8 replies to this topic

[sage1957]

Good Evening posters, and greetings from a "Wet behind the ears" new recruit.

Hopefully I hope to glean information regarding this man please guys.

William Evetts was born in Belfast Ireland on the 14/05/1868 the son of William Evetts (1843/1916) and Emma Procter (1848/?) William Evetts his father was a serving army man (armourer’s sergeant).

  On the 26/03/1890 William Evetts now aged 21 and himself an Armoury Sergeant based at Seaforth Barracks, Liverpool married a Florence Amy Griffin aged 16 in Saint Thomas’s Church, West  Derby, Liverpool.  

  I would be guessing here, but I think the couple married just as William was being posted to India, and it seems Florence went with him, for William and Florence had three children in India, Dorothy 1891 & Winifred 1892 both born in Jamalpar, West Bengal, India, then a son William 16/06/1895/1983) born in Jalaphor, West Bengal, India.  

  The next sighting of the family is when Florence and her three children are at home with their parents on the 1901 census in Birmingham; William must have been away fighting for Queen and Country somewhere in the Empire.  

  The next time I come across William is on a ship docking at Liverpool in 23/06/1906

  The “Tunisian” a ship of the Allen Line sailing from the ports Montreal, Quebec & Rimouski in Canada, William is with his wife and three children.

  And, there lies my problem, I have no idea which regiment William served in, and I have no idea what happened to the family after 1906 (Roll on the 1911 census), I am guessing again here, but at 46 William was too old to have fought in the Great War.

[sotonmate]

Sage

Three things I can say:

He was probably in the Boer War,that is the right time scale,around 1900,and,
he has no Medal Card record for WW1,meaning he didn't serve in a Theatre of War overseas,but it doesn't mean that he didn't serve here in perhaps a training capacity,and,
if he didn't serve in WW1 he could have a surviving record in WO97 at Kew. I think it is a great help if you can get his Regt though,but maybe not absolutely necessary !

Sotonmate

[sage1957]

Sotonmate, Cheers.

Appreciate your comments, and yes one of my biggest problems is finding out his regiment.

Is the point that he was based at Seaforth Barracks Liverpool circa 1890 any help?

Also.

His embarkation port in Canada in 1906 was Montreal, would that be any help with trying to find his regiment?

Sage.

Sage

Three things I can say:

He was probably in the Boer War,that is the right time scale,around 1900,and,
he has no Medal Card record for WW1,meaning he didn't serve in a Theatre of War overseas,but it doesn't mean that he didn't serve here in perhaps a training capacity,and,
if he didn't serve in WW1 he could have a surviving record in WO97 at Kew. I think it is a great help if you can get his Regt though,but maybe not absolutely necessary !

Sotonmate

[Esskay]

I'm far from an expert here Sage but as no one else has answered - a couple of directions you could possibly try to get a possibility for his Regiment might be:

1. Army Lists - these were published quarterly over the period you are looking at - as well as giving information on officers etc they showed where in the world each Regiment was stationed - you can read about them and pay to view some editions at this commercial site - http://www.armylists.org.uk/ or buy some copies here - http://youroldbooksandmaps.co.uk/british-a...-1901-1950.html but I'm guessing copies should be available to view in a library/archive somewhere - British Library/NA at Kew??

2. Stations of the British Army - In the 19th century lists of locations of Regiments in the world were published in various newspapers - often under this heading - if you can get access through a library to the "19th Century British Library Newspapers" that is available via the same people who offer "The Times Online" - GALE - Cengage Learning you can read them online. The Times (that goes into the 20th century for the apparent time in Canada) doesn't seem to publish them under this title unfortunately - but they might still be there under a different heading - I know they printed "Naval and Military Intelligence"

Both of these methods are unfortunately going to mean a long and time consuming search through entries around the times you know where William and his family were likely to have been to try to find a Regiment that fits the bill by its locations at the relevant times

I haven't done any India based genealogy research but the other possibility might be to see if you can check the birth/baptism records of the three children in India to see if a Regiment was recorded - it looks as if William Alfred and Winifred Gladys are recorded in the records of the Church of the Latter Day Saints - (www.familysearch.org) using the references I think these can be inspected at one of their family history centres. Are birth records for India at that time kept in the British Library too (India and Oriental Collection??)

Sorry I can't be more specific - as I said they are well outside what I've used before -but maybe some ideas to go forward if noone else can come up with anything simpler!!

Good Luck
Sue

[sage1957]

Esskay, many thanks, appreciate your input, As you suggest finding out his regiment will be a leap forward.
I checked the GRO index for Indian births, alas I could not find them listed, as you say LDS church has two of the three children listed
I will check the Indian births GRO again tomorrow just in case I overlooked them, If they still cannot be located I will pop into my local LDS church in Worcester and order the film for the baptisms of two of the three children to see if there are further details relating to the fathers regiment listed on the baptism.

Kind regards.

Sage

I'm far from an expert here Sage but as no one else has answered - a couple of directions you could possibly try to get a possibility for his Regiment might be:

1. Army Lists - these were published quarterly over the period you are looking at - as well as giving information on officers etc they showed where in the world each Regiment was stationed - you can read about them and pay to view some editions at this commercial site - http://www.armylists.org.uk/ or buy some copies here - http://youroldbooksandmaps.co.uk/british-a...-1901-1950.html but I'm guessing copies should be available to view in a library/archive somewhere - British Library/NA at Kew??

2. Stations of the British Army - In the 19th century lists of locations of Regiments in the world were published in various newspapers - often under this heading - if you can get access through a library to the "19th Century British Library Newspapers" that is available via the same people who offer "The Times Online" - GALE - Cengage Learning you can read them online. The Times (that goes into the 20th century for the apparent time in Canada) doesn't seem to publish them under this title unfortunately - but they might still be there under a different heading - I know they printed "Naval and Military Intelligence"

Both of these methods are unfortunately going to mean a long and time consuming search through entries around the times you know where William and his family were likely to have been to try to find a Regiment that fits the bill by its locations at the relevant times

I haven't done any India based genealogy research but the other possibility might be to see if you can check the birth/baptism records of the three children in India to see if a Regiment was recorded - it looks as if William Alfred and Winifred Gladys are recorded in the records of the Church of the Latter Day Saints - (www.familysearch.org) using the references I think these can be inspected at one of their family history centres. Are birth records for India at that time kept in the British Library too (India and Oriental Collection??)

Sorry I can't be more specific - as I said they are well outside what I've used before -but maybe some ideas to go forward if noone else can come up with anything simpler!!

Good Luck
Sue

[annswabey]

If you want to look for his papers in WO97 at Kew, you don't need to know his regiment.  For that timeframe they are filed together for the whole Army.  The India Office is brilliant for finding births, marriages and deaths, but you would need to actually go there, or get someone to go for you.  The certs should give the fathers regiment.  Worth searching the online database the India Office has  for some of their BMD records, or have a look at the FIBIS website.

[sage1957]

OK, a question, sorry if appears a bit naive I hear people quoting theses WO numbers, But what do they mean?

Can I go to Kew and just ask for fiche/film WO97 and trawl through them page by page, or is that too simplistic?


Sage.

If you want to look for his papers in WO97 at Kew, you don't need to know his regiment.  For that timeframe they are filed together for the whole Army.  The India Office is brilliant for finding births, marriages and deaths, but you would need to actually go there, or get someone to go for you.  The certs should give the fathers regiment.  Worth searching the online database the India Office has  for some of their BMD records, or have a look at the FIBIS website.

[Lorac]

You can search (at a cost) for overseas births on the following link or a kind forum member may do a search for you:-

http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp

Lorac

[sage1957]

Appreciate you help lorac, but alas I went once again into the Birmingham FH Centre last night and went through the army lists once again and by all accounts should have found

Dorothy Evetts 1891 born Jamalpar, West Bengal, India
Winifred Evetts 1892 born Jamalpar, West Bengal, India
William Alfred Evetts 1895 born  Jalaphor, West Bengal, India

William & Winifred are on the LDS site, but I could only find the following last night

William Alfred Evetts 1895 born (Station) Fort William Page 284.

Now I know I am not up to much on army matters but Fort William,surely Scotland?

On another point, I was wondering which regiments? were based at Seaforth Barracks, Liverpool,
all the births I could find last night at Seaforth were for the RA, so can I assume the regiment
William Evetts snr was based would be the Royal Appreciate you help lorac, but als I went once again into the Birmingham FH Centre last night and went through the army lists and by all accounts should have found

Dorothy Evetts 1891 born Jamalpar, West Bengal, India
Winifred Evetts 1892 born Jamalpar, West Bengal, India
William Alfred Evetts 1895 born  Jalaphor, West Bengal, India

William & Winifred are on the LDS site, but I could only find the following last night

William Alfred Evetts 1895 born (Station) Fort William Page 284.

On another point, I was wondering which regiments? were based at Seaforth Barracks, Liverpool,
all the births I could find last night at Seaforth were for the RA, so can I assume the regiment
William Evetts snr was based would be the Royal Artillary?
?

Sage

You can search (at a cost) for overseas births on the following link or a kind forum member may do a search for you:-

http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp

Lorac