We have received our letter from the MOD but the chances of using DNA to help to identify remains seems to me to be rather slim if the required relationship is followed to the letter.
There are 4 relationships they have listed as a 'tick-box' is:

Eldest Son or Daughter
Eldest Brother or Sister
Eldest Nephew or Niece
Eldest Grandchild
The first two categories perhaps slim, the last two perhaps possible, but considering the total of 300'ish remains, and the percentage of these British then I am not too hopeful of giving many if any a named burial if these are the only allowable relationships. We certainly fall outside of this with Absolom.
Chalkie.

Have you also had the questionnaire yet seeking information on thier occupation, appearance, photos etc as its not all down to DNA? Leonard Twamley who I've registered fro came from a family of short folk- all about 5ft and was just twenty when killed. He was lathe worker(turner) so any possible remains will have to consistent.

Also been asked about female relations as they are after mitochondrial DNA. Its a fair point what the eventual split will be between British and Australians. I do wonder what the evidence will be on any particular battalion/regiment as well as that must provide some clue as to who they might be.

Richard

Chalkie

My eyes rolled when I read your post.

I am afraid this yet another example of how poorly thought out and poorly prepared the identification process involving the relatives has been.

The categories of relatives that have been specified are in many respects nonsensical:

Eldest Brother or Sister These would clearly have to be of Henry Allingham vintage. There are none. It is possible that a younger sibling of a soldier is still alive but I have encountered no evidence to suggest that this is the case.
Eldest Son or Daughter Only about 10-15% of the missing soldiers were married and a smaller percentage had children. There will be few, if any, of these alive given that they would have to be well into their nineties. Again, I have not come across a single instance of this.
Eldest Grandchild These exist but they are a very small group for the reason that only a small percentage of the missing soldiers had children of their own.
Eldest Nephew or Niece These clearly exist in a larger number but, again, because of demographics and mortality only about 15% of the missing soldiers have relatives of this generation that are still alive.

The only crumb of comfort in this entire fiasco is that LGC Forensics have publicly acknowledged the complexities of the DNA testing programme precisely because comparitor samples will be provided by relatives in most instances that are generations removed from the missing soldier via his direct descendants (if any), his siblings or his parents'siblings.

It is a pity that the MoD does not possess the initiative to settle the appropriate documentation to send to relatives that reflect the complexities of the process.

Mel

Richard

I would appreciate your reproducing exactly what was stated about female relatives. There are an awful lot of misconceptions about the transmission of this type of DNA.

Mel

Relatives on the questionnaire from the SPVA on the section dealing with genelogy are asked to provide a family tree for the "purposes of determining the optimum person(s) to approach for DNA samples to facilitate the matching process".

Later it goes on to say:

"Include the relatives of brothers and particularly sisters of the soldiers killed at Fromelles and their living family members".

Further still it says:

" If there are no sisters of the deceased then detail the family on his mothers side and their living female family members"

Mitochondrial DNA as I understand is passed only through the mother. So in Len Twamley's case he inherited his mitochondrial DNA from his mother Drucilla. Len had a sister, my grandmother Alice, whose mitochondrial DNA would have been passed unaltered from Drucilla to my grandmother to Alice. In turn unaltered to my father. However I would not inherit the same mitochondrial DNA as that would come from my mother.

Len also had another sister Flo. Flo in turn had a daughter, a cousin of my Dad's. Any children of sister Flo would inherit the same mitochondrial DNA as Len.

Richard

Things may not be as bad as they look !

When I emailed the Australian MOD with information about a descendant in the female line on Ernest Ridout an Australian sailor whose remains they believed might have been buried at Christmas Island in 1941 they accepted (with the appropriate documentation) a relative who was a third cousin twice removed and was descended (in an unbroken female line) from Ernest's great grandmother (b 1831) on his mother's mother's side !

It ruled him out of the frame - but it was a result for several days of research.

In this respect tracing all possible sources for confirmatory DNA evidence for all possible men buried in the pits at Fromelles might take quite some time so it is good to see that the book will remain open for 5 years.

I hope that gives some encouragement to the genealogists working this patch.

Best,

Tjapaljarri