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Society of Genealogists
Library at Charterhouse Buildings, London
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- Use of ARMY
officer records helped Australian descendants of a British army
officer. Research showed that the man had indeed existed but had
drowned in Aden(Yemen) in 1854. Further research indicated that
the subject had not purchased his commission but had been granted
one as a result of memorials written by his father who was secretary
to the then Lt. Governor of Jersey. The 40 pages of memorials
also happened to indicate that there was a brother who was an
officer and that the father, born in 1770, had earlier been a
common soldier who had risen through the ranks to become an officer,
too. The subject's burial certificate was obtained from the Oriental
& India Office Library. This was an exceptional find but the
theme is not an uncommon one.
- Descendants
of a deceased ROYAL NAVY seaman found a navy administration
which the deceased's mother had applied for. This named several
ships he had served on. By researching the ships' musters the
subject's age and birthplace were found and his detailed career
was also reconstructed. He had been a midshipman for a time but
ended his days as a clerk. He died in Havana, Cuba in 1819 as
confirmed in the ship's log and musters.
- A Rochdale
rioter of 1829 was charged and found guilty of a crime and transported
as a CONVICT to Australia. His descendants sought details
of his Assize case but these had not survived. However, 24 pages
of his own petitions and those of others were eventually found
which named his wife, father, mother and brother. Many convicts
are mentioned SHIPS' SURGEONS REPORTS which also often
describe such voyages in great detail.
- The grandmother
of a Canadian family had little recollection of her early life
until she saw the film 'Trader' which triggered memories of travelling
as a child in Africa and meeting tribesmen. All she knew was she
and her brother had been born in Gibraltar. Using army registers
the births were located in 1838 and 1840. The details provided
the father's regiment. Surviving ARMY discharge documents
confirmed the father's birthplace and age and provided a platform
to further research the origins of the family. The memories were
of several years spent in the Cape.
- The same
family in Canada were also descended from an EXCISE officer
who entered service in 1828. Entry papers provided excellent family
details giving age, status and birthplace and even named the subject's
father as another Excise officer.
- An Australian
family's grandfather was a British onetime former failed sausage
factory owner turned night club manager in Chefoo, China, who
married a Russian dancer there in the 1920s. Research showed that
the subject was previously a ROYAL NAVY seaman who
was allowed to leave the service at Shanghai at the end of his
term of engagement in 1922. The certificate of service gave his
age, birth date and birthplace which enabled a civil birth certificate
to be ordered whilst non statutory returns of British Consuls
in China yielded his marriage certificate and the names of the
couple's respective parents.
- A Swedish
housewife-amateur historian discovered that two men from her village
had been mariners. She decided to write about their sea-faring
lives for a book. Searches of PRISONER OF WAR records showed
that they had been taken by a British warship in 1807. Investigation
of the HIGH COURT OF ADMIRALTY records showed that their
ship was taken as a prize and sold in London. Both men were later
released.
- Family stories
that a London family were descended from a policeman in the early
1900s were proved correct when a search of attestations of the
METROPOLITAN POLICE yielded all the facts.
- A US family
knew that their great great grandfather was a seaman who saw service
in the Crimea where he was believed to have died. Searches of
MERCHANT SEAMENS' records located not only the man but
also several vessels he had served on with details of the voyages
including one to the Crimea. The subject did, indeed, die on the
voyage but by drowning off Cardiff, not in action in the Crimea.
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