William Thomas Begley, Liverpool, England

[Dot Spot]

I am searching for information on my father William Thomas Begley who was in the regular Army when WWII commenced. He was stationed in Reykjavik then posted to Malta. Before leaving the Army after the War he was stationed at Aldershot. I would like to know what Regiment he was in and any details about his role in the Army although I believe he was an RSM and before leaving the Army was Acting Captain.

[Pam Downes]

Hello Dot Spot,

Welcome to British-Genealogy.

The Ministry of Defence still hold service records for personnel who served after 1921. You should find all the details you need to apply for those records here. Note that you will need to send a copy of William's death certificate and thirty pounds and that you are unlikely to get an immediate reply.

I note that you have two other queries about service personnel so you may have come to us via Forces War Records. If so, this will explain our connection.

Pam

[Dot Spot]

Hi Pam, Thanks for your information on William Thomas Begley, my husband's father. Unfortunately, Ken's parents were divorced when he was five years old and he lost all trace of him and his family. We do not have a death certificate for him - all we have is a photograph in his Army uniform. My husband would just like to know a little of his service record in the Army. Dot Spot

[Pam Downes]

Does your hubby know when his father was born? At the moment he can choose from 5 July 1912, 5 July 1915, or 10 November 1921. (That's quite spooky having two people with the same name born on the same day but three years apart.)

If it's none of those, then send me a PM (click on my blue name at the side, and then follow the link for private message).

Pam

[Dot Spot]

Hi Pam, Ken does not know the exact birth date of his father but reckons he was two years younger than his Mum who was born in 1912 so July, 1915 seems a goer. How sad his father was killed at the Battle of Loos in September of that year so he would only have been a couple of months old. Dot Spot.

[Pam Downes]

Was your hubby's grandfather called Daniel?

Pam

[Dot Spot]

Hi Pam, No my husband's grandfather was not called Daniel. His name was THOMAS ANDREW BEGLEY - just discovered today from a friend who is signed up to Ancestry.com that he also had JOHN in his name - he was killed in the Battle of Loos in September, 1915. Thomas Andrew Begley was married to Martha Shaw. Dot Spot.

[Pam Downes]

My computer is going to get thrown out of the window if it doesn't stop deleting everything I type before I can post
a message.
It's just lost a long reply which I am going to have to re-type, and I will save it sentence by sentence. Possibly word by word. When I've finished I will sign off.


I based my query about Daniel because he is the Begley commemorated on the Loos memorial.

T A Begley is buried in Cambrin Military Cemetery.

The birth of William T Begley, mother's maiden Shaw, was registered in September quarter 1914, West Derby registration district. You have six weeks in which to register a birth which means he could have been born anytime between approximately 20 May and 30 September 1914.

You now have some options.

Send for a PDF copy of that birth registration. It will cost £6.00.
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/
Alternatively, you could send for a certified copy, but specify that the birth date must be 5 July 1914.
Same link as before but click 'certified copy'. This will cost £9.25 but if the birthdate isn’t the 5 July then the GRO will advise accordingly (though they won’t tell you what the date is) but they won’t charge you.

Information on death certificates is only as reliable as the informant’s knowledge of the deceased – and/or how well the informant remembers a fact when registering.
Which could possibly mean that the William whose birth date is reported as 5 July 1915 is ‘your’ William.

Though in my opinion you need to obtain William's marriage certificate, just to confirm that he was two years younger than his wife.

The online GRO Index for death registrations only goes up to Seotember quarter 2007. Later registrations can be found in the full Index held in seven locations in England and Wales.
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/c...FamilyHistory1
I appreciate that living in Oz might make searching this slightly difficult , but you could ask on the forum if anyone is likely to visit and could do a lookup.

The Probate Index goes up to and includes 2017.There’s no William Thomas listed, just a William, though not everyone left a wil
https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills

Of course, William could have emigrated, either far overseas or merely to Scotland, Northern Ireland, or Eire. I think online passenger records finish in 1960, but don’t quote me on that as it’s not one of my areas of expertise.

I think that's everything I said before. To paraphrase Morecambe and Wise - the same words but not necessarily in the same order.

I am now going for a very long lie-down in a very dark room and may be some time.

Pam