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Alfred Robert Louis Koenig was my greatgrandfather.  He came to England around 1892 and married my English greatgrandmother, Elizabeth Frances Watts, in 1894.  I have his census records, marriage and death certificates and the names of his 5 children.  However, I don't know his date of birth, except that the year was 1869 or 1870, and I don't know where he came from in Germany.  My mother said that he was from Saxony, but that's all I know.  His father's first name was Emil, mother unknown.  He had a sister, possibly named Caroline.

Ring any bells, anyone??

Very interesting indeed.  Another interesting thing is that there I can find no death record for William Foster Batten, either on Ancestry.co.uk (my usual source) or on familysearch (which I had never heard of before - another thing to thank you for).  I cannot help wondering if William Foster Batten disappeared and reinvented himself as Wilton Forrester Battern.  He is about the right age (about 15 years older than Ellen and I believe he was older than she was), and there is no other William Foster Batten/Battern that I can find.  Of all the ways he described himself - his name, his rank of Captain in the ICS, his father's name, and the fact that he states on his marriage certificate that his father was a Captain in the Royal Navy - none can be verified as there are no records to be found.
 
Could I ask you how you manage to send long messages - I am nearly at the end of the space allowed already and I haven't said nearly enough!

Thank you very much indeed for this info.  I think this must be 'my' Ellen Louisa Gilbert Beachcroft Harrison - there can't to two names like that in South Africa, despite the tiny spelling difference of 'Beechcroft'.  I had thought of her marrying again but could find no record and anyway I understood that she died young, although of course she still may have done - she was born in 1862, making her 42 in 1904.

I did know about the alternate surname spelling of 'Batten'.  Unfortunately her husband was known as Wilton Forrester Battern/Batten and also William Foster Battern/Batten.  He also claimed to be a Captain, late of the ICS, but I can find no record at the India Office.  His marriage certificate shows his father's name to be D'ArcyGeorge Clive Battern - again, no record anywhere.

I have checked the 1923 Wilton Batten burial but unfortunately this man was 33 when he died, clearly not the same person.    Many thanks again for your help and interest.

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This lady was divorced in London in 1891 and very possibly went to South Africa in 1894 her only child, a 5 year old son.  Her ex-husband's name was Wilton Forrester Battern, also known as William Foster Battern.  Her mother was Louisa Walker Brown Harrison, occupation described as 'literary' (I think she wrote children's books under the name of Louise Walker).  Does anyone recognise any of these names?  I know what happened to Ellen's son (he was my grandfather), but I don't know what happened to Ellen or her mother.   Any help at all very gratefully received!

Provenance