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Hi there. I am currently researching the life of Wheeler Staff Sergeant Henry Harper who died in WW1 on 30 May 1916. He was married to Emily Brooke and they married on 13 April 1901 in Christchurch, Hampshire. According to his wedding certificate his father was "Thomas Harper" a shoemaker and he isn't listed as deceased. This is leaving me feeling a bit confused as from searching out records, I think his father might be Thomas Harper, innkeeper of Duke of York Pub, Frodsham Street, Chester (who died in 1887). Looking for the power of the crowd to identify the true origins of Henry Harper - so that I can determine what his real family origins are.


https://boardoftradewarmemorial.wordpress.com - see entry - https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20070604034733/http://www.dti.gov.uk/about/aboutus/warmemorial/ww1/indexd/page30069.html (I think the 1901 family connection is incorrect)

Also why would someone serving with the Royal Field Artillery be listed as "accidentally drowned" or "died at sea".

Thanks in advance.
Ed

Hi I wonder if power of crowd can help in relation to trying to identify who exactly John M. Mitchell was. I have no idea of his age or date of birth. He was involved in an abortive scheme to lay an undersea telegraph cable to Iceland.

All I have to go on is an article in the Glasgow Herald in 1896 that mentions he is a 'member of the prominent Mitchell family of Glasgow'. I think this might mean he is possibly related in some way to Stephen Mitchell (after whom the Mitchell Library in Glasgow is named) or his family.
 
I also know John was a barrister but that's all I have to go on.

Could anyone help to identify who John M Mitchell might be. Thanks

I would be very interested to know if 2nd Lieutenant Thomas Hughes who died on this day 14 December 1918 in WW1 and who is buried in India is named on a local War Memorial in Cheshire or Lancashire. He was married in 1915 to Sarah Elizabeth Bracewell (sister in law of former mayor of Colne, Alderman Henry Hewitt) and his address is given as Kirkrise, Foulridge on his probate record. They lived at Kirkrise and married in Pendle, Cheshire. I think he had a connection to Seacombe, Cheshire and he might have come from Burslem, Staffordshire. Apparently his parents were Thomas and Betsy Hughes.
His war service number was W/988 and he initially served in WW1 as Sergeant in Cheshire Regiment. He later served as 2nd Lieutenant in 6th Battalion of East Lancashire Regiment. Its possible that his service number means he was born in 1860s. Not entirely sure as military records are not my forte.
He is biggest brickwall amongst all 305 men named on Board of Trade War Memorial as he only man where we have been unable to identify either his parents, place of birth or date of birth or census records.
https://boardoftradewarmemorial.wordpress.com/2020/12/14/thomas-hughes/
Thanks for any advice about where to look next. Hoping his full story can be told.

If you are from Stockport and more familiar with the area, I am trying to trace a Jesse Lang (born in Stockport in about 1835 so that was before general registration so unless can find a baptism record his birth would be difficult to find).

The only census record I can find him in is 1911 when he is 76 and living at 54 Edward Street with his son Thomas Lang (a newsagent and Tobacconist). Jesse is described as a mechanical labourer and widowed.

But I can't find a marriage certificate or a mother's name on Thomas Lang's birth index record..

The only other reference for him is as Jene Lang on marriage record for Thomas Lang in 1893. He is named and occupation is recorded as a stoker.

Does anyone know the area and know if that was indeed a shop? Are there any business or photo records of area? 

Hope to find him in few other census records and a death record but his name must have been misspelled.

Total brickwall. Thanks for any suggestions.

Hello, as part of my ongoing research into the 305 men named on the Board of Trade War Memorial located at 3 Whitehall Place in London I am looking further into the family background of a Robert Brown from Glasgow.

I'd be grateful for any help in locating further details of his relatives as I am trying to find out as much as I can about each man and have an ongoing project to locate as many photos of the Board of Trade men as possible - the "More than just a name" project. So far we have found 116 photos of the 305 men! - https://twitter.com/tradememorial and https://boardoftradewarmemorial.wordpress.com

Anyway, Robert Brown is not one of the easiest of men to find and not giving up too many secrets, although I have made some progress. This is what I know so far:

Parents were: George Brown (born about 1850) and Eliza Hopkins (born abt 1850) who married on 25 April 1873 at High Church, Glasgow.

Their children were:

Robert Brown (1888 - 1916) - who served as Private in 7th Cameron Highlanders and died on 23 August 1916 at Battle of the Somme (the man I interested in)
George Brown (1868 - )
James Hopkins Brown (1874 - )
Margaret Penman Brown (1885 - )
John Brown (1874 - )

I know that the family lived at 51 North Wallace Street in Glasgow in 1901 (and previously at 253 Kennedy Street, Glasgow Barony. That address is also listed in Robert Brown's probate dated 14 November 1916. His brother George Brown is listed as an executor who is named as living at Maxwell Avenue, Westerton, Drumchapel.

Thanks in advance for any help researching Robert Brown's further family connections.