Unmarried Mother?

[Finnis]

A friend of mine is trying to trace her late father's ancestry.He was born in an Umarried mother's place in Chapeltown in Leeds, but we can't find an entry for a birth under his mother's name which was Maries.His mother was in service and married in 1937 the father of the house, a much older man who died not long afterwards. My friend's dad was always known by this man's surname which was Webster, but we have no way of knowing whether or not this chap was his real father. As we can't find a birth entry at all under either name, would it be possible to find this Unmarried mother's place (I believe it was run by the Church, probably Catholic) and would she be able to access the records supposing they still exist? My friends dad died in 1988.

[Cornish Maid]

Hi


These sort of records, if they indeed still exist, will be covered by a hundred-year closure rule.

Best bet would be to approach the Social Services in the area to see if they can help - I doubt very much if you would be able to access the records without their intervention.

Cornish Maid

[robdurk]

Hi

The Catholic Social Welfare Society, Leeds, is still in existence, under it's newer name of Catholic Care. Their offices are:

11 North Grange Road
Headingley
Leeds
LS6 2BR

Tel: 0113 388 5400

Might be worth giving them a ring and seeing what they can do.

Cheers

Rob

[Finnis]

Thanks Rob, I'll pass on the address and she if she comes up with anything. I managed to locate a place called "Browning House" which STILL deals with unmarried mums, and I think is co-run by the Diocese of Leeds so I suppose it's well worth contacting them on the offchance that it could still be the same place - apparently it was still an Unmarried mums home 50 years back, so do you think it's worth a try?
Cheerz