Disem on WW1 medal index

[Deirdre784]

Thanks Allan, thought i'd replied to this but obviously not. Thanks for the link to the long long trail website too, interesting info, lots of new stuff for me to take on board. 

[ALAMO2008]

Thanks for the explanation Alamo; had been trying to establish if he could have fathered a child born in Westminster in 1918. He was born in Wantage, Berkshire but in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, in 1911. Married in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, in 1920 but deserted his wife and 2 children around 1924. Believed by family to have had another child, but I don’t think the one born in 1918 can be his.

Strange Case - If he Left first Wife Gertrude May in the 1920s  - married Twice More ?  - Yet his Probate in 1966 States he left everything to his first Wife Gertrude as his Widow
Though his Names are unusual- it is possible there were others of those names that complicate Research

[ALAMO2008]

His Elder Brother John William fought in WW1 as an Anzac

[Deirdre784]

He only married once more (in 1951). Said he was single in 1939. He married Lily Horne. Her 1939 entry confirms marriage to Harry (and a later one). No doubt in my mind that he’s the same man.

We don’t believe he and Gertrude divorced so she was his legal widow.

[Deirdre784]

His Elder Brother John William fought in WW1 as an Anzac

Yes, emigrated after 1911 census. Married there and stayed, died in 1960

[Deirdre784]

Strange Case - If he Left first Wife Gertrude May in the 1920s  - married Twice More ?  - Yet his Probate in 1966 States he left everything to his first Wife Gertrude as his Widow
Though his Names are unusual- it is possible there were others of those names that complicate Research

ALAMO - your post did get me thinking again as i'm surprised how quickly probate was granted (12 weeks after his death) as his legal family were supposedly unaware of his whereabouts, plus the issue of widow / divorce / 2nd wife etc, so have checked again. My friends have agreed to buy the marriage certificate to Lily to see what that says, though he declared himself as single in 1939, she was a widow.

- Probate says he (Harry Adams Dowling) died on 2 June at the Westminster hospital.
- A newspaper article from the Westminster and Pimlico News dated Friday 10 June 1966 says 'The day after he moved into his new house at No 1 Tyrrell House, Churchill Gardens, Mr Harry Dowling, 66, formerly of 123 Tachbrook St, collapsed and died. Mr Dowling, who had lived with his wife Lily at Tachbrook St since they were married 16 years ago, moved into his new house on June 1. The next day, his wife found him collapsed in the front room. He was taken to Westminster hospital but was dead on arrival'
- marriage on freeBMD of Harry Dowling and Lily Horne, DecQ 1951 Westminster
- 1939 entry for Lily Horne (born 1 Aug 1894, at 18 Johnsons Place, Westminster) shows a later marriage to Dowling then Goatley; Frederick Horne (her husband) died in SepQ 1948
- 1939 entry for Harry A Dowling has him 'single', born 21 April 1898 (wrong year!), waiter (hotel) at the Bracklesham Bay Hotel in Chichester, Sussex
- 1936 electoral register has him as Harry Adams Dowling at the De Vere hotel, 60 Hyde Park Gate, Kensington and Chelsea
- freeBMD marriage of Harry A Dowling to Gertrude M Jones, Merthyr Tydfil, SepQ 1920
- freeBMD birth of Harry Adams Dowling, Wantage, JunQ 1899 (date of birth of 21 April 1899)

Thanks for the interest, always helpful to have other 'eyes'

[ALAMO2008]

Strange there is a Marriage in 1915 in Montreal Canada for a Harold Edwin Adams Dowling.
Ancestry Coleman Tree has Harry Dowling as Father/Step Father in 1926 for a Duncan Coleman

[Deirdre784]

Strange there is a Marriage in 1915 in Montreal Canada for a Harold Edwin Adams Dowling.
Ancestry Coleman Tree has Harry Dowling as Father/Step Father in 1926 for a Duncan Coleman

That's weird, i'll have a look for that, though i have seen (as no doubt we all have) some very strange and non-certificated trees on there. Harry is listed on one as the father of another son in 1927 in Lancashire (though with Gertrude May as the mother).

[Deirdre784]

The Harold Edwin Adams Dowling appears to have been born in London in 1886, so not the same guy. Can't see an immediate link to the Dowlings of our 'Harry'