Elon Musk's grandmother, Cora Amelia Musk (née Robinson) (1923-2011) lived at 36 Bridge Road, Edge Hill, Liverpool from her birth in 1923 until WW2 when she emigrated to South Africa. I watched a video recently about Elon Musk's family history and I was surprised to hear that he had a grandmother that was from Liverpool. This was the first time I had been made aware that he had any Liverpool connections at all. I did an online search and a number of articles came up that said she had lived in Mossley Hill. Some said that the original house had been replaced by a new build property. I looked at the various old maps to be found online and the Mossley Hill location for most of the 20th century was a large building that was initially a school and later an engineering works. No one appeared to have noticed this mistake or told any of the media outlets that Cora was from Edge Hill not Mossley Hill.

If you try to find Bridge Road, Liverpool the one that usually comes up in searches is the one in Mossley Hill. It's an easy mistake to make to assume that you have the right Bridge Road. To find the correct Bridge Road though we have to look at the records for the family when they lived at that address. The 1939 Register provides a snapshot of the civilian population weeks after the outbreak of WW2. It also shows a lot of people away from their usual homes! Cora and her mother were in Gloucester when the 1939 Register was taken. Sixteen year old Cora's occupation was machinist. We don't know how long she was there. At that time thousands of people relocated because of the expectation of the Germans bombing Britain. Some moved away and returned a short time later. Some spent the whole of the war away from home. Two of Cora's brothers were in Gloucestershire in September 1939 and the third brother may have been in the forces or away at sea.

Bridge Road, Edge Hill doesn't appear to be on the 1939 Register at all, only Bridge Road, Mossley Hill is recorded. The residents may have all moved out before any bombs fell on Edge Hill. In 1939 each area of the country was put into an evacuee category: Evacuation, Neutral or Reception. Liverpool County Borough was put into the Evacuation category that also included the following nearby areas in the north west of England: Birkenhead, Bootle, Crosby, Litherland (Urban District), Manchester, Runcorn (Urban District), Runcorn (Rural District), Salford, Stretford, Wallasey, Warrington (Rural District), Whiston (Rural District) and Widnes. Reception areas for evacuees would usually be more rural locations thought to not be targets for bomb raids. Neutral areas would neither receive nor send evacuees. 

Cora wasn't born until 1923 but we can look at the 1921 census for the record of her parents and siblings at 36 Bridge Road. The household record for the Robinson family on the 1921 census does not mention the address. Another image just gives the address as 36 Bridge Road, Liverpool. Two other images give us more informaton about the location. One tells us the address was in the Edge Hill ward and the other describes the enumerator's walk and lists the addresses being recorded by the enumerator. Familiar addresses indeed my early years were spent in Edge Hill. So I returned to the old maps and there was Bridge Road near the top of Spofforth Road. The electoral registers also show the family lived in Edge Hill. I think all the houses were knocked down in the 1970s that's when our old house in Edge Hill came down. Bridge Road is still there but the land is no longer used for housing. You can see it from Spofforth Road on Google Street View:-

maps.app.goo.gl/L39LcrVupvLQ9qrB6

The c1944-1974 map of Bridge Road, Edge Hill shows houses missing from the end of the terrace. Four houses numbered 34 to 40 (even) have gone. After number 32 there are two detached houses numbered 34 and 36. Nearby Murdoch Street and Spofforth Road also have houses like the two houses at the end of Bridge Road but in each case there is a whole row of these houses. I've read on the Yo! Liverpool forum that these houses were prefabs (prefabricated homes). Considering that they were built on land previously used for housing, it's likely that the original houses suffered bomb damage from German air raids in WW2. The prefabs around the top of Spofforth Road are remembered as posh houses by former residents of the older houses because they had more modern amenities and each had their own garden. 

Edge Hill was a target for German bombers in WW2 because Edge Hill Railway Station and sidings played an important role in the war effort. You can see the railway behind the houses on maps of Bridge Road that's how near the Robinson's house was to one of the main targets of German bombs. WW2's worst civilian bombing in the UK was in Edge Hill, Liverpool in 1940. While the Germans were targeting Edge Hill Railway Station, a parachute mine hit a college being used as an air raid shelter in Durning Road, Edge Hill. Prime Minister Winston Churchill described the tragedy as "the single worst civilian incident of the war." An estimated 300 people were killed while sheltering in the basement of the college during a German bombing raid.

After finding the Robinsons in Edge Hill I was interested to see how many generations of their family had been in Liverpool. John Robinson, Cora's father, was born in 1888 when his family were living at 5 Hurry Street, Toxteth. His parents were Levi Robinson and Matilda Marsh. Levi Robinson (formerly Duckworth), originally from the village of Mow Cop on the Cheshire-Staffordshire border, came to Liverpool in the 1870s. His wife Matilda Marsh (formerly Powell) came to Liverpool in the 1860s, she was originally from Hulme, Manchester. They married in Toxteth, Liverpool in 1878. On the 1911 and 1921 census Levi & Matilda Robinson were living at 168 Wellington Road, off Park Road, in Dingle, Liverpool. Levi was a crane driver on the docks. His son John Robinson emigrated to South Africa and married Brechie Elizabeth Theron in 1911. They later returned to Liverpool and Elon Musk's grandmother, Cora Amelia Robinson, was born in Edge Hill, Liverpool in 1923.

We don't know when Cora Robinson went to South Africa from the records available online but we do know that she married Walter Henry James Musk (1917-1986) on 6th May 1944 at Johannesburg, South Africa. Walter Musk was from a mostly English-South African background. His father, Harry Musk, was born in Exning, Suffolk, England. His mother, Lucy Frances Champion, was born in South Africa and was from an English, Irish and Dutch-South African background. Walter Musk served in the South African army during WW2 and a photograph that appears to have been taken on his wedding day in 1944 shows him with Cora in his army uniform.

What do you do if you find out that local historical information is wrong in newspapers or online? If it's a matter of fact and you can prove they've made a mistake and you really want to pursue correcting it then go ahead and try to put the new information out there either online or in print. My research projects are usually related to Liverpool so I've had letters published in the local newspaper, Liverpool Echo. In the case of Cora Amelia Robinson, I e-mailed  Liverpool Echo to make them aware that their December 2024 article had identified the wrong Bridge Road and sent them evidence showing that the Robinsons had lived in Edge Hill. They published another article and I sort of became part of the story but it was worth it to get the information out there:- 

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/man-claims-know-truth-elon-31010424