A second opinion please

[ladybird]

I have an Alfred Edward Berry (c1888) who married my Great aunt Catherine Townsend on 10th July 1914 at Paddington Registry Office. Their address at that time was Star St.
I wondered if he had gone to war

Found on Ancestry Discharge documents for an Alfred Edward Berry, 1/4 Batt, The Essex Regiment. Reg no. 200409...at the end of the doc it gives his no. as B2079 ex 2283(??)
He enlisted 5th August 1914 (which would mean he enlisted less than a month after marriage), discharged with exhaustion psycosis (permanent) 3rd April 1919.
His address given is 49 Albert Road, Ilford.

My question I guess is how far from Paddington is Ilford..or even Islington as I know my g/aunt spent time there with her sisters during WW1
and
Could this be my man? There is no next of kin given on the docs. Is there any other way to check up on him 

regards Sylvia

[Dave Francis]

Hi Sylvia

Paddington and Ilford are in different parts of London - opposite sides in fact - but I wouldn't read too much into that.

If you re-read the discharge papers you'll see that this soldier's declared age was 28 when he enlisted in August 1914 and that he was born in Hackney. (Also recorded as age 33 on his discharge five years later.) Does this make him the wrong age?

Dave

[Dave Francis]

If you look at FreeBMD you will see the birth registration of an Alfred Edward T Berry in 1885 (Sept qtr, Hackney v 1b p 540).

But there are a few others in the 1880s including two in the London area.

Dave

[ladybird]

Thanks for that Dave, doesn't look very hopeful then 
I've been through all the others and have discounted them one way and another
So...maybe he didn't go to war  His father was John William Bremmett Berry, a coachbuilder, according to the marriage cert and I've never found a birth entry for him

Maybe they went back to Ireland where his wife was born...who knows maybe he was born there too?

Thanks for you help, Sylvia

[Dave Francis]

Hi again

It's quite possible that your Alfred did serve in WWI. Bear in mind that the discharge papers in question only relate to non-commissioned officers who claimed disability pensions.

Dave

[manmack]

the above soldier was already serving when the war started,hes a territorial,he wasnt obliged to serve overseas,the enl date on his docs is probably the date he volunteered to serve overseas,his next of kin[wife] should be on his pension record,his correct number was 2016,then in 1917 he was renumbered along with all the other territorials as 200409.
mack
ps.at some time before 1917 he was invalided home sick/wounded,probably from gallipoli