandsworth so it is possible she moved there too. I've been unable to find anything that matches these details.

[Pam Downes]

Hi HH,
Some random thoughts, not necessarily in a logical order.
The first one being that, unless it is absolutely imperative that you find the death registration within the next 2 or so years, I would suggest that you hang fire on sending for a load of certificates which may be the wrong ones. That said, there is nothing to stop you having some possibilities to look at when the 1911 census has certain info released in 2009 onwards.
You don't say where Sarah/Anne was living in 1851+ census, and when she was Sarah and when she was Anne. (And was it always Anne with an 'e'?), but I presume that it was always in the Rotherhithe area.
There is the possibility that she might have married. FreeBMD have a Sarah Ann (no 'e') marrying in Camberwell in September quarter 1902. (In case you're not too sure of the proximity of some of the London parishes
https://www.eastsurreyfhs.org.uk/parishes/parish_map.htm )
There's also a Sarah A marrying in Fulham in 1914 but as there's only one (unusually-named) groom yet transcribed on the page and only one of the 1901 census men of that name seems even a remote possibility, you should perhaps discount that one!
When you searched for the death registration did you search the full GRO Index, or just FreeBMD? I searched just FreeBMD for the marriage - and then only for Sarah.
There is also the possibility that the surname was mistranscribed when it was first entered into the GRO Index. If so, that mistranscription would have continued down the years. When Longford can get turned into Layford anything can happen, so I would suggest searching for Wall (i.e. no 's'), Well/Wells, Will/Wills, Wales, Wiles, Wail, don't know if Webb, Wadd and Wedd are stretching it a bit, Watt/Watts, Witt/Witts. You're not going to get a Sarah or Anne for all of these names, nor are they all going to be in the London area, but if you do find any possibilities, then you're ready for further research once the 1911 is released.
Pam

[v.wells]

Some Walls have been misindexed as Wells in the GRO and vice versa. They are earlier registrations that were handwritten and depending on one's eyesight are easily read or not. I can't remember what years it was for but was pre 1901. Caused me a bit of aggravation when I realized what had happened so I looked under Walls and found my Wells!

[pmouritsen]

I do not have an answer for your question, but your line of research interests me. I think that Sarah Walls is the daughter of Jemima Cowdery, the sister of my great great great grandmother.

I do have a copy of Jemima Walls death certificate from 1895 showing Sarah as the informant.

[Hils Hoppo]

I don't think it is the same Sarah - mine was the youngest daughter of John Titcomb Walls and Elizabeth Wyatt. I think it unlikely that she married as she is shown on the 1901 census at the age of 54 living with her illegitimate son Ernest who then married in 1906 and moved to Barnes. She gives herself as 'widow' - obviously just for respectability! I have Sarah's birth certificate and entries for her on every census from 1851 - 1901 I would just like to find her death registration to complete the story and know what happened to her after Ernest married. It is possible that she also moved to be nearer Ernest and his wife but the story in the family goes that he always maintained he was an 'orphan' so no one in the family ever knew of his past - until now that is!

I'll keep hunting!