RootsChat.Com

Thanks for your help.   

I particularly want to thank Rosie99 for what I believe is the key to the solution i was seeking. I have to accept that the info I have on the Birth Certificates of my mother and of Uncle Jim is much more reliable than that I have found in Electoral Rolls entries for their respective parents.

Rosie99’s last message prompted me to read The British Library pdf - https://www.bl.uk/britishlibrary/~/media/subjects%20images/government%20publications/pdfs/parliamentaryconstituencies.pdf?la=en&hash=8FEF7B348A6E0A7DB7E00E8F9A1A771B -  again. Rosie99’s explanation of how some enumerators went about compiling Electoral Rolls is within the spirit of the content of one page 18 paragraph.
 
Before reading Rosie99’s explanation I assumed that, in the early years of the twentieth century, Electoral Rolls entries were compiled by copying info from forms submitted by say the head of the household. Other content explains that the Rolls were not compiled from such forms until 1918”. 

Thank you for visiting my post.

Nearly all of my family history info has been gleaned from online sources. Family commitments make it impossible for me to visit  County Durham and record offices elsewhere.

The problem mentioned in my post is one of two similar anomalies I have found in looking into my ancestry.

Experience has taught me to look for official documentation e.g electoral roll, and parish records before accepting data found on internet family history websites - errors in the transcripts on them are not unknown.

I raised the question because Jim’s place of birth on his birth certificate is a different from the address which, according to the relevant Electoral Rolls, my paternal grandparents occupied in the years around that in which Jim was born.   

I have a lot of downloaded pdfs of the Census and Electoral Rolls for Thomas T over the years from and including 1909 - pdfs for the years 1914 to 1917, 1925, 1926 and 1932 to 1938 are missing for my collection.

There are entries for Thomas T and Mary Jane in 1918 Electoral Roll for the Seaham Polling District, in The Seaham Division of the Durham Parliamentary County. Their address was 5 Gowland Terrace, Wheatley Hill, County Durham.

I should perhaps have included a bit about my coal mining pedigree when I asked for help.
 
I was born and raised in the coal mine villages of South West Durham. I left the county in March 1967 for the South of England.

A lot of the male direct line ancestors that I have traced were coal miners. The earliest such employment record I have is in a parish record of a birth in 1800.

My grandfathers and father were all coal mine officials.

My grandfather John Charles Hunter was a Fore Overman when he retired.

At one time the Secretary of State responsible for the Coal Industry could grant a Colliery Under Manager’s certificate to a man who had not sat a written exam but who had had the daily supervision of part of a mine. Thomas Trueman Fletcher was granted [Colliery] Under Manager’s Certificate No: 3836 dated 2 Sept 1899 on that basis. He retired as an Overman.

My father held both an Under Manager’s Certificate and a Colliery Manager’s Certificate. I have a copy of the official announcements of him passing the exams.

I was an NCB Mining Engineering Trainee for 10 years. I hold Colliery Managers’ Certificate number 9782 dated 17 January 1967.

My father held Colliery Under Manager’s posts from at least 1937 until he  took up his first Colliery Managers post in 1943/44.

Between 1937 and 1967 my parents lived in about 9 house tied to my father’s job. The shortest we lived in one house was about six months, the longest 7 years.

Jim Fletcher spent his working life as a colliery electrician.

Everything I have seen in The Records suggests that Thomas T and Mary J lived together the whole of the time between 3 Oct 1903, the date they married, and the date Thomas died. Thomas Trueman and Mary Jane lived at 9 East view from at least 23 June 1933 until his death on 24 March 1942.

As I said in the third last paragraph of my initial post I have no record of any known relatives of Thomas T or Mary Jane living in Wheatley Hill in the relevant years.


     
   

I have come across what looks like a transcription error. My "findings" may be of interest to anyone looking for the Fletcher family of Tanfield Lea, Tanfield, Durham in the 1891England, Wales and Scotland Census.

The forebears family in whom I am currently interested are

Edward   Fletcher   Head Married   Coal Miner
John F   Fletcher   Son   Single   Coal Miner
Edward   Fletcher   Son   Single   Coal Miner
William R   Fletcher   Son   Single   Coal Miner
Thomas T   Fletcher   Son   Single   Coal Miner
Joseph   Fletcher   Son   Single   Coal Miner

No relevant records were found when findmypast.co.uk was searched for Edward [born about 1841] and Thomas Trueman/T* Fletcher [born about 1875].

In 1891 Mary H Carr [born about 1872] was the family’s General Servant (Domestic). A search for Mary found a Census image and transcription at https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBC%2F1891%2F4086%2F0271&parentid=GBC%2F1891%2F0028013041 - subscription required.

The transcript gives these details of the household

Edward   Hetcher   Head Married   Coal Miner
John F   Hetcher   Son   Single   Coal Miner
Edward   Hetcher   Son   Single   Coal Miner
William R   Hetcher   Son   Single   Coal Miner
Thomas J   Hetcher   Son   Single   Coal Miner
Joseph   Hetcher   Son   Single   Coal Miner

The Gender, Age, Birth Year, and Place of Birth of each Hetcher are identical to those of their Fletcher "namesake".

The image shows that in 1891 Edward, his family and Mary Carr were living in 10 William Street, Tanfield Lea, Durham, England. The handwriting is such that transcription errors appear to have been made - the Fl could easily be read as H and the Thomas T as Thomas J.

A report of the errors is in the hands of Findmypast.co.uk

Can anyone tell me either the Qualifying Date for these Registers or where I can find these Dates. 

I have a copy of the image/transcript of the page in relevant County Durham Register for my paternal grandparents and my father. Unfortunately the transcripts, unlike some for other years, do mention the Qualifying and "Coming Into Force" dates.

Thank you in advance for your help.

McTalbert

Thank you for your offer of help to get info from Durham Parish Registers. I spent the first 26 years of my life in South West Durham - my forum id comes from the village in which I spent my late teens. I now live in Hampshire and find it impossible to get back to the County of my birth.

Thank you for telling me there is no headstone for Mary and Joseph in the Tanfield St Margaret's Churchyard.

A couple of years back I found a photo - at
https://www.gravestonephotos.com/search/fullnamesearch.php?forename=Frances&surname=Fletcher&area=Durham&search=Full+name&exactforename=no&exactsurname=yes - of a headstone for her son Edward Fletcher (born 8 Sept 1840, died 21 Jan 1892). The name of his wife, Frances Fletcher (baptised 22 Mar 1837, died 15 Jun 1881) - maiden name Trueman - is the first name on the headstone. Martha Hannah Fletcher (born Apr to June 1871, died Jan to Mar 1872), their daughter, is the second.

River Tyne Lass

Thank you for your post about the marriage of Joseph and Mary.

Tikettyboo

Thanks for your for your tip that it is cheaper to get a digital copy from a Parish Register from the Northumberland Archives than from the GRO. I will bear it in mind when looking for "hard copy" where documents might be held by a local authority. I unfortunately bought a certificate from the GRO last year.