Find Ancestors

Kelly George R Rattan the surname Rattan doesn't seem to exist in WO 363 /R936 or WO 364 3168.

Hi Phoenix and thank you for all the time you spent looking for Edward Joseph Pratt, can you think of what i should do now if hes mentioned in dispaches would there be something written about him. As i was looking at all the results and saw eye colour hair etc i was getting excited, oh well its not to be he remains a mystery. Once again you have done wonders for others pat yourself on the back. Colette

Hi Collette What I've been doing is the easy bit: looking for people where you would expect to find them. I don't pretend to understand army records. I think that there are experts around who do know what the next step is. There are lots of books on the subject, though as far as I can see you need to be keen and dedicated and spend a lot of time, patiently working your way through records, in the hopes that you will find something relevant. How much would have survived varies hugely: not every record seems to give physical descriptions and some are much fatter than others. It's no comfort to those for whom I haven't been able to help, but it is amazing how much does survive. We are really lucky that the burnt documents have been filmed, as they are far too fragile ever to be handled by the public. What is worth doing, however, is putting the name into the Catalogue, and searching under the WO reference for 1914 -1918. Volunteers are steadfastly working through to spot misfiles and these are being catalogued individually. When you consider that there are over 1000 reels of film for some letters of the alphabet, you will realise what a mammoth task this project is, but how useful when complete.

From Diana Thank you very much for trying Best Wishes Diana

Fiona Sorry to have raised false hopes. There is no trace of Charles Leonard Titley in WO 364/4227

Marian I think that William Stibbens ought to appear in earlier records, but he appears to fall between stools. I was hoping to find a physical description, but I don't think there will be. The records are very confusing and even the index wasn't in straight alpha order. But, in BT 112/67 page 209 I found 55.746 William Stibbens age 37 South Shields Ticket number 15952 Then it says: C......................................................C 75/1012...........................................75 1012 Dec 42..............................................Dec 43 Roy Union.........................................Roy Union I need to check this out, but I think it means that throughout the two periods he was working on the Coastal trade. I think 75 is the port (which I think is Sunderland) and Royal Union is the ship he was on. An awful lot of ifs, but that should lead at least to crew lists for the Royal Union.

Hi Phoenix, RE: Charles Leonard Titley. I know there is a chance that his is one of the files that didn't servive, as I'm sure that many didn't. Thank you for taking the time to look, I'm very grateful. Fiona.