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Research in Other Countries => Other Countries => Topic started by: grahamm684 on Tuesday 17 June 25 13:27 BST (UK)
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Hi, recently I discovered a new member of my tree to find he was born in Bombay India. His name Alan Christopher Dowden. Born around 1912. His father Christopher Gilbert married a Dorothy Wise in 1912 in India and there is also another sibling Cyril Reginald 1916 but there is a birth record for this on family search. The father seems to have divorced from Dorothy and remarried, and the two boys and his new wife returned to England by boat in 1928.
It seems strange no birth record for Alan, maybe somebody has an idea as to where to find it. Dorothy also remarried but later.
Cheers, Graham.
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He was born c. 1913 according to his death record.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/sources/PSYT-DYVt
No birth record so far.
Maybe there's some information here?
https://www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch?DetsView=Summary&src=ext&fileid=7453682
And I think he might have been born in Bengal, not Bombay as stated by the newspapers, because his parents married in Bengal and his brother was born in Bengal (Middelton Row, Calcutta).
Have you checked this article?
Acting Flight Lieutenant Alan Christopher Dowden, R.A.F.V.R, No. 78 Squadron. This officer now on
... operational duty, has participated in numerous operational sorties. On all occasiong he has shown coolness and efficiency and exceptional fearlessness in the face of danger. A./Fit. Lt. Dowden was born in 1913 at Bombay, India, and was educated at St. Joseph's College Calcutta, India. He enlisted in RAFVR in 1940, was commissioned in 1942 and reached his present rank in 1943 ...
Published: Friday 15 October 1943
Newspaper: Bournemouth Times and Directory
County: Hampshire, England
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Hello, yes i have seen these, Calcutta seems to be quite central to everything, they left India from Calcutta in1928, the two boys the father Christopher Gilbert, and it says Mrs Dowden. But he remarried a Mary Anne Webb 8 Dec 1923 and the original Mrs Dowden also remarried 1929. Makes me wander if Alan has a different mother or father maybe, fathers love child and then wed Dorothy?? Who he had a child with, or even Dorothys previous relationship?? Bit of a hunch maybe. Could be why no reg. as yet. What do you think? By the way thanks for your reply.
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Anything is possible! I have looked for Alan born in India 1913 +/- 2 years and nothing came up.
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To have left India to come to Britain, Alan would have needed a passport, which in turn would have required a birth certificate, or failing that an awful lot of paperwork establishing his entitlement to British citizenship. If you haven't already done so try the India Office records in the British Library. The BL is still not fully back online after the cyber attack 2 years ago, so if you can't visit St Pancras in person, it might be worth a phone call to see what records are available online.
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Thanks for that, i have just messaged them with the details.
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Related thread where a search for Alan Dowden's birth in India was unsuccessful.
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=891888.msg7659308#google_vignette
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Yes, that was on my post a week ago when I couldn't find Alan at all, but I am now just persevering with the missing birth as I feel that there should be something somewhere, and as I haven't any experiance searching in India I thought it might be worth putting the request in a different area of the forum where maybe more experiance in that area might exist.
Any help is always appreciated.
Cheers.
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Have you bought his death certificate? It might have his exact date of birth.
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To have left India to come to Britain, Alan would have needed a passport, which in turn would have required a birth certificate, or failing that an awful lot of paperwork establishing his entitlement to British citizenship. If you haven't already done so try the India Office records in the British Library. The BL is still not fully back online after the cyber attack 2 years ago, so if you can't visit St Pancras in person, it might be worth a phone call to see what records are available online.
I am sorry I can't immediately supply an authoritative source but I am pretty sure that it wasn't until 1948 that it was obligatory to provide a birth certificate to get a British Passport (or to add a child to an existing parent's British passport). So it may not have been necessary for him to have a birth certificate.
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Acting Flight Lieutenant Alan Christopher Dowden, R.A.F.V.R, No. 78 Squadron. This officer now on
... operational duty, has participated in numerous operational sorties. On all occasiong he has shown coolness and efficiency and exceptional fearlessness in the face of danger. A./Fit. Lt. Dowden was born in 1913 at Bombay, India, and was educated at St. Joseph's College Calcutta, India. He enlisted in RAFVR in 1940, was commissioned in 1942 and reached his present rank in 1943 ...
Published: Friday 15 October 1943
Newspaper: Bournemouth Times and Directory
County: Hampshire, England
My Grandfather was with a Yorkshire RAF Bomber Squadron.
On his WW2 Certificate of Discharge from the RAFVR (sent to us a few months after his death in a Flying Accident) was, his:-
Units (including Training Schools - named with Unit Numbers)
Birth Place (Town), also Parish Name, County and Full Date of Birth.
Marriage Place (Town) and full Marriage Date.
Religion.
His Next of Kin are named:-
Wife - full name and address.
His Brother and his address.
His Father and his address.
Ministry of Defence Record (Scan Purchased previously from the RAF Personnel & Management Agency)
Just looked at our Record from the Ministry of Defence, which holds similar information, except his home address had changed on the 'Next of Kin or Person to be Notified of Casualties' (to their temporary home address).
Also the Forenames and date of birth of Children.
Pension Award Number [Widows Pension].
I suppose if he had survived the war their address would have been changed back to their home address, or showing last change of address.
Although my Father knew virtually all of the information, it usually gives all the basic information for the Family Historian.
AIR 81 Air Ministry Casualty Files - TNA, Kew
If he was involved in an injury accident, especially where one or another crew member was killed or hospitalised, you may sometimes find (sometimes also handwritten on the back of the Casualty Signal) the next of kins of the crew, e.g. Wife, or person appointed and being notified, who may be related?
Some notes on the back of Casualty Signals (sometimes handwritten on the back) include basic information re Birth Date and Birth Place (probably so that a Clerk could ring RAF Records, so that Casualty Branch could obtain their address to send Telegrams or Letters to notify NoK that an accident had occurred).
Mark
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Well, thankyou very much, i have ordered marriage and death certificates and i would like to get this service record. But will i be able to as i have no proof of being related to him or can anybody obtain a copy?
Cheers.
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I am sorry I can't immediately supply an authoritative source but I am pretty sure that it wasn't until 1948 that it was obligatory to provide a birth certificate to get a British Passport (or to add a child to an existing parent's British passport). So it may not have been necessary for him to have a birth certificate.
Elwyn, You may well be right. I had misremembered some research I did on another family some time ago. The bit I was thinking about was the letter below. However on rereading it now I see that the birth certificate was needed for some purpose in England, and not specifically for a passport.
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Well, thankyou very much, i have ordered marriage and death certificates and i would like to get this service record. But will i be able to as i have no proof of being related to him or can anybody obtain a copy?
Cheers.
You will have to ask that question and the questions you want answers to, to the current holder of the Service Records, because their Polices have changed over the years.
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My mother was born in India in 1919. She only had a baptismal certificate, no birth registration. Have you looked for baptism records? Apologies if you have already gone down this route.