Text 33, 68 rader
Skriven 2005-01-23 06:21:00 av Stephen Hayes (5:7106/20.0)
Ärende: How the WWI medal index cards solved a problem
======================================================
* Forwarded (from: GEN_BRITAIN) by Stephen Hayes using timEd/2 1.10.y2k.
* Originally from Roy Stockdill (8:8/2003) to All.
* Original dated: Sat Jan 22, 16:05

From: roy@stockdill.com ("Roy Stockdill")

I wonder how many folks here have made use of the World War 1 medal index cards
at The National Archives' DocumentsOnline website? I feel obliged to bring
these to your attention (yes, I know some of you will be well aware of them,
but others may not), since I recently used the site to solve a major problem in
the ancestry of a UK celebrity I was researching for a Practical Family History
article. It is an outstanding example of how a relatively obscure source can
suddenly produce the vital breakthrough.

Willie Thorne, the snooker player, had a paternal grandmother who was a bit of
a mystery, since she was born illegitimate in 1903 and christened Mary Arguile
Challoner, daughter of a Sarah Ann Challoner. Though no father appears on the
birth certificate, the unusual middle name was a strong clue, and when she
married in 1923 Mary said on the marriage certificate that her father was a
George Arguile. I found a George Harry Arguile who on the 1901 census appeared
to be living apart from his wife and children and was living just round the
corner from where Mary was born. I believe he was the father, but who was Sarah
Ann Challoner, the mother? Initially I had THREE candidates of the same name
all in the same area (Leicestershire) and since nobody in the family knew her
origins, there was a problem over which one she was.

I found on the 1891 census a Sarah Ann Challoner living with her husband and 5
children, one of whom was called Frank W Challoner, aged nine. By 1901 the
husband was lodging alone and I could not find Sarah Ann or Frank. However, the
Thorne family told me they had a WWI medal, discovered among the effects of the
grandparents after they died, for someone called F W Challoner of the Leicester
Regiment and nobody in the family had ever known who he was. I went first to
the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and found there an F W Challoner
of the same regiment, and with the same service number as appeared on the
medal, who died in France in March 1919 (presumably a delayed death from war
wounds). This gave him as the son of a Mrs S Challoner of the same address
where Mary was born, so I was halfway there.

The final piece fell into place when I consulted the war medal index at TNA's
DocumentsOnline and discovered that he was indeed Frank W Challoner, his given
death date establishing beyond doubt he was the same man buried in 1919. It was
back to my 1891 and 1901 census records of the three possible candidates I had
for Sarah Ann Challoner and there was only one of them who had a son called
Frank W. Challoner. Bingo! I was able to positively identify Sarah Ann and it
was now clear that the Sarah Ann Challoner who was Willie Thorne's
great-grandmother must have left her husband and family and moved in with
George Arguile at the address where Mary, the grandmother, was born. And it
seems the grandmother had gone through the whole of her life without ever
revealing to anyone in the family that she had had a half-brother who died in
the First World War, so I was able to clear up two mysteries at once.

So don't neglect the war medal index cards. The address is.....

www.documentsonline.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Roy Stockdill
Web page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- www.one-name.org Newbies' Guide to
Genealogy & Family History:- www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html

"Familiarity breeds contempt - and children."

Mark Twain

___ BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5
 - Origin: FamilyNet Sponsored by http://www.christian-wellness.net (8:8/2003)

--- WtrGate v0.93.p9 Unreg
 * Origin: Khanya BBS, Tshwane, South Africa [012] 333-0004 (5:7106/20)