Whereabouts of Speaking Stik Lane, Birmingham and access to a related christening record [closed]

Question

Hi,

Does anyone have access to the christening record of Alice Mary Allen, from St Thomas's Birmingham, indexed at https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGDK-GX76 and/or know the location of "Speaking Stik Lane" which is given as the father's residence?

I am trying to establish whether this is the christening record for my great grandmother, whose birth was registered in Birmingham in Q4 of 1864 with no mother's maiden name listed.  Her entry in the 1939 register lists her date of birth as 7 Oct 1864.

Normally I would assume that the christening record was for an Alice Mary Bikker, daughter of a married couple called Charles Bicker and Elisabeth Allen Bikker, but I haven't been able to find a birth registration for anyone called Alice Mary Bikker.

If this christening record were an indication that Mary Alice Allen was the daughter of an unmarried Charles Bikker and Elizabeth Allen (Allen-29303), then I'm curious as to whether the father was Charles Hay Traise Bikker (Bikker-20), who would have been of a similar age to Alice Mary Allen's mother Elizabeth (or, less likely, his similarly named son born in 1846)?

Elizabeth Allen was living in Coventry Road, Aston in 1861 and married Joseph Crutchley in 1867 at Bordesley, whilst the family of Charles Hay Traise Bikker lived on Bradford Street, so it might be helpful to establish if the "Speaking Stik Lane", mentioned in the index for the christening record, was somewhere in the surrounding Asto/Digbeth/Deritend/Bordesley area of Birmingham.

All help very welcome; I had thought the father of Alice Mary Allen would remain a mystery and it's very exciting to have come across a possible candidate.

Thanks in anticipation,

Chris.

Answer 1

Heres the image indexed under Alice Mary Ricker..https://www.ancestry.co.uk/sharing/29296322?h=3e9d98 

Certainly looks like  she should be Alice Allen.

Comments

That's brilliant! It makes it clear that the location is Speaking Stile Lane, meaning, I'm sure, Speaking Stile Walk, which was relatively close to Bradford Street; makes it pretty clear the couple were unmarried by listing both Bikker and Allen in the surnames column; but even better gives the father's occupation as Painter and Paper Hanger, which matches Charles Hay Traise Bikker's listing in an 1862 trade directory.  All done, I think; many thanks.

Answer 2

Hi Chris. I think this is a mis-transcription for Speaking Stile Lane. If you google that you will get various results, for example this link where a post of 25 October 2010 says a Speaking Stile Walk was in Lee Bank, Birmingham, previously called Echo Hill Lane, from Holloway Head to Edgbaston.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your search.

Comments

By the way, Holloway Head is about one kilometre from Digbeth.

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Thanks Jim!  I'm sure that's it and transcribing 'k' for 'le' seems an easy mistake.

Answer 3

I found the images of the St Thomas parish register on Ancestry.

Page 319, no. 2533, 6 Nov 1864, born 7 Oct 1864, Alice Mary, (daughter of) Charles BICKER, painter and paper hanger, and Elizabeth ALLEN, of Speaking Stile Lane.

So definitely an unmarried couple.

Comments

Thanks Stephen.  It's all coming together quite convincingly.