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Hi Flip,

sometimes they do forget and you mention something you find and then they say "I knew that" ....grrr

or it's just enough to jog the memory, I find most time's when you're just talking things come up so I always try to have a pen and paper.

When I was younger and not interested my now husbands grandmother used to tell me things and it would go in one ear and out the other..I could kick myself now.

Have just edited opening title as it looks like there is a service record on Ancestry which I can't access.

Hi Flip - there's 27 pages:

British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920
Name: William Mawson Smith
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1890
Age at enlistment: 25
Residence: 10 Allison Street, Barrow in Furness
Document Year: 1915
Regimental Number: 163251
Number of images: 27

I could turn it into a word doc but it would be too big to send via GR messages.

NOK was originally Mary Smith (mother), then changed to wife Emily Jane Smith (nee Shaw) who he married 1 June 1916.

EDIT: Ooh, there's a note from him advising whoever in the military of his new address in New Zealand.

Wow thanks MC, 27 pages? Whatever did they have to write that would take so long.

Rather surprised to see his address is Barrow, I never realised he lived there - the family were all from the Cartmel/Lindale area. Wish I could use the Ancestry free trial, but I've already done that so it won't let me again,

There are references to Cartmel on the file, something with horses.

I've condensed the military record into a word doc but it'll be too big to send by pm (about 9mb). If you want a copy send me an email address. :-)

Have sent PM with e-mail address - many thanks for doing this!

Hi All, back again with the results from the death certificate, confirms what found so far, he is the right William Smith, parents check out and so does the wife.

No luck with a name for any children - it stated they had 1 daughter age 26 when William died in Sept.1948, so born 1921/2. There's no local (Ulverston) birth for Smith mmn Shaw, so I assume she was born in NZ, but the death record didn't give her name. My mother was too young to remember the name, just knew they had a daugter when they visited UK in the late 1930s. William died in hospital of cancer (he was gassed during the war, so might be connected) and the death informant was the under-taker so no clue to the daughter there either.

No luck either with passenger lists, I can pinpoint the period to between his army discharge 24/2/1919 and his notification of change of address in 1922 from his service record but haven't been successful in finding their passage.

Think this may be as far as we can go on William's family - would have been nice to connect my mother with her cousin but not to be.

Many thanks to all of you for the help and your time.

Flip

have you looked for his departure from the UK in "the late 1930s", returning home form that visit that your Mum remembers?




sylvia

Hi Flip,

I remember a Malcolm Mawson going to the same school (Beckenham) that I was at late 1940's early 1950's. He was a quiet boy who seemed to keep to himself. If I remember rightly he had sandy reddish hair & freckles - the kind Scot's/Northern English get under the fierce New Zealand sun on their fair skin. I think he lived in the St Martins area of Christchurch because he used to come & go from school with a couple of boys who lived there. Had a younger sister I think- don't know her name.
Not much help really because I can't remember him at secondary school.

Flip,

Have just seen your last post.

Perhaps the Malcolm & his sister are the next one's down the line because his parents would have been about the same age as my mum born 1919.
Sorry I have no living family from then to ask.

Hi Flip,
William Mawson Smith appears on the NZ Electoral Rolls of :
1928, 1936 and 1946
In 1946, he was a labourer living at 15, Hauiti Road, Otahuhu, Auckland.
Like you say, the name is Smith!
Entries on rolls in alphabetical order but I will look at all 3 rolls, starting at A Smith, and see if there is anyone else named Smith living at the same property.

Anne

Thanks Anne, that would be great - I expect Emily Jane will show up, but not sure about the daughter in the earlier two as I think she would have been too young.

Hi Pelo - not sure that they would show up as Mawson as the family went under the name of Smith - William used Mawson as his middle name. But thanks for the info.

Added - just had another look at the death record Sept 1948 - it gave his address as 19 Hauiti Road, but I hadn't been able to make it out.

1928: Victoria Street, Waihi,
Smith, Emily Jane . Married
Smith, William Mawson. Railway Employee


1936: Pakarangua, Hauraki, Auckland
Smith, William Mawson. Dairy Farmer
Smith, Mabel Jessie Louise, MARRIED
Smith, Stanley Coard, Farmer
(I cannot work 1936 out? Where is his wife or is this another William Mawson Smith?


1946: 15 Hauiti Road, Otahuhu, Auckland
Smith, Emily Jane -MARRIED
Smith, Emily SPINSTER
Smith, William Mawson Labourer
(So, looks like the daughter was also called EMILY)

Regards
Anne

I can't work out the 1936 either?? But that is surely them in 1946, thanks Anne,
I tried Sylvia's suggestion of trying to find them returning to NZ in the late 30s, but the only one I could come up with was in 1944 where there was a E Smith (adult) travelling with another E Smith (no age) but couldn't see a W Smith with them.

Flip,
I am not convinced that this is the correct William Mawson Smith from 1936, yet I cannot find another one with a wife called Emily (Jane) living in a single household?


If he is the correct man, then I cannot identify his wife at any other address.
I tried looking for her in 1936, and then after William's death, but have already found 2 x Emily Jane Smith in the same electoral year and both were widows!

I assume she died in Auckland?
I will look again later and attempt to narrow her down.

Anne

Emily Jane died 3/7/1967 - Cupcakes found that - and she was buried in the same grave as William in Otahuhu. Think I'll order the death record and see if that gives anything more.

Thanks

Flip,
Voting age in NZ was 21yrs.
Daughter Emily must have been 21 or over at 1946, meaning she was born earlier than 1926.
If she made return trip to UK-NZ in the late 1930's, then she would have been in her early teens at the time.

Anne

Hi Anne,

Yes, according to William's death record the daughter was 26, therefore born 1921/2 - I can't find a birth in UK so assume this was in NZ.

Hi Flip,
BINGO!
NB electoral rolls are ordered alphabetically . First by surname, then by first names


After William's death:
1949, his wife Emily Jane (widow) was living at 19 Hauiti Road but daughter Emily Smith was not listed in the household .
Same details for 1956

By 1957. Emily Jane had moved and was now living at:
281 Penrose Road, Onehunga, Auckland and was still there at 1963

I thought it would be an idea to check 1963 for anyone else called Emily who lived in Onehunga, hoping that the same address would come up..... and it did!

1963: 281 Penrose Road, Onehunga, Auckland
Meyer, Hugh Alexander. Coachworker
Meyer, Emily. Married
I needed to be sure....

I retraced back to 1949 when I knew that Emily Jane was still in Hauiti Road and searched for Hugh Alexander Meyer and Emily Meyer

YESSSSS!!!!
They lived at the same address as Emily Jane.... 19 Hauiti Road.

It means that young Emily married Hugh Alexander Meyer between 1946 and 1949

Anne

Oh that's absolutly brilliant - can't thank you enough for all your work Anne.