How can I find death of soldier WW1

[sossle]

Could anyone let me know how I can find out if my Grt Grandfather Alexander Robertson died in WW1?
I don't know whether he did fight but he deserted my Grt Grandmother & after several years, in 1919 she remarried & is down as a widow. I can't find his death & can only assume that she had been notified of his death for her to say that she was a widow. Would he have had to give info on his marriage & children etc to the military even though he'd left them?
Any help would be appreciated.

[O1dgobbo]

Hi

Do you know when he was born, what work he did and where he was living?

The Commonwealth War Graves site is a good place to search for people killed in the two world wars.  There are 156 records for people called A Robertson and there are quite a few Alexanders in the list.  Unfortunately the amount of family detail is very variable, for some casualties the forename is missing, for many casualties the age is missing, and only a few of the WW1 casualties include names of next of kin.

The army enlistment forms included a section on next of kin and a man's records may include correspondence with his wife about allowances and pensions.  There may also be corresondence about the receipt of medals.  Unfortunately the WW1 records were damaged by fire during WW2 and only about a third survive.  My on line source is Ancestry, who are in the process of indexing the records and have completed A to N - so have not yet got as far as Robertson.

This is not a very helpful reply but if you can tell us a little bit more about him we may still be able to help.

All the best

Gobbo

[SueK50]

Soldiers Died in the Great War (available on FindMyPast) lists 61 men with just the name Alexander Robertson (plus some more with 2nd names)

If you know where he was born this might help to narrow it down as this is one of the things it records for most of the entries - but - he could have been in another service and like most records it is not foolproof

I'm happy to look for you if you have this information

Cheers
Sue

[Buzancy18]

http://www.snwm.org/cgi-bin/db_w1.pl

lists 83 Alexander Robertsons with their birthplace, 150 A Robertsons.

Buzancy18

[sossle]

Thank you all for your help.
Alexander Robertson was born in Glasgow in 1875 his parents were Alexander Robertson & Jane nee Ryrie. He married Mary Margaret Storie Haddow in 1895 & they moved to Salford Lancashire in 1898. They were in Salford until 1905 definately & then he seems to have dissapeared but my Grt Grandmother remained in Salford all her life. She lived with another man from 1910 & they had a child in 1911 but only married  in 1919. I presume she found out her husband had died as she was quite religous (C of E) & would have wanted to be married earlier.

[O1dgobbo]

Hi Sossle

I have looked in the 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses for Alexander and think that I have found him in those years (1881 at 32 Marlow St, Glasgow; 1891 at 38 Lambhill St, Glasgow and 1901 at 21 Mottram St, Salford).  If this is the man then in 1891 he was an apprentice on a sailor's cutter and in 1901 he was a waterfront cutter worker.  This suggests two possibilities and you may have investigated these;

1. He was lost at sea in a cutter accident
2. He ran away to sea.

I am unsure of the law on persons lost in an accident if the body is not discovered and I imagine that there would be some fixed period a wife would have to wait before she could ppresume that he was dead.  If he was lost in an accident then there ought to be some newspaper reports

If he ran away to sea and died in WW1 then you are looking for a casualty in the Merchant or Royal Navy.  The cwgc site has four A Robertson merchant seamen and 13 in the Royal Navy.

All the best

Gobbo

[sossle]

Hi,

Thanks for the info. He was a tailors cutter in Glasgow. When he came to Salford from what I have found on baptisms etc he is down as cutter, tailors cutter, waterproof cutter, tailor, waterproof maker.It all relates to the same trade. I can't find him with that profession in 1911 census.
I wonder whether he went in the army sooner than WW1. I have read somewhere that when men were sent to prison they could volunteer to go into the army instead?

[O1dgobbo]

Hi

Oh dear my eyes need seeing to!

Gobbo

[sossle]

Not to worry Ha Ha
Thanks for trying to help me though.
Do you have any idea when Ancestry will have completed the WW1 records, is it an ongoing thing?