[Merry]

I've just found a tree on Ancestry that has the eldest child of Samuel Frederick Chatterley and Kate Young on it - Frederick Chatterley b 1904. (the tree has Frederick born in 1882 despite having his father born in 1874, but I'm sure the details below are correct as I'd already worked out the spouse and 1939 register etc before I found the tree.)

The tree has a copy of a 1937 marriage cert for Frederick which gives his father's name as Samuel Chatterley a commissionaire (not dec'd - the bride's father is noted as dec'd, so it would seem the Q was asked). Frederick and his bride both give the same address - a hotel in Westcliff-on-Sea - and Frederick is an under chef. It's tempting to think he was living in as a member of staff - in which case is there any significance that his father's job could also be in a hotel?

Frederick Chatterley was perhaps not the most reliable person - he spent a lot of his life in jail. The tree owner has one of his occupations down as 'criminal'! The following year he was sentenced to a few months in jail for petty theft in Southend. He pleaded with the judge to be allowed to have Christmas at home because 1) his wife was pregnant and 2) he had spent 14 of the previous 16 Christmases inside.

Of course the occupations - especially for Samuel - could well be made up. John Henry was dead by 1937, but only by a year or so.

I really need to know who John Henry is, if he isn't Samuel! If they are different people then I don't need to know about Samuel and his children etc because I'm looking at these families trying to work out who is my contact's grandfather. My contact is definitely related to John Henry Chatterley or Kathleen Rafferty - one of their immediate male relations is my contact's grandfather. However, the best candidate so far is a relative of Samuel! There are candidates in JHC's descendants, but though, like Samuel's relative, some were living in the right place at the right time they are pushing the boundaries for being too young to fit the bill.

The next can of worms will be trying to sort out Kathleen Rafferty's immediate male relatives as she was never born! *sigh*