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I am currently looking into the family of my maternal grandmothers family. Her stepfather David John Jeremy's parents both came from Wales, albeit different parts and I believe they met in London when they were both working here. He was born in 1877 in Shoreditch. I have traced his father back to Carnmarthenshire with relative sucess (although can't find him on the 1871 census in Wales or London) but his mother Mary Jones Owens (or Owen) b 1840-41 in Porthmadgog is proving harder to find. I can't see her on the censuses or any obvious birth records.

A newspaper cutting about heir marriage at the union chapel in Chelsea in 1874 mentions that her father was Evan Owen from Carregfelen near Porthmadog. This today appears to be a house connected to the Clough Williams-Ellis family so I would love to find out more. The cutting says she was living in Lancaster Gate when she married, was possibly working as a servant. Can anyone help?

Also would like to trace David Jeremy (born 1842 Llandovery) on the 1871 census as he was training to be a chemist but is aso later listed as a postmaster so I think he had a shop that was a chemist with a postal counter.

Lastly with regard to the Wales census records, are they incomplete or restricted in some way because some pages seem unable to be accessed.

Any help/advice would be greatly received.

My great-grandfather was sent to the boys Industrial School/reformatory scool on the ship the Akbar in Liverpool at the age of 15. He had been in trouble with the law before and because he stole a watch in 1903 he was sent to the ship for four years.
Our family had no idea of this until I read it in a newspaper, so it came as a bit of a shock to my mum. I wanted to find out more about what happened to him and what he did there. I bought a book that mentioned The Akbar and gave some details but I read that the Lancashire Records Office in Preston hold the records for the school. Has anyone had access to the records has seen what information is held there? How much do thy tell you and do they go back as far as 1903?
Also I understand that the school was removed from the ship in 1907 and transferred to a building on land in Haswell, Cheshire. This would seem to coincide with my great-grandfather's last few months at the school, presumably the records for that school are also held at the same office.

Any help would be appreciated.

I was trying to locate an address on the 1939 Register. My mother was evacuated to a village called Great Horwood in Buckinghamshire in WWII from 1940-1942. She can't recall the name of the family she lived with but remembered that it was a farm. I thought I'd show all the pages of Great Horwood from the 1939 Register to look for any farms and see if any of the names rang a bell. However it seems to be impossible to locate the village on the register. Can anyone help.

Help needed with soldier who was later private in RFC and RAF in WWI

I have been looking into my great uncle William (Bill) Henry Grant (born 1880 Soho, London). I know that he was a soldier in the Royal West Kent regiment from 1899 and have his attestation papers. In the Royal West Kent he rose to be a sergeant and was a PT instructor. A later search revealed that towards the end of his military career, after fighting in The Somme in 1916, he joined the RFC, the Royal Flying Corps and later the RAF. Weknew nothing about this. I can understand some of the words and abbreviations on the forms but can anyone translate what the various abbreviations and number mean from the clipping below. I can identify the School of Air Pilotage which I believe was in Wilshire but I can't work out what all the other abbrevations are. Another page lists the medals he received which are The British War and Victory medals I assume, but can someone tell me what the writing after they are listed, in two lines, means. Also can anyone tell me how/why were soldiers picked to join the RAF and why Bill was a private in the RAF while he had aben in sergeant in the army? Also the best place to find out more information about the RFC/RAF during this period of WWI.

Also I have two photographs of Bill in the army shown below. Can anyone tell me what the two medals he is wearing in the first photo are likely to be (Bill is second right, second row from bottomn, with another soldier's hand on his soldier). I think this photo dates from before WWI, possibly as early as 1901. And tell me anything about the unform and which regiment her might be in in the second picture which was taken years later when he was clearly much older.

Thanks.

I was looking into the history of my great grandmother's cousin Victor Joseph John Bellward. He lived in Geldston, near Becccles, and joined the Suffolk Regiment in 1914 and rose to the ranks of Sgt. He was injured in the early days of the Battle of the Somme at Delville Wood. He was taken to Wharncliffe War Hospital in Sheffield in 1916 but sadly died from his injuries the next year. He is listed on the memorial in Geldeston, Norfolk. His soldier's pension records showed that he had two dependants listed, his mother at her home address in Geldeston and a Miss Rachel Thrower who is listed as a 'guardian'. She is listed as having an address in Fermoy Road, Maida Vale, London but was also shown as residing at a temporary address in Geldeston.

Does anyone know what this might mean? I thought Rachel Thrower might be his fiance or sweetheart but he certainly never married and I don't think there were any children. Why would he need a guardian when he lived with is parents in Geldeston? I did find a Rachel Thrower living in nearby village Kirby Kane on the 1891 Census and in Geldeston working as a servant in 1901. In 1911 I can't trace her but her parents are in Geldestone. So I'm guessing that Rachel was Victor's fiance or sweetheart, but they never found the time to marry before he signed up. Or is there another explaination? His will showed that he left his belongings to his mother.

Possibly a coincidence is that there is an Albert Victor Thrower listed on the same memorial cross in Geldestone although he seems to have no connection to Rachel. Also he didn't live in Geldeston but was from Great Yarmouth, so why is he on the Geldeston memorial? I thought that maybe Albert was related to Rachel and was Victor's pal and they signed up together, but they weren't in the same regiment.

Can anyone help solve the mysteries?