AN
Next of kin on the army record is his wife Lily as it was written in 1913 when he rejoined.
No next of kin at all is noted for his early army career. We got these army records before they were on Ancestry. If you check Ancestry you will see my FIL's birth cert amongst them and a letter he wrote giving us permission to have the records from the army. The army did tell us that they had been weeded, didn't give a reason.
Yes that is him in Ashby in 1911.
He was repeatedly asked apparently about his family by his children as they were growing up and about their "other grandparents". They were always told "I wasn't wanted and that's all you need to know".
Apparently some people used to think he was Italian and he denied it rather angrily.
His son Reg, whose house he died at, asked him again on his death bed about his family and he still refused to tell.
As I said, he covered his tracks very well.
Merry and I have talked over the possibility of an institution in the past and Dave and I want to get to Rotherham Archives to see if there are any Workhouse records. They charge a fortune to do research for you. It's finding time to go that is the problem.
__________________
Marg
|