‘Help me find my Barking mum’s twin - who she never knew existed’

A grandmother is searching for relatives of a man that she thinks could be her long-lost uncle.

Widow Mary Young, who turns 70 tomorrow, believes that her mum’s twin was born in Barking and christened at St Margaret’s Church.

Mary’s mum, Madge Burton – who was born Alice Charlotte Gould – was adopted soon after she was born to George and Elizabeth Gould in Barking on April 17, 1904.

While tracing her family history, Mary discovered that an Allen Edwin Gould was born in Barking the same day but she has been unable to trace anything about him since after his christening.

“It’s like he vanished off the face of the earth,” she said. “I think he was given away after the christening and had his name changed because there’s no record of him.”

Madge spent her early years in East Street, Barking, but grew up in Ilford after being adopted by Mary-Anne Cole and Perry George Cole when she was three years old.

Mary, who lives in Yeovil, Somerset, says her mum, who was a telephone operator during World War Two, never knew she had a twin.

After Madge died of pneumonia in 1985, Mary discovered the twins’ granddad was a man called Joseph Goodspeed, who owned Goodspeeds, a fresh fish shop in Billericay, Essex.

Although she’s sure Allen will be long dead, she doesn’t want him to be forgotten.

“It would be a nice thought that he wasn’t totally lost and that somebody remembered him,” she said.

“There’s nothing worse than somebody forgetting you exist.”

If you have any information, email sebastian.murphy-bates@archant.co.uk