Charles Harding

[gallipolianzac]

A long shot this one but you never know...... Charles Harding was a private soldier in the 2 Battalion Kings Own Scottish borderers. He was badly injured at Ypres in 1914 and eventually invalided out of the army. He pops up again in June 1919 living at 235 Kilburn Road, Paddington - information from a letter head - married but wife's name unknown but has a 9 month old son called Willie. I'm stumped but somewhere there is info about this man. Any help appreciated.
Jerry

[jennifer c]

Charles J Harding married Margaret Alway Dec qtr 1917  Paddington ref. 1a 191

William C Harding birth reg Sept qtr 1918 Willesden ref. 3a 448 mother's maiden name Alway.

Looks a good bet?

There is a Margaret Alway born 1893 in 1911 census St.Pancras?

Jennifer

[wozzle]

if you get that marr cert you will be able to find his fathers name and occ and also charles age and occ
with that info you should with a bit of luck be able to find him on earlier censuses

[gallipolianzac]

Thanks folks that fabulous - incidently Jennifer how did you find that info? I used Ancestory and got so many hits for Charles Harding I was swamped - !!

Jerry

[jennifer c]

I looked for a birth for William around that date and area, this gave mothers maiden name, then I looked for a Harding & Alway marriage.


Jennifer

[jennifer c]

You could try posting his details on the WW1 Army forum on here.

Jennifer

[CaractacusRex]

If this thread is still active - Charles Harding is my Great Grandfather and William - Bill, is my Grandfather who died in 2003.

We know very little about Charles.

Margaret Alway, daughter of Hugh Hamilton Alway and Mary Maria Alway, married twice, possibly three times. First she had a child to an unknown person, the child takes her name - Percy Hamilton Alway (1911 - 2001) so we are unsure if he was born out of wedlock or in marriage to an unknown person, secondly to Charles J Harding, with whom she had William Charles Harding, and finally to Edward E Azore - who appears to be from the Caribbean, presumably from a former slave colony, who worked in the music halls as a musician, but was later killed in 1942 in the merchant navy working as a Greaser. He and Margaret had another child - Roy Edward John Azore who is buried in Bari War Grave in Italy. However the understanding in our family is that Roy fell in love - but having mixed heritage, despite being white, took his own life because of the worry and having to deal with the racism of possibly having a mixed race or black child. Roy's death caused a long time breach between Percy and Bill. Bill's life had quite a bit of tragedy, his eldest son also committed suicide and his younger son died of a brain tumor at 30. This particular Harding lineage ended when Bill's only surviving child - my Mother, married my Father, however Percy also had children who are still alive although I am not personally in contact with them.

The presumption for Margaret's remarrying is that both her first husband/lover and Charles died/were killed. The family were at one point living in pretty much squalor in a couple of rooms in Camden Town. Margaret succumbed to mental illness towards the end of the war and was unable to recognise her sons.

I've attached the only photo we have of Charles. We know nothing whatsoever of the rest of his family, or of his war experience until I found this thread. I'd be fascinated to know your connection to Charles and any information you may have. Any and all information would be amazing.

Pete

[dawnsh]

Hi Pete

Welcome to Rootschat 

According to his profile Jerry, who started the topic, hasn't posted recently but was online here a few weeks back.

As long as his email address hasn't changed he should recieve email notifications that we have posted and hopefully come back soon.

Dawn

[CaractacusRex]

Thanks Dawn.

It's only by chance I recently started back into genealogy, and Charles has been a completely stubborn dead end since 2008 when I first started my tree. So it's wonderful to suddenly have his name turn up on google.

I've spoken to my Mum tonight who reminded me of a few things I'd forgotten about Charles - that he was a Piper and Pianist - and his family cut off Margaret Alway after she married Edward Azore, which is why we know absolutely nothing about his family.

We're hoping Jerry returns to the thread really excited to make contact.

I've uploaded some more photos. The first is of Billy, my Grandad and Charles' son, and then his two half brothers - Percy and Roy (With the Unexploded Bomb sign) all during the war.