Q & a

How can I find out more about Sarah Campbell and John Anderson?

Q My friend’s maternal grandparents, Sarah Campbell and John Anderson, were both named on the birth certificate of his mother, Violet, but were unmarried. Violet was born at 14 Inverkip Road, Greenock, Renfrewshire, on 9 May 1924, and died in England in 1997 (although the record states she was born in Glasgow).

John was a causey labourer (a layer of cobbles or paving stones). From a newspaper article in September 1938, I know he was based at Routenburn Farm in Largs, Ayrshire.

I’m trying to find out who the parents of Sarah and John were. Can you help?

Will Buck

A Violet was born at 14 Inverkip Road, which was the local poorhouse, although according to workhouses.org its records have not survived. However, we know John was co-informant at his daughter’s birth registration, and Violet was given his surname, implying some commitment.

Aged 15, Violet may have been with her parents in September 1939, and so I would start with the 1939 National Identity Register. Scottish applications are £15 per person via the National Records of Scotland (tinyurl.com/nrscotland1939). Due to the birthplace error in her English death record, and lack of info on her parents in that, I would include her birth, marriage and death records with your application, which should hopefully be enough to confirm her identity to locate her. However, you should state that John was based at Routenburn Farm, Largs, just a year earlier, which may help, and that the specific purpose of your request is to actually find information about her parents. If they are with Violet, their dates of birth will be noted, which should then help you to locate their birth records via scotlandspeople.gov.uk.

If they stayed together, the couple may have later described themselves as married ‘by habit and repute’, requiring no celebrant, legal in Scotland until 2006, and often unregistered. You could search for death records for them in the hope they may list each