Harry James Burgess

[Guest]

Hi

I've got a bit of a dilemma which I hope someone maybe able to help me with.

 

My grandfather's brother, Harry James Burgess, shows on the death records as Henry James Burgess RFA driver 95051 died 04/07/1916 in Mesompotania. It also shows that money owed to him was paid to his Step father as his mother died in 1913. Harry was born 02/06/1899 in Fulham London.

 

Where my problem rises is that until this week we didn't know the above information and my aunt has always told me that her dad, my granddad, told her when she was younger whilst they were going through some old photos, that he last saw Harry in 1939. This would have been in about 1947.

 

I understand that lots of men (boys) lied about their dates of birth so I suppose he could have joined and died on the date given but I would like to know if there is any way I can trace his service records to prove that it was him. We feel that he may have been mixed up with someone else. The main reason being that his name was Harry and never Henry and that he never had anything to do with his step father (although the money went to him). If we could find his records it would show who he had put as his next to kin, date of birth etc. I have tried ancestry.co.uk. but can not find his records.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

Chris

[corisande]

The Harry Burgess you have on your Ancestry Tree travelling to USA in 1947, claims he was born in Wolverhampton on the shipping records

[travers61]

His Soldiers will is available from the PRO (last time I looked cost only £ 1.50 per will)

https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Wills?Surname=burgess&SurnameGrants=burgess&YearOfDeath=1916&YearOfDeathGrants=1916&IsGrantSearch=False&IsCalendarSearch=False&page=2#soldiers

 

His stepfather also got a pension from the army from 1917 (the rear of this card is blank)

[corisande]

His step-father Ernest John Silwood is also cited as the beneficiary of Harry's money in Soldiers Effects on Ancestry - click

 

And that entry recording his death is certainly for "Harry James Burgess"

 

And the Medal Roll itself records him as "Harry James Burgess"

 

The only place that has him as "Henry James Burgess" seems to be SDGW, which is not an official record like Soldiers , Effects, Medal Roll or Pension Record

 

 

Edited 4 October , 2019 by corisande