Help!!!!!

[Venny]

Hello Guys.

I really need your help, I am banging my head off walls with red tape. I am trying to locate my mother's father, I know his regimental number: 22296201 -Wyer H, served in the Signals??? I think, he was born in Cardiff in 1933, and married Valerie Filmer in Lambeth In 1953. And that is about it, we have tried the correct routes, via army records, but not turned anything up. Has anyone any suggestions??? Or really good website addresses. I would love to find him, as my mother is 50 this year, and has never met him... It would be the best pressie ever. We have very little to go on, even the birth certificates differ between my mothers and her brother??

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Emma

[Peter Goodey]

1. Death Register

2. 192.com

3. Salvation Army

[Pam Downes]

The GRO have a section called Traceline.
In 1946 my cousin's mother was ordered by her mother-in-law to leave the house. When my cousin decided to find her mother the only information my cousin had was what was on her own birth certificate, her parents' marriage certificate, and a divorce date.
Earlier this year Traceline were able to tell my cousin her mother's new married name and give her the information needed to obtain a copy of her mother's death certificate.
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/research/traceline/index.asp

(don't know if that will come out as a 'clickable' URL , if not try
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/
click 'research'
then 'Traceline')

Pam Downes

[Annie]

Hi Emma
the only H Wyer registered in Cardiff area in 1933 is:
Harold H Wyer Sep quarter 1933 registration district Cardiff ref 11a 615 mother's maiden name Jury. No H Wyer on death index between 1984-2002

Annie

[Geoffers]

I am trying to locate my mother's father, I know his regimental number: 22296201 -Wyer H, served in the Signals??? I think, he was born in Cardiff in 1933, and married Valerie Filmer in Lambeth In 1953. Emma
Hello Emma
One of the ways I have used to trace family forward is to go back a generation!?

Here's the idea - You know that your grandparents married in 1953; if you don't already have it, obtain their marriage certificate This will have your grandfather's age; and also his father's name and occupation (keep your fingers crossed that he wasn't already deceased at this time). I would then be inclined to hunt for the gt-grandfather's marriage certificate to get an age and so a rough year of birth.

You should then be able to confirm the birth year of H.Wyer's father in the GRO index of births. You now need to look for your gt-grandfather's death. Look in the GRO index of deaths (more recent deaths include the full date of birth in the index) - and also the index to Wills. Both the GRO index and index to wills have been copied onto film and are available at many Local Studies' Centres/County Records Offices, so you hopefully shouldn't have to travel too far to view them.

If you find a death for the gt-grandfather, apply for the certificate and check the name and address of the informant, which is usually a relative (and hopefully may have been your grandfather). If the death was fairly recent, try writing c/o the informant's address.

If you find a reference to a will, apply for a copy - the executors and beneficiaries who are mentioned may be related (and so would be related to yourself). Again, try writing to them at any addresses given. Try contacting the solicitor who drew up the will - he.she may not be able to tell you anything, but it's worth a shot.

Look in local newspapers for any mention of funeral arrangements or death notices - there may be names of families, the location of the funeral, etc.

If the gt-grandfather died sometime ago, still obtain the death certificate and if he left one, the will. If any of his children are mentioned in either document, see if you can locate a marriage for them in the GRO index of marriages (the index should include the surname of bride or groom). Then check against the GRO index of births for any subsequent children of that marriage (the mother's maiden name should be included in the index) - look at the registration district, it narrows down the area of search.

As you've obviously found it isn't easy, but you should be able to whittle away until you at least get a town or area that he lived (hoping that he hasn't emigrated). Good luck

Geoffers
Charlbury, Oxfordshire