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Messages - iamray

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1
Armed Forces / Re: Identity requirements Royal marines in the 19th & early 20th centuries
« on: Monday 23 July 07 03:52 BST (UK)  »
It is an intriguing problem. He was discharged 24 August 1898 so it took about three and a quarter years for him to disappear from his Pontypridd address. Where he had been in the meantime is anybody's guess His other daughter's presence in the SA home in Portsmouth could mean that he went to Portsmouth (another RM division) after his discharge from Plymouth but why she ended up there is extremely puzzling. She may well have been the Helena JS Denny who married Henry Churchman in 1911 but we haven't been able to trace any descendants from the couple to date. There is a Gladys  Churchman b 1913 Portsmouth but the mother's maiden name is Churchman which indicates that the child could have been illegitimate. Also an H T Churchman of the Somerset Light Infantry commeorated on the CWGC website might be Helena's husband but we don't know.

As for deaths, there are a number of John Denny's who have died after December 1901 but we have no idea if any of them are the right one.

It is possible that he left his daughter(s) behind to get married again and there are a number of Denny marriages but once more we have no idea if he was one of them.

My wife would like to know what happened to her grandfather but at this distance in both time and place we are unlikely to find out.

Thank you for your interest

Regards
Ray Lewis
Hazelmere Western Australia

2
Armed Forces / Re: Identity requirements Royal marines in the 19th & early 20th centuries
« on: Sunday 22 July 07 04:19 BST (UK)  »
I have his enlistment attestation. On that he gives his name as John Henry Denny born Liverpool 28 December 1858. He was in Pontypridd, South Wales at the time of the 1901 Census living with his daughter, rmy wife's mother, aged 4, (actually nearly  6 years old). Aged 42, he was working as a labourer and gave his birthplace as Ireland. We think his older daughter, aged 12, was in a Salvation Army home in Portsmouth but enquiries to the SA have led to nothing.

He would have received an honourable discharge after 21 years of service all of which according to his service record he served as a private. The possibility of him re-enlisting in the RM is remote but it was one suggestion made by one of my colleagues as the list of other probable destinations became smaller and smaller. He might have joined the Army or the RN (after all he had spent a number  of years at sea), but to date enquiries about a John Denny in the Army and Navy at the time have led nowhere. Were all Royal Marines discharged at Chatham?  John Denny spent his RM service in the Plymouth division and presumably would have been discharged from there.

Our problem has been that we can find nothing about him anywhere subsequent to his disappearance on 31 December 1901 and are thus grasping at straws.

Regards
Ray Lewis
Hazelmere Western Australia

3
Armed Forces / Re: Identity requirements Royal marines in the 19th & early 20th centuries
« on: Saturday 21 July 07 14:18 BST (UK)  »
Grandfather was John Denny and there is no trace of him in the prisons, in the hospitals (medical and mental) or the various passenger lists to USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa both for the year that he disappeared (1902) or later. It was as if he was abducted by aliens or that he rejoined the military which is why I want to know about identity requirements.

Regards
Ray Lewis
Hazelmere Western Australia

4
Armed Forces / Identity requirements Royal marines in the 19th & early 20th centuries
« on: Wednesday 25 April 07 10:47 BST (UK)  »
I have been researching my wife's grandfather who was a Royal Marine, joining the corps in 1879 and possibly re-enlisting after 21 years of service as someone else. My questions are:
1. What idenity documentation did a man need when he joined the Royal Marines in the 1870's?
2. What idenity documentation did a man need when he joined in 1901 - 1903?

I'd like to know because I think that when he joined first he listed his birthplace as Liverpool when he was probably from Ireland and was underage i.e., under 18.
In 1901 after he had been discharged after 21 years service and three years as a civilian he disappeared and someone has suggested he might have rejoined under an alias.

Anybody have any thoughts on any of the above?

Regards
Ray Lewis Hazelmere Western Australia

5
Limerick / Re: Limerick Ancestry Lobby
« on: Thursday 18 May 06 04:10 BST (UK)  »
Support for anything that will help genealogy research, especially in Ireland.

Regards
Ray Lewis

6
Ireland / Re: Finding one man in Ireland
« on: Thursday 18 May 06 04:07 BST (UK)  »
Thanks everybody for your suggestions.  The story so far, a continuing work in progress.

I have John Denny's marriage certificate and that states that his father was James Denny, Customs House Officer. I haven't found him yet but indications are that he could have been at Liverpool. John's Royal Marine attestation gives his birthplace as Liverpool but the place for religion is not clear. John was married in the Parish Church in the parish of East Stonehouse so I have assumed he was Anglican (Church of Ireland) rather than Roman Catholic. The 1901 census gives his birthplace as Ireland.

John Denny's wife stepfather's name (sorry about all the possessives) was Sandys but I have not been able to track him down anywhere yet as I have been looking elsewhere in the family tree, (my line rather than my wife's).
There aren't too many Sandys in Griffiths Valuation so perhaps I should try a cross match of towns with Sandys and Denny (lots of these).

Once again Thanks for your help.

Ray Lewis
 

7
Glamorganshire Lookup Requests / Re: TREALAW CEMETARY
« on: Saturday 29 April 06 03:27 BST (UK)  »
Sorry to come in late but have been rather busy doing other things with my father's Monmouthshire links. Have you considered Penrhys cemetery (there used to be a Penrhys transcription on the Web). Dependent upon where she lived (in the Rhondda, I assume) she could have been buried in Treorchy, Penrhys, Ferndale (I think there was a cemetery there) Gilfach or Trealaw as well as the crematorium at Glyntaff. I know that my wife's grandmother who spent most of her life in Llwynypia was buried at Gilfach because of family links.

Ray Lewis (Western Australia)

8
The Common Room / Re: Information about old photos
« on: Sunday 23 January 05 04:32 GMT (UK)  »
G'day Mary
Just wish I had some photographs of my family that went back that far.
 
Ray  :(

9
Ireland / Distribution of Surnames in Ireland
« on: Friday 23 April 04 05:04 BST (UK)  »
Were Irish surnames (family names) truncated? For example, would Dennehy be truncated to Denny? I am interested because of my wife's missing grandfather John Denny. If his name were originally Dennehy it might give us a lead as to his origins.

Thanks
Ray Lewis

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