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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: Ranolki on Sunday 03 December 23 16:36 GMT (UK)
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If ever I needed someone here to help me get to the bottom of something this is it!
I thought I had my ex-husband's family tree tied up; he has helped me over the years as a project for our grandchildren. But today he's sent me something which has thrown that into a bit of turmoil. What this is is the memoirs of his mother, who died in 2002. She recorded tape after tape about her life, which he has had transcribed. I have read about three pages and have found several things which don't agree with what I have, although she was a smart lady and I have to assume she was right.
She talks of her mother, Jessica Whitfield Wilson who was born in Durham in 1889. She then refers to her TWO younger brothers, Cecil and Patsy who joined the DLI, although to separate units at the start of WW1. There was in fact another younger brother born in 1893 who had died as a baby, named Anthony. I have info on Cecil (Cecil Victor Wilson born 1895). He followed the usual route, fighting on the Somme etc. Patsy is more interesting - she says he was sent (with the DLI) to Guernsey for the duration of the war. There they basically "looked after" the residents, helped out with farming etc. At the moment I can't find anything at all about Patsy (I'm assuming he was Patrick but that isn't a usual family name so I suppose could be a nickname), his time in the DLI or the DLI being in Guernsey. Apparently he met a young woman on Guernsey called Emma and I'm assuming they married but I can't find that either!
Does anyone have any idea where I might find any bits of information?
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She talks of her mother, Jessica Whitfield Wilson who was born in Durham in 1899.
Do you mean 1889 :-\
Birth Sep qtr 1889
Wilson Jessica Whitfield
Auckland 10a 208
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Yes, sorry, fingers in a tangle. That's her... I've altered the initial post to avoid more confusion. ::)
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Have you accounted for all of the children as per the numbers given in 1911 when Sarah would have been 49.
WILSON, JOHN WILLIAM mmn WHITFIELD
GRO Reference: 1880 J Quarter in AUCKLAND Volume 10A Page 196
WILSON, RALPH SYDNEY mmn WHITFIELD
GRO Reference: 1882 D Quarter in AUCKLAND Volume 10A Page 179
WILSON, ALFRED JONATHAN mmn WHITFIELD
GRO Reference: 1884 S Quarter in AUCKLAND Volume 10A Page 251
WILSON, JESSICA WHITFIELD mmn WHITFIELD
GRO Reference: 1889 S Quarter in AUCKLAND Volume 10A Page 208
WILSON, ANTHONY CHRISTOPHER WALLS mmn WHITFIELD
GRO Reference: 1893 J Quarter in AUCKLAND Volume 10A Page 221
WILSON, CECIL VICTOR mmn WHITFIELD
GRO Reference: 1895 D Quarter in AUCKLAND Volume 10A Page 210
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Per the 1911 census, Jessica's parents William & Sarah had just 6 children of which one had died. The other surviving children appear to be:
John William 1880
Ralph Sydney 1883
Alfred Jonathan 1885
Cecil Victor 1895
So which one was "Patsy" ?
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I've read a bit further and it seems Patsy went back to Guernsey and married Emma in 1919, and it seems they probably lived there from then onwards. Jessica actually went as a guest to the wedding - quite a trip from Durham in those days I would think!
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In the story she talks about her younger brothers. So that seems to tie it down to Cecil (Anthony was younger but had died) plus this other one called Patsy. I can only assume he was born soon after her (perhaps between 1889 and 1893) so wasn't on the 1911 census as he had left home. They had a farm so he may well have gone off working on another farm nearby if theirs couldn't sustain all those children I suppose.
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If he was born before 1911 he was not included in the number of children she had according to the census
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There no other children on the 1891 or 1901 censuses for this family.
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Oh that's interesting! I must look, did they declare the one who had died? The story about going to Guernsey is quite detailed, she even had a postcard her mother had sent home from the trip which she passed on to a great grand daughter... I'll read on in case he's mentioned again...
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So it must have been the nickname of one of the older brothers and she mistakenly thought he was younger?
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Yes, there is mention of one having died before 1911
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The next youngest was Alfred Jonathan, who seems to have died in Australia and according to a census report may well have had a wife named Emma. There is a medal record for Alfred J Wilson in the DLI too. I wonder...
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Alfred Jonathan went to Australia in 1921, there is an Emma Hamelin Wilson mentioned a few lines further down
There are also some Veal children mixed up amongst them
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There is an Emma H Veal in Guernsey in 1901 / 1911 with children that match those records - she is married to Mr Veal
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That's interesting as she says this in the memoir... "And then Patsy took them to Vale farm and I forgot to ask how he did that." Could she mean Veal? Emma's relatives perhaps?
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I can't see those records, can you see any details (her age, etc?)
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When they sailed to Australia Alfred was age 36 occ Grower
Emma Hamelin Wilson was 47
Veal Children
Emma 26
Alice May 22
Wilfred Redvers 20
Gertrude May 17
Frank Rowe 15
John Walter 14
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Wow, he took on quite a handful didn't he! This is all new to me, but definitely interesting. Grower fits in with him coming from a farming family. So he met Emma quite some time before they left. I'm assuming she was a widow...
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Ah, Thomas Samuel Albert Veal, died 1912...
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Like Ranolki, I can find no evidence that a DLI battalion was stationed in the Channel Islands during WW1. According to Wikipedia
"In 1914, the British garrison was withdrawn at the start of the First World War and the militia were mobilised. Jersey men served in the British and French armed forces. Numbers of German prisoners of war were interned in Jersey."
However, since there were German PoWs housed on the islands, there would also have been a military guard force, which might well have been made up from units designated for the defence of the UK mainland. I think it unlikely, for political reasons, that the British would have asked the French to carry out the task.
While Patsy may have joined the DLI, that doesn't mean that he would have stayed in the same Regiment throughout the war. Many of the DLI's 40 odd battalions were just cadres and so he might have been transferred to another Regiment which was forming a new battalion at the time, and gone with them to Guernsey.
Since the Visit Guernsey (https://www.visitguernsey.com/guernsey-information-centre/) website invites questions about (among other things) its history, perhaps you could ask them your question.
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That's very interesting to know (the lack of DLI in Guernsey). As we suddenly have quite a lot of info about Patsy, I certainly will see if I can find more. Thanks..
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Hi Ranolki,a possible explanation would be he was downgraded as unfit for frontline duties from the DLI
and posted to the Labour Corps,the DLI did send out cadre's of men for Garrison duties but I can't pin them down to Guernsey where in Durham did they live at the outbreak of the war?
regards Steve.
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Sorry forgot I had access to the records I see in 1901 the family were residing near Willington in Durham
Cecil victor's death registered still in Durham 1982.
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Hi Ranolki, Patsy [Alfred Jonathan] was sent to Guernsey to a convalescent hospital during WW1 24 Aug 1917. He had been kicked by a horse earlier in the war and was troubled with his knee. This is in his military record on FindMyPast. Hope this helps.