Help is required in identifying the mystery of my friend’s paternal grandfather.
Her paternal grandmother (now deceased) was born Alice Emily Brown on 27th May 1893 at Lye Green, Withyham, East Grinstead, Sussex. My friend’s father was born on 14th December 1919 at Rotherfield, Uckfield, Sussex. I cannot mention his name as he is still alive. The birth certificate states that the child’s mother was Alice Emily Murray formerly Brown, and the child’s father was a Thomas Simpson Murray who was a “private in the Irish Guards”. It is Thomas Simpson Murray where the mystery begins.
We could not find Thomas’ birth and we have repeatedly looked for the marriage of a Thomas Simpson Murray to an Alice Emily Brown but cannot locate one, having tried all the possible variations we can imagine.
I did find a World War 1 medal record for Thomas Simpson Murray. It shows that Thomas joined the army with the service number of 6060 with the 2nd Battalion the Irish Guards.
On 9th August 1971, grandmother Alice Emily Murray registered the death of her husband in Worthing, Sussex. She gives his name as WILLIAM JOHN MURRAY who was born on 6th July 1893 in Northern Ireland and who was a “corporal Irish Guards (retired)”. There were 3 men of this name born in Northern Ireland in 1893.
I cannot find a marriage between an Alice Emily Brown and a William John Murray.
So who was the grandfather, Thomas Simpson Murray or William John Murray, both of whom served in the Irish Guards, and why cannot I find a marriage for Alice Emily Brown?
