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Many thanks for these replies.  I
Will also post to the Tasmanian board.

My forebear’s name was Henry Corbett. 

Thanks,
Keston.

Hi,

Many thanks for these wonderful photos.

Thanks,
Keston.

Hi,

Thanks to those who have included informative posts on this board about researching in South Africa.  I have done quite a bit of research in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand on various branches of my family, but am now looking at a line which lived for a while in South Africa, so for a researcher without local background they have been greatly appreciated!

My search is for any information I can find on Harold Smith (b. abt. 1879, Ashton under Lyne, Lancashire, d. 4 Mar 1919, Durban).

Harold was a bricklayer and family information is that he and some or all of his brothers Leonard (b. 1880), Sydney (b. 1884), and Fred (b. 1893), who were all bricklayers spent time working in Natal.  Family information is that through the firm Smith & Booth, they were responsible for building many of the houses in Pietermaritzburg.  Whilst the other brothers returned to the UK, Harold died on his way back to the UK in 1919.

The family story is that he died on the boat of diphtheria and was returned to Durban, where he is buried.  He left a family, including three small children in England.

Thanks to suggestions on this board, I have now found a Death record and will for Harold on the Family Search website.  This provides the interesting information that he actually died in Room 13, Belgrave Hotel, Durban, and that he committed suicide.  Although we know he was working in Pietermaritzburg in 1915, at the time of his death he was or had been working at the Reynold Bros Sugar Mill, Sezela on the south Natal coast.

For me this clearly raises all sorts of interesting questions.  The first of which is whether there would be any newspaper record of his death.  I have found good write-ups in Australian papers for example of similar events for other family members.

Also, where was Belgrave Hotel and is it still there, and which Durban cemetery is he buried in.

I would also be keen to track down any information at all that may exist on Smith & Booth in Pietermaritzburg.

I have done a lot of searching on the web, and have found the transcriptions that have been done of some Durban cemeteries and have not found him included.  I have also seen the EGGSA website which seems to include transcriptions of some local papers.

I am keen to understand whether there are any other sources of newspaper or burial records and whether anyone can shed any light on the other small bits of information coming from the family or the death record.

Any suggestions on this would be most gratefully accepted!

Many thanks,
KESTON.



 

HiCas and DragonT,

Many thanks for your replies.  Cas, the Stiles seems to be a mistranscription as when you click to the original page on that record on  Findmypast it says Ailes.

DragonT, thank you for the tip about Joseph Jones, that is a new direction which I will look into!

Thanks,
Keston.