Roamin' Free

[JohnF]

What great and plausible theories you are all coming up with!
Yes Mistley is but 6 miles from both Colchester and Ipswich, so I like that, and near enough to Harwich and Felixtowe to "explain" Ernest's seafaring connection
But "Ernest H. FREE Medal card, R.F.A. GNR 696454, A.S.C M/414689. Retd. 1743 K.R. 1912, 8163/adt. " seems to imply he retired (from something) in 1912.

I like PW's idea that he visited in the war when Iris Doreen would have been about 12.
Maybe it was in 1915 to tell them of his impending marriage to Edith
When Edith died, maybe in childbirth, and her daughter too (?), maybe that was what triggered the new start in USA? (perhaps with new wife if that was the same Ernest)
Many thanks. I hope you are enjoying all this hard work
John

[mick]

Ignore the Freebmd information, it is a different Ernest Free.

[JohnF]

Ignore the Freebmd information, it is a different Ernest Free.

Mick, how on earth do you know that!
Please tell me as I want to become a better searcher myself and, being retired, cannot afford to send off for lots of certificates.
Also, already we are tending to find "too many" Ernest H Free.

As for Australia, all I know is he does NOT appear on a list of Free Surnames obtained from Australia containg 600 Free, nearly all Australian, with their 4000 close relatives. This in a printed book of 1970 vintage.
Many thanks
John

[mick]

Hello John.
It was my mistake - it was an Ernest W Free who married in the Colchester district and not an Ernest H Free. Ernest W was born in that area in 1896.
Mick

[JohnF]

Thanks Mick. Eliminating false candidates is more important that finding new ones!

So W for H is not enough alone, but "wrong birth place" settles it - right?

And Mick what is the right way to quote your message in a quick reply to it?

I hope Wirral is OK - maybe he is just busy - but I was hoping he would clarify
"Ernest H. FREE Medal card, R.F.A. GNR 696454, A.S.C M/414689. Retd. 1743 K.R. 1912, 8163/adt. " for us, as it seems such a secure lead.
Do you think he refused the medal (in 1912 ?) or had disappeared by then?

Also when I went back to page 1 to verify name "Wirral" it deleted my by then almost finished message and I had to type it all in again.
Not complaining - just asking how I can do better next time { ;<D]

[Kerrywood]

"Ernest H. FREE Medal card, R.F.A. GNR 696454, A.S.C M/414689. Retd. 1743 K.R. 1912, 8163/adt. " for us, as it seems such a secure lead.
Do you think he refused the medal (in 1912 ?) or had disappeared by then?

Pending Wirral's arrival and possible corrections ...

R.F.A. GNR 696454 = Royal Field Artillery, Gunner, service no. 696454
A.S.C. M/414689 = Army Service Corps, Mechanised Transport, service no. 414689

1912 is the date of the relevant series of King's Regulations under which the medals will have been returned, not the date of the return itself.

Kerrywood

[Wirral]

I hope Wirral is OK - maybe he is just busy - but I was hoping he would clarify

She is fine, but has only just come home from work!

I think Kerrywood & others have explained the bits about the medals (I haven't a clue).

[JohnF]

Ah yes, Wirral, but isn't it nice to know what faith others have in you!
John

[Wirral]

If you have evidence my Dad returned to school, please tell me!
My Dad insisted to me that he left school age 12 and was entirely self-educated as a result (He rose to be chief exec of the biggest commercial concern in Windsor by 1912)

1891 census RG12/1466 f86 p6, 9 Elliott St, Ipswich Suffolk
Henry James SKEET, head, M, 40, Sanitary authority labourer, Ipswich, Suffolk
Louisa SKEET, wife, M, 39, Norfolk Wortrell
Albert SKEET, son, S, 18, Iron founders labourer, Suffolk Ipswich
William E. FREE, stepson, 13, Scholar, Ipswich
Ernest H. FREE, stepson, 11, scholar, Ipswich
Alfred SKEET, son, 8, Scholar, Ipswich
Evelyn S. FREE, stepson, 4, Ipswich

My Dad, being only NINE then, would have strongly objected to this sudden arrival of "Uncle Henry" who in any case went away within a year or two leaving May Skeet behind.

That isn't what the censuses suggest. Here is the family in 1901:

RG13/1775 f108 p21, 65 Handford Rd, Ipswich
Henry J. SKEET, head, M, 50, Night dock man, Ipswich
Louisa SKEET, wife, M, 49, Freston, Suffolk
William E. FREE, son, Un, 23, Clerk at gas works, Wortwell, Norfolk
Alfred SKEET, son, Un, 18, Iron striker, Ipswich
Evelyn S. FREE, dau, Un, 14, Ipswich [yes it does say daughter & the age is in the female column]
Alice M. SKEET, dau, 7, Freston, Suffolk

[The surnames of the children are hard to read as they have been overwritten by the enumerator].

This is what forced my Dad to leave school age 12 to be breadwinner

I suggest you contact Suffolk Records Office at Ipswich & see if there are any school records for the family. They may say when the children left school & even where they went to work.

[JohnF]

That isn't what the censuses suggest.

Very valuable info, Wirral. Thank you very much.
Note how very carefully it says STEP-children.

It gets us back to "who fills in the census data?"
In this case the father (Sanitary worker) or the stepson (clerk at Gas co).

Note that Ernest, now 21, has left in disgust by 1901. But William, though 23 has stayed to look after the family even though he has to travel 25 miles to Wortwell and back every day!

It is worth noting that of William's eventual 5 children he called TWO of the first three Evelyn - after his little brother Samuel Evelyn.
Not one of us did he call Ernest nor Henry, after the brother who left.

Do you think he insisted May Skeet was adopted in order to ensure the name Henry Skeet would never be mentioned? I was only 8 when he told me, but at that age we are well able to hear the passion in an adult's voice.