how to find if someone is still alive

[ali607]

I am trying to trace my grandad who abandoned my dad as achild. I have his birth certificate here and also have lots of FOrces info on his life. My question is: Is there any way of knowing if this bloke is still alive? My dad wants to know.
thanks
Alison

[Tati]

Depending on how common his name is.

You could try an electoral roll search (ie at 192com) ... or death indexes.

Tanja   

[ali607]

Yeah the only thing with the death indexes is that i aint got the foggiest when he would have died...if he has lol
So the new thing on ancestry is useless and the old civil reg on ancestry is also useless cos it doesnt really have much on after about 1910...its quite a rare name tho so i could give it a try
thanks
for 192 - wouldnt i need to know where he was living?
Alison

[jorose]

http://www.b4usearch.com/electoral-roll.html - this one's a free electoral roll search.  You do need to give a place but it works with just the county, i.e. 'Cornwall' for place, or 'Lancashire' will work - could start with the most likely?

The images at http://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/rectype/vital/freebmd/bmd.aspx cover a wider range of years but are not indexed.

http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/generalArchive.asp?webType=0 - you could see if there's any mention in the London Gazette - not just London but nationwide things like bankruptcy, businesses dissolved, WWI and WWII medals, name changes, other snippets.  The search engine is poor so best to just use the surname if it's fairly uncommon.

[Meliora]

Hello, Alison,

You mention you have a lot of Forces info on this chap.  Had he been a member of any of the armed forces for any length of time.  ?    If he had been discharged after a career in the forces he would most certainly have received a pension, the Army pensions were paid thro' the Royal Hospital, Chelsea & Navy Pensions were paid thro' Greenwich, but all the pension records can be found at the main Public Record Office at Kew.

If he had been in the Army, do you know his Regiment?  If so, try Google, entering the name of the regiment & trying to find a link to a museum or archive, there may have been service medals awarded, these would be on record at Kew.
If he had been in the Navy his records may show the name of a ship, try asking Kew about this.  The same would apply if he had been in the Air force.

Why not post his name & date of birth, & any forces info & let some of us have a try ?  We might find something or nothng.

We are here to help.

Meliora

[sillgen]

I think we risk causing trouble with data protection if we publish details of someone who may be alive.    The Salvation Army used to offer a service to look for lost living relatives.   Maybe they still do so?
Andrea

[johnl]

The Savation Army still offer to try to find lost persons, but the costs are quite considerable.

johnl

[mosiefish]

Hi,

Ancestry also has the death index for 1884 -2002 which includes a date of birth (when known). 

Hope you find him,

Mo

[Wyn Rawson]

I  wanted to find my cousin, I knew her married name and had an idea where she lived so I looked up www.ukphonebook.com found four people of the same name, I wrote a letter to all of them and back came my cousins reply.
The letter was full of family details and photos.
I am in Australia and that was done in 14 days.