Where might a missing baby be?
Q Dad was born on 5 September 1920 in Leeds (not sure why!), and named Lawrence Mosedale. Gran was Mary Frances Mosedale born 4 May 1887 in Netherfield (Basford) Nottingham. She was a laundry maid in 1901 and a laundress at Mulgrave Castle near Whitby in 1911. The family story is that he was brought up by his grandparents, but he is not with them in 1921 on the census.
Lynne J.
A The much anticipated release of the 1921 Census for England & Wales led to an explosion on social media as people took to Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to tell the world about the discoveries that had led to them breaking down long-standing brick walls. But for some people there was the frustration of not being able to find people who should, in theory, have been quite easy to find. Access to the 1921 census is currently through Findmypast only, on a pay-per-view basis so the search options are relatively limited.
Mary Frances Mosedale proved a tough nut to crack. She was an unmarried domestic servant with a young child and quite a distinctive name, so you might not expect to have too many problems tracking her down. However, family history research is rarely that straightforward.
I was eventually able to find Lynne’s grandmother, living in London. She was working as a servant in the household of Lord Iveagh, better known as Edward Guinness, the Irish philanthropist and businessman. Mary Frances appears in the returns as Frances Mosedale, aged 32 years and 4 months, and her surname has been transcribed as Mousdall. Her age and birthplace (Netherfield in Nottinghamshire) confirm that we have the right person.
There is, however, no sign of her son, Lawrence, and I have been unable to find a promising entry for him. I’ve looked at all of the Lawrences (and variants) aged 0 or 1 who were said to have been born in Leeds and I’ve tried all sorts of variations of the name Mosedale. He is presumably out there somewhere
