I was going through a pile of old papers this morning and came across some documents I thought worth sharing. These documents concern theosophist Alice A. Bailey, born Alice Ann La Trobe-Bateman (1880-1949).
Researching Alice Bailey’s genealogy proved straightforward when it came to her father’s line as the aristocratic La Trobe-Bateman family were high-achieving with a number of notable figures including first lieutenant-governor of Victoria, Australia, Charles La Trobe, and renowned water engineer John Frederic La Trobe-Bateman.
When it came to Alice Bailey’s mother’s line, things were more challenging, but a subscription to Ancestry helped. I ordered Alice Bailey’s birth certificate and her mother’s birth and marriage certificates from the General Register Office, London, UK, just to make absolutely certain that my research was accurate.
I also ordered Alice Bailey’s parent’s marriage certificate.
With this information, I started searching through the Census records. And I came up with a sketch of Alice Bailey’s mother’s family. They belonged to the respectable middle class. I thought I would share my rough sketch in the raw with all of the crossings out and a few thoughts. It’s messy, but that’s research. I used this to inform the first chapter in Alice A. Bailey: Life and Legacy.
I pored over all these documents, as I did all the research material I used to compose the biography. For me, it was a once in a lifetime undertaking and I am very pleased I took the trouble to do it. If Alice Bailey is of interest to you, I hope you are drawn in by these documents as I was.
Isobel Blackthorn 