Find Ancestors

Top tip - using the Genes Reunited community

Welcome to the Genes Reunited community boards!

  • The Genes Reunited community is made up of millions of people with similar interests. Discover your family history and make life long friends along the way.
  • You will find a close knit but welcoming group of keen genealogists all prepared to offer advice and help to new members.
  • And it's not all serious business. The boards are often a place to relax and be entertained by all kinds of subjects.
  • The Genes community will go out of their way to help you, so don’t be shy about asking for help.

Quick Search

Single word search

Icons

  • New posts
  • No new posts
  • Thread closed
  • Stickied, new posts
  • Stickied, no new posts

Death in gold Mine Explosion Australia post WW11

Page 0 + 1 of 2

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. »
ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Merlin

Merlin Report 25 Nov 2010 14:57

Its a long shot,but I,m trying to find my Uncle Harry Bennett.Born in Swan Street Wolverhampton. He served in the Grenedier Guards. Then Married, Did,nt work out,then Immigrated to Australia.Did Lumberjacking,then Farming,Fought in Australian Army during WW2.then had another go at farming,after that Gold mining.Got killed in an explosion in a goldmine.Just wondered if he had any family out there. Sorry no dates available only just heard these things about him.Merlin.

Valerie

Valerie Report 26 Nov 2010 00:42

Merlin ... can you give us an approx birthdate ...and names of parents? Any more clues?...Valerie (WAus)

JaneyCanuck

JaneyCanuck Report 26 Nov 2010 00:55

Yup. Four Harry Bennett-s born in Wolverhampton 1916-1923 would all be possibles -- or he could have been older (I suspect he was, from a little digging), or really named Henry or Harold -- if you give his mother's surname, Merlin, we can identify his birth exactly and that is what's needed to start wtih.

He and your mother have the same mother, your grandmother, so hopefully you know her name. ;)

JaneyCanuck

JaneyCanuck Report 26 Nov 2010 00:59

1911

Bennetts on Swan St in Wolverhampton

BENNETT HENRY 1875 36 Wolverhampton Staffordshire
BENNETT HANNAH 1880 31 Wolverhampton Staffordshire
??? BENNETT HENRY 1900 11
BENNETT HANNAH GEORGINA 1902 9
BENNETT ALFRED 1906 5
BENNETT EVELYN 1907 4
BENNETT ARTHUR JOHN 1909 2
BENNETT ALICE EDNA 1911 9 WEEKS


You have a slightly younger Henry (Sr) in your tree; is this them?


1901 in Wolverhampton?

Hannah Bennett 22 - married
Henry Bennett 10 Months
Jacob Jones 15 - brother

Merlin

Merlin Report 26 Nov 2010 15:30

Dear Janey,Thank you so much,everything is correct.You,re so clever it would have taken me ages to find all that.The first was Grandfather Second G.mother third was Uncle Harry ,Both were called Harry rather than Henry. I only heard about him yesterday.it was a Longshot that came off.All I have to do now is find out which Gold mine he died in and if he had family over there.Once again Thank you. Have a very Happy Christmas and even better New Year. Hal.aka **Merlin**.xx.

JaneyCanuck

JaneyCanuck Report 26 Nov 2010 16:13

So, Henry was born long before 1911 so his mother's surname doesn't show on the birth record anyway.

His birth:

Births Jun 1900
Bennett Henry Wolverhampton 6b 646

You need to do this.

Go back to your first post and up at the top of it, click Edit.

Then change your subject line. "Long shots" doesn't tell anyone anything! Remember that your post is seen by everyone, not just people reading the Bennett "surname board". You want to catch the eye of people who can actually help.

So delete "long shots" and instead put:

Death in gold mine, Australia, post-WWII

That way, people in Australia who are good at finding Australian records will see your message (when they wake up!) and may be able to help.

Australian births, marriages and deaths are registered separately for each state. To start with, they will know what states have gold mines, so they'll know where to look.

You're looking for the death of Henry Bennett, born 1900, parents Henry and Hannah, who died sometime after WWII, and is said to have died in a gold mine explosion -- and whether he married and had children -- just so it's clear for everyone.

JaneyCanuck

JaneyCanuck Report 26 Nov 2010 16:19

Stupid me! Valerie who answered here already is in Australia. ;)

So when Valerie wakes up, she will see there is something new in this thread, and now that we have the information here, she may be able to help.

Still a good idea to change your subject line, though.

JaneyCanuck

JaneyCanuck Report 26 Nov 2010 16:33

I just looked through a list of 87 search results for the name Henry Bennett for WWII records at the National Archives of Australia and didn't find one who matched his name or year of birth. There were no matching records for the name Harry Bennett either.

There were a couple of people whose next of kin was Harry Bennett:


B884 W45696 LIMPUS BETTY : Service Number - W45696 : Date of birth - 05 Sep 1922 : Place of birth - FREMANTLE WA : Place of enlistment - CLAREMONT WA : Next of Kin - BENNETT HARRY
1939 - 1948

B884 WF96349 BENNETT ADELAIDE BEATRICE : Service Number - WF96349 : Date of birth - 04 Nov 1898 : Place of birth - FREMANTLE WA : Place of enlistment - CLAREMONT WA : Next of Kin - BENNETT HARRY
1939 - 1948



I checked at this site

http://www.australianminesatlas.gov.au

and it seems there are gold mines in every state of Australia. ;)

JaneyCanuck

JaneyCanuck Report 26 Nov 2010 16:44

This is the Harry who married Adelaide Beatrice -- he had a middle initial (probably Cooper, looking at the deaths in WA), so it looks like not him:

BENNETT HARRY C Male
CARTWRIGHT ADELAIDE B Female
FREMANTLE
48
1919

There are a couple of Henry marriages in WA too, 1936 and 1921, for those without middle initials.

No Harry or Henry deaths match the parents' names, in WA.

JaneyCanuck

JaneyCanuck Report 26 Nov 2010 23:41

That's why I didn't bother posting them, Mel -- because they didn't match. ;)

I put Henry/Harry's birth reg details above in the thread.

Births Jun 1900
Bennett Henry Wolverhampton 6b 646

I did the search of WWII records at the Archives site and there was nothing to match under Henry or Harry.

moonbi

moonbi Report 27 Nov 2010 00:48

could this be his burial??

Cemetery Index Mount Magnet W.A. 1907-2000

Interred Harry Bennett
Date July 18th 1955

according to the WA BDM this Henry (Harry) was aged 56, father unknown, mother unknown.
Reg Dist of Murchison, Reg No 18, Reg Yr 1955


my notes:
looks like he used Henry/Harry interchangeably

Mount Magnet, one of Australia's largest open cut gold mines situated in the southwest of Western Australia

moonbi

moonbi Report 27 Nov 2010 01:34

could this be the marriage??

WA BDM 1923- 1936

About Bennett H
Bennett Henry Barnett Margaret.S. Reg Dist Murchison Reg No 27 Year 1936

another marriage in the same district

Harold Bennett Smith Mavis L. Reg Dist. Murchison Reg No 30 Reg Year 1935

moonbi

moonbi Report 27 Nov 2010 01:38

Cant find any children of this marriage yet

Merlin

Merlin Report 27 Nov 2010 15:05

Janey, your,e a Sweetey.Thanks so much, And all of you, this is for my Cousin John ( He,s 80 ) and was adopted by my gran Hannah, and would love to know if possible what happened to him.She was to me a great lady ( She reared me as well) and she ended up with 10 children besides others she fostered etc. Take Care, Hal.ps. Have altered the heading as you said.x

Dea

Dea Report 27 Nov 2010 15:10

Don't know if you may be able to find something on here? It is a link to 'Australian Newspapers'

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home

Good luck.

Dea x

JaneyCanuck

JaneyCanuck Report 27 Nov 2010 20:14

Fairthorn's passenger list and moonbi's death look interesting.


Cemetery Index Mount Magnet W.A. 1907-2000
Interred Harry Bennett
Date July 18th 1955
according to the WA BDM this Henry (Harry) was aged 56, father unknown, mother unknown.
Reg Dist of Murchison, Reg No 18, Reg Yr 1955

http://www.brandis.com.au/genealogy/gendata/mtmagnetatok.html

I wondered whether there seemed to be a number of people buried around the same date.

That page has these:
ENTERED, Interred nothing 1955
ENTERED, Interred nothing 1955
(as well as two the same for 1957 and one for 1965)
- I wondered whether these might be unidentified miners, but they could also have been stillborn babies or the like.

and the second half of the alphabet has
WESDALE, Theodore Stanley Interred Jul 18 1955
-- his name is different in the deaths index:
WEBSDALE THEODORE STANLEY Male 58 (parents) UNKNOWN UNKNOWN MURCHISON 24 1955
(he was born in WA in 1902)

It's not a huge cemetery, so while that's not a huge coincidence, it is some.

Someone at GR has Clifford Websdale born in 1910; his record in the WA births index, in district Beverley, doesn't show his parents' names, but it could be worth contacting that person to see whether they know anything about Theodore Websdale, i.e. how he died. Clifford and his siblings seem to be from a younger family than Theodore, but odds are they're closely related.


It should be possible to find out something about the history of deaths in the Mount Magnet mine, I'm just not finding anything myself at the moment.


I think if I were your cousin, Merlin, I'd order the death certificate moonbi suggested.

You have to go here:

http://www.bdm.dotag.wa.gov.au/_apps/pioneersindex/default.aspx

and search for the death of Henry Bennet in 1955.

Then you click on "order", which takes you to the order form. You have to print it out, fill it in (with only the info from the search) and mail it, I guess.

Merlin

Merlin Report 29 Nov 2010 14:02

Thanks all of you you,re so kind. John thinks its the one Who died in 1955. About the right age. will let you know what he does about it. once again,many many thanks.Hal;**M**.xx.

JaneyCanuck

JaneyCanuck Report 29 Nov 2010 14:42

Ain't it amazing what the team here can do when it sets its collective mind to something? ;)

Hope it finds what your cousin was looking for.

moonbi

moonbi Report 29 Nov 2010 22:56

Hal,
thanks for your PM and reply on this thread post.
I really hope you can follow through on this information and put the facts in order.
You could be cutting yourself short if you assume its right without
getting the death cert.

what about either of the marriages in the Murchison district?

Annette

Merlin

Merlin Report 30 Nov 2010 14:32

Waiting for a reply from John,he,s eighty and a bit slow replying. Thaks everybody.**M**.Hal.