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I'm looking at the service record for Able Seaman Thomas Bates  born in Belfast In Antrim in 1916. It doesn't contain a lot of personal information so doesn't provide details like who got his war gratuity or where he lived at the time of volunteering in March 1935  but given his place in my Leicester family it seems he must have been in Leicester in at least 1939/40, which would be useful to me to clear up a secret. Thomas died in the sinking of HMS Gloucester on 22/5/1941.
Anyway, I'm not completely clear on what some of the entries say.  Not sure if I'm allowed to post photos but I'm struggling with a ship named something along the lines of St Ang???r and something that looks like (Acaste) written next to the ship's name. On the above listing of the ship it says (Watch)
Also what are the columns entitled Non-substantive, among other entries.
I believe the times he was serving on board Drake 1 and 2 were possibly times when he was 'at home base' even if the ship was not docked in Devonport.
I'm happy to post photos if allowed and would greatly appreciate any help in fully understanding this record.
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give.

After a break of a few years I've finally been able to restart my family history research. I have several brick walls that are holding me up. The first one concerns my great grandparents.
William Prince born in Coventry in about 1871 married Annie Merrick (more likely Mary Ann Merrick) born in Sutton Cheney in 1869. The wedding took place on 16th March  1890 when the couple were both living at 196 Syston Street, Leicester.
After that date I can find no trace of William living with his family in the census returns although 7 children.
I also can't find Annie in 1891.
I know that William left Annie and went to live in Kidderminster Foreign where he may have bigamously married a woman who called herself Leah Bates and tried to claim his estate when he died but it eventually went to Annie

Can anyone find any trace of William that I am somehow missing or find Annie in 1891?
I'd be very grateful for any help in pinpointing their whereabouts as all my searches on Ancestry and FindMyPast are giving zero results.

Hi Everyone,

I'm desperately trying to find my English Auntie who married a Scot and lived in Scotland for the resat of her life. I don't know if they married in England or Scotland but my earliest memories of her and her husband and some of their children  are of the times she returned to Leicester to stay with my Grandma and her elder sister Ivy. At rthis point the family resided in Coatbridge and as far as I know remained in Coatbridge where my Grandma and Auntie Ivy often went to celebrate Hogmanay.
So, I'm looking for Joyce Bates born September 1925 in Leicester and living at 43 Argyle Street in 1939. Her husband Jock Praties who was Scottish and who she met during the war when he came to Leicester with one of my uncles on leave as far as I understand it.
I think I only met 3 cousins but they may have had more than 3 children.
I can't find a marriage in Leicester and can't find either marriage, death or births of children either so if anyone is able to assist me with those dates I'd be extremely grateful.
I know that my eldest (I think)cousin,  was researching the family tree before me but though I messaged her I never heard back and looking at the dates I think it was quite a while before I found her tree that she last updated it and there was very little information. (If I can ever find her I'd love to share some memories with her and to hear some of her memories but that's an ongoing search.)

Thank you so much for reading this.
Kind regards,
June

George Henry Tolley is an enigma I don't think I'm ever going to fully solve.

He was born in Leicester in 1868 to James Tolley of Warwick and Maria Hart. In 1889 he married Lois Mary Pick (born in Ibstock) in Leicester, their first child, Lois Maria was born shortly after their marriage. The couple went on to have another daughter in 1892, the same year that George Henry attested to the military.
George Henry bought his discharge in 1894 and in 1895 it appears that Lois Mary gave birth to another daughter, Nellie Tolley, however it seems that though George Henry was listed as the father Nellie was raised as Nellie Tolley Golby by William Golby and his then wife and the only record of Nellie being Lois' child is on the 1911 census where she adds Nellie onto the return and changes the number of children born in the marriage from 3 to 4. It appears that Nellie was not known to her half sisters as none of them knew anything about her and my MIL adamantly insisted that her grandmother had only 3 daughters.

The 3rd daughter was Neva Tolley born in 1903 in Lancashire and christened in Leicester shortly after her birth.
I have discovered that Neva had a daughter and another member of the family made contact with her family. All went well until George Henry was mentioned. Contact was immediately stopped and all attempts to reinstate it have been ignored. (I intend to have a try myself at some point as I'm hoping to barter information that they may not have.)

Anyway, I know that after some turbulence George Henry cleared off to Birmingham, where he lived for the rest of his life. (I believe he died in Birmingham in 1941)

I know that he enlisted during WW1 and transferred as a general something or other (ground crew) in 1919, or at least I think I know that, I now can't find the record I took some of this information from.

What I can't find is where the heck he was in 1911. I am almost certain he was in Leicester at this point because I've got a feeling I stored some info about him showing he was in Leicester the following year but the computer I used at that time has crashed and I have no access to that information.

One or two people have suggested he's there on the census but have not given me any idea where to look and he isn't coming up on either FindMyPast or Ancestry. I am hoping someone on here can point my in the right direction so that I can fill in that gap. Any hwelp will, as always, will be most gratefully received.