brown family

[mckha489]

in 1871 a Duncan Brown appears in the British Army World Wide index in Cork, Ireland.
Sapper, 21st Company Royal Engineers
number 8048

the same Duncan Brown (8048) of the Royal Engineers appears in the Chelsea Pensioners Discharge Documents
discharged 12 May 1880.

So.... where is he in 1881?

[mckha489]

88 Great Howard St in 1915.  A shop?

[DD65]

in 1871 a Duncan Brown appears in the British Army World Wide index in Cork, Ireland.
Sapper, 21st Company Royal Engineers
number 8048

the same Duncan Brown (8048) of the Royal Engineers appears in the Chelsea Pensioners Discharge Documents
discharged 12 May 1880.

So.... where is he in 1881?

Thank you. That's very interesting because my grandfather called himself Scottish yet on Ancestry I have only Irish matches, which seems odd. I would love to know where he was in 1881.

[DD65]

88 Great Howard St in 1915.  A shop?

I wonder if he did in fact have a sister living at that address at all. He seemed to make up things but for some reason I do recall someone telling me he had a twin sister called Ruby (he named one of his own children Ruby).

[DD65]

he was born in Bermuda in 1879 and someone in the family must have managed to get some kind of extract from Bermuda with the details of his birth.

Is there a way of finding out who that was?  It sounds like family information would be the way to go.

What year do you have him in Australia please? 

His marriage or death record may have more information about him - who was your grandmother?

That was my uncle I think (RWB's son). I do have his death record. He died in 1957 but that was his second time coming to Australia. The first time was around 1914. My grandmother was Filomena Abela.

[DD65]

A tree on Ancestry has entirely different info

Born 4.6.1885 England.  Duncan Brown & Margaret McGrath b Scotland - no marriage in Scotland or England.  His service record is attached to the tree

Married Philomena Abela

Died 1957 Melbourne



No evidence of birth in 1885 in either England or Scotland with mmn McGrath or Magrath

yes, that's a distant relative who owns that tree but the information isn't correct

[DD65]

Has anyone managed to figure out who Ruby Duncan of 88 Great Howard Street, Liverpool is?
(His sister, NOK on attestation)

Hi, I think RWB lied or tweaked the truth. He did apparently have a sister called Ruby (possibly a twin sister) but her surname wouldn't have been Duncan, it would have been Brown or a married name if she had one. So it just confuses matters even more.

[DD65]

OP.  I presume you have had this document digitised?  Is it the same man?
What did it tell you? Anything useful?

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=1103312&isAv=N

Yes, I did. It told me that he lied about his age, presumably so he would be eligible to join the Anzacs. That he was injured in Gallipoli. It also told me that Filomena (my grandfather) had to fight to get his service pension. That's it really.

[DD65]

OP.  I presume you have had this document digitised?  Is it the same man?
What did it tell you? Anything useful?

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=1103312&isAv=N

Actually, I believe this is when he changed his surname from Brown to Duncan (Duncan being his father's first name)