I can't remember which site it was, but there was a family tree site I was trying for a while. It couldn't figure out how to deal with my great-uncle, who legally changed his surname to his mother's. So they wanted to have him as two different people, one with each last name. Complicating things, his mom's brother was married to his dad's sister, so those two family names are already quite rampant in the family tree! It never confused us in the family, but I guess the computers can't sort it out.
It’s like being a detective, isn’t it? Mr M has begin to call me the Hercule Poirot of Southern England.
Here it’s looking increasingly as if the Gt Aunt’s parentage is all fair and above board unless she was adopted by auntie and uncle, of course. I came to this conclusion on noticing that the census enumerator’s appalling handwriting could easily be misread as the name by which we knew her. She and the mysterious 6 year old may be one and the same person. And yet...the only thing that’s making me hesitate is that I know that there was also a child who died round about that age, of one of the usual infectious diseases common at the time. Why no mention of her, unless, of course, she’s the mystery 6 year old. In which case, that disproves my revised theory about her sister.
Look for the death certificate? That should confirm if the child died.
The interesting one for me to research is my daughter's family history, but I know it's difficult to impossible as, from what I've been told, at some point her maternal grandparents and other relatives were in the Warsaw Ghetto and some died in Sobibor.
Although having grown up being told my grandfather was deafened in WW1, linked to stories of the Somme, I now know he fought in Mesopotamia, so I wonder about accuracy. I have the regiment diaries for WW1, need to track down the diaries beyond then. I have a feeling that some burned in the Cairo records office fire, along with my father's birth certificate, as part of something else I was told and couldn't confirm happened in quite that way when I looked recently. Although Cairo did burn as part of the 1946 riots and when I was looking a couple of years ago, I did read things were unavailable on the National Records site.
Although having grown up being told my grandfather was deafened in WW1, linked to stories of the Somme, I now know he fought in Mesopotamia, so I wonder about accuracy.
This is where folk memory becomes an issue - everyone is familiar with the Somme, so it tends to get conflated into WW1 generally. Even if someone *was* on the Somme, was that in summer 1916? Or when the Allies crossed the old Somme battlefield following the German withdrawal in spring 1917? Or when they were shoved unceremoniously back across it in March 1918? Or when they returned the favour in August 1918? If you'll excuse the pun, it's a minefield.
Although having grown up being told my grandfather was deafened in WW1, linked to stories of the Somme, I now know he fought in Mesopotamia, so I wonder about accuracy.
This is where folk memory becomes an issue - everyone is familiar with the Somme, so it tends to get conflated into WW1 generally. Even if someone *was* on the Somme, was that in summer 1916? Or when the Allies crossed the old Somme battlefield following the German withdrawal in spring 1917? Or when they were shoved unceremoniously back across it in March 1918? Or when they returned the favour in August 1918? If you'll excuse the pun, it's a minefield.
That’s the case with us. We’ve a great -uncle, said to have died at the Somme. When we tracked down his grave, the records said Ypres.
@BroJames , yes, that might well be the case. @Curiosity killed , that’s what I intend to do; though the family and Christian name is an extremely common one; I could be in for a long search.
Yes, my grandfather is supposed to have walked out of POW camp on the 11th, met up with his brother, and tried to walk home. It turns out his brother was on leave in the UK at the time. Wartime family legends seem to be particularly prone to exaggeration!
The chief difficulty for me st the moment is not giving into the temptation to go off at tangents every five minutes, each time I discover some intriguing little nugget of info.
I find the best tactic is to concentrate on one person at a time and simply list their line plus any new refs that might be relevant. Luckily I already have the basic tree listing left to us by my father. So, for example, one sheet of A4 headed ‘ Grandfather B Baggins,’ parents, grandparents...and so on. No branching off yet. That way madness lies.
Wartime family legends seem to be particularly prone to exaggeration!
My great grandmother's younger brother was awarded the DCM. The "mentioned in dispatches" said that he killed three Germans in hand-to-hand combat, with a trench hatchet, the Regimental history said he killed five, and the local newspapers said he killed between nine and eleven "burly huns."
I've mentioned my "axe-murderer" great-uncle before on the Ship. Every family needs an axe-murderer and the fact that, technically, he was a trench-hatchet murderer is a mere detail.
Wartime family legends seem to be particularly prone to exaggeration!
My great grandmother's younger brother was awarded the DCM. The "mentioned in dispatches" said that he killed three Germans in hand-to-hand combat, with a trench hatchet, the Regimental history said he killed five, and the local newspapers said he killed between nine and eleven "burly huns."
I've mentioned my "axe-murderer" great-uncle before on the Ship. Every family needs an axe-murderer and the fact that, technically, he was a trench-hatchet murderer is a mere detail.
@North East Quine , are you sure that your relative wasn’t Uncle Matthew from Nancy Mitford’s ‘ The Pursuit of Love?’
I’m hoping to find out more about my reputed would-be (but thwarted, thank goodness), wife murderer Great-Great-Grandfather.😁
Wartime family legends seem to be particularly prone to exaggeration!
My great grandmother's younger brother was awarded the DCM. The "mentioned in dispatches" said that he killed three Germans in hand-to-hand combat, with a trench hatchet, the Regimental history said he killed five, and the local newspapers said he killed between nine and eleven "burly huns."
I've mentioned my "axe-murderer" great-uncle before on the Ship. Every family needs an axe-murderer and the fact that, technically, he was a trench-hatchet murderer is a mere detail.
@North East Quine , are you sure that your relative wasn’t Uncle Matthew from Nancy Mitford’s ‘ The Pursuit of Love?’
I’m hoping to find out more about my reputed would-be (but thwarted, thank goodness), wife murderer Great-Great-Grandfather.😁
With regards to military records, I have a couple of questions.
a) How easy is it to access RAF records for WW2? My dad was in the RAF (pay corps!) and I would like to find out more about where he served. Only when you got three or more rums inside him would he open up about that. I believe he spent some time in the Orkneys and may have been in France. He also frequently spoke of how he had spent some time with Polish flyers.
b) My father-in-law was in the regular army - he joined up in 1938, I think. We have some of his army records but they are vague in the extreme. We know from things he said (especially in later years) that he spent time on the Gold Coast and was also in Ethiopia. The really strange thing is that when you track where he was according to the records that we have, he was never where his regiment was. When we discussed this a few years ago with someone who spent his entire adult life in the Canadian Armed Forces, this person just said "secret ops". This wouldn't be completely out of the question - F-i-L did admit once that he was a crack shot. When the family have approached the regimental archives for more details, they have been told that they already have all there is. Our suspicion is that there is more to come out but it may still be classified as secret. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we might be able to proceed from here? How much of the secret stuff from WW2 is still hidden from public access?
There is a fee paying website, Forces War Records, but my experience is that you have to be lucky. The only information I got regarding my grandfather, who was in the R.A.F. 1940-1945, was his place of enlistment.
Also, if you ever use this site, you will get lots of e-mails saying "You are looking for John Smith, RAF. We have records for John Smith, Gordon Highlanders. Why not check out this John Smith just in case the John Smith, RAF, you are looking for was moonlighting in the army at the same time!
My grandfather had a common name (not John Smith!) and for the duration of my month's subscription I was getting these e-mails daily. Presumably it would be less of a hassle if you were looking for someone with a more unusual name.
I think Forces War Records costs about £8 for a month's subscription, so I wouldn't dissuade you from trying it, you might have more luck than I did.
I think next-of-kin may be able to get information from the MOD, but (a) I don't know what they hold and (b) I don't know what you will be sent - many years ago I enquired after my Grandfather's Home Guard service on behalf of his eldest child (checked first, name not used in vain!) and I think I just got a few lines, though they did tell me that he'd never claimed his Defence Medal, which I got - a mere 28 years after his death!
From when I got as far as I did, only researching my grandfather's WW1 military service during the centenary as I was teaching WW1 and wanted to know more. I couldn't get my sticky mitts on anything post 1921, but I do know he continued serving until 1941, when I suspect he was retired aged 48, again, not as family legend told it.
Army Personnel holds records from 1921 onwards. These are confidential and access is restricted to next of kin. I didn't try as I couldn't blag them. (I might for my father one day)
National Archives hold the unit war diaries that I have (until 1921), Medal Index Cards and other material. Some can be researched online, but other records need a visit to Kew (I have a list when I get a round tuit). Those cost me a not ridiculous sum to download.
And I actually do have an ancestor in the army who was called John Smith. I have gathered some bits and pieces and think he was a lieutenant then captain in the 7th Dragoon Guards where he served as paymaster and he also served with the Land Transport and Military Train. This would fit in with his post service career where he did some work for the Wesleyans as an accountant. He was also a speaker and a staunch teetotaller (he served on the executive board of the National Temperance League). I am a bit dubious about some of his reported history though I suppose his family could have sent him to a Jesuit seminary with the intention of him becoming a priest and that he ran away and joined the army as an enlisted man. I need to dive into the records of the Wesleyans or the National Temperance League.
I got interested in tracing my family because I kept meeting people with my surname and the question comes up, are we related. Generally yes but the question is how. Then too, my wife was able to trace her name back to colonial times and I wanted to see if I could too. Generally, I can get back to the 1500s with a few earlier than that. While my initial foray into it was online, I am now going back to look up the paper records, which can be even more interesting.
I have used Ancestry; Family Search; Geni; My Heritage; and WikiTree. I like WikiTree the best because of the collaboration it encourages among researchers.
That’s the case with us. We’ve a great -uncle, said to have died at the Somme. When we tracked down his grave, the records said Ypres.
Ypres was not exactly a picnic either.
As an aside, a group from Dlet's year at school was going on a pipe band tour of the UK and parts of Europe. That included a stop at Ypres where a ceremony was to be held at Menin Gate. A mate pronounced it as a Belgian may have, and I had to point out that the correct pronunciation was Wipers. You'd have thought that by the time he was 16, he would have learnt this.
That’s the case with us. We’ve a great -uncle, said to have died at the Somme. When we tracked down his grave, the records said Ypres.
Ypres was not exactly a picnic either.
As an aside, a group from Dlet's year at school was going on a pipe band tour of the UK and parts of Europe. That included a stop at Ypres where a ceremony was to be held at Menin Gate. A mate pronounced it as a Belgian may have, and I had to point out that the correct pronunciation was Wipers. You'd have thought that by the time he was 16, he would have learnt this.
Agreed, it certainly wasn’t.
Mild excitement here: We’ve solved the mystery of the mystery child. She is indeed, great-aunt. We blame the census enumerator’s appalling handwriting for the confusion! But yes, there was a sister who died in early infancy, between census’s; borne out by death records, a small exhibit in a local museum many years ago and an entry in a family diary. It was by running a search on a combo of family names that I found her. She’d have been the eldest child had she lived.
That’s the case with us. We’ve a great -uncle, said to have died at the Somme. When we tracked down his grave, the records said Ypres.
Ypres was not exactly a picnic either.
As an aside, a group from Dlet's year at school was going on a pipe band tour of the UK and parts of Europe. That included a stop at Ypres where a ceremony was to be held at Menin Gate. A mate pronounced it as a Belgian may have, and I had to point out that the correct pronunciation was Wipers. You'd have thought that by the time he was 16, he would have learnt this.
Only the Tommies, displaying standard British skill with other languages, called it 'Wipers' and created the newsletter called 'The Wipers Times'. Belgium being a multilingual country has two names for the town, Ypres (ee-prr) in French and Ieper (yeah-purr) in Flemish. In other words, anything one Belgian says is certain to be contradicted by another!
Only the Tommies, displaying standard British skill with other languages, called it 'Wipers' and created the newsletter called 'The Wipers Times'. Belgium being a multilingual country has two names for the town, Ypres (ee-prr) in French and Ieper (yeah-purr) in Flemish. In other words, anything one Belgian says is certain to be contradicted by another!
It was called Wipers by the Australian soldiers who survived the bloodbaths organised by Haig and his like. It is still the proper name to call it here, in their memory.
A couple of years ago, we went to the baths exhibition at Big Pit. One of the surnames of a miner was Hayward, which is my maiden name, and it suggested that there was a connection to the Hayward of the Hayward gallery in London.
My family were definitely in the Blaenafon area (the location of Big Pit) but I can’t find out anything about the founder of the Hayward Gallery.
According to Wikipedia the man after whom it was named was Isaac Hayward who was the son of a miner from Blaenafon and himself went down the mines from the age of 12.
According to Wikipedia the man after whom it was named was Isaac Hayward who was the son of a miner from Blaenafon and himself went down the mines from the age of 12.
[ETA cross posted with Curiosity killed.]
Looks as if it could be your family, @Priscilla . Exciting!
A couple of years ago, we went to the baths exhibition at Big Pit. One of the surnames of a miner was Hayward, which is my maiden name, and it suggested that there was a connection to the Hayward of the Hayward gallery in London.
My family were definitely in the Blaenafon area (the location of Big Pit) but I can’t find out anything about the founder of the Hayward Gallery.
I keep trying to find a connection between my family and my namesake, one of the Easter Rising volunteers, later a Free State Minister. Family lore says we are 'related' but, given that this is an Irish family, that counts for little in genealogical terms! I can put both sets of forebears in the same county at the same time, but without a proper search it will remain conjecture. History hasn't been kind to him so perhaps I could spark a reappraisal?
I came across a photo of a WW1 soldier, with his name and initials signed across the front, hat on his lap, clear view of the cap badge... piece of cake, right?
No! Private Jones, even with two initials, in the South Wales Borderers was a task too far...
Oooh, those are good, especially with a distinctive surname like that! I remember coming across so many Victorian names that sounded biblical that I bought a concordance (in Bath, in an old-fashioned dusty, musty second-hand bookshop, while the rest of the group the Knotweed and I were with checked out Ann Summers!), and a book on Old Testament names to see who they were named for (an X-greats granny was the rather lovey Hephzibah - again, quite CCF).
I must confess to "collecting" odd names, especially those pertaining to a common Victorian name that also has euphemistic uses. I know of a roadside cemetery in Scotland with a Hectorina in it (I'll let NEQ explain that one - suffice to say that I did a facepalm when I twigged the relevance of the Robinas in my tree), there's a Wyllie Hillocks in Barnhill Cemetery, Dundee, and I have personally encountered Fanny Rumble and the splendidly gynaecological-sounding Fanny Ruffle. Sadly, it was the intertubes rather than personal research that alerted me to the brief, sad existence of Ophelia Fanny Hole - one that always makes me think of cod-puritan names like What-the-fornication-were-her-parents-thinking.
It's easy to be amused when you have a low sense of humour.
Has anybody got any handy hints and tips re tracing the Scottish side of the family? I’m trying to clarify the info left by our father, but it’s not been as easy as with the English side. Is there a different system for recording biographical info in Scotland?
I’ve also realised that beginning at the most recent generation (my mother‘ s), isn’t helpful, as of course none of the census’s she and her siblings will have been recorded in will have been released. There are electoral registers aplenty, but of course, these are only helpful in that they show place of residence at the time, which I already know.
Scotland has the wonderful Scotland's People website. You have to buy credits, and then use those credits to look at birth marriage and death certificates (1855 on) or OPRs (Old Parochial Records - baptisms, banns and burials. (pre 1855) The OPRs are variable and have gaps.
There is the "100 year rule" - you can't view birth certificates post 1921, nor marriage certificates post 1946, nor death certificates post 1971. These have to be ordered and are considerably more expensive.
My son’s friend (an Aussie) had the DNA test which really helped with his research. He found out that his roots are in Devon - he’d always assumed Ireland. He’s found lots of graves and intends to do a walking tour when Covid allows.
My son now wants to buy it for me for my birthday and for me to get going on Ancestry.com
Buy £10 worth of credits - you will get 6 certificates for that. Scottish marriages have always included the names of the couples parents, not just the father, so that's a bonus.
If you are searching for someone with an unusual name, it's straightforward. If you are looking for a Margaret Wilson, or a William Henderson, born approx 18oatcake you have a high chance of wasting your money looking up wrong Margaret Wilsons and William Hendersons.
I use Ancestry to check out names prior to paying. A lot of what is on Ancestry is rubbish, but if someone has identified a Margaret Wilson, then that's a better option to pay for than just tossing a coin.
Forgot to say - the census returns are also on Scotlandspeople. As are the Kirk Session records.
Also, when searching Scotlandspeople there are options - exact matches / names beginning with / name variants. If your search draws a blank, widen the scope in terms of the names. I have one couple who had eight children, and between the 9 certificates (marriage and 8 births) there are seven permutations. The mother varies between Isobel / Isabel / Isabella the father between Andrew and Andro and there are three different spellings of the surname. The surname is similar to Simpson and it varies between Simson, Simpson and Simpsone.
So prowl around a bit before committing to spend your credits!
As NEQ says, Scotlandspeople has everything in one space (NEQ - please correct me if I slip into talking bollocks!)- all of the surviving OPRs are on there, plus the censuses, given that when I started most of the English stuff needed to be done in Record Offices, SP was a godsend! However the 100-year bit is a PITA, and is a PI my A at the moment. The post-1855 registrations are generally very good (if you find a birth registered in 1855 itself you will hit the jackpot), I think the uptake of registration was markedly better than in England, and have lots of additional info over and above an English birth certificate - Celtic Knotweed never tires of telling me that her short-form Scottish certificate has more information than my long-form English one. Though there's no guarantee that your person won't have fallen through the net - one line ends at my gg grandfather who was probably illegitimate, probably born 1855, but no record thereof. Very annoying! Especially as I have a family birthday book which has his birthday in it, but not the year!
From SP: -
Most entries contain the following information:
Forename and surname
Whether the child was illegitimate (1855-1918) - this term was discontinued from 1919 and official certificates are typed with '(illegitimate)' omitted
Date and place of birth
Time of birth - this is recorded on all Scottish statutory birth entries, not just those of twins or multiple births
Gender
Name and surname of father
Rank or profession of father - if you find an unknown term check the glossary - occupations for further information
Name and maiden surname of mother
Date and place of parents’ marriage (except 1856-1860)
Signature and qualification of informant and their residence (if not the place of birth)
When and where registered and signature of registrar
and deaths: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides/statutory-register-deaths
-though treat the information on these about parents in particular with caution, the informant may not have had a clue who wee Vera, 97, 's parents were because they died tragically when she was 3 and she never spoke about them - I exaggerate, but you hopefully get the point.
One thing you will probably encounter if you have enough Scots in your tree is the naming tradition - which lasted well into the 20th century:
1st son named after father's father.
2nd son named after mother's father.
3rd son named after father.
1st daughter named after mother's mother.
2nd daughter named after father's mother.
3rd daughter named after mother.
It gets a bit more involved after the 3rd children and gets really fun if a child of the "wrong" sex for the remaining name is born, when girls were often given a male name feminised by adding "-ina" to the end - it was NEQ who made me realise the significance of the Robina in my tree, who fitted where a Robert should have. I've seen a gravestone to a Hectorina, and I'm hoping there's a Hamishina out there somewhere!
The other thing is that *nothing* is done the same way is in England as the legal system was and still is separate - you will come across apparently incomprehensible things and people like precognitions and the Procurator Fiscal - luckily these days they are easy to look up when you find something you don't understand immediately.
I'd also add that you don't often find wills - partly most Scots didn't have anything much to leave, and partly they don't seem to have been in the habit of making wills - though they can be very interesting if you do find one.
Comments
Here it’s looking increasingly as if the Gt Aunt’s parentage is all fair and above board unless she was adopted by auntie and uncle, of course. I came to this conclusion on noticing that the census enumerator’s appalling handwriting could easily be misread as the name by which we knew her. She and the mysterious 6 year old may be one and the same person. And yet...the only thing that’s making me hesitate is that I know that there was also a child who died round about that age, of one of the usual infectious diseases common at the time. Why no mention of her, unless, of course, she’s the mystery 6 year old. In which case, that disproves my revised theory about her sister.
The interesting one for me to research is my daughter's family history, but I know it's difficult to impossible as, from what I've been told, at some point her maternal grandparents and other relatives were in the Warsaw Ghetto and some died in Sobibor.
Although having grown up being told my grandfather was deafened in WW1, linked to stories of the Somme, I now know he fought in Mesopotamia, so I wonder about accuracy. I have the regiment diaries for WW1, need to track down the diaries beyond then. I have a feeling that some burned in the Cairo records office fire, along with my father's birth certificate, as part of something else I was told and couldn't confirm happened in quite that way when I looked recently. Although Cairo did burn as part of the 1946 riots and when I was looking a couple of years ago, I did read things were unavailable on the National Records site.
This is where folk memory becomes an issue - everyone is familiar with the Somme, so it tends to get conflated into WW1 generally. Even if someone *was* on the Somme, was that in summer 1916? Or when the Allies crossed the old Somme battlefield following the German withdrawal in spring 1917? Or when they were shoved unceremoniously back across it in March 1918? Or when they returned the favour in August 1918? If you'll excuse the pun, it's a minefield.
That’s the case with us. We’ve a great -uncle, said to have died at the Somme. When we tracked down his grave, the records said Ypres.
@BroJames , yes, that might well be the case. @Curiosity killed , that’s what I intend to do; though the family and Christian name is an extremely common one; I could be in for a long search.
I find the best tactic is to concentrate on one person at a time and simply list their line plus any new refs that might be relevant. Luckily I already have the basic tree listing left to us by my father. So, for example, one sheet of A4 headed ‘ Grandfather B Baggins,’ parents, grandparents...and so on. No branching off yet. That way madness lies.
My great grandmother's younger brother was awarded the DCM. The "mentioned in dispatches" said that he killed three Germans in hand-to-hand combat, with a trench hatchet, the Regimental history said he killed five, and the local newspapers said he killed between nine and eleven "burly huns."
I've mentioned my "axe-murderer" great-uncle before on the Ship. Every family needs an axe-murderer and the fact that, technically, he was a trench-hatchet murderer is a mere detail.
@North East Quine , are you sure that your relative wasn’t Uncle Matthew from Nancy Mitford’s ‘ The Pursuit of Love?’
I’m hoping to find out more about my reputed would-be (but thwarted, thank goodness), wife murderer Great-Great-Grandfather.😁
About 21 minutes in: https://youtu.be/QYK6XpX67UY
a) How easy is it to access RAF records for WW2? My dad was in the RAF (pay corps!) and I would like to find out more about where he served. Only when you got three or more rums inside him would he open up about that. I believe he spent some time in the Orkneys and may have been in France. He also frequently spoke of how he had spent some time with Polish flyers.
b) My father-in-law was in the regular army - he joined up in 1938, I think. We have some of his army records but they are vague in the extreme. We know from things he said (especially in later years) that he spent time on the Gold Coast and was also in Ethiopia. The really strange thing is that when you track where he was according to the records that we have, he was never where his regiment was. When we discussed this a few years ago with someone who spent his entire adult life in the Canadian Armed Forces, this person just said "secret ops". This wouldn't be completely out of the question - F-i-L did admit once that he was a crack shot. When the family have approached the regimental archives for more details, they have been told that they already have all there is. Our suspicion is that there is more to come out but it may still be classified as secret. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we might be able to proceed from here? How much of the secret stuff from WW2 is still hidden from public access?
Also, if you ever use this site, you will get lots of e-mails saying "You are looking for John Smith, RAF. We have records for John Smith, Gordon Highlanders. Why not check out this John Smith just in case the John Smith, RAF, you are looking for was moonlighting in the army at the same time!
My grandfather had a common name (not John Smith!) and for the duration of my month's subscription I was getting these e-mails daily. Presumably it would be less of a hassle if you were looking for someone with a more unusual name.
I think Forces War Records costs about £8 for a month's subscription, so I wouldn't dissuade you from trying it, you might have more luck than I did.
I also tried the Forces War Records, with a rather less common name and was equally bombarded.
I have used Ancestry; Family Search; Geni; My Heritage; and WikiTree. I like WikiTree the best because of the collaboration it encourages among researchers.
Ypres was not exactly a picnic either.
As an aside, a group from Dlet's year at school was going on a pipe band tour of the UK and parts of Europe. That included a stop at Ypres where a ceremony was to be held at Menin Gate. A mate pronounced it as a Belgian may have, and I had to point out that the correct pronunciation was Wipers. You'd have thought that by the time he was 16, he would have learnt this.
Agreed, it certainly wasn’t.
Mild excitement here: We’ve solved the mystery of the mystery child. She is indeed, great-aunt. We blame the census enumerator’s appalling handwriting for the confusion! But yes, there was a sister who died in early infancy, between census’s; borne out by death records, a small exhibit in a local museum many years ago and an entry in a family diary. It was by running a search on a combo of family names that I found her. She’d have been the eldest child had she lived.
Thanks for the tips, all.
Only the Tommies, displaying standard British skill with other languages, called it 'Wipers' and created the newsletter called 'The Wipers Times'. Belgium being a multilingual country has two names for the town, Ypres (ee-prr) in French and Ieper (yeah-purr) in Flemish. In other words, anything one Belgian says is certain to be contradicted by another!
It was called Wipers by the Australian soldiers who survived the bloodbaths organised by Haig and his like. It is still the proper name to call it here, in their memory.
My family were definitely in the Blaenafon area (the location of Big Pit) but I can’t find out anything about the founder of the Hayward Gallery.
[ETA cross posted with Curiosity killed.]
Looks as if it could be your family, @Priscilla . Exciting!
I keep trying to find a connection between my family and my namesake, one of the Easter Rising volunteers, later a Free State Minister. Family lore says we are 'related' but, given that this is an Irish family, that counts for little in genealogical terms! I can put both sets of forebears in the same county at the same time, but without a proper search it will remain conjecture. History hasn't been kind to him so perhaps I could spark a reappraisal?
According to the 1901 census - 11 Castle Street, Blaenavon, both his parents, Thomas and Mary E. Hayward were 52, so both born approx 1849.
Isaac had two brothers and two sisters: Thomas, Elizabeth, Alice Louisa, and William Frederick.
I came across a photo of a WW1 soldier, with his name and initials signed across the front, hat on his lap, clear view of the cap badge... piece of cake, right?
No! Private Jones, even with two initials, in the South Wales Borderers was a task too far...
Possibly my favourite Shipname - Charles Had a Splurge On - wonder what became of them?
I must confess to "collecting" odd names, especially those pertaining to a common Victorian name that also has euphemistic uses. I know of a roadside cemetery in Scotland with a Hectorina in it (I'll let NEQ explain that one - suffice to say that I did a facepalm when I twigged the relevance of the Robinas in my tree), there's a Wyllie Hillocks in Barnhill Cemetery, Dundee, and I have personally encountered Fanny Rumble and the splendidly gynaecological-sounding Fanny Ruffle. Sadly, it was the intertubes rather than personal research that alerted me to the brief, sad existence of Ophelia Fanny Hole - one that always makes me think of cod-puritan names like What-the-fornication-were-her-parents-thinking.
It's easy to be amused when you have a low sense of humour.
Not something you would want called out from the school register!
Has anybody got any handy hints and tips re tracing the Scottish side of the family? I’m trying to clarify the info left by our father, but it’s not been as easy as with the English side. Is there a different system for recording biographical info in Scotland?
I’ve also realised that beginning at the most recent generation (my mother‘ s), isn’t helpful, as of course none of the census’s she and her siblings will have been recorded in will have been released. There are electoral registers aplenty, but of course, these are only helpful in that they show place of residence at the time, which I already know.
There is the "100 year rule" - you can't view birth certificates post 1921, nor marriage certificates post 1946, nor death certificates post 1971. These have to be ordered and are considerably more expensive.
My son now wants to buy it for me for my birthday and for me to get going on Ancestry.com
Buy £10 worth of credits - you will get 6 certificates for that. Scottish marriages have always included the names of the couples parents, not just the father, so that's a bonus.
If you are searching for someone with an unusual name, it's straightforward. If you are looking for a Margaret Wilson, or a William Henderson, born approx 18oatcake you have a high chance of wasting your money looking up wrong Margaret Wilsons and William Hendersons.
I use Ancestry to check out names prior to paying. A lot of what is on Ancestry is rubbish, but if someone has identified a Margaret Wilson, then that's a better option to pay for than just tossing a coin.
Also, when searching Scotlandspeople there are options - exact matches / names beginning with / name variants. If your search draws a blank, widen the scope in terms of the names. I have one couple who had eight children, and between the 9 certificates (marriage and 8 births) there are seven permutations. The mother varies between Isobel / Isabel / Isabella the father between Andrew and Andro and there are three different spellings of the surname. The surname is similar to Simpson and it varies between Simson, Simpson and Simpsone.
So prowl around a bit before committing to spend your credits!
From SP: -
Most entries contain the following information:
Forename and surname
Whether the child was illegitimate (1855-1918) - this term was discontinued from 1919 and official certificates are typed with '(illegitimate)' omitted
Date and place of birth
Time of birth - this is recorded on all Scottish statutory birth entries, not just those of twins or multiple births
Gender
Name and surname of father
Rank or profession of father - if you find an unknown term check the glossary - occupations for further information
Name and maiden surname of mother
Date and place of parents’ marriage (except 1856-1860)
Signature and qualification of informant and their residence (if not the place of birth)
When and where registered and signature of registrar
Equivalent info for marriages: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides/statutory-register-marriages?gclid=Cj0KCQjw9YWDBhDyARIsADt6sGaLof9Qd19jDJ9nc1jS8v4kQekXGVhz5PD2RhTV_VVxlNChnCCIdyEaAj0wEALw_wcB
(note that Scots were often married at home with the minister of the appropriate kirk present, I've one where the groom was living in a hotel in Kirkcaldy, and they married there!)
and deaths: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides/statutory-register-deaths
-though treat the information on these about parents in particular with caution, the informant may not have had a clue who wee Vera, 97, 's parents were because they died tragically when she was 3 and she never spoke about them - I exaggerate, but you hopefully get the point.
One thing you will probably encounter if you have enough Scots in your tree is the naming tradition - which lasted well into the 20th century:
1st son named after father's father.
2nd son named after mother's father.
3rd son named after father.
1st daughter named after mother's mother.
2nd daughter named after father's mother.
3rd daughter named after mother.
It gets a bit more involved after the 3rd children and gets really fun if a child of the "wrong" sex for the remaining name is born, when girls were often given a male name feminised by adding "-ina" to the end - it was NEQ who made me realise the significance of the Robina in my tree, who fitted where a Robert should have. I've seen a gravestone to a Hectorina, and I'm hoping there's a Hamishina out there somewhere!
The other thing is that *nothing* is done the same way is in England as the legal system was and still is separate - you will come across apparently incomprehensible things and people like precognitions and the Procurator Fiscal - luckily these days they are easy to look up when you find something you don't understand immediately.
I'd also add that you don't often find wills - partly most Scots didn't have anything much to leave, and partly they don't seem to have been in the habit of making wills - though they can be very interesting if you do find one.
Good luck!