Alfred Thomas Wilson (ATW)

[g.crighton]

I have ordered Alfred Wilson's service record.

[J.J.]

Oh, good for you...Hopefully the correct one...there may be better info on his mother's name if a mini will with an updated location, something  in the pay information, if he had it sent or willed to her... His discharge may include place of residence...Finger's crossed for you!

[g.crighton]

Thanks. Love the idea of a possible Will. I've rowed the boat out and sought the record as urgent. If it runs to 100 pages I'll be in big trouble!!!

[J.J.]

Yeah, there may not be much as Alfred seems to have been estranged from his wife & son.....but if his mum was still alive during the war and she looks to have outlived it... then finger's crossed I hope that the other address wasn't a permanent one and she's relocated to a place you can find ....with a full name for her...it should be repeated several times within the files...
Google maps didn't pinpoint the actual building for me but that may have been an apartment or divided suites in a home...

I looked through divorces using various spellings and partial names and they didn't turn up...
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/vital-statistics-births-marriages-deaths/divorce-1841-1968/Pages/search.aspx
However if the first part of the name is wrong, then I can't find it anymore...We could once use *lson and *fred but that no longer works...How that is their version of new and improved I'll never know??? it worked perfectly before the latest changes...

[g.crighton]

Thanks again for that. Yes, the whole case now seems to hang on the Service Record and whether my newly found Wilson contact is unknowingly sitting on a vital clue.

Work on the Manchester address revealed no Wilsons or other recognisable names. In one year the building was empty! People here moved around a great deal in those days, especially within urban areas.

As you have probably gathered, I'm writing a book. Not to find ATW senior and his wife will leave a large hole in the relevant chapter but at least the grandson should be able to write me something about his own life and that of his parents! Making adequate progress with the book caused me to seek the Service Record urgently - otherwise I might have waited three months for it. My target for handover to the publisher is October. Lots to do!!

I still need to look at the Toronto Star when I get a few free hours!

[J.J.]

If this works out for you, all those who answered on page one had already found the relevant information for your search for Alfred!  I hadn't noticed back then that the death card posted by Ken MacLean was  VAC and that it even had the matching service number for the Alfred from Manchester...

[g.crighton]

I have had a preliminary look at ATW senior's Service Record; it neither rules him in nor out as the husband of Kathleen Wilson from whom he may have been estranged.

It is clear he is the same man that died in Vancouver in 1953 and appears to have been living there at the outbreak of WWI. He can be found at 1247 Homer Street, Vancouver in 1921 and this address appears in the Service Record; I cannot make out his occupation though the index gives "hostina keeper". There is no sign of a Kathleen Wilson nor of ATW junior in Vancouver.

The Service Record provides two new addresses in Manchester to try: 4 Shakespeare Row, Stockport Rd, Ardwick, and 12 Thorpe Street, Aspley Grove, off Stockport Rd, Ardwick. Neither is familiar to me but I will check them out.

There is a reference to Mrs Mary A Wilson, mother, and also to the dependant sailing to Canada apparently in 1919. I can't see her in the sailings at the moment.

This remains tantalising!

[polarbear]

Hello everyone. I have been following this thread with interest and have a few comments/ questions.

In the 1921 Canada census, I think Alfred's work might be Plasterer's Helper.

Have you looked at the image of the 1911 UK census with the Wilson household? I can't comment here due to RC rules but using what is available for free, there are only 3 Wilsons in the household: young Alfred Thomas age 3, Kathleen Josephine age 23, and Mary Alice age 68. They are living in Chorlton Lancashire, not Belfast as was mentioned in an earlier post.

Also, have you seen the original image of the passenger list with Kathleen and young Alfred? It appears to me that someone may have written widow for Kathleen. This is written over what would have originally been written, presumably by the person who conducted the immigration interview?

I think the absence of Alfred from the 1911 household and the possible designation of widow for Kathleen in the passenger list might lend some credence to the estrangement theory. If Alfred was already in Canada and she was coming to join him, it would normally indicate that she was going to join her husband, if I remember correctly.

I haven't been able to find Kathleen or young Alfred in the 1921 census either.

Anyway, a little food for thought.

PB

[g.crighton]

I'm very grateful for all the interest in this puzzle.

Thanks, PB, for the thoughts on ATW's occupation. Certainly that would tie in with "labourer" as we see elsewhere.

The correction carried out to Kathleen's entry in the 1911 passenger list could be "widow"; it might even be "wife" or indeed "single".

Certainly the 1911 UK census entry is Manchester not Belfast. It's Kathleen who signs the completed census form surely indicating ATW was not present on census night. So, was he in Canada, or on his way there, or dead? I've had a look at the UK death indexes 1910 plus or minus five years for Manchester but see no entry.

The Canadian Attestation Paper and Service record show that particular AW to have been in the army before (or so it says). Alas, there is no surviving Service Record for him over here in the UK.

All in all, this is a tough nut to crack. I'll pursue the new Manchester addresses and await the return from holiday of ATW's grandson to see if he might just have a clue that has been overlooked. He has told me that his own father (ATW junior) left home when he was 14; surely he must know just a little bit more? I can but hope. If ATW junior left home when he was 14 it may well explain how difficult it is to spot him and his mother in the 1921 census.

Unhappily the mysteries of the past cannot always be unravelled! I'm not quite ready to give in just yet!