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Hi Josephine.
So glad I have found this and reconnected with you after all this time. I tried to find you on here a little while ago when I realised that were were indeed related. Charles sure was a character! I also believe he was a highly intelligent man. He wrote several newpaper articles in The Western Mail, in particular an account of his time at Aisne during WW1. His brother Ernest (my great grandfather) was also a rouge!! I will fill you in on what I have found by e-mail when my internet is back up and running.
(I have just sent you an e-mail)
Speak soon
Jackie x

Phew not a wife beater (yet) But nothing would surprise me now

I think I am getting unshockable!!

Thank you

Regards

Josephine

Just had another look at that article re the man who struck his wife with a chair- it wasn't your Charles, it was his father (as I suspect some of the other articles re window cleaning Charles are). He was listed as age 49 in 1902 so the two children at home would have been Ernest and Bernard.

Hello

That is great. I now know. because of you, that I actually know this man!

On my Aunty's certificate it does say 2nd Battalion Welsh Regiment.

Hazel eyes would make sense because some people may say brown and some grey/green. 5' 10 is reasonable.

Oh dear, wife beating to add to his other offences! But I think it was slightly more common (but not excusable) then!

I will miss all these messages when there is nothing else to post!

Regards

Josephine

Another article (below) dated 27th November 1902 states that Charles Derry, window cleaner, was sent to prison for a month for striking his wife with a chair, The article claims they have TWO children. So, if this is the same man, we are still missing a child (that possibly died before the 1911 census), or maybe it's a mistake?

http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3491418/3491420/16/

Another below on his escape from an asylum:
http://newspapers.library.wales/view/4199284/4199287/77/

This is the record when Charles first signs up for army- he is only 17 and 7 months. He starts in the Shropshire Regiment in 1893 (One of the newspaper articles said the Hampshire regiment- but I think that is a mistake), and then enlisted to the Welsh regiment in 1896.

First name(s) CHARLES
Last name DERRY
Birth year 1876
Birth parish RICHMOND SURREY
Birth town LONDON
Birth county SURREY
Service number 2114
Document Type Attestation
Attestation year 1893
Attestation Day 30
Attestation Month 10
Attestation age years 17
Attestation age months 7
Attestation Corps 4TH BATTALION SHROPSHIRE LT I REGIMENT

The above record describes him as almost 5ft 6" with a dark complexion and brown eyes and dark brown hair.

He's 42 when he signs up to the RAF in 1918- there he is described as 5ft 10 with fresh complexion, hazel eyes and dark hair. The record also includes his date of birth as 10:03:1876.

And I bet he probably pinched it off someone else! It is such fun.

At the GRO they thought it was great to have him in family. They just said most people are so booring!

Well thanks to you I have ordered what may well be Harry Derry's birth certificate. I will let you know when it arrives if it is him!

If I search (properly) on GRO can you find personal details about him like eye colour, hair colour height etc in the war records? In two different reports from two asylums one said he had brown eyes and one said blue.grey but it is the same guy!! He was very clever probably wore contacts!!

I am going to send for case records from another hospital/asylum and hope they can clarify.

Thank you

Josephine

http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3486830/3486833/71/

(lol, you gotta laugh at him, now his window cleaning ladder is up for sale!)

Chris :)

http://newspapers.library.wales/

(Welsh Newspapers Online)


http://newspapers.library.wales/view/3478719/3478722/61/

("QUITE A COMMON MISTAKE.")

Oh dear - a family of crooks!

Interesting they were in Cardiff where my Grandmother lived.

I cant wait for the 1939 record set to come out!

I hope you have been as successful with you own search!!

Thank you again

Josephine

Census for Charles and family- seems like Charles wasn't the only one who'd had run- ins with the law. Check FMP crime prisons & punishment for Charles' brother, Ernest!

1881 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription
Murray Buildings, Lambeth, London, England
Charles Derry Head Married Male 28 1853 Wine Merchants Cellarman Hereford, Herefordshire
Margaret Derry Wife Married Female 28 1853 - Cork, Cork, Ireland
Charle Derry Son Single Male 5 1876 Surrey
Grace M Derry Daughter Single Female 3 1878 Surrey
-----------------------------------------------------

1891 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription
Marshall Street, St James Westminster, Westminster, London, England
Margaret Derry Head Married Female 39 1852 Charwoman Cork, Ireland
Charles Derry Son Single Male 15 1876 Telegraph Messenger Richmond, Surrey, England
Grace Derry Daughter - Female 12 1879 Scholar Richmond, Surrey, England
Cornelius Derry Son - Male 7 1884 Scholar St Giles, Middlesex, England
Ernest Derry Son - Male 1 1890 - St James, Middlesex, England
-------------------------------------------------------------------

1901 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription
45, Russell Street, St John, Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales
Charles Derry Head Married Male 48 1853 Window Cleaner Hereford, Herefordshire, England
Margerett Derry Wife Married Female 48 1853 - Ireland
Ernest R Derry Son Single Male 11 1890 - London, Middlesex, England
Bernard Derry Son Single Male 8 1893 - Hereford, Herefordshire,
--------------------------------------------------------------

1911 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription
4 Robert Street Cathays Cardiff, Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales
Charles Derry Senr Head Married Male Window Cleaner 58 1853 Hereford City
Margaret Derry Wife Married Female - 58 1853 Mallow Co Cork Ireland
Bernard Derry Son Single Male Carter 18 1893 Hereford City
John F C Derry Grandson - Male - 6 1905 Kennington London
Robert Cornelius Derry Grandson - Male - 4 1907 Deptford London
Lily Agnes Derry Granddaughter - Female - 3 1908 Peckham London
Frederick Richard Derry Grandson - Male - 1 1910 Peckham London

The Grandchildren on the 1911 are the children of Cornelius

Hi again

I actually have Ancestry, Findmypast, TheGeniologist! I have never had much luck searching GRO War records or Newspapers! I think I have just never taken the time to find our how to do it properly.

There is a Welsh connection. My Great Grandmother left husband and moved to Cardiff with the children.

I am really enjoying looking through everything you have sent me. I really need to be much more thorough in my searches!

I will now know how to search better!

Kind regards

Sylvia

Relation Name: Millicent Derry
Date of Birth: 1905
Place of Birth: Cllydach

(a check on 'Search All Member Trees' (top tight of page, under 'Search') brings above, they also have a Vera 1901, the surname of Member looks interesting!)

Chris :)

(Pontardawe, Clydach, Swansea area?)

If you have access to Find my Past newspapers you should be able to find some of his letters:

Birmingham Daily Mail 02 December 1914
Welshman's Heroism in Rescuing Wounded men

http://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000644%2f19141202%2f057
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sheffield Evening Telegraph 10 May 1919
War Memorials

http://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000276%2f19190510%2f066
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sheffield Evening Telegraph 17 March 1919
Gratuities

http://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0000276%2f19190317%2f035
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Meant to say my grandmother also was a 'variety artist' at some point so maybe this is when she met him.

Regards

Josephine

How do you do it! You have just made my day. Where are these letters? How do you find them! I think you should be charging for your services!!

Well I would like to think that he did have a heart! You have also just informed me that he had a brother! In one asylum record it does mention a brother but no name.

My grandmother was Elizabeth Eggers b. 1887 in Hull. Her parents were German and landed at Hull - but she later called herself Cecilia Derry. Interestingly I have a photograph of a steamer with funnels called Cecilia. I wonder if this is the ship they arrived on. She called him her husband but I do not think they were married but..... with his record!

I am so enjoying getting your emails! I work from home and have just finished for the day and am going to start really looking at everything you have sent me.

Kind regards

Josephine

Josephine, just out of interest, who was your Grandmother?

Just reading through some of the letters that Charles sent to various papers after WW1, and despite some of his wrong doings, I think his heart was in the right place, with many of his letters fighting for better conditions for other people- especially those widowed and orphaned by the war. In one he complains that it may be well and good to have war memorials, but not when they cost thousands and the fatherless children sit hungry and barefooted at their base, which I think was probably a feeling echoed by lots at that time.

Interestingly there are also several reports of a letter being sent Dec 1914 from a Charles Derry a private in the Welsh Regiment to a Mr David Davies- in it he praises the bravery of Davies son:

"Your son, utterly disregarding danger to himself, came to me as I lay wounded, and under terrible shell fire picked me up and carried me down to cover, going back to fetch my brother from a barn where the wounded lay in agony"

It's possible that the letter was sent by your Charles, as his brother, Ernest Richard also served with the Welsh regiment.

I must say that when I posted that message I never thought I would find anything and certainly not find someone who is so helpful and found out more about him in a day that I have for many years!!

Kind regards

Josephine

I am speechless! How do you do it. You have enlightend me in so many ways. I did not know about the National School Admissions Register!

Yes that is why I could not find Caroline on searches that I made!!

So many thanks

Regards

Josephine

Possible marriage for Millicent Irene:

England & Wales marriages 1837-2008 Transcription
First name(s) MILLICENT I
Last name DERRY
Marriage quarter 3
Marriage year 1935
Spouse JAMES R EDWARDS
District BASFORD
County Nottinghamshire
Volume 7B Page 609

AND- a possible birth (James) to this marriage :-D

National School Admission Registers & Log-books 1870-1914 Transcription
First name(s) Vera
Last name Derry
Birth year 1902
Birth date 23 Jan 1902
Event year 1911
School name Parish Church Schools
Town Preston
County Lancashire
Country England
Parent name(s) Derry Harry
Book type Admissions
Archive reference SMPr/45/4
-------------------------------------------------------------

England & Wales marriages 1837-2008 Transcription
First name(s) VERA G M
Last name DERRY
Marriage quarter 3
Marriage year 1930
Spouse: FREDERICK A HONICK
District BASFORD
District number -
County Nottinghamshire
Volume 7B Page 611
----------------------------------------------------

Wondering if this is Vera's death:
Name: Veronica G M Honick
Birth Date: abt 1903
Date of Registration: Mar 1959
Age at Death: 56
Registration district: Luton
Inferred County: Bedfordshire
Volume: 4a Page: 139