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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: Betty19 on Tuesday 19 April 16 15:18 BST (UK)
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Hi Does anyone know where I should start looking for a Young 7-year-old Evacuee who never returned ?
My Neighbour wants to know what happened to her brother and as she said to me "put things right" .
She was told he died , and that is all she knows.
She is coming to see me soon with all the information she has , but I have no idea were to even start. looking .
Any pointers in the right direction would be fntastic
cheers
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If he was evacuated to somewhere in England, I would suggest the 1939 Register, available on Find My Past. You can search for free, using his name and birth date. Depending on what results are returned, you can then decide if you want to pay to see the detail.
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Were they from England (or Wales)? since she knows his name and age (date of birth?) then you could have a look at deaths indexed on http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
If it is another country then there might be different places to check
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Ow thanks
He was from Bethnal Green London , and yes she thinks he stayed in this country.
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I can't guarantee success, but if you can find out the street where he lived, you could figure out which school he may have attended. The school might know where in England their pupils (groups, not necessarily individual names) were sent, or an appeal in the local paper might stir local memories. This could narrow down where he could have been sent.
Good hunting
Philip
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Thanks, Philip I'm Sure she will know the school, what if it's not there anymore?
I really want to help her find her brother .
cheers
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As others have said check the 1939 Register and death indexes. You can then purchase the death certificate from the GRO:-
http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp
Next step to find out where he is buried. That could be either where he was evacuated or near where his family lived.
Blue
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Ow thanks
He was from Bethnal Green London , and yes she thinks he stayed in this country.
Go to the main Library in Bethnal Green, and ask if they can recommend a local history expert, who may be able to suggest the area that local school children were evacuated to. Herefordshire or Warwickshire or Oxfordshire, or whatever?
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That is a great idea , may have to call them ,as It is a bit of a trek from Suffolk.
I never realised the children and their families had no idea at the time where they were going to .
How times have changed, I can never imagine sending my children to strangers , but I have never been it that desperate situation.
I really hope I can help my neighbour find her brother
Who at the moment feels frozen in time as 7 years old .
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A local newspaper for the area around Bethnal Green is the Docklands and East London Advertiser http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/contact-us
Most local newspapers like "human interest" stories, so they may be willing to print an article asking their readers for information about where children were evacuated.
Or you could try:
Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives
277 Bancroft Road, London E1 4DQ
Phone: 020 7364 1290
e-mail: localhistory@towerhamlets.gov.uk
website: http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/leisure_and_culture/local_history/local_history__archives/local_history__archives.aspx
All the best
Philip
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Thank you, Philip
She is giving me all the info today and I am looking forward to helping her .
Pretty sure he went to Oxford.
He had a brother who went with him but they separated the children , and he never saw his brother again.
The family was told he died of the Measles age abt 7.
The other brother made it back but died some time ago.
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How awful for the little boy and his family to be separated at a time of illness. I had measles during the war and apparently my parents thought they would lose me. Thank goodness we now have modern vaccines. I've found a chart showing the number of cases and deaths caused by measles during WWII (see below) and underneath I've pasted two recent years to demonstrate the difference.
Year Notifications Total Deaths
1940 409,521 857
1941 409,715 1,145
1942 286,341 458
1943 376,104 773
1944 158,479 243
1945 446,796 729
1946 160,402 204
2010 2,235 0
2011 2,355 1
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Hi Rena
Great picture on your profile
That is a huge number of deaths
thank god for vaccines, my son has just had one for Meningitis at school.
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An interesting article on evacuees from Bethnal Green. From WW2 People's War. Originally published by Lilian Henrietta Brooks and reproduced noncommercialy.
Also a regular child evacuee would be too young to be available on the 1939 Indexes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/25/a3437525.shtml
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Cheers Barry,
Just been reading an article about the horrendous tube disaster in Bethnal green in 1943 it was a witness account .
On the Stairway to Heaven Memorial.
Thanks for the link
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An interesting article on evacuees from Bethnal Green. From WW2 People's War. Originally published by Lilian Henrietta Brooks and reproduced noncommercialy.
Also a regular child evacuee would be too young to be available on the 1939 Indexes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/25/a3437525.shtml
In this case the person concerned died in childhood so their details should be visible on the 1939 Register at FindMyPast.
Blue
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What about the school minute books/ records / governors reports- they should be available at the local archive or possibly the national archive - I think there are some on either FindMyPast or ancestry but I'm not sure if they are too early tho'.
I have recently been reading a lot about the War in London during the blitz both fiction and non fiction and from what I have read it was the WRVS who were very involved in organising the evacuation with help on the scene from the WI and other Women's Groups
If they believe he died there should be a death record - or is it a common name.
Hope you find the information
Nesta
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Thanks Nesta
If that is your interest, have you read the accounts of the Bethnal Green tube disaster during the blitz .
It sent a shiver up my spine and made me think of Hillsborough .
Cheers
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I am still in contact with a lady who was evacuated along with her twin sister to my Grandparents. Their evacuation from Yorkshire was arranged by the school and teachers accompanied them. The teachers stayed for a week to see the children were settled in their new homes and schools. Once they were settled their parents were given their addresses and allowed to visit. I hope that reassures you a little.
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Hi
I have the information on the little lad but still can't place him .
I have a name of a local historian in Tower Hamlets who is connected to the library in Bethnal Green sent him an e-mail no response yet.
Poor little fella, he died in a strange place age 6/7 with no family for support.
It would be really nice to find his grave.
But as I know from past searches sometimes they are no longer there .
Let me know if you have any more ideas .
Cheers
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Did you look for a death for him on FreeBMD? A death registration will be much easier to find than a burial.
We could help more easily if we knew his details, but if you don't want to post them here feel free to send me a PM and I will happily have a look.
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I think I have found him on the death register on Ancestry
His name is Raymond Stevenson born in 1935 in Bethnal-green I do have the street name .
we think he went to Oxfordshire
and I think I have found him
registration district Ploughley Oxfordshire died 1941
The date is a year out
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OK so:
Birth registration is Raymond P Stevenson, mother's maiden name Webb, Jun qtr 1935 Stepney.
Death registration is Raymond P Stevenson aged 5, Mar qtr 1941 Ploughley 3a 3303.
The death certificate would provide details such as address and cause of death, and the identity of the informant may be of interest to your friend too.
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I Want to be really sure it is him before I tell my friend, is there any other way of finding where he stayed and the name of the family .
I guess they are not alive now anyway
Thanks so much
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No, there is no other way of finding out more other than purchasing the death certificate (for £9.25 from GRO Online).
Does your friend know what his "P" middle name was so that you can check it's the same on the certificate? For what it is worth there was no other Raymond P Stevenson born in or around 1935 so the death you've found is likely to correspond with the 1935 birth.
His older brother was Eric John Stevenson I think, 1928-1980?
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You are so good :)
My friend never knew he had a middle name
but spot on with the brother were did you get that from??????
Going to tell her to order the death certificate .
I am sure she would like to see the grave if it is still there .
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You are so good :)
My friend never knew he had a middle name
but spot on with the brother were did you get that from??????
Going to tell her to order the death certificate .
I am sure she would like to see the grave if it is still there .
The death certificate won't tell you where the grave would be. However, it should give the address where the death occurred and the name of the informant. This could help you find where he was living.
Assuming this is the right Raymond, the next step would be to find the grave. A Rootschatter may be able to check Oxfordshire parish records. It is quite possible that there may be something in the local newspaper. And with luck there will be a local Rootschatter who could visit the cemetery with a camera.
Good hunting.
Philip
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Their parents married in Bethnal Green in 1925. If you look at FreeBMD for Stevenson births with mother's maiden name Webb in London 1925-1945 you'll see the various birth registrations for the family (plus a few unrelated ones).
Mum & boys appear to have been in Norfolk immediately before the war, though who knows how long for. You can see the 1939 Register for yourself on Findmypast.
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Thank you
My friend is over the moon at finding her young brother .
She is going to order a death certificate and hopefully gain some more information from that.
cheers
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There is in the 1939 register ...
Eric J dob 3 Feb 1928 and Raymond dob 6 Jun 1935 at the home of the Hornigold family, 47 Loke Road, King's Lynn M.B., Norfolk, England.
Interestingly there is also Emma Stevenson, married, dob 18 Jan 1902 with them ?
Could this be where they were evacuated to ...
http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=TNA%2FR39%2F6525%2F6525J%2F004%2F43
Were there evacuations before the register?
Salute,
Janelle
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Ow Janelle ,
I am totally gobsmacked , what does this mean ?
The information is totally right the ages are perfect but I have got little Raymond dying in Ploughley Oxfordshire.
mEric J dob 3 Feb 1928 and Raymond dob 6 Jun 1935 at the home of the Hornigold family, 47 Loke Road, King's Lynn M.B., Norfolk, England.
Interestingly there is also Emma Stevenson, married, dob 18 Jan 1902 with them ?
I need help.arrrrrrrrrrrr
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Maybe they were visiting this family, and not evacuated there?
Maybe the evacuation was later?
Wow .. a mystery. You and your friend have got to get the death cert to satisfy MY curiosity now. ;D
Salute,
Janelle
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If the year was 1939 Raymond would have been too young to be staying with anyone surely, he would have been 3/4.
What a mystery ??? ???
I love the profile picture who is it.
He died in 1941 I am not sure what to think now I have ordered the death certificate but I have put Ploughley Oxfordshire will they find him where ever he is???????
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If the year was 1939 Raymond would have been too young to be staying with anyone surely, he would have been 3/4.
He was with his mother and brothers in 1939. They may just have been making a short autumn visit to friends/relations - nothing more significant than that. Or they may have been formally evacuated, as many women and children were from London in September 1939. Emma Stevenson must have gone back to London in due course, as if your friend's name begins with B it looks as though she was born in Bethnal Green in 1941.
The death record from Ploughley district will tell you where he died within that district. As it is a child's death certificate it should also state (in the "occupation" box) the name of his father (so "son of John Stevenson") though in an evacuation situation the details may not have been accurately known.
Do let us know when the certificate arrives.
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Thanks, AMV,
My friend is busy trying to work out what her mother was doing in Kings Lynn.
As she doesn't think they have any relatives there.
:)
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The B is her sister Beryl
your such a pro at this ;)
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The evacuation of women and children from London started at the beginning of September 1939, but many returned home to London by early 1940 when the expected bombing raids had not (yet) happened. There were then later rounds of evacuation in 1940 (and later) as the war intensified - which may be when the Stevenson boys went to Oxfordshire. See the link for more:
www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-evacuated-children-of-the-second-world-war
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Thank you will have a look
I have to tell you this, as on Ancestry 1911 census there is a George Horingold from Bethnal Green living in Norfolk slightly different spelling but could be a friend ;D
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If the year was 1939 Raymond would have been too young to be staying with anyone surely, he would have been 3/4.
What a mystery ??? ???
I love the profile picture who is it.
He died in 1941 I am not sure what to think now I have ordered the death certificate but I have put Ploughley Oxfordshire will they find him where ever he is???????
Betty,
The pretty lady was my great grandmother Minnie. The kind folks here at RC cleaned the brown mark from between her brows and gave a stylish twist to her painted photo c 1897. Sadly she died young.
Salute,
Janelle
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Beautiful
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Hi Janelle
,Question , I am getting hooked on this genealogy . I am with Ancestry but only just found out about the 1939 register , so have signed up for a two week free trial with find my past but it doesn't.
give you asses to the register, but is it worth having ???
Did you also see that the Hornigold family you found in Kings Lynn lived, in Bethnal-green for a time?
They had a son George when they lived there and It was his house that Little Raymond was staying in.
Unless I am wrong and it is just coincidence.
What do you think, family friends ????
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I forgot to add she had another two children at home and her husband was away in the Army.
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Some libraries provide free access to Ancestry and/or FindMyPast.
Blue
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Hi Janelle
,Question , I am getting hooked on this genealogy . I am with Ancestry but only just found out about the 1939 register , so have signed up for a two week free trial with find my past but it doesn't.
give you asses to the register, but is it worth having ???
Did you also see that the Hornigold family you found in Kings Lynn lived, in Bethnal-green for a time?
They had a son George when they lived there and It was his house that Little Raymond was staying in.
Unless I am wrong and it is just coincidence.
What do you think, family friends ????
Hey, I got the 1939 register access as extra to my yearly FindMyPast sub, and was delighted to find your friend's guys because I have not found many 1939 records for my own family. My Irish rellies are obviously not there, my Devon grandma emigrated 1914 and my English-born OH does not wish me to research his folks. :'( ::)
I've looked about a little bit in the family trees for the Webbs and Hornigolds and haven't found a connection. :-\
I reckon family friends is quite likely theory and is a nice "story" for Eric and Raymond being with the Hornigolds. :D ;D
Salute,
Janelle