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  1. #1
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    Default charles henry clarke

    Hi
    my name is Bill i am trying to trace my family tree the only information i have is my fathers name and year off birth which is 1915 in canning town east London

    Any help would be very much appreciated

  2. #2
    Super Moderator - Completely bonkers and will never change.
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    Hello Bill,

    Welcome to British-Genealogy.

    There's quite a few Charles H Clarke's born 1915-1916, but from the Canning Town bit I'm assuming that he was the one whose birth was registered in March quarter 1916 in West Ham registration district. You have six weeks in which to register a birth, so this would mean that your dad was born between about 20 November and 31 December 1915. How near am I?
    Do you have a copy of your father's birth certificate (and marriage certificate)? Obtaining a copy of his birth certificate is an absolute must, especially as we're talking about a fairly common surname with Clarke.
    Once you've confirmed your father's birth date, then we'll tell you how to obtain a copy of the certificate, and give you the reference numbers you require. (Certificates by the way currently cost £9.25, so welcome to the very expensive hobby of genealogy. )

    Pam
    Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

  3. #3
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    the only information i have is my fathers name and year off birth which is 1915
    But that's probably not all you know, is it? Most people can remember their fathers' birthday even if they're hazy about the year of birth. And I bet you know who he married. These are all important clues. Was his birthday 29 November?

    At all times work systematically, backwards, one generation at a time. You need to obtain his marriage certificate which may supply his age on marriage, his occupation and his father's name. You need this information to track down the correct birth certificate.

    Order your certificates here

  4. #4
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    Hi Peter
    Thank you for the information you are correct my fathers birthday was 29th November sorry for not including that in my post
    i have an old copy of my parents marriage certificate but my grandfather had passed away before my parents married all i know is my grandfathers name was William James Clarke and i believe he was either in the merchant or royal navy have tried to trace his records with no success but i was informed about 5 or 6 years ago that he may have been married twice please can you tell me how i would be able to trace his records
    Many Thanks
    Bill Clarke

  5. #5
    Super Moderator - Completely bonkers and will never change.
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    Hi Bill,

    Peter has given you the link for ordering BMD certificates, and the reference details you want for your father's birth certificate is
    year: 1916
    quarter: Jan-Feb-Mar
    district name: W. Ham (or West Ham)
    volume number: 4a
    page number: 361

    Order in the name of : Charles H Clarke. Do not put Henry, because that name is not written in the index and therefore the GRO will return your application as 'entry not found'.

    The GRO Index is a record of most of the births, marriages and deaths which have taken place in England and Wales since 1 July 1837. It should be 'all of them' but prior to 1875 some births weren't registered, and not all the BMDs recorded in the local Registrars' offices made it to the GRO. There are also errors - even as late as the 1950's they were recording brides and grooms marrying in different registration districts.

    The Index from the beginning to 2006 (Ancestry) and September 2007 (Findmypast) is online, but you have to subscribe to the commercial sites to see it. (Your local library may have free access to one or both of those sites.) A free online version, though still a work in progress, is FreeBMD though when complete it will finish in 1983. Start here
    https://www.freebmd.org.uk/ then select search
    enter Charles' name (no middle name, initial H at most) and search for a birth in 1916.
    In your case, Andrews is Charles' mother's maiden surname, W. Ham is the registration district, and then you've got the volume and page numbers. If you click on the name of the registration district it tells you the places in that district at various points in time. One very important thing to learn is the difference between a registration district and the name of a town/parish within it.
    If you click on the 'spectacles' to the right you get a link which will take you to the reference page of the GRO Index you see on the subscription sites. Although most of the FreeBMD entries have now been double-keyed, I still look at the actual GRO page to double-check the details.

    You might like to try searching on FreeBMD for the marriage of your grandparents - remember you have your grandmother's maiden surname from your father's birth registration. However I would not recommend sending away for that certificate until you have your father's birth certificate which will confirm the names.

    The 'published' GRO Index has no mother's maiden names listed for births prior to 1911, nor age at death prior to 1866 but those details can usually be found in the Historical Index on the GRO site.

    Pam
    Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

  6. #6

    Default

    Quote from Pam's post.

    You might like to try searching on FreeBMD for the marriage of your grandparents - remember you have your grandmother's maiden surname from your father's birth registration. However I would not recommend sending away for that certificate until you have your father's birth certificate which will confirm the names.

    Firstly Pam is right to say you should send for your father's birth certificate, it's the only way to be certain you have the correct parent's names. Do you know if your father had siblings, and if so their names? The marriage certificate is also a must as without it we don't know your grandparents father's names. I have found a potential lady for your grandmother on the 1911 census but her husband isn't with her, so we don't have a place of birth for him. If as you suspect WJC was a navy man perhaps he was away at sea when the census was taken. I'll post some records which may be your ancestors for you to save for later when you've received the certificates. Once you have confirmed information for your grandparents the search backwards should be easier, though that isn't always the case, but generally it is.

    Information you know - Your Grandfather's name - William James Clark(e), your Grandmother's maiden surname - Andrews.
    Based on those facts............some 'maybe' records.

    Marriages Dec 1909
    CLARKE William James/Andrews Minnie W. Ham 4a 329

    1911, 37 Granvillie Rd, Tidal Basin E. West Ham. RG14; Piece: 9501; Schedule Number: 293
    Minnie Clarke 25, rug weaver, born Stratford Essex.
    married 2yrs, living children 2, children who've died 1.
    William Andrews 4, son, Leytonstone (Minnie's son, but may not be WJC's)
    John Clarke 1 month, son, Canning Town

    Name: John George Clark
    Born 2 Mar 1911
    Baptised 17 Mar 1911, Holy Trinity, Canning Town, Essex, England
    Father: William James Clark
    Mother: Minnie
    Alma

  7. #7
    Super Moderator christanel's Avatar
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    1911, 37 Granvillie Rd, Tidal Basin E. West Ham. RG14; Piece: 9501; Schedule Number: 293
    Minnie Clarke 25, rug weaver, born Stratford Essex.
    married 2yrs, living children 2, children who've died 1.
    William Andrews 4, son, Leytonstone (Minnie's son, but may not be WJC's)
    John Clarke 1 month, son, Canning Town
    I wonder if this is relevant.
    Reginald William Andrews
    Baptised 8 Aug 1907
    At All Souls, Harlesden, Brent, England
    Father - William Andrews
    Mother - Minnie Andrews

    Christina
    Sometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
    William Burroughs

  8. #8
    Super Moderator christanel's Avatar
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    Possible death? Assuming he lived using the surname Andrews all his life.
    Reginald William Andrews
    Age at death 72
    Birth date 21 July 1907
    Registration date - June 1980
    Registration district - Isle of Wight
    Vol 20 Page1883

    Christina
    Sometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
    William Burroughs

  9. #9
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    Hi Bill,
    Alma and Christina are both braver than me in looking for records which may turn out to be wrong. I like to wait till I have a few more details to use in a search.
    However, Alma's find of a possible Minnie with a 4 year-old William Andrews in 1911, plus Christina's find of that baptism record would lead me to conclude that Minnie (your possible grandmother) was the one who was married twice, and not your grandfather. A lot of family stories have some truth in them, albeit somewhat distorted.
    Their marriage certificate should prove if both of them had been married before.

    Pam
    Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

  10. #10
    Super Moderator christanel's Avatar
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    Hi Pam
    Brave? No, possibly silly and maybe misleading - yes. Impatient? Yes.
    I think that Andrews could possibly be Minnie's maiden name because there is a Minnie Andrews born Stratford Essex in one of the censuses (can't remember which one) who is with a father William.
    The marriage certificate of Minnie and William Clarke will reveal all.

    Christina
    Sometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
    William Burroughs

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