The Noel Truth

By Dawn E. Amos

Who was Noel Joseph Amos?

As a child I was told he was an orphan, born on Christmas day, and given a pile of photographs, that was it!

This was all I knew about my grandfather, who I never had the opportunity to meet.

Who were his family, who adopted him, where did he live?

The journey of his life has taken me from the suburbs of Manchester, to the prairies and wild west of Cochrane, Alberta, Canada, and back to my home town of Alfreton, Derbyshire.

His return to the UK saw his enlistment into the Army during WWII and his involvement in the Civil Defence Corps and The Royal British Legion.

This tells of my relentless efforts to find the answers to the missing pieces of the puzzle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Legend Press
• Release date: Sep 26, 2019
• ISBN: 9781789557817

Book preview

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Chapter 1

It was 1904, the beginning of the 20th century, and Edward VII, Queen Victoria’s eldest son, was on the throne. The streets were cobbled, with the mode of transport being mainly horse drawn carriages.

Men were wearing top hat and tail, displaying watch fobs and Prince Albert chains in their waistcoats whilst carrying walking canes. Men and boys wore jackets, waistcoats and ties, and they were never removed, even in hot weather.

The ladies wore long skirts with high-neck blouses and long sleeves or full-length dresses with very little, if any, flesh showing. Ladies and girls never wore trousers and only low necklines were worn in the evening, with dresses that may also have had a little train on the bottom back hem. They would also have very large brimmed hats with feathers and bows, which were either secured by a hat pin or tied under the chin with ribbon. On their hands they would wear delicate lace gloves and carry parasol umbrellas to give them shade from the sunshine.

Life in those days was so different to how it is today, with very strong morals and values you were expected to live by, without question. Having a child outside of marriage was a disgrace to the family and shameful.

Noel was born on 25th December 1904 at Knutsford Workhouse and Public Assistance Infirmary, Bexton Road, Knutsford, Cheshire.

Workhouses were established in 1576 and were country wide. They officially closed down in the 1930’s but some continued to operate under a different name until the late 20th century. If you have ever seen the film Oliver Twist you can imagine what life was like living in one of them. Absolute squalor, poverty, starvation and disease. Many children were very cruelly treated and had a low life expectancy. The adult workers were very often said to fight between themselves over clothes and food, sometimes resulting in death too.

His mother, May or Mary as she was recorded on some of the census documents, was twenty-five years old when she gave birth to Noel. From a very ‘well-to-do’ family, having a child out of wedlock and with no details of who the father may be, she was sent there until she had her child. May getting pregnant would have no doubt brought shame on the family and embarrassment from the impending illegitimate child.

Not very much is known about May, other than she suffered from epilepsy, which could be a reason she wasn’t married and still living at home at the age of twenty-five, when she became pregnant. There was a theory as to whom the culprit might have been too.

John Amos was one of twelve children born in Braintree in Essex and grew up in Bocking. Both John and one of his brothers, David, left the area and, according to the 1871 census, they were both living in Fletton. They were working on the railways together, probably Eastern Counties Railway, where John was a shunter and David a railway engine cleaner. In February 1872, John married Eliza Hill in Castor, Northampton and their first child, Emily, was born in October of that year. David moved to Hulme, Manchester, where he had also married an Eliza in 1873, with his brother John and his wife being witnesses. This may have been the reason John moved his family to Manchester as both himself and David were very close. They lived on Bridgewater Road, Altrincham in Cheshire. According to the census of 1881, John was then aged thirty-one and his occupation was registered as a mechanic and Eliza was a housewife. Eliza’s details were registered as aged twenty-eight, born in Castor, Northampton and they had four daughters: Emily, eight; Ann, six; Martha four; and May, aged one.

The home they lived in was a typical Edwardian terrace, with a front downstairs bay sash window and a single window to the first floor. The street was made of cobbled stones and more often used as a play area for the child residents than for transport. This was because the car was still a relatively new concept and most families couldn’t afford them.

Eliza, Noel’s grandmother, died at the age of forty-six in 1898 and John Amos remarried a lady called Emma Foden some time before the national census of 1901. Emma’s own husband, Samuel, had died in 1895 and, between that date and the census in 1901, she had met and married John. Samuel Foden was a member of the family that founded the Foden Truck company, through his uncle Edwin Foden in 1856.

Emma had children of her own, who came with her to her new matrimonial home that she now shared with John on Oldfield Road, Altrincham Cheshire.

Two of Emma’s sons were of a similar age to May, William and Harry. This would raise questions as to whether it was possible that one of them could have fathered Noel.

Emma also had two other children, Annie and Arthur, and at the time of the 1901 census, May was the only one of John’s daughters still living at home.

I found this information originally on the Genes Reunited website, with the help of Una Foden, who is the wife of a descendant of William Foden, the eldest son of Emma. We exchanged a number of emails in 2005 and her help and support was invaluable to me, encouraging me to dig deeper and find out as much as I could. We shared the theory about the possible father to Noel, so it makes you wonder.

There have been many avenues I have gone down to try and find out as much as I can about May, her family and any other information regarding Noel’s early life.

The Cheshire Archives and Local Studies service holds several records relating to Cheshire communities past and present by identifying, collecting and caring for archives and publications. After contacting them and explaining the information I was hoping to find, I was told that no information relating to Noel or his mother May, other than what I already had, was held by them. I was a little disappointed by this but was happy they made suggestions of other places I could look for information. I also received a refund of my fee for their services, which was good as I was finding every avenue I went down was going to cost a subscription or administration fee.

Another suggestion they made was to contact Trafford Local Studies in Sale, Manchester.

Back in the days when Noel was born, unmarried mothers could apply for a Maintenance Order. This application was an official process that was part of a hearing held at the Court of Petty sessions. These were usually taken out by the mother of the illegitimate child to gain money and financial support from the father of the child. They were heard within a few months of the child’s birth.

In those days, it was not unusual that the father of a child born outside of marriage to take out something called a ‘Bastardy Bond’ for the child and the mother could give the child a middle name that was the father’s surname. This would then link the child to its father without the need to take his name or require the father to marry the mother of the child.

It was also common for mothers to put a different address on their birth certificate if they were born in a workhouse. This was to disguise the fact they had been born there and reduce the shame and stigma a child would have to suffer through its life. Some of the addresses that were used were totally fake or non-existent. Noel wasn’t so lucky, as his birth certificate clearly stated where he was born and stated father unknown. I wonder how that made him feel? I wonder if he knew… Had he been told he’d been adopted? Had he grown up thinking John and Hannah were his real parents? So many questions yet so few answers.

***

May died of influenza and epilepsy on 17th September 1906 at 3 Victoria Street Altrincham. Her death was registered by her father, John, and it was recorded that she was a spinster on the death certificate.

I have managed to find a very old photograph of the house where May died, which is incredible as it is no longer there. All the properties on the side of the road where the house stood were knocked down to widen the road. From looking on Google maps, there is a small block of flats and