Genealogy Chat

I have spent ages looking for a marriage between Robert Leopold Homewood and Florence May Benjamin. Can find nothing. In the 1901 census they were both in their family homes. My father (son of the above was born in 1912). On the death certificate of Florence Benjamin in 1929 robert Leopold Homewood is down as Widower. Could she have changed her name by Deed Poll ( my mother did because she never married my father until the year before his death - another story). Where would the records for deed poll be.

Georgina,How do you know they married? Is Florence Benjamin on the DC? If they were married would is not be her married name? Bob

Bob is right, her death cert should give her married surname of Homewood.

I think you are saying you now suspect that instead of marrying, she just changed her name. However, if she changed by deed poll then the new name should be on her death cert. So it would seem more likely that she never changed it officially, but used his name through her life to give the impression that they WERE married. Even if she did use deed poll there is no guarantee of a record existing, however the best place to check I think is records for the London Gazette - just Google it and there is a site I think. Good luck! Maz. XX

Maz is right. If she changed her name by Deed Poll then her new name would have been on her Death Certificate. Also Deed Polls/Change of Name Deeds are not necessarily recorded. I have typed many Change of Name Deeds over the years and a copy may be left on a solicitor's file for six years and then destroyed. Certified copies are given to the person changing their name to be shown when necessary to such officials as the Passport Office or DVLC. Anyone can use whatever name they like usually without a Deed so long as it is not for fraudulent purposes or gain. Happy New Year!! Kathy

I am lost with this. When she "married" she was Florence Benjamin and was that when she died. Where do we get the name change? If they married her name would have been Homewood. Bob

As far as I can see, Georgina can't find a marriage and has now found the death cert in the lady's 'maiden' or 'birth' name. I imagine the family were led to believe that the couple in question WERE married!!! I think she wondered if the lady changed her name to match her "husband's" without marrying and if so, where could she find a record of it and how would it affect the recording of her death. I would suggest that there was no 'official' name change, she just used the name Homewood and everyone assumed they were married. The only other thing would be to check the child's birth cert, but she would not have had to produce a marriage cert to prove her name, so could have fibbed there too!! Sorry to be long-winded - can't help it!!! Cheers, Maz. XX

I am sorry but I do not think my original message was clear enough and have put you all to a lot of trouble. My father's mother was Florence May Benjamin. I have her birth certificate. On my father's birth certificate it says Florence May Homewood formerly Benjamin. On her death certificate it says Florence May Homewood. Her 'husband' Robert Leopold Homewood is down as widower. As after many searches I cannot find a marriage certificate I wondered about deed poll. The main reason I suspected deed poll is that my mother changed her name by deed poll and she was only 17 and not very wordly. I wondered if my father had suggested that she do this because he knew about it from his parents. To be honest, I don't think I would have heard of the term 'deed poll' (maybe I'm not worldly) unless it had been for the fact that my mother had used it. However, on my birth certificate it says under mother just Pamela Homewood and no formerly bit. I just feel I would like to tie up a loose end. In addition to this I know my father had a sister but do not know her name and thought it might help me in tracking her. Sorry for any confusion. Georgina

Pleas don't apologise Georgina!! You and I must be on the same wavelength as I understood straight away!! I think you need to check the London Gazette listings and maybe start a separate thread on here to see if anyone knows how to check for deed poll records - have seen it mentioned before that they are very difficult to track down. Also maybe you could check the local papers for the area, but this would be a huge task! What about Electoral Registers? Did she die in hospital - if so what did their records show? Did she work? How about hubby's army records, etc etc. More questions than answers I know, but something may work!! By the way, it caught my interest as I have Holmwoods (sometimes Homewoods) in my tree, but from a different area I think! West Sussex/Kent borders. Happy Hunting!!! Maz. XX

No problem Georgina ( apart from the scratches on the head, not much hair up there!) Just a few points The name on Death Certificates is that a person was known as at the time of death, as with marriages. On birth certificates unmarried women did tell registrars that they were married, entered the fathers name and their own as if they were married with the “formerly” even though this was illegal but they weren’t checked. She could adopt her partners name without any formalities and it would be placed on the Death certificate. The only thing missing would be a Marriage Record Bob

HI Georgina. Yes its quite possible she changed her name by deed pole and didn't marry. Same thing happened with my grandparents. I spent months searching for their marrige certificate. So frustrating as I knew the date they 'married' as they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary! Finally a distant relative told me the truth.

Hi, Thank you for all your replies. A great help in understanding Deed Poll. I did try London Gazette but got no where except that I needed glasses and a magnifying glass to read their site. Maz. Re your homewoods. I am Kent and moving further south so we may meet up again. Have just been put in touch with the Ken Homewood site which is brilliant if yo have the time to wait for it to load. A great many names from Sussex. Georgina