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Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: alba99 on Tuesday 28 April 09 10:35 BST (UK)
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Can anyone decipher this. My stab is General Labourer, Fireman on HMS Cornhill. It is from my great uncles death cert in 1919 (age 19) died of flu (Spanish?)
Thanks
Les
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Think you probably have that stab right Les, can't make anything different out of it! :) mare
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I thought it said "Prisoner" on HMS .... rather than "fireman"
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...prisoner would make more sense, as he has already been described as a general labourer
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My initial thought was prisoner when I first looked at this. I come back to this every couple of months but don't seem to get anywhere. Also according to Janes 1919 HM Ships, there was no HMS Cornhill??
Les
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I don't know if this is of any help, but there is an HMP Cornhill (a prison) at Shepton Mallet.
Greensleeves
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I read it as "Prisoner" too. Exciting stuff, I'm envious!
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Well done Greensleeves! I think you have found the answer!
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The only problem with prisoner is the next word is certainly 'on'. Other facts I forgot to add, is that he died at home in Linlithgow, Scotland after 8 days flu - and certified by a local doctor. The death cert is from Scotlands People
Les
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It could be prisoner but it doesn't make sense that he would be a
prisoner ON a prison ???
Surely, if he was a prisoner it would/should read IN and then
he wouldn't die at home ???
[
Edit sorry the only words in bold should have been 'in' and 'on'
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Just seen this
It's Fireman (on HMS Cornhill)
Gadget
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I have to agree with Gadget .. it is Fireman and not Prisoner.
Pels.
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But, as Les pointed out, there was no H.M.S. Cornhill. I can see it might be Fireman (though the F still looks like a P to me!) The phrase "on Cornhill" is still used to describe that area of London. Is there another Cornhill. Could it be 'policeman'? There seem to be too many characters for "HMS" too. "HNCS"?
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more likely HMS Cornwall .... HMS Cornwall was a Monmouth-class armoured cruiser launched in 1902 and sold in 1920
do you have his war record Les - to confirm if he was a Navy Man ?
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Nope - thats my next port of call (sorry couldn't resist). This branch of the family is the most interesting at present. His father (Thomas King) shows on my Gran's marriage cert as a retired draper in 1913. In 1915 his wife re-married
The war memorial plague in St. Michale's church Linlithgow shows a Thomas King - Fireman (1915). Can't find any details for this person. I am making the assumption that he is the father of the Thomas King whose death cert we are trying to decipher. Unless the plague should read Thomas King - Fireman (1919)
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There seem to be too many characters for "HMS" too. "HNCS"?
I think what you are seeing as 'NC' is actually a very elongated 'M' in which part of the second upstroke is missing.
Jennifer
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But, as Les pointed out, there was no H.M.S. Cornhill.
Possibly the informant simply got the ship's name wrong? Or the registrar mis-heard it?
Jennifer
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Is there another Cornhill.
There is a Cornhill in Plymouth which was/is also a naval town and Dockyard at Devonport
Aberdeen
Gadget
Ooops - got my Plymouth and Aberdeen mixed up - I've lived in both places. It's Crownhill in Plymouth and Cornhill in Aberdeen!
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There is a death in the Service and War Returns (Minor Records) on SP for a Thomas King:
2nd Batallion Royal Scots Fusilliers Killed in Action
Pte Thomas King, aged 25, Resident of Scotland, Died 26 Oct 1914, Belgium
Gadget
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...and one Highland Light Infantry
Died 15 July 1915, Mesopotamia - aged 23 or 20 - bit unclear.
and two others after 1915.
This one might be the one on the War Memorial plaque.
Gadget
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I just realised that Cornhill is in inverted commas on the original, which to my mind makes it more likely it is the name of a ship.
Jennifer
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I've searched ships, Jennifer, and can't find a Cornhill. It could well be mishearing/misspoken for Cornwall:
Cornwall
5th Cruiser Squadron Atlantic.
6 August 1914 Captured the German merchant ship Syra.
South Atlantic to hunt for Admiral Graf Spee.
8 December 1914 Took part in the Battle of the Falkland Islands sinking SMS Leipzig.
January 1915 East Africa including operations against SMS Konigsberg.
1915 Dardanelles.
January 1916 China Station.
1917 West Indies and North America Station.
1920 Sold for scrap.
http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/armoured-cruiser/hms-monmouth.html
Have you checked for a WW1 record for him, Les? Although he'd have been very young if he was 19 when he died in 1919.
Gadget
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Can't find a naval record. He could have been called up late in the war and discharged early - not sure just becoming interested in WW1, so not sure about how long they kept you after you were called up.
The informant was his step-father (from 1915), so the details could have been wrong. Unfortunately like most people who are know researching their FH, I didn't ask any of my older relatives when I started this and now they have all past away.
Les
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Where was the death registered?
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As I said earlier the extract is a Scotlands People death cert and was registered in the Parish of Linlithgow, West Lothian (Linlithgowshire)
Date of death: 4th Mar 1919
Les
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As I said earlier
Apologies. Couldn't see for looking as my granny would have said.