RootsChat.Com

Thanks for your reply, I appreciate it. They were Polish but my great grandfather came to the UK as a small boy. I have seen his family's naturalisation papers from the 1880s, no photos sadly. I will keep looking. None of his surviving family - the children of his nieces and nephews - have anything.

Just to let everyone know that my Jewish great grandfather has now been identified. I know who he was and lots of detail about him. I even know how and where he met my great grandmother. The only thing I do not have is a photograph and I have already exhausted every avenue. So that's a shame. I eventually found him when I persuaded my father's sister to test with 23andme, and up popped two second cousins who had not tested on any of the other platforms where our DNA had been put. So if nothing else, do consider testing with them too if you are equally struggling. It took me four years to do that, otherwise I could have had it boxed off long since.

Thanks Graham, those are a couple of good suggestions.
I shall certainly try both
(We don't have the death certificate, we don't know where he died, if he died, that's part of the search, so that rules out getting his service records for the moment).

Good afternoon

I am hoping to find out any possible extra clues from these two photographs of Charles Holmes.
His nephew John wants to know what happened to him.

He became estranged from the family after WW2 and these are a couple of the only photographs that survive (one showing Charles, his policeman father and his civilian brother, the other of him on his own. We know he was alive at least into the 1970s as he did back to the area briefly.

Charles was born on 5th August 1919 in New Row, Bebside, Blyth. When he signed up he would have been living at 15 Merton Cottages, Embleton.

I have looked at military records as best as I can and as far as I have established, the following men with the name of Charles Holmes were in the RAF – one of these may be our man.

Service Number: 2303208 enlisted at Padgate, Cheshire after February 1946
Service Number: 1456846 enlisted at Cardington, Bedfordshire, after April 1941
Service Number: 1493905 enlisted at Padgate, Cheshire after April 1941
Service Number: 1152614 enlisted at Cardington after April 1940. Was appointed as a Class F Reservist.
Service Number: 1440207 enlisted at Cardington after April 1941. Militia

And I found a Charles Holmes who was an airman/radio operator, who may be one of the earlier mentioned men, or a different man. There is no service number for him. Enlisted 1941, left 1942 - forced to retire due to injury. Rank: Aircraftman 2nd Class, Radio School Madley, Herefordshire.

There are also a number of men with the initial C, that are not necessarily a Charles

Service Number: 1030117, Royal Air Force Police
No service number - Pilot Officer of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Service Number: 1644294 - class F reservist, enlisted Cardington after October 1941
There was a Flight Sgt with Bomber Command but he died in 1942 so we know that can't be our man
There was a Substantive Flying Officer of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1945 (no service number)
Service Number: 949925, Sergeant Aircrafthand who had been in the Mediterranean and was coming back from Italy in 1946.

I wonder whether there are any clues in these attached photographs that might suggest whether he belonged to any particular squadron or job role. That might then help me to narrow it down.

There is also a fascinating suggestion that he may have been working with “the Americans” on propaganda films, somewhere in the South East, I don’t know whether that was as part of his RAF role, or as a civvy afterwards.

I can't find his death anywhere with that date of birth, there is a suspicion he might have gone to America (perhaps as a result of working with some colleagues) and maybe the oil industry.

Thanks to anyone who can assist

It's been 11 years so you probably know all this by now, but just for posterity, George Gwyn husband of Mary Ann Hobbs was born 10th May 1797, the son of George Gwyn and Hannah Eyles. He died in Ramsbury in 1826 leaving with her at least three children.

He was buried on the 29th September. This is why she was then free - or necessitated - to marry Peter Wither.

I suspect that the child allegedly baptised in 1835 was actually baptised in 1825 and it is a transcription error. I haven't started looking for the original records yet.
I just started researching for a friend, this is her maternal ancestry.