AnnieB Posted 20 June , 2019 Share Posted 20 June , 2019 I am trying to trace records of my great grandfather's service during WW1. All I know is that there was a photograph of him in my great grandmother's house, above the fireplace, in uniform. He died of TB in 1926. His name was common at the time so I'm struggling to find the correct records. Is anyone on here able to help me, please? Name: William Joseph THOMAS. DOB:17 November 1878 Place of birth: 81 Railway Terrace, Nechells, Birmingham, Warwickshire Residence in 1911: 4 Back Of 137 Nechells Place, Nechells, Birmingham, Warwickshire Occupation: Steel toy? worker ADMIN: I understand if this is not allowed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Rayner Posted 20 June , 2019 Share Posted 20 June , 2019 (edited) Welcome to the forum and good luck with your searching. Was your great grandmother called Edith by any chance? And do you access to any subscription sites? George Edited 20 June , 2019 by George Rayner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin DavidOwen Posted 20 June , 2019 Admin Share Posted 20 June , 2019 1 hour ago, AnnieB said: ADMIN: I understand if this is not allowed Annie, welcome to the forum. Of course it is allowed! It is one of the things the Forum does best. Good luck with your research David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Rayner Posted 20 June , 2019 Share Posted 20 June , 2019 By which I mean Ancestry or Find My Past? George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Rayner Posted 20 June , 2019 Share Posted 20 June , 2019 Seems it's Clara... George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Rayner Posted 20 June , 2019 Share Posted 20 June , 2019 There are records on Ancestry, Find My Past and a Pension folder in Fold3. Unfortunately the only one which would identify him as your G Grandfather is Fold3 and I don't subscribe to that but here is the URL for other helpful members. https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=61588&h=1318238&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Yiy20803&_phstart=successSource George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxD Posted 20 June , 2019 Share Posted 20 June , 2019 George - your link goes to Joseph Thomas of Brecon S Wales?? Max Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Rayner Posted 20 June , 2019 Share Posted 20 June , 2019 Hmmm-that's not right then. Checking George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnieB Posted 20 June , 2019 Author Share Posted 20 June , 2019 1 hour ago, DavidOwen said: Annie, welcome to the forum. Of course it is allowed! It is one of the things the Forum does best. Good luck with your research David Thank you and-yes-George - her name was Clara. I only have a subscription to Ancestry at present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnieB Posted 20 June , 2019 Author Share Posted 20 June , 2019 I have taken a 7 day trial with Fold3 (on a different email to one I've used before. If the correct link could be posted (I am searching on Ancestry as I type) it would be most appreciated.TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxD Posted 20 June , 2019 Share Posted 20 June , 2019 Annie I don't know whether you are aware that some 60% of Great War records were lost to bombing in WW2 so the odds are always against finding someone's service record. Medal records don't have anything to identify which man it is and William Joseph may have been just William to the army. Not everyone earned a pension either. Sorry to cast a note of gloom but you shouldn't be surprised if nothing turns up - you are not the only one ! Max Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRC Posted 20 June , 2019 Share Posted 20 June , 2019 (edited) 7 hours ago, AnnieB said: I am trying to trace records of my great grandfather's service during WW1. All I know is that there was a photograph of him in my great grandmother's house, above the fireplace, in uniform. He died of TB in 1926. His name was common at the time so I'm struggling to find the correct records. Is anyone on here able to help me, please? Name: William Joseph THOMAS. DOB:17 November 1878 Place of birth: 81 Railway Terrace, Nechells, Birmingham, Warwickshire Residence in 1911: 4 Back Of 137 Nechells Place, Nechells, Birmingham, Warwickshire Occupation: Steel toy? worker Firstly there may be some mileage in checking out the Absent Voters list for 1918 & 1919. There’s more details here on how this can help you – it also notes the ones for Birmingham are on Ancestry. https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/finding-soldiers-through-the-1918-absent-voters-lists/ Secondly – and stick with me – there is a purpose to all this and it may give you something if the other options you are investigating don’t pan out. So on the 1911 Census of England and Wales, William J. Thomas, aged 32 and Clara, (aged 32 and born Birmingham), have been married 13 years and have had 7 children, of which 4 were then still alive. The four children were Edward, (10), Clara, (7), Evelyn, (4) and Eva, (1). All six of them are shown as born Birmingham. The address where they were living is shown as being in the Aston Civil Registration District. There is no obvious marriage for that couple in the civil records of England and Wales, so I tried to then identify Clara’s maiden name from the children’s civil birth records. The birth of an Eva May Thomas, mothers’ maiden name Poole, was registered in the Aston District in the April to June quarter, (Q2), of 1910. The birth of an Eveline Thomas, mothers’ maiden name not available, was registered in the Aston District in the October to December quarter, (Q4), of 1906. The birth of a Clara Thomas, mothers’ maiden name Poole, was registered in the Aston District in the April to June quarter, (Q2), of 1903. The birth of an Edward Maurice Thomas, mothers’ maiden name Poole, was registered in the Aston District in the January to March quarter, (Q1), of 1901. The wedding of a William Joseph Thomas to a “Ciara” Poole seems to have been widely mistranscribed on genealogy sites – the original document quite clearly shows Clara. It took place in the Aston District in Q3 of 1898. On the 1901 Cens0su the couple were living with the 11 week old Edward Mark. Going forward to the period after the 1911 Census of England and Wales, a check of the civil records shows the birth of the following children in England and Wales registered with mothers’ maiden name Poole in the Aston District. Ernest A Thomas……Q4 1911 Walter E Thomas……Q1 1912 Sidney W Thomas…...Q1 1914 Ellen F Thomas……..Q1 1915 If Ellen in particular was a child of William and Clara – and if William was serving at that point, then the birth certificate will at a minimum show his rank and regiment \ corps and quite often more. Similarly if Clara, or any of the children died while he might have been serving, there is a chance the full death certificate will also list him with some of that armed forces information. Given their ages it’s unlikely any of the children married during the period he was serving, but that gives another option. Finally and coincidentally, I’be been assisting another forum member with transcribing details from Newspapers of local war related news from the Great War period for another area of Birmingham. I know from that experience that Nechells crops up on a regular basis in the four main Birmingham titles in the British Newspaper Archives for that period. Unfortunately I have no way of practical way of checking back to see if William gets a mention in the hundreds of pages I’ve looked through. However if you are in the UK, most Libraries include free unlimited access to the BNA website while you are in the Library, so you might want to check it out and see if you can find anything through that. Hope that helps, Peter Edited 20 June , 2019 by PRC Typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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