Find Living Relatives

Sadly I don't know Brenda's maiden name, or when she married Harold. The only info I have is that she might have come from Leicester, but that's not certain. I believe she was born in 1933, and from one passenger list it appears she had a dual passport, UK and TANGANYIKA.

Gail, tweren't you, although with these living people we do have to be careful some

there's one Brenda death that could fit

2013/14639 Smith Brenda Anita 4/1/1933 80Y

but there's no way of knowing unless you want to get the death certificate


Harold and Brenda could have married somewhere other than England I gather?

there's no Harold Smith +Brenda A marriage to suit in England, but if they married elsewhere that would explain it ... there actually was one in Leicester but 1946 is much too early to be right

were your parents married? if so do you know when they divorced if that was the case? ah, if they were married, does he have a middle initial on the marriage record? I'm thinking he didn't have a middle name, given the passenger record, but just to be sure ...

I don't know South Yorkshire geography. Do you have any idea of a place name, for finding his birth and possible middle initial?


even the number of Karen Lesley Smiths born 1966-67 is unwieldy! no idea where Harold was living before leaving England?

I have Harold's birth certificate and he has no middle name.
Yes, he and my mother were married (1943 Feb, and I was born in May 1943).
They parted when I was 3 but didn't get divorced until 1952. He was married to Brenda in 1959 - they sailed as a married couple to Tanzania, but he sailed to Kenya as a single man in 1956 so they married between those dates. All I know about him, I have found out in my family history research as he was never mentioned at home, and there were no photos of him.

Also, I forgot to add that Harold lived in Wath on Dearne before he went abroad.
That's near Rotherham,and is where I live.

I think one has to wonder whether they were married ... and in case not, what surname the children may have been registered under ...

there is no Harold-no initial marriage to a Brenda 1956-59, as I'm sure you have seen before now too :-)

There are 3 Harold Smith marriages in Rotherham district 1952-1959 (it does cover Wath upon Dearne), but none to a Brenda


ah, the Tanzania record gives her full birth date, month was March 1933

and of course Harold's which I've been trying to get at and you haven't said - dob really is a good thing for identifying deaths

his was in September 1922


I imagine you are familiar with these?

http://www.genealogy.com/forum/regional/countries/topics/newzealand/12224/

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/NEW-ZEALAND/2003-02/1045773016

many people with the same facts and no more!


If Harold is living he will be 97

what I wonder is whether the family left NZ ... it is unlikely that Harold has not died, and there simply is no death recorded for him in NZ records

I have just realised that the passenger record to NZ shows Philip and Karen as born in Australia and Philip in Tanganyika ... I had been wondering about Harold and Karen's marriage to be able to identify the children's births in England and be sure of Brenda's birth surname ... but that wasn't time well spent ...

I believe Harold died sometime in the 1980s. But I don't know where he was at the time.
I've just been looking at NZ electoral rolls and Harold and Brenda were both living at 109 Ridge Rd Howick iin 1981.
I'm not familiar with the links you sent - thanks

I've just read the links and they were both posted to try and help me, years ago. As you can see, nothing came of them. People are very kind. :-)

that's the thing, he doesn't seem to have died in NZ

so I'm thinking that looking for the family there may be fruitless

I really would try to get in touch with current occupants and neighbours of the last addresses you had (two different numbers in the same road?)

someone might remember a family that emigrated for instance


This is 109 Ridge Rd

http://tinyurl.com/or2m8p5



and this is 8 Ridge Rd,

http://tinyurl.com/o5pokd2

(wasn't sure whether you meant the two different addresses or one was an error)



it's hard to see neighbouring addresses, but you could start with them and maybe they would ask neighbours

Good morning.
Well, we know that two of Harold's children were born in Australia , so perhaps the family went back there in the 1980s.?
Philip was born around 1965 and Karen 1969. If there is any way we could find where they were born, it's possible that they returned to live in that area.
I will write to the owners of 109 Ridge Rd as well.

Once again, thanks for your help :-)