Portreath, Cornwall

Looking for my Ugandan father circa 1959

I am looking for my birth father but unfortunately have very little information and am hoping that someone who was at the college in 1959, or who have relatives that attended the college, may be able to help.

I was born in April 1960. My mother was trainee nurse at a nearby college and attended student dances where she met my father, a Ugandan mining student at Camborne mining college. Apparently he was a wonderful ballroom dancer! I was the result of their very brief affair and unfortunately as regards my father's identity we only know that he was Ugandan.

I travelled to Uganda in 2003 and was given as much assistance by the Ugandan Ministry of Education and the Ugandan Department of Mining as they were able, but without a name it has proved pretty much impossible to identify him.

If anyone has ANY information, as small or irrelevant as it may seem, please get in touch with me at amandalugg@hotmail.com

Thank you.

II. Fore & Aft

STEPHEN and ELIZABETH JELBERT (neé GILBERT) BAWDEN were the parents of:

Stephen b. 6 April 1812, ch 25 Apr 1812/1813? in Redruth, m. Mary Terrill in Church of Redruth, emigrated to US
Harriet ch 5 March 1815 emigrated to US;
Edwin/Edward ch 30 Mar 1817, married Elizabeth Jane KITTO from Redruth, emigrated to US;
John ch 18 April 1819, emigrated to AU;
Henry ch 1 April 1821, married Josepha MATTHEW(S), d 4 June 1870, carpenter in Moonta, AU,
Elizabeth ch 15 March 1823 m. Michael MACCOOEY b 1827 from Newry, Down, Ireland, linen salesman (1861 census McCovey). They lived and died in Redruth; Caroline ch 5 October 1825 - 18 Feb 1912 of cardiac degeneration and hepatic colic, m. Thos VIVIAN, stone mason from Devon.

Elizabeth Jelbert [GILBERT] was born 18 June 1791 in Redruth, married Stephen Bawden, son of Stephen and Lucretia Matthew(s) Bawden. Elizabeth was the dtr of Richard Gilbert, Illogan, and Elizabeth REYNOLDS also born in Redruth.

Elizabeth G. Bawden died 2 April 1851. Stephen and the family were victuallers of the Redruth Inn on East End Fore St. until his later years. As a widower, Stephen lived with dtr Elizabeth who was his executrix.

I. Some Rain Must Fall

STEPHEN BAWDEN - oldest child of Stephen and Elizabeth Jelbert (neé Gilbert) Bawden was born in Redruth, 6 April 1812 at the end of the long and troubled reign of George III and just 7 years before Queen Victoria was born.

He was trained as a blacksmith, as were his father and grandfather. He married Mary Terrill, also born in Redruth on 8 April 1817, dtr of Samuel and Mary Tremain Terrill.

The English Colonial Empire began in 1837 with the reign of Queen Victoria. Spain's interest was waining and England was eager for expansion, and cast it's eyes upon the mineral-rich island of Cuba (West Indies). Stephen was president of Sawanee Mining Company, a mining machinery business.

A year after their marriage, dtr Elizabeth was born 10 July 1838 to this couple on Green Lane (no address). She died 24 June 1840. Just before the 1841 census, Stephen and Mary sailed for Cuba in the interest of Sawanee.

Walking the dog

When I was about 14 the A30 by-pass finished at Treswithian and my sister and I used to walk our dog beside the huge pile of earth where the by-pass ended, I also remember a little later, walking him on the then unfinished continuation of the road to Hayle.