Help with an illegitimate birth in 1889 Tranmere, Birkenhead, England

Question

I have been stuck on this problem because 1. I live in the US so I do not  access to library and records (other than those on-line). 2. I haven't hit on a close enough match through DNA (I have tested with both Ancestry and 23&me plus uploaded them to all the other platforms) and 3. I am dealing with an illegitimate birth that occurred just before the turn of the 20th century. 3. I am not familiar with the geography of the city of Birkenhead / Liverpool.

Catherine Lawrence nee Kelly was my grandmother. She was born  15 Feb 1889 in Tranmere, Birkenhead, England (St. Paul's parish). The only reference I have for her mother is her birth registration (image on Catherine's page) that lists her mother as Mary Ann Kelly. Father's name was struck out by the register and footnoted on her birth  but you can make the name of William and possibly the name of James. Since it has been struck out I do not know if James is a surname or middle name.

I have been told the reasons for striking out the name could be either 1. the clerk taking the information had reason to believe or assumed that the father was fake. Or 2. Catherine's father did not agree to have his name to be on the birth record.

I am uncertain how to proceed. If I found the correct Catherine Kelly in the 1891 UK Census for Birkenhead, England where she is listed as a boarder and the 1901 UK census she is listed as an orphan then at a loss for what records to look go through to maybe find information on Catherine's parents. I have done a search on Find My Past for the other boarder Fanny Hannigan without much success.

Comments

I would say the name on the register must be William James - surname James.

Answer 1

There's a chance that a baptism record or a marriage record for Catherine could have her father's name on, although like the birth record, they typically didn't name the father of someone born out of wedlock and even when written his name is sometimes crossed out.  The witnesses on her marriage record might be relatives, but there's no guarantee.

I'd definitely try looking for a death record for Mary Ann Kelly if it was my ancestor, but it might be a needle in a haystack job, especially since she could have married before she died, and if she left the baby with someone else and got work to support them she could have died in another parish.

There's a reasonable chance Catherine could be mentioned in the Workhouse records for the area, if she wasn't being brought up by relatives.  The workhouse authorities may have been paying for her board.

Answer 2

on 1861 and 1871 Census Fanny Hannigan was living with her mother and siblings in Renfrewshire.
[https://www-findmypast-co-uk.nls.idm.oclc.org/transcript?id=GBC%2F1871%2F0023007271 FindMyPast Transcription] (accessed 22 May 2024)<br/>
Fanny Hannigan (35), unmarried daughter, Weaver, in household of Mary Hannigan (65) on Main Street, Neilston in Barrhead registration district in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Born in Ireland.
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Fanny Hannigan https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/G6Y1-4VQ