searching for information about my grandfather

[bigmax]

Good evening,Iam brand new to British Geneology,My name is Bill Colquhoun,I live in Australia and I am searching for information about my grand father.The only information I have about the old fellow are bits and bobs ,nothing complete.
1. I have a photo of GP wearing his medals which are seven in number and to the best of my ability I have identified them as:-
medal 1 unknown, medal 2 Queens South Africa Boer war medal with 3 bars,
medal 3 Kings South Africa Medal1901/02 with 2 bars ,medal4 1914-15 Star,
medal5 1914-20 War Medal ,medal6 Victory Medal,medal 7 unknown. I have a newspaper article which was done in 1960,when he was approximately 91 years old,he said in the interview that he joined the Royal Garrison Artillery on February 29th 1897 and served for 23 years and 32 days before being discharged,he further stated that he rose through the ranks to the rank of Warrant Officer,he finished his career in the Artillery as an assistant instructor at Woolwich Training College .Would anyone like to offer some advice as to where and how to start searching for information on my grand father,William Colquhoun.Hoping someone can help regards Bill.

[jeeb]

Hi Bill,
There are 2 references to a William Colquhoun serving in WW1 with Royal Garrison Artillery. These references are held by UK National Archives catalogue ref WO372/4

1) William Colquhoun Regiment nos 326499 Gunner
2) William Colquhoun Regiment nos 18900 Wheeler Staff Serjeant.

This information is taken from the index and it will cost £3.50 each to obtain the information within.

Cheers Jeremy

[WaltonAus]

Hello Bill, I did a quick search on LDS for your grandfather and only returned 1 result as below. It is an unsupported IGI record but may be a starting point for you.

William Erskine CAMPBELL COLQUHAUN
B: 20 JUL 1866 Crockenhill, Kent
Father: John Erskine CAMPBELL COLQUHAUN
Mother: Emily Agnes

*No source information is available.

Good Luck & Kind Regards
Peter Euston.

[Geoffers]

I am searching for information about my grand father......I have a newspaper article which was done in 1960,when he was approximately 91 years old.....Would anyone like to offer some advice as to where and how to start searching for information on my grand father,William Colquhoun.Hoping someone can help regards Bill.

The National Archvies (TNA) at Kew, London is the place to start searching for military records - and indeed a lot else too. They have a load of research guides on their web-site, click on this:
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/c...sindex.asp?j=1
and select 'B' and look at the links prefixed 'British Army' - it will tell you what has and has not survived.

continued....

[Geoffers]

The National Roll of honour (not a complete record but you have to start somehwere) doesn't have an entry for W Colquhoun, but does have one for GW Colquhoun. It is available on a pay-per-site 1837online

Where and when was he married, where and when were his children born? - do you have certificates for any/all of them and if so, what additional information do they provide? Do you know the maiden name of his wife? If he married in England/Wales this will help.

Have you tried searching any census returns for him?

Where did your grandfather die? Was it in the UK - or did he emigrate?

continued....

[Geoffers]

If your chap was born in England/Wales his birth should be recorded in the General Register Office (GRO) index
There is a project to transcribe the index, it is not yet complete but a useful place to start:
https://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

The complete index is on the 1837online site mentioned.

Certificates can be ordered from the GRO online
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/

If you can answer the earlier questions, I may be able to suggest places to look/find something out for you, but otherwise, is this enough to start you off?

Geoffers

[Geoffers]

1) William Colquhoun Regiment nos 326499 Gunner
2) William Colquhoun Regiment nos 18900 Wheeler Staff Serjeant.
This information is taken from the index and it will cost £3.50 each to obtain the information within.

Being consecutive alphabetically and having the same reference, you should be able to obtain these for just a single payment as each page purcahsed contains six entries.

Geoffers

[bigmax]

Thankyou to all who have helped so far,this is fantastic.I have since been in contact with a cousin in Queensland and found out that grandma's name was Mary ann Sarah ann Holmes.Granddad was supposedly married in Capetown ,South Africa,my father who was the eldest of seven children ,was born in Capetown in 1906.My grandad died in Australia in 1966 at the age of 92.Grandad was also stationed on StHelena.His other two medals have now been identified as 1,Long Service Good Conduct medal and 2.Meritorious Service Medal,so I will now ,with your ongoing advice ,try and find out more.Regards Bill

[Geoffers]

I have since been in contact with a cousin in Queensland and found out that grandma's name was...Holmes. Granddad was supposedly married in Capetown ,South Africa,my father who was the eldest of seven children ,was born in Capetown in 1906.

In view of this, it may be worth checking the military indices held on 1837online - these include the regimental registers of births 1761-1924 and the indices to army births and marriages 1881-1955. Certificates relating to these indices can again be obtained via the GRO.

Geoffers