Help: Court Martialled & Missing in UK, Capt: Albert Edward Harrison AIF

[jds1949]

Dear Ian and Roger,

Disappointing news I'm afraid. From WO 106/1151 The List of British Army Officers of both Syren and Elope Forces:

"Hospital
Medical officer - Captain H Harrison RAMC"

He was the only Harrison listed - so unless our man managed a medical degree in 1917-18 he's not him.

Prompted by Ian - I remembered that I have a book on the Russian Campaign "Churchill's Crusade" by Clifford Kinvig. In the index it lists a Captain Harrison - the reference is not to the above man:

"Captain Harrison, a Canadian commanding the 24th Armenian battalion, found that his unit ceased to exist on occasions through the predisposition of his men to scamper off at the first appearance of the enemy."

So, two Captain Harrisons but neither seem to be our AEH.

I'm afraid that I was very pushed for time today and so was not able to do any more, quite apart from anything else as it's the first week of the summer holidays the place was heaving with people! I'm not going to be able to get back to Kew for a couple of weeks - my wife has other plans for me.

Just a few thoughts on your last questions Ian - AEH was, as an Australian, a subject of the British Crown I doubt if he would need to become a naturalised British subject as he effectively already was one. Neither would he need to resort to a deed poll to change his name. Even today changing one's name is perfectly legal and requires no particular legal sanction - as long as the intention is not criminal deception. I should imagine that back in 1919 he could have called himself whatever he wanted, as long as he was not seeking to continue using his Army record. There was no National Insurance scheme then - so he would not have needed a National Insurance number. All he had to do in order to effectively disappear was to go somewhere that he would not be recognised, call himself Joe Bloggs, get a job, a place to live and begin a new life. If that is what he did then we have no chance of finding him.

jds1949

[Redroger]

Ian, The guy I referred was the one mentioned in reply No.23 posted by Keitht many days ago, while I agree that he would have been in his 60s by then and would have found the climate exhausting, I wonder whether he could have returned to Australia and settled in the Northern Territories which I believe have a tropical rainforest climate, not too disimilar to New Guinea, there is of course always the possibility that he did settle in New Guinea itself, and would have become aclimatised by 1941.
Regarding the points you made, and to which John has responded regarding rights of residence, he was as an Australian citizen and in that era was considered a British subject for all purposes. Though there are some entry restrictions now, I believe essentially once you are in you are British. Indeed two former MPs of recent times spring to mind, Brian Gould from New Zealand left Parliament in 1992 to return to New Zealand, and Patricia Hewitt who was Social Services and Health Secretary in the last government and is Australian by birth.
Though it is staggering I don't believe the Russian campaign lead is quite dead yet, but from what John says, the document he quoted from seems very much like the roll of the expeditionary force to Russia. Taking stock, we have exhausted the Army of Occupation, and virtually Russia, that leaves the League of Nations Mandates etc. to be searched.
Personally I think this New Guinea thing is worth a further look.

[Craven-Harrison]

Dear Jds,

firstly the apparently disappointing news from the NA regarding the Elope/Syrene records.

My immediate response was similarly disappointing until I considered the bigger picture, why couldn't the Canadian Harrison be AEH? we haven't looked at the NRRF force yet and this force is the one that the Aussies were in. And the book "ANZACS in Archangel" is on the way after a few problems with the suppliers website, I'm hopeful for some additional info on the NRRF.

So, "no news is bad news" just more info to check, I'll do the Harrison of the Canadian Army and see where it takes me and as for the H Harrison and his MD or BS, well I guess it's a long bow to draw. 

Ok on the short supply of time, I'm in the same boat and my wife has plans for me also, I'm supposed to be painting the house but it's below 12 deg every day or raining, so I just have to do some computer work every day, interspersed with actual work for the Aus/Gov which pays the bills

Thanks for your info regarding the issues of changing a name in England, I remember a philosophical discussion at a dinner party many years ago regarding the issues of changing ones name to avoid taxes (any tax auditors reading this, I didn't do it!!) we went through all the possabilities and ended by deciding that a look at the telephone book at names such as Smith, Jones. It was interesting that some of the group thought that this was an opportunity to show a bit of flair and choose a name that was interesting or nice to say, perhaps a nice hyphenated name or a slightly altered name such as Hilton-wood or Harbison, surfaced. We had to get back on track, we were wanting to blend in not stand out. After a few hours we all decided that we would use the telephone book or the Voting rolls and choose a common surname name then look for the most occurrences of a christian name. So if there were 250 Ron Smith's then it would be Ron Smith "251" no middle names, just blend into the many other Smith's

The reason I'm concentrating on the Military research is that there is a distinct possibility that AEH did change his name. The Military records are pretty good and often mention AKA's alternate names etc, so there is more chance to find him through this medium. You are however quite right, that if he did change his name, then using the Civilian research we would never find him unless a family member of his English family knew something of his past and it gravitated to the surface somehow. Perhaps, I should advertise on the TV "find my family" or "who do you think you are"

So, once again, many thanks for your time, an MID is due to you for your services in this matter

Cheers

Ian 

[Craven-Harrison]

Dear Roger,

yes you are possibly right, he may have returned to OZ, If he did, he wasn't living as AEH as I have spent a lot of time doing the OZ research and he doesn't seem to have come back as AEH

Ok, on the No23 post and the PNG bloke, I hadn't forgotten him and did do some initial work on him, here is what I found and certainly puts him out of the question, there are a couple of others also, B883 is the bloke in question, his DOB is 1906

341. HARRISON, Albert Edward, NGX 71; Cpl; 2/25 Infantry Battalion; Enlisted - 12 July 1940; Embarked for M/E - 7 Apr 1941; Returned ex M/E - 28 Feb 1943; Discharged - 29 Jan 1944; Enlisted - RABAUL, NEW BRITAIN, NEW GUINEA; Date of Birth - 31 Aug 1906; BORN - LIVERPOOL, UK; NOK - LITTLE, Ada, Sister.

B883   NGX71   HARRISON ALBERT EDWARD : Service Number - NGX71 : Date of birth - 31 Aug 1906 : Place of birth - LIVERPOOL ENGLAND : Place of enlistment - RABAUL NEW GUINEA : Next of Kin - LITTLE A
Access status:OPEN
Location: Canberra    1939 - 1948      5889458
 
B884   V53730   HARRISON ARTHUR EDWARD : Service Number - V53730 : Date of birth - 12 Mar 1921 : Place of birth - CAMBERWELL : Place of enlistment - ALBERT PARK : Next of Kin - HARRISON A
Access status:NYE
Location: Canberra    1939 - 1948      6253867
 
B884   V74202   HARRISON ALBERT EDWARD : Service Number - V74202 : Date of birth - 16 Jun 1916 : Place of birth - PORT AGUSTA SA : Place of enlistment - FOOTSCRAY VIC : Next of Kin - HARRISON ELIZABETH
Access status:NYE
Location: Canberra    1939 - 1948      6281986

As for living up north, well this is good for those that can handle it, Us Harro's that carry this Q DNA from Scandinavia and have lived in Yorkshire for centuries drip all day, My father in PNG during the war was drenched all day, my son in Darwin for two years with the Aus Army dripped all day, me in Queensland dripped all day and not just perspiration, actually dripping continuously. My two sons have just left an hour ago for the snow and that's where we are at home. The colder the better, it must be the Viking stuff. If AEH was in the tropics he'd go troppo. Far north Australia and PNG are impossible to live in unless you have an airconditioner and a lot of beer. (a lot of beer) (a lot of beer)..........ALOB

I agree, there is much more life in this matter yet, I'm up for it if you guys are?

And thanks for the info on the undercover or clandestine life in the UK, its pretty much what I thought was happening, If a POM had turned up in OZ in 1920 he could just disappear over here for ever also, see how computers and data bases have wrecked our lives??

The rot set in when Henry the 8th decided to give men surnames so he could extract more taxes more successfully, then came computer data bases and the rest is history

Ian

[Craven-Harrison]

Dear Carole,

just received word from AEH's grandson that he's been unsuccessful looking for the Will and Coroners Inquest, I will go to the local Historical society next week and find the index to the NSW Coroner's Inquests and order the Inquest

Cheers

Ian

[Craven-Harrison]

On Thursday last week I made contact with Legacy Australia regarding their capacity to hold archives and records dating back to 1917

Legacy cares for the widows and dependents of deceased servicemen and might have been contacted by Nora regarding her circumstances. They have sent on my request to the branch that was close to where Nora lived in 1917 near Katoomba near the Blue Mountains behind Sydney.

Ian

[Siamese Girl]

I'm a bit mystifyed by the lack of a will - although I have to say I have no experience of finding wills in NSW so I've no idea how the system works

Sydney did make a will didn't he - or am I reading ths wrongly? From the Sydney Morning Herald of 27 July 1934:



Do you know who David Popplewell was?

Carole

[Craven-Harrison]

Hi Carole,

there is a Will if your attachment is as good as it seems, I will do the Will after the Coroners Inquest, each will require a bit of manovering.

The fact that Brian hasn't turned up with it, isn't an indication that it doesn't exist

I'm not sure who the Poppelwell fellow is and I will see what I can find out about him

Cheers

Ian

[Siamese Girl]

I thought Mr Popplewell might have been family - if he wasn't and he wasn't a solicitor I wonder why he was named as executor?

You know - I shall be SO disappointed if the will eventually does surface and there's nothing of interest in it 

Carole