Help Finding my Grandfather

[avm228]

Should we just enter all the information we have in the GRO index field?

Yes  - you need to enter all the information including the full name of the volume in which you have found the entry. There are varying formats in the overseas indices, hence the rather vague order form!

Anna

[markey164]

Should we just enter all the information we have in the GRO index field?

Yes  - you need to enter all the information including the full name of the volume in which you have found the entry. There are varying formats in the overseas indices, hence the rather vague order form!

Anna

Ok now ordered. Entered everything including the title of the volume too, so hopefully they can find it ok. Thanks for your help. Let's hope this reveals another clue or two 

[markey164]

Hello,

I got hold of the Marriage certificate for my grandad (sorry for the long delay!).

It is the correct certificate as the spouse details match perfectly.

It lists my grandad's details at the date of marriage (9th Sept 1945) as:

Name: John Alfred Barrett
Age: 26
Profession: LAC, RAF (this was new, we thought he'd only been in the army)
Residence: 337 Wing, RAF Greece
Father: William Herbert Barrett
Father's Occupation: L.M.S. Railway

His DOB on my mum's birth certificate is 11th Oct 1918. This ties in with his age at the time marriage above.

So either he is wrong about his birth year, and/or he has swapped his names around and he is in fact Alfred John Barrett, or his birth record isn't recorded?

Perhaps he lied about his age to get into the RAF maybe? If he were the man born in 1922 (as mentioned above) he would only have turned 17 in Oct 1939. Perhaps he added a few years to get into the RAF. Does anyone know how old you had to be to sign up?

Can anyone add anything i may have missed?

[Billyblue]

"Does anyone know how old you had to be to sign up?"

Not sure about the RAF (but am sure someone else will know) but in Australia you had to be 18 to join the RAAF in wartime.  My OH joined up as soon as he turned 18.

Dawn M

[weste]

Hi,
    my dad's christian names were Alfred Leonard and he did n't like his first name and was known to everyone as Len. I don't think most people knew about his first name. I think its fairly common to swap them around.

[Daisypetal]

Hi,

Maybe John was born with a different surname then his mother married a William BARRETT. This one could be possible,


Birth
John A FRENCH    Dec Q 1918    Poplar    1c  557
Mother's Maiden Surname: French


Marriage
William BARRETT    Sep Q 1923    Poplar    1c  771   
Rose FRENCH with same details.


He might never have known that his birth name was FRENCH.


Regards,
Daisy


P.S. Why do you think John Alfred BARRETT was in the army?

[markey164]

That is an interesting and very possible theory!

My mum lost contact with her dad when she was young and her parents split up , so she doesn't know a lot about him. She did manage to re-establish contact, in later life, but not long before he passed away unfortunately.

We know he was in the army as he listed this as his occupation on my mum's birth certificate.

He appeared to go from the RAF (when he married) to the army (on my mum's birth certificate) and back to the RAF again (on my uncle's birth certificate).

He wrote down his service number on my uncle's birth certificate, so we've just ordered his RAF service record at the weekend, which will hopefully reveal some clues. Bit steep at £30 though 

[carol8353]

He wrote down his service number on my uncle's birth certificate, so we've just ordered his RAF service record at the weekend, which will hopefully reveal some clues. Bit steep at £30 though 

I got my dad's WW2 RAF service record and because I was next of kin they returned my £30 cheque with it  It did take ages to come through though..............months!

Carol

[markey164]

He wrote down his service number on my uncle's birth certificate, so we've just ordered his RAF service record at the weekend, which will hopefully reveal some clues. Bit steep at £30 though 

I got my dad's WW2 RAF service record and because I was next of kin they returned my £30 cheque with it  It did take ages to come through though..............months!

Carol

Maybe that's why they refunded it.....for being so slow.

The form says the £30 will be waived for applications from those who were the
spouse or civil partner of the subject at the time of death (or parent if there was no spouse
or civil partner). My mum doesn't come into any of those categories unfortunately, even though she is now next of kin.