Newby trying to find family of Les Coward

[The witches cat]

Hello all, I don't really know how to use this site, but I'm trying to find family of Leslie (or maybe Lesley) Coward, my Grandfather. All my mother can tell me is he was brought up for several years in Shepton Mallett Barnardos home. He suffered badly from Athsma and he died at age 48 when I was 6 months old, He worked on the railway, on rhe Salisbury to Exeter line, and lived with his wife (my grandmother Lou) in Gillingham, Dorset. They had just one child (my mother) Evelyn. We know he had at least one brother, Harry. Les would have been 99 this year. Does anyone out there know anything of this man, apparently my grandmother would never have his family spoken of, and my mother never asked any questions for fear of upsetting her mother (a very strong woman) Both Lou and Les are dead now, as are all of my mothers family (apart from my sister and I) so we have no way of finding out anything.

Any thoughts or help appreciated, thanks, Chris.

[Bo Peep]

|wave|Hello Chris and welcome to Brit-Gen. I hope you will enjoy being a member of our community.

Please take a look around the site and when you are ready, post your query (queries) on the relevant county board.

This is a very large forum and can be quite confusing for a newbie, but please do not worry. If you post your query on the wrong board, someone will move it for you. The important thing is to enjoy yourself.

[hughar]

Since you say Les spent some time in a Barnardos Home, you should check with them. See http://www.barnardos.org.uk/what_we_do/work_with_former_barnardos_children.htm

[Peter Goodey]

...so we have no way of finding out anything.

Look at it this way - you won't waste time going down blind alleys as a result of unreliable family information resulting from fading memories.

Work systematically without trying to cut any corners and you'll get there.