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I have recently found out that the man whom I thought was my father, Henry Reeves, and registered as such on my birth certificate, was not.

I was born in Hurlingham Road S.W.6 in 1944. My investigations have brought me to the following:
William Holden, who was in a reserved occupation, met my mother when she was living with her sister Ellen (Rose) Marsh (later Ballinger) in Sutton London and doing war work in a small factory in Merton as a diamond cutter. It seems he worked at the same factory in some engineering capacity.

When I was 8 months old Henry returned from N.Africa having been away for over 3 years and like many men, not expected to return. My mother appears to have made the choice stay with her marriage. It seems that William left later to join the navy, however that may have been on a voluntary basis with the R.N.V.R. I am not clear about that. It's at this point information has dried up but I am hoping to go to Kew to check Naval records.
I have been searching trees with William Holden's but so far no luck.
Any ideas please?

Just throwing ideas out.

Do you know what the factory they both worked for made? If you could track down the name of the firm, you might be able to find employment or company records. Unlikely, but you never know.

You could track down the ER for immediatley before and then after the war - 1938/9 and 1946 then plough through them for Holden familes living close enough to commute to the factory.

Even if you searched for births or marriages for William Holden, there is no guarentee you'll stumble on the right one. World Wars did tend to make the population more mobile and there is a chance that he was directed there to work, or met someone else to marry from another part of the country.

Before you go to the NA, do check that the records you can want are available to open searches. The information given on the NA site is that the Forces personnel records will only be released to next of kin if they provide proof of death. This will probably change in time when that generation have passed away.

As this thread can be found on internet searches, you may wish to consider removing your full d.o.b for your own security.

Unfortunately you won't find his Naval records at the National Archives - they are not yet in the public domain. You could apply for them, to receive basic information as you can't prove you are next of kin, but you would have to prove his death to do so.

???----Ancestry has for WW2 just a RNaval medal award record for Long Service and Good Conduct----Rank ?none? Service number? PO/X3417

Holden William,,,,years covering ---1944 to 1952 Ship -Ceylon
Holden William,,,,years covering ---1944 to 1963,------

There are other numbers and dates to do with pay dates but no personal details of the man.

Sent PM - willing to provide 427 address for William Holden in uk 2003

For Alan- sorry I haven't answered your reply of the 7th August as I have been unwell. Trying to get back on track again and yes, I would like to receive the 427 addresses for William Holden in UK2003. Who knows I might just hit on a relative of a William who remembers he did war work in a small factory in Merton London SW.
Kindest regards
Susan

What did you say Reggie to gett rr'd ? :-S

Susan, The most likely birth for this man given probable age and if he was born in the same area as he worked, matches to a death in 1969.

Please be cautious with what you post on here, it can all be found via google and it is possible that if he has family they won't know about you, even if he did.

Thank you for your message RR however I can't spot the possible William that you have mentioned. Maybe I'm still not on the ball enough with the system. I have only found 2 WH's and they are not near my mother's age at all. A bit at sea.

Thanks for your advice and I didn't think GR could be sourced through google - then what do I know anyway about the extent of what one can find on the net!! I will keep this in mind.

Just how did you get to this particular WH in 1969? What was his birth place?

Sue

Susan willl find and send in a message, it will show up next to 'messages ' in menu across top of board.

for info it may be no connection but have given a poss' birth date in the same area, marriage and children, if only to eliminate.

I merely said that the mother was fortunate that her husband continued with the marriage.......as most men wouldn't

Hardly controversial...............considering that it was Susan who informed us of what the situation was

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/ancestors/thread/1314367

Why on earth has this one been reported?

If it was for duplication, why not the one started tonight instead?

Just for the record, it wasn't me Jax.

I have never RR'd anyone.

I just point to other threads to avoid duplication of research.

Oh I would not have thought it was you anyway Lynski....it would be pointless posting a link then reporting it.

There seems to be a pattern here though.....you post a link...then someone feels they need to report one or both of the threads.....seen it happen a lot

I could understand it, if it was todays one that was rr'd.....if any, but I suppose that would have been too simple for the person that did it

Well if GR removes this then we will know they dont read the threads :-D