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Our resident expert Stephen Rigden, pictured below, answers your queries.
From Ron Bowyer:
‘I have Leonard Ernest Perschky (born in Camberwell in the fourth quarter of 1910) marrying Bertha Annie Geen (born in Lambeth in the first quarter of 1918) in the fourth quarter of 1938. I have been unable to find their deaths.
I have found a Leonard Ernest Percy, born on 11 December 1910 who died in Lambeth in the first quarter of 1971 and Bertha Agnes Percy, born on 18 February 1918 and died in Southwark in August 1995. It is possible they changed their name by deed poll? Can I accept these as the same people?
I also have a Henry Sidney Perschky, born in the second quarter of 1894 in Hackney. He does not show up in any records after the 1911 census. I have found a Henry Sidney Percy, born 2 May 1894 who died in Hackney in the fourth quarter of 1872. Again, is it safe to accept him as the same person?’
Stephen says:
‘Dear Ron, thanks for your question. This looks like a very interesting family and I must confess that I had expected them to have been mid-19th century immigrants. The census returns back to 1841, however, show the whole family with London and Middlesex places of birth and solidly Anglo-Saxon names (rather than, say, Jewish or Slavic).
I would imagine that if you take research back into the 18th century, however, you will discover German roots (although not necessarily from within the borders of modern Germany – they may perhaps have been from what is today Poland or the detached Kaliningrad oblast of Russia). You will of course need to consider name variants along the way – by which I mean, as well as clerical misspellings, names rendered in different orthographies but phonetically identical, such as Perschke and Pershke.
This brings us on to your specific question. The short answer is yes: I am reasonably confident that the index entries you have found under the last name Percy relate to the Perschky births. Sometimes where there has been a formal or informal change of name, this will be recorded on the death certificate.
When this is the case, however, the General Register Office customarily indexed the entry under both the original and the assumed last name, and I assume this isn’t the case here, or you would have found the entries under Perschky. The surest way to advance research to the point of confidence and prove your assumptions would be to obtain all certificates, birth and death, to verify the matching dates.
My understanding is that changes of name by deed poll were the exception rather than the rule in the early and mid-20th century. Many people changed their name informally. Others did go through a solicitor and obtained a deed poll but did not publish it. The copies were held by the individual and the solicitor, and not registered or lodged anywhere, meaning that (unless they are held in family papers) they become untraceable.
There was (and still is) no legal requirement to enroll or lodge a deed anywhere. It is true that The National Archives has a collection of deed polls under shelf references C54 and J18, which has been accessioned from the Supreme Court, and that, from 1914 onwards, these same enrolled deeds were also published in the London Gazette (searchable online at www.london-gazette.co.uk/search). It is unlikely, however, that TNA’s collection exceeds five per cent of all name changes within the period it covers (1851 to circa 2003).
There can be various reasons underlying a change of surname. Sometimes it is for pragmatic reasons of convenience – in other words, to make the name easier for others to pronounce and to no longer have to spell it out to them. Others change their name to escape prejudice, e.g., to have a less obviously German or Jewish name, or to escape a crime or shameful incident, or to cut ties with another branch of the family with which there has been an argument. Doubtless many findmypast.co.uk users would be able to suggest other reasons for a change of name from their own researches.’
If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!
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Please note: This post has originated from a news feed from an external website.
Family Tree Forum neither endorses nor is responsible for the views of the author or any other content.
From Ron Bowyer:
‘I have Leonard Ernest Perschky (born in Camberwell in the fourth quarter of 1910) marrying Bertha Annie Geen (born in Lambeth in the first quarter of 1918) in the fourth quarter of 1938. I have been unable to find their deaths.
I have found a Leonard Ernest Percy, born on 11 December 1910 who died in Lambeth in the first quarter of 1971 and Bertha Agnes Percy, born on 18 February 1918 and died in Southwark in August 1995. It is possible they changed their name by deed poll? Can I accept these as the same people?
I also have a Henry Sidney Perschky, born in the second quarter of 1894 in Hackney. He does not show up in any records after the 1911 census. I have found a Henry Sidney Percy, born 2 May 1894 who died in Hackney in the fourth quarter of 1872. Again, is it safe to accept him as the same person?’
Stephen says:
‘Dear Ron, thanks for your question. This looks like a very interesting family and I must confess that I had expected them to have been mid-19th century immigrants. The census returns back to 1841, however, show the whole family with London and Middlesex places of birth and solidly Anglo-Saxon names (rather than, say, Jewish or Slavic).
I would imagine that if you take research back into the 18th century, however, you will discover German roots (although not necessarily from within the borders of modern Germany – they may perhaps have been from what is today Poland or the detached Kaliningrad oblast of Russia). You will of course need to consider name variants along the way – by which I mean, as well as clerical misspellings, names rendered in different orthographies but phonetically identical, such as Perschke and Pershke.
This brings us on to your specific question. The short answer is yes: I am reasonably confident that the index entries you have found under the last name Percy relate to the Perschky births. Sometimes where there has been a formal or informal change of name, this will be recorded on the death certificate.
When this is the case, however, the General Register Office customarily indexed the entry under both the original and the assumed last name, and I assume this isn’t the case here, or you would have found the entries under Perschky. The surest way to advance research to the point of confidence and prove your assumptions would be to obtain all certificates, birth and death, to verify the matching dates.
My understanding is that changes of name by deed poll were the exception rather than the rule in the early and mid-20th century. Many people changed their name informally. Others did go through a solicitor and obtained a deed poll but did not publish it. The copies were held by the individual and the solicitor, and not registered or lodged anywhere, meaning that (unless they are held in family papers) they become untraceable.
There was (and still is) no legal requirement to enroll or lodge a deed anywhere. It is true that The National Archives has a collection of deed polls under shelf references C54 and J18, which has been accessioned from the Supreme Court, and that, from 1914 onwards, these same enrolled deeds were also published in the London Gazette (searchable online at www.london-gazette.co.uk/search). It is unlikely, however, that TNA’s collection exceeds five per cent of all name changes within the period it covers (1851 to circa 2003).
There can be various reasons underlying a change of surname. Sometimes it is for pragmatic reasons of convenience – in other words, to make the name easier for others to pronounce and to no longer have to spell it out to them. Others change their name to escape prejudice, e.g., to have a less obviously German or Jewish name, or to escape a crime or shameful incident, or to cut ties with another branch of the family with which there has been an argument. Doubtless many findmypast.co.uk users would be able to suggest other reasons for a change of name from their own researches.’
If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!
More...
Please note: This post has originated from a news feed from an external website.
Family Tree Forum neither endorses nor is responsible for the views of the author or any other content.