1895 German birth certificate

[davecapps]

Thank you all - much appreciated. 

Just one more thing, please - am I correct in assuming that the bit after his name, ending in "No. 28" is their home address, which is the college? It's also on the main part of the form - Heidelberg, [...] Neuenheim, [...hofstrasse?] No. 28?

Yes it was their home address.
It says: wohnhaft (resident) in Heidelberg, Stadttheil (town district) Neuenheim, Mönchhofstrasse 28

[lucymags]

Thanks very much, davecapps!

(And thanks to the wonders of the interwebz, I can see it here: https://goo.gl/maps/ARXiHKDLpj52.)

[Karen McDonald]

I suspect it may have been changed or even completely rebuilt since then. At least bits of it are much newer. But it's nice to get an idea!

Here is a potted history of the College:
http://www.heidelberg-college.de/history
(Henry doesn't get a mention, for some reason.)

and here is a website which contains scans of the College "magazines":
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/neuenheimer1895/0001/image

In November 1895, H. C. Girdlestone is mentioned on P.29 in the cricket results:
 http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/neuenheimer1895/0085/image

He is probably mentioned elsewhere, if you have the time to trawl through the pages...  :-)

Karen

[lucymags]

Yes, actually when I googled the address, saw it was a nursing home now, and it does look extensively rebuilt (although possibly kept the same structure? - the roof looks older in style, at least).

Thanks for that - I had found that history and found that it had merged with Heidelberg College (which is now a German institution, but still with an English "rowing club"!), and all of the mentions in the magazine:
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/neuenheimer?navmode=fulltextsearch&action=fulltextsearch&ft_query=girdlestone

I've managed to find quite a bit now about the wandering Henry (or Harry as he was apparently called) - but he died quite suddenly of pneumonia at only 50, in Cape Town.