WW1 orphan question

[steve fuller]

Unusual I know but here's a different query to the usual ones ...

I have been aware of a story for many years of a young 4 year old girl found by the Bedfordshires around May 1915, and 'adopted'. It had been sitting in my archives gathering virtual dust until a recent spate of queries about her came my way, so I though I'd re-visit it.

Will spare you the full story but essentially she was apparently born 1910 ca., and was apparently 'named' Phyllis Impey or Phyllis Trenches by the soldiers who found and cared for her. When the Sgt caring for her was wounded, she returned to Bedford with him but I have found nothing about her after that point.

I can find no record of her marriage or death under either name so can anyone who has come across such a story before advise whether she would have been legally adopted, had her name changed / registered legally, etc? Anything recordable at the time, and therefore traceable by me now is what I would like of course!

Any thoughts?

[eairicbloodaxe]

Earlier thread on it here:

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51897

Also this newspaper cutting...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=110&dat=19160323&id=paVNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6TEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5827,5101767

and this one

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CEgQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2Fnewspaper%25208%2FNiagara%2520Falls%2520NY%2520Gazette%2FNiagara%2520Falls%2520NY%2520Gazette%25201916%2520Feb-May%2520Grayscale%2FNiagara%2520Falls%2520NY%2520Gazette%25201916%2520Feb-May%2520Grayscale%2520-%25200295.pdf&ei=ib5OUqWOGo2shQfjuoDADg&usg=AFQjCNGC-Lrxyx_LtL0mPDBBRDm5OYbd8A&sig2=p_aFUNO0j2Bi9qG3a1fj8w&bvm=bv.53537100,d.ZG4

Phenomenal story! I do hope it's true... unfortunately it does have more than a whiff of propaganda about it though. Seems mainly to have appeared in US newspapers, with virtually identical text by this chap.

Will try to track down his book... surely that story should be in there too?

Regards

Ian

[eairicbloodaxe]

Been doing more digging, still no progress.

It was reported in a few UK papers, but they are from places like Bristol or Lanarkshire. Why not London or - most obviously - Bedfordshire?

Philip Impey does not seem to exist. There is a Percy Impey who was kia about the right dates. But one newspaper story says the kid was named Phyllis as it was the nearest name to Philip...

I can't find any other suitable P Impeys, or any Impey with Philip as a middle name.

There are other inconsistencies too... a 4 year old would presumably speak Belgian only yet no mention is made of language issues.

In the story, the girl is handed over to the Serjeant Major who takes her back to Bedford... but is frustratingly not named. Could anyone hazard a guess as to his identity?

Surely, if this were true it would be recorded somewhere in the Bedfordshire annals and oft retold as a proud regimental tale? And Forrest would probably have mentioned it in his war memoirs... but her name fails to come up in a search of the online text version.

Do we have any Bedfordshires experts on here who can shed any light? This story is now driving me mad!

[Magnumbellum]

As to putative language, there is no language known as "Belgian". It was and is a bilingual country, and the girl's language would have been either French or Flemish (akin to Dutch).

As to putative adoption, this could not have happened in a legal sense before 1 January 1927, when the Adoption Act 1926 came into force, enabling legal adoption for the first time in Britain. Before then there was a history of private fostering regarded as quasi-adoption.

However, I am inclined to the view that the story has too many imponderables to be regarded as true.

[Khaki]

If the Sgt whose care she was in was wounded and returned to England, the wound must have been sufficient for his hospitalization, in that case the girl (if she existed) was probably sent to another family or an institution. Again if she was four years of age and capable of speaking, she should have known her own name.

khaki

[eairicbloodaxe]

I still smell the strong stench of seafood...

Wonder if some Belgian family tells the sad story of "the day our Great Auntie disappeared"?

Given the French/Flemish language issue, I wonder if her name may have been Felice? That might sound like Phyllis to an untrained Bedfordshire ear... might help explain the Phillip/Percy bit.

Regards

Ian

[eairicbloodaxe]

Hmm...

I also note that Steve Fuller was involved in the original discussions... and just now I found the (very detailed) website he runs dedicated to the Bedfordshires.

So I guess if someone with that amount of expertise in the regiment hasn't heard of this tale, it must have been just a nice little propaganda piece.

Regards

Ian

[steve fuller]

It has cropped up over the years but other than what I mentioned above, I have just never found any facts over and above the articles.

No doubt I will put this to one side again and it will crop up in years to come again!

Thanks all for the effort and discussion, always worth checking these tales every now and again, in case someone knows who she is!