Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hello
I am trying to trace my paternal grandmother, Mary Ritter who I believe was born in 1897/1898. She is a bit of a mystery and my father was not able to tell me very much about her because she was committed to Prestwich Hospital in 1933, dying there in 1955.
She married my grandfather, William Montgomery Wilson in 1921 in Toxteth Park Registry office, identified as Mary Margery Ritter, a hospital nurse of 25 years old, living at Park Hill Sanatorium, Toxteth Park. The marriage certificate identifies her father as Charles Ritter, deceased, an Artist.
I have used Findmypast and Ancestry.co.uk to search for her birth certificate and census records, but without much luck. I am assuming her family would have been in the Liverpool area, rather than another part of the UK.
I have noted a Charles Ritter living in West Derby, married to Agnes Ritter, but the 1901 census does not identify a daughter Mary Ritter. This Charles Ritter appears to have died in 1908 so this would fit with information on the marriage certificate, but not sure whether he was an artist.
My grandfather was in the merchant navy and my brothers and I have speculated that maybe he met her abroad or on ship.
Any help would be gratefully received.
Regards
Rob Wilson

The Charles Ritter in the 1901 census was an Electric Car Cleaner and doesn't appear to have had a daughter Mary. It is possible that Charles the artist was an invention for the register.

The only Mary Ritter birth registration that fits is the one in Greenwich in 1896 (there was another one in Basford in 1898 but she died in infancy). You may have to wait on the 1921 census for confirmation of place of birth.

It might be worth checking at Liverpool RO on whether any staff records survive from the hospital at Park Hill.

Hi and welcome to the forum. Retiringtype's suggestion is a good one, contact the RO online, link on this page https://liverpool.gov.uk/libraries/arch ... y-history/

There doesn't appear to be a Charles Ritter, Artist, to be found anywhere. RT's suggestion he may have been made up for the marriage certificate could be correct.

The Greenwich birth, 1896, has no mothers maiden name recorded at the GRO registration and it suggests a single mother.

Mary Ritter, aged 4 and single mother Mary Ritter, bn 1857 were admitted to the workhouse in 1901, Shoreditch.
1901 census, RG13 P281 F177 P31

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/ss ... &ml_rpos=1
1911
Marry Ritter, 1896, London
RG14 P1083

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/ss ... &ml_rpos=2

Just linking to an old thread re the Park Hill hospital

https://www.liverpool-genealogy.org.uk/ ... l+#p102677

Many thanks to everyone for your combined efforts. I will certainly check with Liverpool RO and Park Hill hospital
Regards

c1908





Blue

Thanks Blue, our specialist for maps