No birth record, Cape Town, no mother 1911

[MylesOrme]

I'm back looking for evidence that my father was born. :-)

His name was Arthur Stanley Orme

I am very sure from anecdotes and evidence that he was born in Cape Town. His father, Arthur Cecil Orme was with the East Lancs in Wynburg and his step-mother, Christina Elizabeth Grieves, married his father there in 1912. All this is documented - as is the birth of his eldest sister Violet a couple of years later, just 6 months before they were all loaded onto a troop ship back to the war.

Story is that his mother was an Afrikaner who died shortly after childbirth. I have no clue as to her name.

My father celebrated his birthday on the 28th October, and some documents have yob as 1912 (father and step mother married in August of that year)

All other life events, such as his sister's births are recorded in Army records, but his birth is not and he was very insistent that 'the Scottish woman' was not his mother.

A tantalising clue: I have found a baptism of an Arthur, to a apparently single mother, Sophia Stennes. This baptism occurred at home 'in sickness' in Cape Town in 1912 I an area not a million miles away from the fort - the child was born at the beginning of November according to the baptism record. I can't find any other online records relating to the mother or child. So tantalising but not very substantial.

It may have been that he was formally adopted, but as far as I can tell, adoption papers are all private - in some directories it is possible to see that an adoption has taken place, but I can't see the names of any of the people involved.

So no mother, not sure of year (1911 or 1912 almost certain), Wynburg or Cape Town most likely.. how to proceed now? Any ideas anyone?

[Pam Downes]

Hello Myles,

Welcome to British-Genealogy.

I know nothing about research in South Africa, but I would point you to the top three posts in our South Africa forum.
https://www.british-genealogy.com/fo...rica-Genealogy
They're labelled 'stickies, and will hopefully be able to give you some pointers in your search.

Sometimes you can also get clues by reading other posts in the same forum, but start with the 'stickies'.

Pam

[MylesOrme]

Thanks Pam, those posts are super-useful and show that there is much more available online than I had realised. I'll be busy digesting all that I can over the next couple of days.

The huge sticking point for me though is the lack of mother's name - that's the one constant on birth certificates; fathers not so much. So if you have any tricks or advice on how to research in what seems like a vacuum to me at the moment I'd be grateful.

[Sue Mackay]

Thanks for reminding me that I needed to update the sticky Pam! Rootsweb mailing list archives may still be searched (I have fixed the URL) but there is now a new mailing list for South Africa at https://groups.io/g/southafricangenealogy

[Pam Downes]

Pleased to have been of assistance, Sue.