My Father's Mystery

[Mona]

I think this is the one you need to order:
SMITH, LESLIE JOHN GORDON
1906 M Quarter in ROMNEY MARSH Volume 02A Page 1194

[christanel]

FreeBMD has the birth registration in the name of Smith and Holton but for some reason the new GRO index is only showing it in the name of Smith.

So as Megan says order it in the name of Smith.

Christina

[goldmercedes]

Thank you, thank you, thank you Mona! This may be the beginning of finding the answers to the mystery of Leslie Holton's life!I appreciate your help very much. Thanks, goldmercedes.

[goldmercedes]

Thank you, Christina. We may have the beginning to the answer of Leslie Holton's life pre 1928. Thanks, Goldmercedes.

[goldmercedes]

By the way Christina, my grandmother Alice Harriet Kate Barnes (birth name) was born just down the road from you in Wellington NZ. Apparently the family had land in Whanganui in the name of Holton, and one yarn a family member told me was that Leslie Holton went to NZ in the 1920's to sell the land and took the cash to Australia. He was said to have had a fiancé in Dunedin who passed away from the flu epidemic of the early twenties. Goldmercedes.

[Mona]

A birth certificate does not actually state the surname of the child, it is inferred by the surname(s) of the parents. If the mother was HOLTON and the father SMITH, then it would explain the double indexing on GRO. The new index only shows SMITH. Leslie must have chosen to use HOLTON.

[goldmercedes]

Hi all. I would like to sincerely thank all of the ideas and found facts all of the people above have provided. I have also found some facts in addition to those above. Leslie John Gordon Holton (or Smith) apparently won third prize of 500 pounds in a lottery in 1938. This has brought back a memory of him saying that he won the lottery twice as he cuddled my mother in the kitchen of our house. The second win may have been my mother, I don't know. Also, he orated at a public gathering at the end of World War 2 where the town of Mudgee NSW celebrated his survival as a POW on the death railway (Burma). I cannot imagine Leslie making a speech as in all the years I knew him as he was far too timid and would run a mile, as they say, to avoid that situation. I have found that at some time in his youth he lived in Rye, England as he wrote to a member of the family saying so. I have tried to get a birth certificate via the internet but no matter what name (Smith or Holton) the authorities don't seem to be able to help. Maybe I'm stupid or something!
My earnest request of anybody reading this is: WHY did Leslie recreate his past? Why did he say he was a Catholic when he apparently was an Anglican? Why did he say he was born in Dublin when he was born in New Romney? Why did he say he was born in 1913 when really born in 1906? Why did he say he only had one Christian name Leslie when he was Leslie John Gordon (and later Dawson) Holton? Why did he say he was a 9 year old Barnardo's Boy when he actually came to Australia as a clerk at 17 years of age? Why did he tell my mother his previous girlfriend had died in the war killed by the Japanese when many years later he was suddenly sitting next to his supposedly dead girlfriend at a wedding ceremony feeling very embarrassed at my mother's anger? What was he hiding? Does a newspaper somewhere in the world have a story? Did he commit a crime? He lived for a while in Snodland, Kent - are there any records of this?

[christanel]

Hi
To get a birth certificate did you register with the GRO site and then fill in the forms with this exact information?
SMITH, LESLIE JOHN GORDON
Year 1906 Jan- Feb-March Quarter in registration district ROMNEY MARSH Volume 02A Page 1194

GRO site https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/c...es/default.asp

You will have to register with them, which is free, and is done by clicking on the Register/Log in link at the right hand side of the page.
You will need your credit card but once registered it is a straight forward process.

Christina