I posted the following message four years ago now and had some very helpful responses (please see past thread for the replies). My last trip was fascinating, but despite much detective-like sleuthing, I didn't really discover any further concrete facts. As the book I will be writing will be fiction, these are not crucial, but of course on a personal level there are mysteries I would still love to solve. As I am currently back in Penang to conduct more research, I thought it might be worthwhile posting again just in case anyone else unearths anything that could be helpful. Many thanks for reading!
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I am a fiction writer and have been commissioned by a leading UK publisher to write a novel loosely based on the story of my grandmother and great-grandmother. I am wondering if you might be able to offer any help with my research.
My grandmother grew up in Penang, British Malaya, in the twenties, the youngest of three girls. Their mother left them when my grandmother was still a small baby and the girls never saw her again. Born 1919 in Georgetown, my grandmother left Penang in 1930 on the Macedonia, together with her sisters and father. We know very little about what happened to their mother but stories passed down in the family suggest she stayed in Malaya and for whatever reason didn't leave when the Japanese invaded. I have been told she ended up in a POW camp but survived, although I have not verified these facts. We know nothing of what happened to her after this or what happened to her in the years between - nor do we know why she left her husband and daughters. All the members of my grandmother's generation are now deceased and the information we have is hazy at best.
The book I will be writing will be a work of fiction, so it is not entirely necessary that I discover all the concrete facts, but of course on a personal level I am intrigued. It feels like a mystery to solve, particularly in relation to what might have happened to the mother. I am actually travelling to Malaysia next week to begin researching the novel and will be in Penang later in the month - it will be my first time in Southeast Asia. I have never embarked upon any sort of family history research before and am not really sure where to start. I was wondering if anyone on this forum might have any tips of where to begin researching, particularly when I am in Malaysia. It would be frustrating to learn later of opportunities I might have missed as I'm not sure I'll have another chance to visit.
The details of the story that I do know are as follows:
Father - CHARLES SAYERS, tin smelter with the Eastern Smelting Co., Penang - born 26 June 1885 in London (his father was named as Benjamin Sayers on Charles' birth cert, and Robert Charles Benjamin Sayers on Charles' marriage cert)
Mother - MARION THORNLEY SAYERS nee. ARNOLD, daughter of Edward Thornley Arnold - born approx 1895, unsure of location
The two were married on June 11th 1913 at Saint George's Church, Georgetown, Penang. The marriage certificate states that Marion was 18 years old and Charles was 24 - we know the latter was not true as his birth cert states he was born in 1885 so at the time of his marriage he would have been more like 28. On the passenger list from 1930 it states his age as 41, which again would appear to be incorrect. The marriage certificate also states that they were both resident in Penang at the time of marriage.
They had three daughters:
Gladys - born approx 1914/15
Barbara Margaret - born approx 1917/18
Dorothy Sylvia (my grandmother) - born 1919
We don't know whether Marion kept her married name after she left the family or returned to using her maiden name.
I have seen a passenger list with details of Charles and the three girls returning to UK in 1930.
If anyone has any tips, leads, or advice I would be extremely grateful, particularly in relation to solving the mystery of what happened to Marion! Many, many thanks.
