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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: Hoppity on Friday 19 March 10 16:42 GMT (UK)
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I am looking for the above. Unfortunately I havent got much information on him as yet.
He was born around 1896. According to his marriage certificate, where he married Eliza Sophia Jenkins on 10/8/1918 in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, he was serving in the Pte 47th Bat. MGC.
I cannot find no trace of him on the births GRO's nor a death. I was wondering whether I could find some information about him from his war records.
His father was Frederick Vickers.
Can anyone help.
Thank you.
Kind regards, Pauline
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hi,,had a look at the NA medal index cards...there is this ,,if it is your man,now that you have his number,someone can see if his service records survive....you can download the card for 2 quid,,but it will only tell you what medals he was awarded,and what theatre of war he served in,,,hope it s him.. ;)
Medal card of Vickers, Ernest E
Corps Regiment No Rank
London Regiment 1398 Private
Machine Gun Corps 21271 Private
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Thank you!!
Every little bit of information helps when you have hit a brick wall.
I am really grateful.
Kind regards
Pauline
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Check the censuses. This could be him. But it does not give where he was born
Name: Ernest Vickers
Age: 6
Estimated birth year: abt 1895
Relation: Son
Father's Name: Fred
Mother's Name: Louisa
Civil parish: Lewisham
Ecclesiastical parish: St Stephen
County/Island: London
Registration district: Lewisham
Sub-registration district: Lewisham
Household Members:
Name Age
Fred Vickers 29
Louisa Vickers 30
Ernest Vickers 6
John Vickers 4
Willie Vickers 2
Charlie H Vickers 1 month
You need to look at 1911 census as well to see what that gives for the family.
You should be able to establish which of the possible 4 Ernests registered at the right time are. In fact if you assume his age was right on both census day 1901 and his marriage day, then you can work out if you can eliminate any of those 4.
The family seem very mobile. The youngest child was registered in Windsor, but they were in Lewisham a month later.
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You can see his Medal Index Card on ancestry. It tells you he went to France with 20th Battalion London Regt on 9 March 1915. And re-enlisted in MGC on 11 April 1916
It is a little odd that in as much as he "re-enlisted" rather than "transferred". Someone else may be able to give you the significance of that.
1/20th (County of London) Battalion (Blackheath and Woolwich)
August 1914 : at Holly Hedge House, Blackheath.
10 March 1915 : landed at Le Havre.
11 May 1915 : formation became 141st Brigade in 47th (2nd London) Division.
You can get the War Diary of the Battalion that will give a day by day record of their movements.
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Hi Corisande,
What census was this from?
I did look at the censuses but Im not sure where he was born so its a bit difficult. I am hoping this one is him as it does look very promising.
Thank you so much.
Kind regards, Pauline
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1901
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Hi Corisande,
Sorry to ask but how do I get the war diary of the Battalion? Mind you I want to find his birth certificate first so that I can insure that this is the right Ernest. There are so many of them!!
Thank you again so very much.
Kind regards, Pauline
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Hi Corisande,
By the way I havent joined the 1911 census at the moment as pennies are a bit tight but I will do as soon as I can as there are so many other people I want to look at!
Thank you for the 1901 Census info.
Kind regards
Pauline
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War Diaries come from National Archives
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=20&j=1
tells you about them
I do not subscribe to the 1911 census for England, so you need to either look it up or get someone here to, to see if the family in the 1901 census is followable in 1911.
If so it should give the places of birth of the children, which are missing from the 1901 census
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Re 1911 census, try putting a separate look-up request on the specialist census look up forum here
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Thanks Corisande.
The law of this site is that no one is allowed to do a 1911 look up but I will see what I can do other than that.
You really are all so very helpful on this site and I am more than grateful.
Thank you for all your time and help.
Kind regards, Pauline
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The law of this site is that no one is allowed to do a 1911 look up
Perhaps someone can just PM you. :)
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Pauline,
There is nothing to stop you searching the index, as I have just done.
It took a bit of time, thanks to the mis-transcription ::)
Earnest Evans Vickers is in Bromley with the rest of the family.
Phil
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Pauline,
War diaries rarely mention men by name, but if you do want to follow, what are probably the movements of this Ernest Vickers, then here are the references, assuming that he stayed with 47 (2nd London) Division throughout:
WO 95/2738 is the ref. for 1/20th Battalion London Regiment right through from March 1915 to May 1919. This diary is available to download for £3-50 via Documents Online.
WO 95/2739 includes 141 Infantry Brigade; Brigade Machine Gun Corps from January 1916 to February 1918.
WO 95/2722 and WO 95/2723 cover 47 Battalion Machine Gun Company from March to July 1918 and August 1918 to April 1919 respectively.
Phil
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Thank you Phil for all the information!
Do you know I never thought of using the indexes!! This family history is definitely making my brain suffer!!
Thank you again so very very much.
Kind regards, Pauline
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I would just like to say thank you to everyone who helped me with this brick wall.
I have managed to find Ernest's birth who is in fact illigitimate and was registered as Ernest Evans. I have also managed to find his parents marriage and his wife's birth and death.
The only thing I cant find is his death but I will keep searching. His wife died in Hatfield, Hertfordshire so that's a little bit of help but he might have died during his war duties which I will have to look into.
Anyway, thank you very very much!
Kind regards, Pauline
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I have managed to find Ernest's birth who is in fact illegitimate and was registered as Ernest Evans.
You did better than I did, I worked out that he was originally Ernest Evans, but could not find his birth as that name, the family seemed to move too often.
It was a fairly common occurrence to have an illegitimate child , say Fred Smith of Mary Smith with o father, then for Mary Smith to Mary and regularise the thing with the child taking the new husbands name.
I guess in those days there was not the same amount of paper work and bureaucracy involved in either registering or changing names.
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Hi Corisande,
Well its been a challenge but I guess that's why we all love family history. :)
Its very rewarding when you find something that you have been trying to find for quite a while, with a lot of help from everyone here!
I totally agree with you on the paperwork and names. I have got lots of illegitimate children in my tree. Our ancestors certainly havent made it easy for us to find them. :)
Anyway thank you!!
Kind regards Pauline
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Well I am sorry to say that I cannot find any more information on this Ernest Evans. I have put a request on the Oxfordshire site to see if they can possibly find his birth in the parish records which might help.
I have searched everywhere for his birth, and have ordered a lot of certificates hoping that one of them might be right but to date I cannot find him! :'(
He is my big brick wall at the moment! Ugh!!
Kind regards
Pauline
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Hello everybody. I have been drawn back to RootsChat after a very long absence and was led here by one more Google search for our Ernest. I see that your messages were quite some time ago but I will add my contribution in case anybody out there is interested. First of all, I have also searched for a birth record for him without success. I have also researched the rest of the Vickers family extensively and all other birth, marriage and death records are straighforward. Quite odd. I have just asked the Oxfordshire archives to search in regard to the 1911 entry that he was born in Henley on Thames and they confirm there is nothing at all resembling his name there. I have obtained the 1914-18 records for the person who is likely to be him and have them all to share with anybody. I also have his marriage certificate which confirms that he is the same one and is still in the Military. Then I have lost him again. I have his wife's death certificate which is recorded by their son. Strangely, the section which denotes her 'employment' would normally say 'widow' or 'wife of' but has a distinct strike through it......... as if she does not know her status???. One final thought. Two of his daughters who had married in Hertfordshire went to Australia in the 1950s and a married son might have done, too.
I am not related to him but I am illegitimate. I have a half sister age 89 who is a VICKERS descendent and I have been working on the whole family for her. He is her uncle.
I rest my case mlud.