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Henry Powell was baptised on 28th May 1820 at St Mary's, Harrow, Middlesex. His baptism record indicates that his father was not known, but there is a "Barchild" reference that I haven't seen before - does anyone know anything about this? I assume it just means Henry was illegitimate.

The image shows another baptism, for William Tillyard, by way of comparison.

I've attached an extract from the first page of my cousin George Cecil Rhodes' RAF service record and I'm hoping that someone can shed some light on the aircraft that he flew. He transferred from the RNAS in 1918 - his flying record started in 1921 and ended in 1936 when he retired.

The record states that he flew "Avro B.F. DH9A Snipe (ACR27) Atlas (ACR31) Wapiti (ACR32) Siskin Hart (ACR33) Bulldog (ACR35)".  There also seems to be a "to" (or maybe an ampersand) between "B.F." and "DH9A" - if it's "to" then I don't know what that means.

I also don't know what the "ACR" codes mean so would appreciate some help with that too.

This is my first attempt at identifying the aircraft listed:-

Avro (unnamed, but possibly  the 504) - see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_504

Bristol Fighter - see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_F.2_Fighter

DeHavilland DH9 - see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airco_DH.9

Sopwith Snipe (ACR 27) - see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopwith_Snipe

Armstrong Whitworth Atlas (ACR 31) - see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Whitworth_Atlas

Westland Wapiti (ACR 32) - see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland_Wapiti

Armstrong Whitworth Siskin - see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Whitworth_Siskin

Hawker Hart (ACR 33) - see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hart

Sopwith Bulldog (ACR 25) - see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopwith_Bulldog


Any suggestions/corrections much appreciated.

Steve

My 4g grandfather, William Fowler, was a 1st lieutenant in the Royal Marines, his seniority dating from 1st Nov 1799. I don't have much information on him yet, but he was probably born about 1779 or earlier (he married in March 1800, and was of full age) and probably died about 1861 as he's not in Navy Lists after that year. He does appear in several earlier Navy Lists from 1814 onwards and he seems to have been put on General (or Reserved) Half-Pay from about 1815/16. None of the Navy List entries have any reference to a ship, so I'm not sure what his role would have been.

I also found an entry in the Coast Guard section of the Jan 1849 Navy List where he was said to be an Inspecting Lieutenant at West Cove, Tralee, Ireland, with a date of 28 Oct 1843. The year of service is given as 99 so I'm pretty sure I have the right man (the rank is also correct i.e. FLM=First Lieutenant of Marines).

I'm currently trawling through the Coast Guard records (ADM175) at the National Archives, but I was wondering whether anyone can provide insight into the relationship between the Marines and the Coast Guard, especially for officers in the Marines who were on the Reserved Half-Pay List.

I don't know where William was born (possibly in Ireland, according to family history notes passed down to me) but he lived in Kent for much of his life (he was living at Sandwich at the time of his marriage to Mary Ann Claringbold in 1800). One of his daughters, Eliza, married a French/Belgian innkeeper named Dekooninck at Dunkirk in 1840, so I was wondering whether his professional duties took him to Dunkirk at some point. Could William have been attached to the Kent Coast Guard as well? I believe William was a farmer in the Elham area of Kent, and there may be a connection with Kearsney Abbey, but I don't have any hard evidence for this yet (it's just mentioned in passing in a family letter).

In later life, William was apparently known as "Major Fowler" (I have a family letter that refers to him in this way), but I'm puzzled about this because I thought he would have needed to have had a rank of Captain to be awarded the rank of Major on retirement. Could "Major" be an affectation, or is it possible he was granted that rank when he retired? But that doesn't seem likely as he isn't in the lists of retired officers in the Navy Lists, so it looks as if he died whilst in the service - he would have been at least 82 years old in 1861.

Any insights or suggestions for further research would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve

Hi,

I'm trying to trace the post 1928 naval career of my great uncle William Ernest "Ernie" Thompson, but I've hit a dead end as I don't have his death details (I apparently need a death certificate to apply for post-1928 RN records). The details that I do have are listed below:-

Born 23 Dec 1900 at 20 Hurlbatt Place, Newington Batts, London to William James Thompson and Alice Rhoda Ling (who married on 25 Dec 1895 at St. Mary's, Newington)

1901 census - was still living at 20 Hurlbatt Place
1911 census - was living at 22 Cator Street, Peckham

8 Jan 1918 - joined RNVR (ref. Z8430) and served on HMS Victory VI  (he gave his date of birth as 23 April 1900, which may have been a ploy to enlist - just my guess)

31 Aug 1920 - joined RN (ref. K59096) and served as Stoker 2nd Class on HMS Pembroke II - initial period of service was stated as 12 years; also, his service record shows the date of birth of 23 Dec 1900 crossed out and replaced with 23 April 1900 (which was on his RNVR record)

Jul 1921 - promoted to Stoker 1st Class (now serving on HMS Repulse)

31 Dec 1934 - now serving as Leading Stoker on HMS Kent (as shown on long service award records dated 31 Dec 1934)

1934-36 - serving on HMS Kent at China Station (I have a photo of Ernie that shows him in a Stoker Petty Officer's uniform, but the back is simply inscribed Chief Petty Officer HMS Kent, China Station 1934-36 - maybe he was promoted later)

And that's the last record I can find of him - my father was born in 1933 and doesn't remember ever seeing his Uncle Ernie, although he does remember his mother talking about him (but nothing specific, unfortunately).

I have found a couple of possible death records, but I don't think they're the right ones - a William Ernest Thompson died in the Chatham, Kent area on 10 March 1976, but his date of birth was given as 28 Oct 1900; and the other possibility was Ernest William Thompson who died between July and September 1978 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire - his date of birth matches the (false) date given by Ernie on his RN enlistment record i.e 23 April 1900. But I think this Ernest William was born in the Nuneaton area, so we can probably discount this one. One other possibility, I guess, is that Ernie never came back to the UK and settled overseas somewhere - I've done quite a few searches and drawn a blank so far.

So, if anyone can help with advice, suggestions or information then this would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Steve