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[ron.hume]

Hello all,
My name is Ron Hume residing in South Australia.
I have completed my family tree and written a family history.
I am currently helping my niece Sharyn trace her birth father who deserted my sister and two children in Adelaide, South Australia on 26 Jan 1951. The search is complicated because we have discovered three names to date the father has used, two of which are fictitious.
I have applied for a birth certificate under the third name, and hope to gain further information of that family on this forum.
I am currently researching deceased parents surnames, Bennett and Hinkley of Eastbourne, Sussex. Any information will be greatly appreciated.
Also if anyone knows the whereabouts of archived records of the Kingswood Training School, Gloucestershire, England, for circa 1939, that too would be most welcome.

Kind Regards,

Ron Hume from down under.

[helachau]

First,
A very warm welcome to Brit-gen. In the absence of any given names for Bennett/Hinkley -

https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

Search "Marriages" for the combination of Surname = Bennett and Spouse/Mother surname = Hinkley. It returns 4 hits. Does the 1919 marriage ring any bells?

Search "Births" for the combination of Surname = Bennett and Spouse/Mother surname = Hinkley. Does the 1924 birth ring any bells?

Good luck

[ron.hume]

Thanks for your response helachau,

The 1919 marriage looks very promising, the district is in East Sussex, the same as that of our mysterious man Bennett, and five years prior to his birth.

Ron Hume from down under.

[helachau]

Thanks for your response helachau,

and five years prior to his birth.

Ron Hume from down under.

ie. 1924. That would fit the Bennett birth registration Jun Qtr 1924, Eastbourne

That's the only "father Bennett/mother Hinkley" birth coming up at the moment.

[helachau]

Re. Kingswood Training School, you could check Gloucestershire online catalogue -
https://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/CalmView/

[arthurk]

Records for some parts of Gloucestershire are at Bristol Archives. It doesn't help in this case that there are two places in Gloucestershire called Kingswood, one near Wotton-under-Edge (records mainly in Gloucester) and one near Bristol (records mainly in Bristol).

In this case, I think you're looking at the one near Bristol - see this page for more info:

https://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/BristolKingswoodRfy/

[ron.hume]

Thanks for that arthurk,
I found lots of history re the school, but no sign of any attendance rolls.

[ron.hume]

Thanks helachau,
Found lots of history on the school, but no attendance rolls.

[arthurk]

Thanks for that arthurk,
I found lots of history re the school, but no sign of any attendance rolls.

In concentrating on the location I overlooked the dates you mentioned. So while Bristol Records Office appears to hold various records up to the mid-1930s, there's nothing later than that.

This could be because, according to the page I mentioned above, the school became an Approved School in 1933, so presumably new entrants after that date came under the new regime. You can read more about Approved Schools at

https://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/AS/

A quick search in the National Archives catalogue (which covers other archives' holdings) brings up a number of administrative records for the school, but I couldn't see anything about admissions etc. However, given the nature of the place, I wonder if it would be worth checking juvenile court records etc?

[Lesley Robertson]

It might be worth checking for him in old newspapers...