looking for Smiths in Hinckley, Leicestershire

[sassyem]

Hello,
If anyone can help I would be truely grateful. My Grandfather Harold Smith was born in Hinckley 1920. He has passed away now but he told me if I wanted to trace my family tree on his side I could find all the info at St Margarets in Hinckley. He married Sheila Pickering and they moved to Australia in 1958 with their 3 children.
I would like information on who my grandfathers father was and his father before him. Any clues would be appreciated..............Smith is such a hard name to find in the BDM because there were so many!

[avm228]

Hello and welcome

On FreeBMD at www.freebmd.org.uk you will find this birth registration, which may be your grandfather's:

Birth Mar qtr 1920     
SMITH Harold (mother's maiden name HANSON)   
Hinckley 7a 97

Are you absolutely sure it was exactly 1920?  Another Harold SMITH was registered the following year in the same district, as you will see from FreeBMD. I now see from the 1958 passenger list that his birthdate was 27 Jan 1920 which is consistent with the above registration (i.e. his birth was registered in the period 1 Jan-31 Mar 1920).

Once you know which certificate you want, you can order it online (even from overseas) from http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/.

[sassyem]

ok thats def him, he told me his mothers maiden name was Hanson

[avm228]

Here is the marriage reference for Harold, matching the information you have given:

Mar qtr 1947
Hinckley 3a 1089

If you were to order the marriage certificate it ought tell you the name and occupation of both parties' fathers, which would enable you to take your research further and give you something concrete to cross-check with a birth certificate.

NB You may wish to edit your first post to remove identifying material as to any living person, as Rootschat's rules require that no such information is posted to prevent identity theft and other problems.

Anna

[avm228]

ok thats def him, he told me his mothers maiden name was Hanson

Oh good!

In that case this marriage (also indexed on FreeBMD) is likely to be of interest:

Marriage Jun qtr 1914

HANSON Alice M (spouse SMITH)   
SMITH Walter (spouse HANSON)   
Hinckley 7a 145

[avm228]

You will see from FreeBMD (if you search for SMITH births with mother's maiden name HANSON registered in Hinckley) that Harold appears to have had a younger sister, born in 1922.

The fact that there is no obvious sign of a child to the SMITH/HANSON couple between 1914 (their marriage) and 1920 (Harold's birth) may mean that Walter was away, perhaps serving in WW1, in the early years of the marriage.

[sassyem]

correct he was away in the war. I have the sisters name as A.........is that what you found?

[avm228]

correct he was away in the war. I have the sisters name as Alice..........is that what you found?

For the reasons given above I'm not going to post the sister's name, in case she is still living - but you can find it easily enough on FreeBMD (it isn't Alice).

Harold's mother's name looks as though it may well have been Alice.

[sassyem]

oops keep forgetting but have gone back and edited! Thanks