BEVS

Tiz. Hopefully if we all put our heads together , we'll get there in the end.

BritInParis

Not to worry. My partner's grandparents came to Australia via a DP camp and their information wasn't very reliable either. That generation had been through a very traumatic experience and often they seemed to rewrite parts of their life as a coping mechanism.

If your grandmother has died then another thing you could try would be to apply for a Subject Access Request to HM Passport Office to see whether your grandmother or mother was ever issued a British passport and, if so, under what section of British nationality law it was issued. A SAR costs £10 (so £20 for both of them) but it may turn up something useful.

You'll need to supply your grandmother's original death certificate and a covering letter explaining why you need it and that your mother doesn't have a birth certificate to prove she is your grandmother's next of kin.

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...s-request-form

You can also call them during office hours on 01733 888242 if you want to explain your predicament. They've always been very helpful in my experience. It normally takes them about a week to search their records and produce a letter to send to you.

carolinec

I'm fairly certain that neither of them have ever been issued a British passport as I don't get the impression my grandmother would have really known how to go about anything and they never left the country after arriving in the UK. In fact I don't think my grandmother ever left London. I will still check though, no stone must be left unturned!

carolinec

Putting aside lack of documentation, would being born in Southern Rhodesia in 1947 entitle my mother to a British passport? I'm unsure of this. Or would it be more that she would be eligible to apply for citizenship based on marriage and her length of time here?

BritInParis

This is where it gets complicated but the short answer is that without a birth certificate it's going to be very difficult to claim any sort of passport or nationality. This is why I'm hoping that HMPO may have some record even if the National Archives search turned up a blank as I don't fancy your chances trying to get a new birth certificate from the Zimbabwean authorities for an illegitimate birth in a DP camp in 1947.

carolinec

That's my concern too. It is beyond me how my mother hasanaged to get to the grand age of 68 without a birth certificate and without that ever being an issue but it seems that we may have finally hit a wall and a very solid one at that.

BEVS

This DP camp was in Northern Rhodesia from what is out there, not Southern Rhodesia.

BritInParis

Probably even less chance then

BEVS

How would this have been made possible without papers?


Sorry Carolinec. Boiling my own head here trying to think of ways - any way.

When New Zealand accepts refugees the Immy service goes out to the country first and vets them . NZ accepts from Bhutan & Myanmar. Once arrived in NZ , they gain NZ residency status. Obviously I have no idea if they have or have not assorted papers but these people come onto the NZ immigration radar and remain there.

BritInParis

They would have most likely been issued refugee papers. That being said immigration wasn't nearly as regulated then as it is now.

carolinec

Oh, we were always under the impression it was Southern Rhodesia. We only found out the name of the camp very recently, I obviously haven't done enough research there.
.
So if the NA have no record of anything, who else can I ask? If they were issued with any papers, would the NA definitely have records of them?

BritInParis

Possibly but the chances are any paperwork relating to the camp would have been issued by the North Rhodesian government and thus now would be held by the Zambian authorities. A quick search on the NA website didn't turn up anything relating to the camp, only the copper mine that is there.

scot47

The name is BWANA MKUBWA and it was in Northern Rhodesia.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bwana_Mkubwa Many Polish DPs were sent to Northern Rhodesia in the 1940s. Polish resettlement was highly organised and I am sure there must be documentation somewhere..From Wikipedia -"Bwana Mkubwa was one of the main camps used to receive thousands of Polish refugees that arrived in Northern Rhodesia during World War II.[1] The Rhokana Corporation leased land to the Northern Rhodesian government for a camp under the command of the British army. At the end of the war in 1945, the refugees were able to remain or immigrate elsewhere. The Polish World War II Memorial was erected at Bwana Mkubwa in their honor."

Editha

The chances of finding any birth records for this lady do seem very slim. It looks to me as if the only way of getting a passport for her would be an application, as a stateless person, for British Citizenship.

The OP states that the fee of £1,005 is out of the question. But, I note that they are contemplating a trip to Canada for her mother, so there must be some money, and the OP has five siblings. £1,005 divided by six is just £167.

Editha

Just a thought:

You could try contacting SEES (the School of Eastern European Studies) and asking if they have anyone who has done research on the DP camps in Rhodesia. It's a long shot, but they just might have someone who knows where the records are.

Also try the Polish Veterans Association.