Trying to resolve a family mystery and locate a person

[mib6859]

Hi all.  Have been trying to locate a great uncle of wife called "Fred Cole".  The story is that the great grandmother "Betsy Cole" had two sons, "Edgar Charles Cole" (wife's grandfather) and his brother "Fred" who was born 8th Jan 1889 in Lower Stondon/Shillington Bedfordshire.  Both of these sons where illegitimate.  Edgar we have a full record of up to his death etc

Now, Fred is a different story, I can track him down in the 1891, 1901 censuses and in the 1911 census living with his brother Edgar and his own family in West Ham, London.  But Fred is listed as a cousin. 

The family story that has been circulated is that Fred became a tramp or homeless etc, and eventually died.  He was apparently found under a hedge!!

We have no idea as to the year of his death, location of his death or where he may lay now.  Could be anywhere we guess between West Ham (London) of Lower Stondon, Bedfordshire or even further a field.

What also does not help, is that his name on his birth certificate is simply "Fred Cole" no other forenames and the only know facts we have is the mother's name, date of birth and place of birth.

Any ideas or suggestions on where we may start this new search would be appreciated.

[Jackiemh]

That's a tough one. Have you tried British Newspaper Archive (available on Findmypast)? It is a long shot.
Jackie

[groom]

I've had a look through Freebmd and can't see an obvious death of a Fred Cole of the right age. If he was wandering about as a tramp, unless he had identification on him, the chances are that his death may not have been registered under his name.

[Scribble1952]

Just a suggestion.
doss houses .

[groom]

Just a suggestion.
doss houses .

That could be very difficult as I doubt whether records are kept and also the OP doesn't know where in the country he was.

[dawnsh]

The trouble also with freebmd is that their search engine automatically extends the name from Fred to Frederick and you get far too many results.

FindMyPast only has 20 Fred Cole deaths for chaps born 1889 +/-2 yrs including 8 in British Nationals Overseas and Deaths at Sea.

As groom mentions, whoever registered his death may not have known his real name or age so he could even be recorded with an 'Unknown' surname of which there are 3 potentials, or 'Unknown for both surname and first names, there are loads of those.

Sadly, there are over 7000 deaths recorded form 1911 -1939 where the first name is 'male' and the surname is 'unknown'.

A bit of a long shot but have you checked the 1939 register and just put in his date of birth to see what turns up? If he did make it to 1939 he may have got himself an identity card and ration book.

[Scribble1952]

Maybe  had a register of names in case of a fire.
Or money accounts.
Police records .
Hospitals
In the doss house,
I can't find  a death certificate  for my grandfather Ihave looked everywhere ,rootchatters  have  searched
None found.
But one day I just put in Google search engine the place of his birth ,and his name, and  a  result😊a war memorial had been decated  to the brave men of the village who fought in the Great War  which has my Grandads name on 😊

[groom]

No one of that name in 1939, but of course we don't know that he was still alive then. There are hundreds born on that date, and there is no guarantee that he wasn't using a false name.

[sami]

As Scribble suggests, perhaps he joined up during the war. Have you tried searching military files or the listings on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission?

sami