Matt Dixon Posted 12 July , 2004 Share Posted 12 July , 2004 For all of you expert researchers out there, I am looking for some advice. I have been trying to research Captain P F Davy MC of the 13th Rifle Brigade, killed in action 6th November 1918 and buried in Ghissignies CWGC. He was a pupil at my old school, this is definate, and his army attestation papers had him listed as being at my school and also a former pupil of a school in Hertfordshire. My school agrees with this, but the school in Herts has no record of him having being there. They assure me that their records are complete and had he ever been a pupil there they would know about it. I have the battalion war diary, MIC, LG and a load of other stuff from the PRO, but the thing about the school is really bugging me. The way I see it, is there are 2 possibilities: 1. My school and his attestation papers are wrong, b. The school in Herts is wrong. The only option I can think of is to see if he has any living relatives, but I have absolutely no idea how to go about starting this.....can anyone offer any advice please? Thanks in advance if you are able to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Maier Posted 12 July , 2004 Share Posted 12 July , 2004 The move from one school to the other may have coincided with the mother acquiring a new husband or partner and the boy a new name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Dixon Posted 12 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 12 July , 2004 So maybe try checking under the mothers maiden name? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 12 July , 2004 Share Posted 12 July , 2004 Hello, Matt, I've had some success finding relatives using the following rather old-fashioned method: Go to a big library and look in the phone book for the likely area and then photocopy the page(s) with the relevant name. You'll also have their addresses, of course. Write to each one, with a standard, short letter. Say why you are interested in the soldier and give SOME* of your known information about him, and ask if the reader recognises this soldier as a relative or ancestor. If so, can they give you any more info about him? Enclose a SAE and ask the reader to reply. Point out that even the knoweldge that a particular person has no information will be of use to you, and ask them to send a brief reply even if the name doesn't ring a bell at all. Or they can just send the envelope back empty if that's easier for them. (Mark each envelope with a number inside so you can check who has returned it.) * only give them some info, because there will sometimes be people who don't recognise any family link but who say they possibly do, just to be nosey. On the other hand, if you haven't mentioned his first name and they say that it sounds like their Uncle Philip, whom everyone called Frank because his middle name was Francis, then you know you may be onto a winner. At the same time write to the local librarian of the area concerned, asking for help in locating the address of any current local papers, and write to the "letters to the Editor" page in a similarway. You may not find out anything, but you can be reasonably sure that quite a few people will go to a lot of trouble to help you if they can, doing a bit of private detective work before replying. Good luck!! Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Maier Posted 12 July , 2004 Share Posted 12 July , 2004 So maybe try checking under the mothers maiden name? Try checking in the Hertfordshire school records for a boy with the right initials or christian names if you know them, and who left at the right time and age to have joined the other school when your man did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Dixon Posted 12 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 12 July , 2004 Clive, I like your thinking, the only thing that I am wondering, is I have a copy of his birth certificate which lists his surname as Davy. I suppose it is a possibility he could have gone to the school in Herts using his mothers maiden name, and then reverted to Davy when he went to my school? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 12 July , 2004 Share Posted 12 July , 2004 Matt, people lied on attestation papers as I am sure you know, specifically Alexander McClintock - see below- though later a hero told a couple that I detail in the reprint of his book, he did not have prior naval service and had never attended U of Idaho tho he had registered. In light of what the 2d school says that has to be a high probability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Dixon Posted 12 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 12 July , 2004 Paul, You are of course right, but it seems a strange thing to lie about, as my old school was his senior school where he gained the qualifications he declared on his attestation papers, the school in Herts was a junior school......just seems an odd thing to lie about! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred W Posted 12 July , 2004 Share Posted 12 July , 2004 Graham Thompson Lyall VC attended Nelson Secondary School when his father was vicar of St Mary's church in Nelson, but his name does not appear in the Admission Register of the time. But refrence to him was in the local paper in 1918. So try looking in the local Herts papers about the time you think he was at that school, or vcontact the local library to seeif there is any record of the family being in the area at the time you think he was at the school. Good hunting. Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Dixon Posted 12 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 12 July , 2004 So many avenues to explore and no idea of where to start! The family address was given as being in London, but the junior school was in hertfordshire, and my school was in oxfordshire. So do we look in London, Herts or Oxon???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Maier Posted 12 July , 2004 Share Posted 12 July , 2004 Clive, I like your thinking, the only thing that I am wondering, is I have a copy of his birth certificate which lists his surname as Davy. I suppose it is a possibility he could have gone to the school in Herts using his mothers maiden name, and then reverted to Davy when he went to my school? The birth certificate torpedoes my change-of-name idea, which could have been attributable to quite a few causes. Is it possible that the Hertfordshire school has him under a misspelling such as Davies or Davey? Did the school remove from the records any lad who was expelled or was otherwise persona non grata? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Dixon Posted 12 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 12 July , 2004 Clive, interesting idea once again. I have to admit (foolish I know) not to having looked under mis-spellings, name variants etc. Having re-read the papers I got from the PRO there is an address of a next of kin in Birmingham (my neck of the woods) so there is yet another avenue to be explored! Research.....so enjoyable, yet so frustrating as well....a bit like golf really! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 12 July , 2004 Share Posted 12 July , 2004 Matt Whilst I appreciate that the school says they have no record, do they for instance have a school magazine? These are often good sources of information. Secondly, I think you live in, or near Birmingham. If you do, check out the appropriate volume of Wills and Admonitions in the Local History section of the Central Library, and see if he left any estate. This give the name and address of relatives, if he did leave a will of course. Coupled with Tom Morgan's suggestion, I used this method to track down the family of an officer and returned his diary and photograph album to his family a few years ago. Some time, and detective work is involved, but it is worth the effort. Terry Reeves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Maier Posted 12 July , 2004 Share Posted 12 July , 2004 Matt, If you are certain you have the right school in Hertfordshire, the possibilities seem to be: 1. The records are imperfect 2. He was known by another name 3. He never went there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Maier Posted 12 July , 2004 Share Posted 12 July , 2004 It has just struck me that a handwritten Davy in the school records might look like Daly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Dixon Posted 12 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 12 July , 2004 Clive, Thanks for the suggestion, copper plate is notoriously hard to read as you say. Terry, I will check that out on Saturday, as well as looking at the residency roles. Do you know where Hilliers Road is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 13 July , 2004 Share Posted 13 July , 2004 do they for instance have a school magazine? These are often good sources of information. School magazines, bound in volumes, were often lodged in the archive section of the local library. This certainly applies to the grammar schools of the town or local area; I don't know about private or public schools. I've seen them in my local archives centre and I would endorse the suggestion that they are useful sources of information. The spelling idea is an interesting one and it does happen; I have school reports in which my own forename is spelt in eleven different ways! Mystifying... Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Nulty Posted 13 July , 2004 Share Posted 13 July , 2004 Matt Going along with some of the points Tom made about a general "mail shot", I have checked the 2003 Electoral Roll and found 34 "Davy" entries for Hertfordshire, 28 for Birmingham and 166 for London. Happy to provide names and addresses off line if you wish. Was "Hilliers Road" a Birmingham address? I have access to a series of old maps which can often be useful. Regards SN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VivP Posted 13 July , 2004 Share Posted 13 July , 2004 Matt School records are notoriously scrappy. If the Herts school was in a town, it might be worth putting that town into a google search, to see if there are any local online newspapers. These often have a 'nostalgia' or 'seeking for ...' section, which could be another avenue to try. You could, temporarily, join the rootsweb list for Birmingham to find Hilliers Street: send the command "subscribe" to ENG-WARKS-BIRMINGHAM-D-request@rootsweb.com and you could search or browse the archives of the rootsweb list for Hertfordshire at http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/ENG/E...TFORDSHIRE.html This link explains how to join as well, but I have never used it, so don't know what it's like. Good luck in your search. Viv The Hertfordshire link rootsweb link is working here, though it doesn't come out right in the preview mode! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Dixon Posted 13 July , 2004 Author Share Posted 13 July , 2004 Stephen, That would be fantastic, email me off forum if you are able to. Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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