HARRY REGINALD WADE, ANGLO BOER WAR

[Pam Downes]

Page 1125
But it is all still very 'iffy', remember.

Let us know how the searching goes. I'm off to roost now.

Owl

For a very well-earned roost, Owl.

I can add more details to your theory but, as you say, it's joining those last few dots that are important.

Henry Wade married Mary Quick, 15 April 1876 in All Saints church, Poplar.
He was 'of full age', a labourer, and said his father was Joseph Wade, a labourer.
(Marriage register with all the details is on Ancestry's London marriages.)

In the 1881 census, they're living in Poplar. RG11/505 folio130 page 31
Henry Wade, 26, general laborer, born Essex (I think Coopersale)
Mary, wife, 26, Middlesex Limehouse
Eliza G, daur, 4, Middlesex Poplar
Harry, son, 1, Middlesex Poplar

Baptism record for All Saints Poplar (again parish register entry with full details on Ancestry)
On 19 Oct 1879, Harry, son of Henry and Mary Wade. Henry still a labourer. Harry born 30 Sept 1879.

Not conclusive. But (IMO) a very likely

(Eliza Grace was born 30 Jan 1877, baptised All Saints Poplar 11 March 1877.)

1891 census. RG12/329 folio 53 page 18
31 Vesey Street, Poplar
Henry Wade, 36
Mary, 36
Harry, 11,
Bertie, 9
Minnie, 6
William, 3

Baptisms for Bertram, Minnie Ann, and William James are on Ancestry.

(CARE. There's also an Annie Maria baptised 15 May 1889, and Henry baptised 6 March 1889, but they are a different family. Mother is Mary Ann(e), father is a horse-keeper, and they were baptised at All Hallows Poplar.)

Pam

[Dawnh1]

Good morning.

No, Harry did not marry in England (unless he had a wife prior to coming to SA). He married Florence Amelia Spalding in South African on the 16th of January 1906. I have a copy of the marriage certificate.

Its amazing how you can work on something for months with no responses. I have been trying to find some paperwork on Harry's army (well at least the Harry I think my great-grandfather may be) and everyone has said there is no record of the documents. I received an email this morning from a gentleman with info that Harry's next of kin was H Wade from Bromley...so now I have another lead to follow.

Is Bromley in the East End?

Lots of excitement, lets hope something comes of one of these leads.

Thank you all your help

Dawn

[Dawnh1]

Oh wow, thanks Pam

I should have found this site a long time ago.

The names are not what I was looking for as Gladys is one of the names mentioned (Gladys may have been Grace?). BUT Bertie (Bertram) does seem to be a family name as my grandfather was Bertram Joseph Wade and his son was Peter Bertram Wade. The sister of Peter Bertram Wade was named Mary Amelia Wade (Mary would be from the grandmother oon the Wade side and Amelia is the 2nd name from the grandmother on the Spalding side).

Thank you so much

[Pam Downes]

Good morning.

No, Harry did not marry in England (unless he had a wife prior to coming to SA). He married Florence Amelia Spalding in South African on the 16th of January 1906. I have a copy of the marriage certificate.

Its amazing how you can work on something for months with no responses. I have been trying to find some paperwork on Harry's army (well at least the Harry I think my great-grandfather may be) and everyone has said there is no record of the documents. I received an email this morning from a gentleman with info that Harry's next of kin was H Wade from Bromley...so now I have another lead to follow.

Is Bromley in the East End?

Lots of excitement, lets hope something comes of one of these leads.

Thank you all your help

Dawn

What I know about South Africa can be written on a pin-head with room to spare so I don't know if you have instances where you have two (or more) towns with the same name. It happens a lot in England, and is even more confusing when the two places are in the same county.

The best known of the Bromley's is the one south of the Thames in Kent. Though nowadays because of the spread of London it's almost a suburb of London.

A lesser-known Bromley is Bromley-by-Bow, north of the Thames, in the east of London. Have a look at the maps on this link to see the proximity to Poplar, and Bow itself. https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromley-by-Bow

It is also sometimes called (just to make things even more confusing ) Bromley St Leonards. https://
ukga.org/england/Middlesex/towns/BromleyStLeonardorBromleybyBow.html
The name comes from the nunnery founded in the time of William the Conqueror and dedicated to St Leonard.

When Harry enlisted he would have been a single man, so logically his father would have been his next of kin. The Harry we've found born 30 Sept 1879 has a father called (H for) Henry.
I'm sure you don't need telling to keep us informed how that piece of information pans out.

Pam

[thewideeyedowl]

Hi again all...

Wow, we really seem to be making progress on this one. The Poplar Harry son of Poplar Henry does seem to be a good fit to the info emerging, but as Pam wisely says we still have to join all the dots.... Geographically, things are looking good, because the London locations are all very close. So, the mysteries still remaining are:
1. Why and when did Harry acquire the middle name Reginald (if we have got the right Harry, of course)?
2. How does Karachi come into it?
3. If he served in the Boer War, who was he/where was he?

I'll try to tackle No 3:

If the Poplar Harry is your Harry, then he would very very very probably have served in the British army. And if he was living in London, then he would have enlisted there. I have just taken a look at a commercial research-service site, which also sells books and medals (Casus Belli). Entering 'H Wade' in the Search box produced 15 results, of which seven were just 'H Wade' - the others also had at least one middle initial, but no 'R' anywhere. You should be able to get to those results if you convert this into an internet address (no spaces, and dot's a .):
http: www dot casus-belli dot co.uk/index.asp?display=search&searchquery=Wade&fieldnam e=surname&fieldorder=ASC&rsnav=3

The info from there might give some new leads - at this stage, probably in a negative way, i.e. ruling out the ones it can't be.

Let us know what you think - and if there are any more clues, then so much the better.

Owl

PS I think we can now rule out the/my theory that Harry's father served during the 2nd Afghan War.

[Dawnh1]

Hello, I am not sure if I have uploaded this image correctly, please let me know if you cannot view it.

It is the register on Casus-belli, I paid to view the document and this is all I could get. I contacted them to find out if they would be able to help with additional information if I paid for further info. According to them most of these records were destroyed so I contacted KEW and they basically told me to hire a researcher. I contacted Paul Nixon, who works at Find My Past, he also told me there was no guarantee of finding documentation on the enrolment of these soldiers. However, I received an email from Kevin Asplin who had a link on the Anglo Boer War website. He gave me the info on Harry's fathers name H Wade from Bromley.


I have sent him an email requesting to purchase a copy of the documentation, waiting for a reply.

The reason for my query on this particular Harry Wade was the fact that he received a QSA medal for the seige of Mafeking.
I was told by a family member that Harry had medal from the Boer War and that he had an injury to his hand where a bullet had hit him in action.

I am not saying this is the correct Harry, I was only going on the medal "link" due to the fact that I have not had much to base my research on.

I am also attaching the nominal rolls for Harry Wade.

[Sue Mackay]

As this has turned into a very interesting research thread, I have moved it from Introduce Yourself to the Boer War Forum, as it may be of interest to others with Boer War roots.

[Dawnh1]

Thank you Sue.

I cannot believe how helpful everyone has been. A big THANK YOU to all.

[thewideeyedowl]

Hey - this is really progressing now! Every time I drop back in there is some more interesting stuff in this thread. Obviously, we can't say that we have definitely found your Harry, but it does look increasingly likely. So this might be a good point to work on motives for his actions.

The Poplar Harry was a boy from the East End of London, and it looks as if he was a working class lad. Why did he join the army? Job opportunity? Did the army appear to be much more interesting than his then current occupation?

So he found himself a British soldier in South Africa. Did he just fall in love with the place and not go back to a possibly rather dreary background in London? Could he see opportunities in SA that he could not possibly have in England? So he was a go-getter and stayed on??? (It would be interesting to find out what happened to the British soldiers after the end of the war - were they discharged, did some stay on as regulars? I've never thought about it before.)

Now, what about Florence, his wife - have you any background info on her? I have been wondering whether she was from a 'better' family than the Wades. So Harry did not let on too much about his own background, was perhaps prepared to stretch the truth just a little bit, and gave himself a middle name (Reginald). I do not know. This is just idle conjecture.

Finally, has anyone found Henry Wade and family in London in the 1911 Census? (And if it is in fact in this thread, sorry that I have missed it . Need to pay more attention.) That might confirm background, and if that Henry was the head of the household, you would see his signature - the signature of your great-great-grandfather.

So - not really moving things on here. Sorry. Hope you get some definite info via the Casus Belli contacts.

Eagerly awaiting the next instalment, but must swoop off now.

Owl

[Dawnh1]

Hello, I'm back. Thanks for your post.

I've spent the morning with a researcher, looking at SA records...but did not find anything that we did not already know.
We were hoping there may have been other sibling that also came over. After looking at the records, the researcher does seem to think that Harry is actually Henry???

My next step is to look into the Spalding family, which is Harry's wife, Florence. Possibly there is some living family member who can assist or who may be doing a tree too. I do not know any of the living relatives so it will be a new adventure.

Will keep you posted on any findings.

Dawn