|
Pages: [1]
|
 |
|
Author
|
Topic: Brighton vanman search - Ideas? (Read 324 times)
|
kizmiaz
RootsChat Aristocrat
 Offline
Posts: 1282
Me, aged 4, just starting out on The Dusty Trail
|
Hi
This is a bit of a long shot, I know, but I am searching for any information I can find on my great grandfather. He died when my grandmother was just a few months old so she doesn't remember him, but I'd like to let her know something about who he was.
All I can find about him at the moment is that his name was Charles Adam Willis, born in 1879 and died in early 1915. In February 1913 there was a coroners inquest into the death of his daughter Ivy, but the newspaper report simply states that Ivy was the daughter of "Edith Emily Willis, of 2 Elder-row, the wife of a vanman". He seems, therefore, to have been irrelevant to the inquest, so I am assuming he wasn't there at the time of her death.
Does anyone have any idea how I can find out who he worked for? If I can find this, I may be able to find a little about him? (It may also mean that there is the vaguest possibilty that I could find a picture of him. The only one we have is a tiny image of a framed picture on a wall which looks like it was originally part of a larger group photo, possibly work related)
Or does anyone have any suggestions of how I may find some more information about him which may be useful?
Would any certificates I could order have such information, and if so, where can I get them from?
Many thanks for any hints, tips or suggestions.
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: Friday 17 June 05 02:23 BST (UK) by kizmiaz »
|
Logged
|
In Sussex - Robins, Willis, Hills, Winchester, Harwood, Breden, Jupp, Matthews, Windsor, Dove, Duly, Baker and lots more. In London - Scully, Day, Emery, Alger All Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
|
|
Chris in 1066Land
Moderator
RootsChat Marquessate
Offline
Posts: 5673
"Forever Searching, Forever Learning"
|
Hi kizmiaz
Have you put together the details of the family from Charles Birth in 1879 up to and including his marriage to Edith Emily.
have you found his death in 1915 - what details did his death certificate give
Is this the family from the 1891 census?
Willis, William, born c.1847, Brighton - Carpenter
Willis, Charles born c.1879, Brighton, Son.
Willis, Ellen, born c.1849, Brighton, Wife.
Willis, Jane, born c.1877, Brighton, Daughter.
Willis, Mary, born c.1875, Brighton, Daughter.
Willis, Walley, born c.1886, Brighton, Son.
Willis, William, born c.1890, Brighton, Son.
I think we need to first build up a picture of the man and his family, from which we might start to get some pointers to the rest of his life
Chris in 1066
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Dimps
RootsChat Aristocrat
Offline
Posts: 1120
GET STUCK IN...
|
I've been looking at the 1901 Census and tried all kinds of variations for the family supplied by Chris in 1066 (Willis, Wallis, Wills, born in Brighton, living, in Brighton, living in Sussex, born ins Sussex...). The closest I have been able to find are:
Ellen Willis, W, 50, born Brighton, living in St. George the Martyr (workhouse), Southwark, Charwoman (pauper)
Mary Wallis, S, 25, born Brighton, living in Aldrington, Assistant Launderess
Jane Willis, S, 21, born Brighton, living in Hurstpierpoint, General Servant, Domestic
Of course, I've no idea if any of these are right.
Do you have a marriage certificate for Charles and Edith? This would provide Charles's profession (and possibly Edith's), where they were living when they married and the names and professions of their fathers. If not, do you know the names and ages of your grandmother's siblings - you might be able to work when, approximately, Charles and Edith married which would cut down the expense of finding the details of the certificate on 1837Online (I've not found it on FreeBMD).
Good luck!
Deborah
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Linberry, Chatfield, Faulkner, West in West Sussex Towell, in Shoreditch and Exeter Spurling from Norfolk Bateson from Norfolk Snell, Lorkin, Norman from Suffolk O'Boyle/Boyle from Donegal Murray, McCann, Gunn from Sutherland Davis, Bute from Woolwich Census information contained in this post is Crown copyright: www.NationalArchives.gov.uk |
|
|
forester
RootsChat Aristocrat
Offline
Posts: 1113
|
To add to Dimps, I also found this one in the 1901:
Chas Willis, 22, born Brighton, living in Aldrington, Blind maker.
Regards,
Phil
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Dimps
RootsChat Aristocrat
Offline
Posts: 1120
GET STUCK IN...
|
My Aldrington one should read "Mary Willis" rather than "Mary Wallis" and she was working for a French (Nancy) launderess by the very appropriate name of Heloise Mangel. The address was 83 Montgomery St., Aldrington, St Leonards.
Chas Percy Willis (married) 22, was lodging with the Browns at 96 Montgomery St. He is obviously not be your Charles and also lodging there were: Agnes (married), 20 and Charles Willis aged 1. They were all born in Hove.
In 1881, the family that Chris in 1066 found were at 21 Blucher Place, Brighton, and consisted of: Charles, 34, Carpenter; Preseler, 31, Ironer; Charlotte, 9, Scholar; Mary, 7, Scholar; Jane, 4, Scholar and Charles, 2. All born in Brighton.
According to FreeBMD, Charles Adam Willis was born in the June quarter 1879 (Volume 2b, Page 272) - and would fit in with this family.
Best wishes
Deborah
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Linberry, Chatfield, Faulkner, West in West Sussex Towell, in Shoreditch and Exeter Spurling from Norfolk Bateson from Norfolk Snell, Lorkin, Norman from Suffolk O'Boyle/Boyle from Donegal Murray, McCann, Gunn from Sutherland Davis, Bute from Woolwich Census information contained in this post is Crown copyright: www.NationalArchives.gov.uk |
|
|
Dimps
RootsChat Aristocrat
Offline
Posts: 1120
GET STUCK IN...
|
I've just remembered you asked about where you can get certificates from. £7 from:
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificate/index.asp
Deborah
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Linberry, Chatfield, Faulkner, West in West Sussex Towell, in Shoreditch and Exeter Spurling from Norfolk Bateson from Norfolk Snell, Lorkin, Norman from Suffolk O'Boyle/Boyle from Donegal Murray, McCann, Gunn from Sutherland Davis, Bute from Woolwich Census information contained in this post is Crown copyright: www.NationalArchives.gov.uk |
|
|
kizmiaz
RootsChat Aristocrat
Offline
Posts: 1282
Me, aged 4, just starting out on The Dusty Trail
|
Hi
Thanks for all the look-ups for Charles Willis.
I have quite a bit of information about his family background, and I don't think that he is part of the family that Chris found for 1891. The parents are listed as William and Ellen Willis, but I guess they could be his aunt and uncle, although I haven't found a brother for Charles Payne Willis called William yet.
Charles Adam Willis was the son of Charles Payne Willis and Priscilla (Preseler on 1881) Carendo Winchester, and this is the family Deborah has listed from the 1881. Priscilla died in 1896, and it seems to me that Charles moved to London, where a 54 year old Charles Willis is listed in 1901 as a cigar maker.
As yet I don't have a death certificate, only an invoice statement for his funeral in January 1915, but I doubt if marriage or death certificates would list which company he actually worked for, just his job title.
My grandmother thinks that he may have been working for a removal company in Brighton at the time of his death, but as she was only a few months old when he died, she cannot be certain which one. I would hope there is a list somewhere of removal companies in Brighton in the early 1910's, something like a Yellow Pages of the time, but its unlikely that many companies still remain, and even more unlikely that any have records stretching back that far.
The main thing I was wondering was, is there any sort of official information available to show who was working where at any one time. Social security records nowadays would do this, but I don't know what was available at the start of the 20th century. Did people pay taxes or union subs or anything like this from their wages which would have been recorded somewhere, and could be researched?
Thanks for all the information. I suppose I should do a lot more digging before I post a request. It is extremely kind of you all to take the time to have a look for me.
Glen
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
In Sussex - Robins, Willis, Hills, Winchester, Harwood, Breden, Jupp, Matthews, Windsor, Dove, Duly, Baker and lots more. In London - Scully, Day, Emery, Alger All Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
|
|
Chris in 1066Land
Moderator
RootsChat Marquessate
Offline
Posts: 5673
"Forever Searching, Forever Learning"
|
Hi Glen
In your first posting you said
This is a bit of a long shot, I know, but I am searching for any information I can find on my great grandfather. He died when my grandmother was just a few months old so she doesn't remember him, but I'd like to let her know something about who he was. All I can find about him at the moment is that his name was Charles Adam Willis, born in 1879 and died in early 1915.
Your last posting says:-
Thanks for all the look-ups for Charles Willis.
I have quite a bit of information about his family background, and I don't think that he is part of the family that Chris found for 1891.
One statement seems to contradict the other?
It would have been fairer to the people who have been trying to help you if you had given all this information from the start
Chris in 1066
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
kizmiaz
RootsChat Aristocrat
Offline
Posts: 1282
Me, aged 4, just starting out on The Dusty Trail
|
Sorry, but I'm confused. I can't see where there is any contradiction. I was asking about a specific individual, not about his ancestry.
The main question I asked was:
Does anyone have any idea how I can find out who he worked for? If I can find this, I may be able to find a little about him?
The other requests were to try to find information about him specifically, not about his parentage.
Why would information about his parents and his family background help in searching for where he worked and about who Charles Adam Willis actually was. I knew as much as I needed to know about his lineage, but I wanted to let my grandmother know a bit more about the father she never knew. She isn't much interested in the generations before him.
You wrote:
It would have been fairer to the people who have been trying to help you if you had given all this information from the start
It was never my intention to be "unfair" to the people who have taken the time and trouble to try to help me. Apologies if people misunderstood what I was actually requesting, and if they feel that they have wasted their time in helping.
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: Friday 17 June 05 02:34 BST (UK) by kizmiaz »
|
Logged
|
In Sussex - Robins, Willis, Hills, Winchester, Harwood, Breden, Jupp, Matthews, Windsor, Dove, Duly, Baker and lots more. In London - Scully, Day, Emery, Alger All Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
|
|
forester
RootsChat Aristocrat
Offline
Posts: 1113
|
Hello again Glen,
Have you tried the obituaries?
The ESRO has the Sussex Express indexed for that period. I know the paper covers Lewes, but I'm not sure about Brighton. I found a couple of Satchers in it, one even gave his employer.
Alternatively, the Brighton History Centre. Their details can be found at:
If you do go for getting the death certificate, although, as you say, it is not going to give you any employer details, then this looks like the GRO reference:
March quarter 1915
Willis, Charles A., age 36
Brighton 2b 349
By the way, I looked up the ESRO index to Ivy's inquest, (searchable via A2A) and Charles is mentioned. It reads:
Ref COR/3/2/1913/27 24 Feb 1913
WILLIS, Ivy Helen Sophia; daughter of Charles Willis of 2 Elder Road, Brighton, vanman; 3 months, pneumonia, natural causes.
Was there another daughter that died young? Further down the page on the GRO index for March 1915 I spotted this entry:
WILLIS, Mary H D, age 3, Brighton 2b 418
Regards,
Phil
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
kizmiaz
RootsChat Aristocrat
Offline
Posts: 1282
Me, aged 4, just starting out on The Dusty Trail
|
Hi Phil
Thanks for the information and the death certificate details
Yes, the other child you list was another one of his daughters, Mary Hilda Dorothy. My grandmothers mother lost 4 daughters and her husband in the space of only a couple of years. I know one of them died in a fire which my grandmother vaguely remembers, and I think it was probably Mary.
I did have a look through the Sussex Express and the Argus for any reports which mentioned Charles Willis, but couldn't see anything. That doesn't necessarily mean they weren't there, though. I'll have another look.
Do you know if it is possible to get copies of coroners inquest reports? The one for Ivy might have more information on it.
Thanks again.
Glen
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
In Sussex - Robins, Willis, Hills, Winchester, Harwood, Breden, Jupp, Matthews, Windsor, Dove, Duly, Baker and lots more. In London - Scully, Day, Emery, Alger All Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk |
|
|
forester
RootsChat Aristocrat
Offline
Posts: 1113
|
Hello Glen,
I would think that it is worth contacting ESRO. Access is subject to a 75 year rule, but that should not be a problem with 1913. The blurb at the top of the index suggests that, in at least some cases, the full reports, statements etc, have survived.
If you can't get to search for yourself, ESRO do offer the facility to do it for you, but their fees are pretty steep.
Good luck,
Phil
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Pages: [1]
|
|
|
|
|
