Francis William Brett

[chezzer61]

Hi all I'm hoping someone can help me get started on researching my husbands side of the family.
My husbands parents were Daphne Brett (nee Bell) born 1926 in India his father Francis William Brett ( known as Frank) Born 1918-1919 died 24-3-1974 he had a sister Marjory? but no other known relatives this was Francis's 2nd marriage. I know my husbands parents met & lived in Coventry until Francis died & my husband his mother & sister moved to Australia. Where do I start as I live in Australia & money is limited  its hard to get started any advice or help would be very much appreciated.

[Nutty1966]

Hi and a big welcome to Rootschat, hopefully somebody will be able to help you in your search..

Do you have your husband's parents birth certificates? This I feel would be a good place to start or their marriage certificate, this would allow you to see who the parents are, the marriage cert will only state the father's name. 

Once you have the parents names, we should be able to search on the 1901 for them, with their parents.  Good luck

Jane

[Valda]

You can look at the English and Welsh civil registration quarters for free at

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/rectype/vital/freebmd/bmd.aspx

The civil registration quarter of March 1974 for deaths gives Francis William's death details and also his date of birth.

Francis William Brett 10th July 1918 Coventry (place of death) 9C 1958.

I can't see his birth registration as Francis W Brett in that quarter. If you know the details of his second marriage you can search for the exact reference - quarter, registration district, volume and page number at 'Ancestry' and send for the marriage certificate to find out details of both fathers. GRO website

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

If you know any further details of Francis' sister - her married name, when approximately she died, it might be possible to search for her death registration and try to track her birth back (the registration if after 1910 will give mother's maiden name in the index). If that surname was distinctive enough you might be lucky and have it lead you to an marriage on FreeBMD.

FreeBMD is indexing the civil registration index to make it much quicker to search.

http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

Coverage is good up to about 1910
How good their coverage is is here

http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/progress.shtml

For births in India - they might be registered in the overseas section of the civil registration either as army births or consular births. The index for those births is on the internet but on a pay as you view website.

http://www.findmypast.com/HomeServlet

People who have credits will do look ups for you. However it is the civil registration index so again you will need to purchase the birth certificate itself from the GRO for further details.


As a longer shot there is a William F. Brett's birth registration in the September quarter of 1918. The details are

William F. Brett
Thanet registration district
Volume 2a
Page 1594
Mother's maiden name Eatwell

There is a potential marriage in the same registration district for the parents on FreeBMD

Marriages Sep 1904   
BRETT  Benedick George    Thanet  2a 2128   
Eatwell  Charlotte Louisa     Thanet  2a 2128

with two other birth registrations for certain to the couple (after 1910 with mother's maiden name) of twins

Births Mar 1914 
BRETT  Margaret M  Eatwell  Thanet  2a 1994   
BRETT  Peter J  Eatwell  Thanet  2a 1994

Regards

Valda

[chezzer61]

Thank you for your help at least now I have a birthdate to work off. I don't really know about  Francis's 1st marriage or even where he was born as my husband was only young when he lost his dad. Those links you gave me Valda will come in handy in my search thank you.

Cheryl