Douglas Victor Exley

[tongariro]

A lady in Wales has asked if I can get her started on tracing her family history.  I have not had much success.

Her grandfather was Douglas Victor Exley and Ancestry shows his death in Leeds in 1987 along with his birth date of Sept 1st 1920.  She has reason to believe he was born on the  IoM - perhaps the reason for the name Douglas. The FreeBMD does not show his birth - but that only covers England and Wales.

The parents of Douglas Victor Exley were Victor Exley and his wife  Frances (surname not known).  I cannot find a reference to that marriage anywhere (1900-1920), probably because they married on the Isle of Man.

I can find no clues from the censuses up to 1901.  I realise the information is a bit thin, and falls in a 'grey' area for recorded data, but any information or suggestions would be gratefully received.  Thank you.

Malcolm

[ShaunJ]

Have you checked out the Douglas V Exley whose birth was registered in Halifax in the 4th quarter of 1920? Mother's maiden name was Hemmings.

Mary F A Hemmings married Charles Exley in Halifax in 1912.

Possibly Mary Frances A Hemmings born Halifax 1888

[tongariro]

Hello.
Yes, I did find that one and thought on the same lines as you - perhaps the  F was for Frances.
However, the father's name of Charles doesn't fit and also the birth is recorded in Q4 of 1920 whereas the birth of Douglas Victor Exley was Sept 1st 1920 which (normally) would be Q3

Thanks for your suggestion.

[ShaunJ]

The time limit for registering a birth was (and is still) 42 days, so registration in early October 1920 is certainly feasible.

[tongariro]

There may be something in the Halifax birth - as you suggest.  I had not totally rejected it - just put it on the "back burner" because it didn't seem to fit.

Mary F A Hemmings, according to Ancestry, was named Mary Frances A Hemmings, born 1888.  So the name Frances is there.  She is on the 1891 census aged 3 (without a mother), but I cannot find her, or her father, on the 1901.

There is a 14 year old Charles Exley on the 1901 census as a pauper inmate of the Halifax workhouse.

The lady in Wales contacted my cousin in Leeds (out of the blue) because of his Exley name.  He passed her on to me.  Having spoken to her on the phone, she seemed fairly certain that the name was Victor Exley, not Charles, but I wonder whether she is absolutely sure it was Victor.  I did send her the information on the Charles marriage but I will need to check again with her in the light of this possible Frances/Charles link.

It is feasible that they moved to the IoM after Douglas Victor Exley was born in 1920 and that is where she gets the IoM connection from.
Malcolm

[ShaunJ]

Mary Francis A Hemmings is a worsted spinner boarding at 16 Ripon Street Halifax in 1901, along with sister Martha. Ancestry has her transcribed as Mary Francis A Hennings

[tongariro]

Thanks a lot for that - I obviously didn't try hard enough.

I have just done a FreeBMD search for births with father Exley and mother Hemmings between 1912  (marriage) and 1920.  Only the one child came up - that of Douglas V Exley in 1920.   An 8 year gap!

I have also emailed the lady with the information so far, and asked about the possibilty of Victor Exley being Charles - also to see what more she knows about the Manx connection she mentioned.  I await a response.

[mr pinkwhistle]

I am also having problems tracing ancestors in the isle of man but there is an isle of man bmd which dates up to the 1960s,as long as you have a surname you should find it.Allow yourself plenty of time though, the writing is difficult to decipher sometimes
Just type in isle of man bmd and its free!!
Good luck
kim

[tongariro]

Many thank yous Kim.
I have the surname of Exley and the birth date of Sept 1 1920, therefore I was able to quickly check the relevant section, and Douglas Victor Exley is not listed there as born on IoM.
It may well be that the Douglas V Exley born in Halifax in 1920 is the one the lady is looking for.  I intend to contact her again today and suggest she obtain the 1912 marriage certficate of the parents of the Halifax birth - the names of the bride and groom's fathers should be on that, and may well be a way forward for her.
She is at the very beginning of family research and has little to go on, so I would like to help her get started.
Thanks again for that link.
Malcolm