| Notes |
- Harry was born at 10 Preston Grove, Tuebrook, Liverpool, Lancashire, UK on 15 July 1917. His mother was Alice Dowsing, a housekeeper at the Sun Hotel, Wellington Road, Rhyl in Wales. The father is unknown. His birth was registered as Harold Dowsing on 17 July 1917.
Two days after his birth, he was given to Martha Oliphant, who considered him adopted from that point, and who brought him up as her son. Certainly, as far as Harry was concerned, Martha was his only mother, and he never attempted to trace his birth mother.
By the time he went to school at St Saviour's Church of England School, his name was given as Henry Oliphant. He subsequently and throughout his life called himself Harold Henry Oliphant, but was always known as Harry. This gave him no problem at the time of his marriage in 1943, when he gave as his father the name of his adoptive mother's husband - who lived in Jamaica. However, when he came to apply for a passport in 1957, in order to take a holiday in Ireland, he was forced to declare that the Harold Dowsing on his birth certificate and Harry Oliphant were one and the same person. He signed a statement to the effect that he had adopted the name Harold Henry Oliphant in 1938, but from his various job references dating back to 1930 it is clear that he was always known as Oliphant.
Harry became bald quite early. He took to wearing a wig, and wore one from then on, throughout his life.
Harry's adoptive mother Martha was nearly 50 when she adopted Harry, and apparently faced opposition from her grown up children. However, the circumstances surrounding her decision make it easy to understand.
Harry's natural mother Alice was a housekeeper in a hotel in Rhyl, North Wales. She chose to have the baby in Liverpool, Lancashire, UK, in a nursing home only a short walk from where Martha and her family lived. If Martha had merely been looking for a baby to adopt, a nearby nursing home might have been an obvious place to look. But at her age, this seems somewhat unlikely. From a letter written to Martha in 1919, it is clear that her husband's work was in North Wales and that he spent much time away from home.
Investigating Harry's life from documents we discovered after his death, my suspicions about the unnamed father on his birth certificate were aroused. Her husband working in North Wales, Alice Dowsing working in North Wales coming to Liverpool so close to Martha to give birth, Marth adopting the baby at such an advance age - all these things aroused suspicions that Martha's husband was the father of the baby.
The absolute clincher came when I found a photograph of Martha's husband. I could have been looking at a photo of Harry!
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1917 - 2005 (87 years)
Set As Default Person 
[2] 
Education
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set
