Personal Accounts and Links

The mysterious story of Robert Stafford:The adopted baby

The story takes place some time between 1810 and 1819.

"Two people are travelling north along the road from Newcastle. One is a man perhaps aged around forty, whose name is Sproat. The other is a girl, quite young. She has charge of a baby only a few months, or perhaps weeks, old. This baby is Rob...

...I clearly remember the next part of our conversation, when I interrupted Old Jim. 'So the family name (Stafford) was actually the name the child acquired from his foster parents?' 'Oh no' he said. 'Robert Stafford was his own name. Sproat insisted that he must always keep it.

Then what was this pitman called? I asked, suspecting he might not know. 'Thomas Menham' he said. By this time I had started scribbling down notes in a pocket book or diary. 'How do you spell it?' I asked. 'M-E-N-N-E-M or M-E-N-H-A-M?'. 'Thomas Menham' he said..."

To continue reading ... www.geoffstafford.com

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