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A Love Letter from Ashley Road: The Search for Patrick Sullivan
Updated: 4 days ago
Written by - Rob Edwards.
An old collection of love letters, a house in Parkstone and a granddaughter's decades-long search led to an extraordinary family discovery.
Note: Some personal names have been removed by request.
Sometimes, the most remarkable stories uncovered through Ashley Road History BH14 are not just about the buildings themselves, but about the lives of the people connected with them. This is the story of Patrick Sullivan, a former resident of 73 Ashley Road, and how research into the property's history helped reunite a family separated for generations.
A Search Begins in Germany
In 1998, Annette Kaufmann travelled from Germany to England on holiday. During her visit to Poole, she
knocked on the door of 73 Ashley Road, hoping to discover more about her grandfather, Patrick Sullivan. The young women who lived there kindly allowed her inside, where she photographed the rooms and garden.
Annette had very little information about Patrick. Her German grandmother, 'M B', had kept a collection of letters he had written to her after the Second World War. Despite years of searching, contacting official organisations and visiting the library in Poole, Annette had been unable to uncover the answers she was looking for.
Years later, she tried searching for Patrick online once again. This time, she came across this website, Ashley Road History BH14.
A Wartime Romance and a Family Separated
Patrick Sullivan had been stationed in Aurich, Germany, after the Second World War, where he met Annette's grandmother, 'M B''. She remembered their time together as a happy and loving period of her life.
Their relationship resulted in a daughter, 'M C E', Annette's mother, who was born in 1946. Patrick wanted 'M B' to move to England with their daughter so they could marry and live together as a family.
After returning to England, Patrick wrote to 'M B' from 73 Ashley Road. His letters expressed his love and his hope that she would join him. He sent photographs of his young daughter and even included picture postcards for her, asking after her and expressing his growing sadness at being unable to see her.
'M B' faced a difficult decision. She chose to remain in Germany to help her father, whose home and business had been destroyed by bombing during the war. Eventually, she ended the relationship by writing to Patrick.
According to Annette, the final letter Patrick sent was tear-stained — a poignant reminder of the heartbreak behind this long-forgotten chapter of Ashley Road's history.
Patrick's daughter grew up in Germany without knowing her father personally. The letters, however, preserved a remarkable record of his affection and his desire to be part of her life.
The Mystery of 73 Ashley Road
When Annette contacted me, she wanted to know why Patrick and his wife, Doreen Sullivan, did not appear in my records of the property.
My research showed that 73 Ashley Road was also known as Eversley. Historic telephone directories listed John F. Jeffries as the named person associated with the address, but there was no mention of Patrick.
Further investigation revealed the connection: Patrick had stayed at the property with his sister, Kathleen Margaret, who was married to John Jeffries. The directory had provided a clue, but it took further research to understand the family relationship behind it.
I also located information about Patrick's life through Ancestry, including his date of birth — 21 December 1916, in Yeovil, Somerset — and his marriage to Doreen Phyllis Parr in Bournemouth in October 1949.
A photograph of Patrick that I found online was particularly significant. Annette had never seen that particular photograph before, but she immediately recognised him as her grandfather.
For someone who had spent decades searching for even the most basic details about Patrick, these discoveries were deeply meaningful.
A Family Connection Reappears
With some research on the Ancestry website, and some help from a local Facebook group, Memories Of Old Poole & Bournemouth, I was able to find a family tree that included Patrick Sullivan. This had been created by Rachael Harding. With further help from Patrick's relative, Rachael, more of the family story began to emerge.
Rachael, whose grandmother was one of Patrick's sisters, confirmed that Patrick had lodged with Kathleen Margaret at 73 Ashley Road. She also explained that Patrick's marriage to Doreen had not lasted long.
Perhaps the most unexpected discovery was that Patrick had another daughter, 'G', from an earlier relationship in 1940. This raised the possibility that Annette's mother had a half-sister.
Rachael offered to put Annette in touch with 'G's granddaughter, opening up the possibility of another branch of the family being reunited. At the time of Annette's update, she was waiting to hear more.
The family tree that had seemed so distant and incomplete was beginning to grow, with the possibility of new relatives, photographs and personal memories coming to light.
A Glimpse into Patrick's Life
The research also uncovered historical census records that offered another small insight into Patrick's life. A record from 1939 listed his occupation as a waiter, suggesting that he had worked in hospitality in his younger years.
Annette had wondered whether Patrick later helped his father, who she believed owned a hotel in Poole. The hotel has yet to be identified, and questions remain about Patrick's later working life, his family connections and where he was buried.
These unanswered questions leave room for further research, and perhaps one day Annette will return to Poole to visit her grandfather's grave.
The Unexpected Power of Local History
When Annette first contacted me, she was simply trying to find out who had lived at 73 Ashley Road. Neither of us could have known how much the enquiry would reveal.
Her email began a chain of discoveries that identified her grandfather, established his connection to the property and helped put her in touch with living relatives in England.
After years of searching, Annette finally had information about Patrick that she had never been able to find before. She described my website as the turning point in her search, and I was delighted to have played a small part in helping her uncover this family history.
It is a wonderful example of how local history can reach far beyond the place where it began. A house on Ashley Road became the link between a granddaughter in Germany and relatives she had never known about.
The old letters from 73 Ashley Road had survived for decades, preserving the words of a man who wanted to be part of his daughter's life. Thanks to Annette's determination, family research and an unexpected connection through this website, Patrick Sullivan's story is no longer quite so hidden.
And it all began with a question about a name missing from a map.
17/10/2026
An Update: A Family Reunited in Poole
Since this story was first written, Annette has shared some wonderful news about a new chapter in the search for Patrick Sullivan.
In July 2026, ten members of Patrick's extended family gathered in Poole for a family meeting. Annette was unable to attend herself, but she received photographs of the gathering and heard about the discoveries shared by relatives from both sides of the family.
The most remarkable moment was undoubtedly the first face-to-face meeting between Patrick's two daughters. 'G', now 85, and Annette's mother, who is approaching 80, had finally met in person for the first time.
After so many years of separation and uncertainty, this was an extraordinary development in a story that began with a handful of old letters and a desire to discover more about a grandfather.
The British and German family members each prepared presentations featuring photographs and a wealth of new information about Patrick. Research undertaken independently over many years was brought together, helping to fill in more details about his life.
Annette has now discovered that Patrick worked at the Dalkeith Hotel in Bournemouth when he was a young man. He later ran a guest house and also worked as a scrap metal dealer. She has also found out where he was buried, although the grave no longer exists.
Discovering the truth about Patrick's first daughter
One of the most poignant aspects of the family's discoveries concerns 'G's childhood.
According to the family account shared by Annette, 'G's mother, who never married Patrick, told her young daughter that her father had died during the war as a soldier and would not return. 'G' grew up believing this and subsequently moved away with her mother. Patrick never saw his first daughter again.
It was only during the COVID period that 'D', 'G's daughter, discovered that Patrick had survived the war and had lived until August 2004, when he died at The Riseborough care home.
The realisation that Patrick had lived for so many years, without reconnecting with his first daughter, is a particularly sad part of this family history. As Annette reflected, two daughters had grown up without the opportunity to know their father as they might otherwise have done.
Annette also wondered whether she might have met Patrick herself when she travelled to Poole, had she managed to find him at the time.
These are painful thoughts, but the recent reunion has created an opportunity for the family to move forward with a much fuller understanding of their shared past.
A circle coming full circle
For Annette, this has been an extraordinary year. What began with two photographs, a name and a collection of love letters has developed into a much wider family discovery, bringing relatives in Germany and England together.
She described the experience as a circle finally closing, and spoke warmly of the many lovely family members she has come to know in England.
For me, as the person behind Ashley Road History BH14, it is especially rewarding to know that the website played a part in this journey. When Annette first contacted me through the website's contact form, she was looking for information about Patrick and his connection to 73 Ashley Road. By working together to investigate the historical clues, we helped establish an important link in a search that eventually reached far beyond the road itself.
Annette has also kindly given her agreement for the story of Patrick and the family's search to be published on the website. She has thanked me for the time spent researching the history and for the contribution Ashley Road History BH14 has made to the process.
Her experience is a reminder that local history is not simply about buildings, businesses and old photographs. It is also about the people whose lives were connected to these places, and the family stories that can emerge when someone takes the time to investigate an address or share a memory.
A message through a website contact form, an entry in a historical record and a few surviving letters may seem like small things. Yet together, they can help uncover a remarkable story and bring people closer to their own past.
Patrick Sullivan's story is still a poignant reminder of the years and relationships that cannot be recovered. But the meeting in Poole has given his family something new: the chance to share their knowledge, meet relatives they had never met before, and bring together parts of a history that had long been separated.
And it all began, for this part of the journey, with a search for an address on Ashley Road.
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