Live webchat with the Imperial War Museum on researching family history, Wednesday 18 January 1-2pm

GeraldineGransnet

In partnership with our lovely friends at Pearson, whose new online family history course is previewed on Gransnet, we're delighted to host a live webchat with Mel Donnelly, who works on family history at the Imperial War Museum.

Mel has appeared on television after Who Do You Think You Are? encouraging people who want to get started with family history research to use the internet.

Mel has been researching military and family history for 20 years - so if you're a keen researcher but you've got stuck, or you're thinking of looking into your history but don't know where to get started, ask your questions in advance or join us live on Wednesday 18 January 1-2 pm.

testing from GNHQ

Hi everyone, thanks for your interest in family history. I'll do my best to answer as many questions as we can.

Elegran

Hi Mel,

Today would have been my father's 97th birthday. How can I find out more about his army life? I remember some of it, of course, as I was born in 1939 and from 1941 to 1948 he was stationed in the UK, teaching cadets at Beachley, but he never spoke much about his experiences in France between Dunkirk and his evacuation from Cherbourg some weeks later. I sent for his record, which told me a little, but not why his unit was not at Dunkirk and what happened to them as they made their way to safety.

He seems to have been doing signals work, as he talked about code books (his young superior officer was most concerned at having to leave behind a safe, which he had personally signed responsibility for, as they left Rouen precipitately with the Germans entering at the other end of town. He was with difficulty dissuaded from leaving the keys in it so that it would not be destroyed when the Germans blew it up for the code books inside)

Hi Elegran,
You will need to identify the precise unit he was serving with from the summary record you have, for example which Battalion of the Gloucester Regiment – each regiment was broken down into smaller groups. Also have to look to see if he was transferred officially or whether he was formally or informally attached to the Gloucesters. See if you can work out when he was posted to France. All this will help you to find unit records, either the original army records kept at the time or regimental histories published after the war, which may give you some information about the experiences of his unit while they were in France for the relevant dates.

In the days before mobile phones army units would all have communicated by radios and signals, so he may have been responsible for sending and receiving signals between headquarters and his small unit. The situation during the retreat to the coast was chaotic so it may have been that he took on a job as he was the only person available.

Visiting a museum, such as the Imperial War Museum may enable you to put your fathers experiences in a wider context. We have a wide collection including sound recordings of veterans describing their experiences, film, photographs and personal papers that may also help you gain more understanding of the situation. Much of this material can be found on our website if you are not able to visit in person, or if you can visit our Explore History centre staff will be able to help.
Good luck!

GadaboutGran

My grandfather went to South Africa in 1901 to join the Cape Mounted Police based in Postmasburg & covering the Kimberley region. He died in WW1 in the South African Rifles at the Battle of Sandfontein on 26th Sept 1914. How can I find out more about how he came to go out to South Africa and wonder if he first went there in the Boer War, perhaps with a Surrey regiment. He lived in Mortlake & is registered there in the Census of 1891 & 1901 but there is no reference to military service. He appears to have had a long & distant courtship with my grandmother (a friend of his sister in London) as they married in Kimberley in 1909 - I can't imagine they would have had the money to have visited each other between 1901 and then.

Hello GadAboutGran,

How nice to hear that their long distance relationship survived! There was substantial emigration from the UK to places such as Australia and Canada during the first decade of the 20th Century, so it may be that your grandfather followed this pattern. Try searching for emigration/immigration records.

Do you know what his profession was in the UK? If he was a police officer at home that may explain why he became a policeman in South Africa?

Alternatively your thought that he may have travelled there as a soldier is a possibility. If he did that and his time in the army finished whilst he was in South Africa it may have been possible for his to be discharged there, rather than going back to the UK. If you have any service papers relating to his time in the army during the First World War check to see if there is any mention of previous military experience.

The Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902 and Passenger lists leaving UK 1890-1960 records on findmypast.co.uk might help

Rangimarie

Hello Mel,

I have in my possession my late father's service record. He served in the R.A.S.C., 8th Army in Palestine between 1940 and 1945/6. He told me when he returned he was then sent to Norway, but I do not know why and his service record does not mention it. Is there a reason for this?

Thank you.

Hi Rangimarie,

I wonder if your father went to Norway after he left the army and that's why it's not on his service record.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help!

Annobel

Sorry, missed the question out. Is there any way of getting back as far as the conquest?

Hi Annobel,

Your question might be useful to others as well.

Unless you are a member of the royal family I think it is unlikely you would be able to get that far back I’m afraid! Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths started in 1837 and there has been a census every 10 years from 1841 so most people with English ancestry may be able get back to around 1800. Prior to that church records of baptism, marriage and burial can help you go back to the early 16th century.

suffolklass

Hi Mel

Great to have you here.....I am intrigued by the interest which War Horse is creating. How can Imperial War Museum help people like me who are interested in what relatives did in WW1?

Hi suffolklass,

We're going to focus on some First World War questions in a minute, keep your eyes peeled!

Zephrine

Family legend has it that Alfred Hunt and his wife Mary Ann perished on their way back from somewhere possibly Malta in 1939 (probably) when their boat was torpedoed. I know this is very vague but I don't know where to start looking. Where would their deaths be registered? They do not appear to be in the GRO records. I have found several journeys for him when he was listed as an engineer working for the government so not military I think. If they were coming back from Malta in '39 would it be on a civilian ship or military? Any help much appreciated.

Dear Zephrine,

It may be that their deaths were registered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, as Second World War civilian war dead. You can check the register at www.cwgc.org

alchemillamollis

Hi Mel,

Please can you recommend any good blogs written by people researching their family history?

Especially if they are descended from the Huguenots, as I am?

Thank you! Je vous remercie!

Hi alchemillamollis,

I'm afraid I'm not sure about any specific blogs for family history, but I'm sure that there is a Huguenot family history society. Hope you find it!

grannyactivist

My great, great grandfather was born in Belgium and has a Belgian surname, but is described on his marriage certificate as a British Subject. He was born in Belgium between 1814 and 1818 and married (a Scottish woman) in England in 1852. Is there a record kept somewhere of British Subjects? I'm intrigued to know how he became one.

Hi grannyactivist,

So from the records you have it is impossible to know if he was born a British citizen or if became a naturalised citizen later on. The British army certainly had a presence in Belgium during that time frame (remember Wellington and Napoleon!) So could your great, great grandfather have been born of a British mother (the widow of a British soldier?) and a Belgium father? Or a British father who perhaps didn’t marry the Belgium mother, hence the Belgium surname? Lots of speculation but it may provide some possible lines of enquiry. You could try searching the birth records for British nationals and armed forces births 1761-2005, Napoleonic War Records 1775-1817,Waterloo Medal Roll, British Army Service Records 1760-1915 and army lists and roll calls all of which can be searched on findmypast.co uk and which cover the relevant time frame.
The International Genealogical Index (IGI) at familysearch.org may have relevant Belgian birth/baptism records. Does he appear on the 1841 and/or 1851 census and if so is his place of birth and status as a British subject shown? This may help you to narrow down a timeframe.

The National Archives have naturalisation records and a helpsheet explaining the terms and the classes of records available.

paradisemerton

Hi I have managed to trace my Milners from London back to Buckinghamshire back to London again! However I am stuck at Robert Gibson Milner born "London" approx 1802-1806 (estimated by ages on other documents). I believe London at that time meant anywhere north of the Thames! I live in Kent and cannot travel to London, any thoughts about sources I could try online? Many thanks...

Hi paradisemerton,

Have you tried baptism/marriage/burial records, covering all the counties that had areas in what is now London? That would include London, Middlesex, Kent, Essex and Surrey. More and more of these are being digitised and are available on sites such as Ancestry and findmypast. Local family history societies may also be able to help. Good luck!

Oxon70

I started 2 years ago, but still find I can't get further on some of my family......

I still could use some advice on my Irish gggrandfather, as I know his wife now (found her name recently via a history book on Vermont where their son emigrated!!) - BUT although I have one piece of evidence that they were both Irish, I don't know their ages or where in Ireland they were from.

(John Andrews m Marion Watson, around 1837, probably in Dublin.
No record found of this, their births, or any of their children's births, online.)

Hi Oxon70,

Neither Andrews nor Watson seem particularly common Irish names, so one possible line of enquiry is that John Andrews was a soldier. As Ireland was still part of the UK at that point in history, the British Army has bases in Ireland as it did across the British Isles. If the births were registered by the army you may not have found them in the usual records. Try the British Army Service Records 1760-1915 and army lists and roll calls on findmypast. The muster rolls held at the National Archives would give you more information but you would need the name of regiment to search them. Hope this helps!