Paul Billanie

Thank you for these replies. Would you have any further information on James Waldock or maybe point me in the right direction? I think though from what I am told this James may be the father of the one I am seeking as he is older than Margaret Walker. This I am told was about the same age gap as her husband as well and possibly the cause of her running away for a younger man. Although saying that this is conjecture as I have very little detail apart from the name although it is I suppose possible that James the elder also named some of his children after himself and his brother Thomas. I think I found my Nan and her family on old census records, Henry Walker and Dorothy Nisbit (or Naisbet or similar) I do recall my Nan saying that when they were younger they had aunts and uncles and other relatives in the town who would ignore them as if they didn't exist because of everything that happened.

I am very interested to hear some tales of Bedlington. I have recently been doing a family tree and trace part of it to your town. In fact my family may have been (I am led to believe) pariahs in some respects as there was quite a family scandal. It least it would have been for the 1920's. My Great Grandmother, Margaret Jane Walker, was married to a gentleman over twenty years her senior. His name was Elijah Wilkinson Smith. I believe he worked in the mines in some capacity although I am not sure if actually a miner. He himself originated in Haltwhistle. From what scant information I was able to get from my Nan before she passed away it seems my Great Grandmother's head was turned by a younger man closer to her own age. I believe that this was someone called James Baldock (?) Waldock (?). I have an old picture of what I was told is him in a football team. I am told he had children from a previous marriage as well but his ended in his wife dying. Now from what little I know my Great Gran left her husband and shacked up with the younger man and that in fact my Nan and her siblings were all illegitimate children of this younger man, and he is in fact my true Great Grandfather. My Nan told me how they would pass aunties and uncles in the streets around Bedlington and just be ignored because of the fuss it caused. But anyway IF anyone can point me in the right direction for more information or maybe some source or record of all of this please let me know.

Hi I am new here and hope that someone may be able to help with this. This may seem a bit complicated. My Great Grandmother lived in Bedlington around the 1920's. In fact it seems she was born there around 1896 her name was Margaret Alice Walker. She then married a man called Elijah Wilkinson Smith who it seems was about 21-22 years older than her. Sometime in the early/mid 20's she and Elijah parted. Now I am unsure here how this came about whether she ran away or they divorced is unclear. She then had a relationship with another man and had children with him, the first were twin girls one of which was my Nan, but her birth certificate shows the address of 3, Hirst Terrace Bedlington as the place of birth. The father as far as we are aware was a James Waldock who also appears to have been from the area. It seems he may have been a widower as there may have been a half brother called Tommy/Thomas?