Leslie Charles LONGHURST AWOL from ship? *COMPLETED*

[LordOfKent]

Hi folks

A very long shot but here goes.

An uncle of mine Leslie Charles LONGHURST b 6 February 1924 Gravesend, Kent, England went missing some time after about 1960. We know that he travelled quite a bit around the world as up until that time we received parcels from him from various places. In the past the Salvation Army has tried to trace him without success, but that was some years ago now.

I have recently been told by a cousin that her deceased dad had also been trying to find Les. She also told me that she was pretty certain that Leslie had jumped ship, (merchant navy)? while his ship was in New Zealand. He had settled there and had got into some sort of trouble with the Police. ATM I'm not sure if he went to prison or not but perhaps he changed his name after that.

We think he might have married again, his first wife having been murdered in 1950 in Northumberland, England.

He had 1 daughter only with his first wife and at one time she was looking for him as well but has since given up. As I am now researching my family genealogy I would like to resolve this mystery.

If anyone can help me with any sort of lookups or info it would be very welcome indeed.

Thanks
John

[Janette]

Hi John,

I can't see a death for him under that name,

Cheers Janette

[Canterburynorth]

Snap Janette,

There are no other Longhurst deaths either from 1950 onwards that match his date of birth. Also nothing on Archway.

Re the name change John, do you have any thoughts as to what he might have used?
In New Zealand we don't have access to prison records for that period, but you could email Archives New Zealand and ask them if they hold any information under that name.

http://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/

Regards
Leandra

[LordOfKent]

Thanks to you both.

Regards the name change, you know as much as me, it is just a possibility that he did it.

I'll get in touch with Archives New Zealand and see if they have anything at all.

Peering through the heavy fog of anonymity I think

Thanks
John

[LordOfKent]

Hi again

I have contacted Archives New Zealand and here is part of their reply,

Thank you for your email of 29 August 2010 regarding your missing uncle, Leslie Charles Longhurst.  Given the story you have provided, I would suggest that a search of the New Zealand Police Gazettes would be a good place to start.  We hold these up through 1988.  Most of my research has been in earlier Gazettes and there were sections in there for those who absconded from ships.  They also list those for whom a warrant for arrest has been issued and a list of those who have been released from jail.

The Police Gazettes have had a restriction of 70 years placed on them for privacy reasons.  However, you may write to the Commissioner of Police at the address below and ask that an Archivist be given permission to search through a particular date range for him.
Access Contacts: Approval must be sought from the Commissioner of Police to access restricted records.

and

As you do not know if he is still alive, the Commissioner may not feel free to release the information, however, you are entitled to ask.  He will respond to with a letter.  If the answer is in the affirmative, please send the original letter to us.  We will make a copy for our files and return the origianl to you.

Archives New Zealand charges $NZ25.00 per half hour for searches on behalf of those who are unable to come into our offices.  This amount is payable whether the search is successful or not.  Assuming we find entries for him, we will have to transcribe the information as we would be unable to divulge information about others on the same page.

I suggest that, should you be granted permission to access information about him, contact us again and tell us that you have an access letter and that you will be posting or faxing it to us.  We will then send you instructions on how you can make an on-line credit card payment or other methods available.

If you are not granted access to these records, it could be difficult to trace him.  You may consider contacting the Central Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages to see if they hold marriage and/or death registrations for him.  Their web-site is www.bdm.govt.nz<http://www.bdm.govt.nz>.  They have an on-line index only for records older than 70 years for marriages and 100 years for births.

You may also consider contacting the National Library of New Zealand to ask for a search of the Wise's Post Office Directories.  They may be able to find where he was living and when he stopped appearing in the directories.  This could also lead to a search of the electoral roles of the area in which he lived.  The Directories just list heads of household, but there is a national index.  It is possible that the Salvation Army has already tried these resources.  The contact details are:

National Library of New Zealand
Access Services
58-78 Molesworth St
PO Box 1467
WELLINGTON

Phone:  04 474 3000
Email:  reference@natlib.govt.nz<mailto:reference@natlib.govt.nz>
Website:  www.natlib.govt.nz<http://www.natlib.govt.nz/>

I have not yet taken this any further, but have posted the info in case it is of any use to anyone else in the same position.

I will post a bit of new info that I have received from my cousin later when I've re-read it.

Thanks

John

[jorose]

Perhaps a red herring but it is an unusual  name:
http://www.bopsantacruzdetenerife.org/2003/06/080/Bop080-03.pdf

There are other entries for him on this site, try a search in google like:
site:www.bopsantacruzdetenerife.org/ Longhurst
site:www.bopsantacruzdetenerife.org/  "Leslie Charles"
(as sometimes "Longhurst" has been misread by their OCR)

http://www.192.com/all/search/ also has some hits for a Leslie C. Longhurst, possibly living with a Victoria S. Longhurst, on relatively recent electoral rolls.

[LordOfKent]

Hi jorose

Thanks for that info I have had a look at what can be found, the problem I am having is trying to translate what is in the pdf files that make up the data. As I don't speak spanish I am struggling to understand anything to be honest.

I use Foxit Reader to read any pdf that I have and I can't do a direct translation from there.

Thanks again