William Harrison Gloster Reg # 22199

[TullochArd]

8 hours ago, Heatherm said:

I have managed to upload the story to this page.

"This file card found on Ancestry is the only evidence of his war service." .......... which is correct .......... as he served during the Great War as William Bray and all the other evidence is gathered under that alias?

Edited 2 June , 2022 by TullochArd

[Heatherm]

Thanks, this was an interesting man to research for our book.

[Donnahk]

Hi Heather,

Yes my brother found the book, thanks. You've done a great job.  All the information before he married my Nana is all new to us so as you can imagine it is a lot to take in. 

You have named my Dad, William Eric Harrison, as a beneficiary to his will (along with his 3 half siblings) this is because he was his son.  Also William Eric's birth year was 1945 and year of death 2015.

We will take all the information and see where it leads us.  If anyone has any helpful tips on  where else to look or if doing the DNA test would help please let me know.

Thanks again

Donna

[TullochArd]

2 hours ago, Heatherm said:

Thanks, this was an interesting man to research for our book.

Hi Heatherm,

"This file card (William Harrison) found on Ancestry is the only evidence of his war service."  was the subject of the OP and repeated on the file you posted a few hours ago.  No mention of a William Bray alias in use. Did you not agree with the William Bray alias research and evidence provided ............ or is there a later version of the 2020 Flip Book that mentions his service under alias that I've missed?

I'd love to know your conclusions not least so that my wife, and other GWF chums spouses, can sleep easy in the knowledge that their spouses are not just 'fiddling and wasting time' (connect earlier post) on the Forum!

TA

[Matlock1418]

On 16/09/2021 at 08:04, Matlock1418 said:

On 16/09/2021 at 04:48, Heatherm said:

The only military document I have found has been this pension card index on Ancestry. Can anyone help please.

The card itself is only a plain card with the above details in ink, plus:

An unexplained marking that of what looks like an inverted U with two dots beneath it [possible question mark?] apparently from date of creation

and

initials dated 14/8/53 [I'm guessing someone got it out for some unspecified purpose]

Image courtesy of WFA/Fold3

One further small point I missed highlighting previously about this William HARRISON card is that the 89272/OS/M pension reference indicates an Overseas claim [my apologies to those who thought this was obvious] - It does however suggest that somebody at the MoP might have known him by the name of HARRISON, or been asked to look into that name.  Sadly no pension awards file to consult.

The unfortunate further point is that such reference is not recorded on William George Andrew BRAY's 1917 pension card which has been mentioned earlier

Image courtesy of WFA/Fold3

Sadly no pension awards file to consult.

M

Edited 2 June , 2022 by Matlock1418
typo

[Heatherm]

We decided to include all the facts that had been found and leave the reader to "join the dots" as we could not find the proof that William BRAY and William HARRISON were the same person, although all the evidence pointed to this.

Interesting that the grandchildren have now found the story in our book so hopefully Donnahk will be able to keep us updated. DNA would certainly provide the proof but you would need to get someone in the Bray family to do a test (or strike it lucky that someone has already done a test) as well as test yourself or your brother Donna.

 

TA and all the other men that have assisted in this search - please assure your wives that your help has led to some great information for Donna and her brother - valuable time spent and certainly not "fiddling and wasting" - grateful thanks from New Zealand.

Heather

[Heatherm]

Decided to see if I could find anything further about William George Andrew BRAY.

From Ancestry there are 8 Family Trees  - all say he was born in Ireland, although both parents were born in Cornwall and he was living in Cornwall in the 1901 UK census.

Interestingly though, none of the trees have a death for him, so another clue that he probably is our William HARRISON. Donna you could contact some of the tree owners to see how closely they are related and if they have done their DNA.