James A Meddings

[majm]

The surname MEDDINGS is not unknown in NZ.   

You can view or download NZ service records for WWI service for that surname at Archway  (and of course many other NZ archival documents mentioning MEDDINGS .  http://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/   

James Alexander MEDDINGS 60 page AIF file is not at all unusually long, some can go over 100 pages. 

Cheers,  JM

[cando]

Firstly, I am the "online researcher" Cando.

You are not alone

Cando

[thetowers]

It is my understanding that among the many difficulties facing anyone in England in the 1916 was the great reduction in the numbers of local horses, as so many were required at the Western Front.   

So what method/s of transport got James Meddings to Gateshead and back ? 

Umm, Train ?

Who would ride a horse from Weymouth to Durham,  in 1916 ?

[thetowers]

Perhaps this woman (  it is a woman, right ? Are we sure of that ? )  had already met Meddings in Australia,  and had kept in touch with him after her apparent return to England before 1916.

That would make the notion of this whirlwind marriage more plausible.

In the early 20th century,  the railway system in the UK was the most advanced in the world.  If he was supposed to travel by train from Weymouth to Woolwich,  it would be entirely possible to detour to Gateshead and back,   and turn up at Woolwich 12 hours late,  and say he stopped at the pub on the way.  Or that he could not get a horse-drawn taxi from the station, because of the shortage of horses.  The files of hundreds of soldiers are full of such incidents.   I think the problem of, how did he get to Gateshead, is am non-problem.

Actually, I'd be more concerned that a 27-year-old is considered an elderly husband.

[thetowers]

Googling James Meddings turns up this page

http://www.mytrees.com/newanc/Australia/Born-1883/Me/Meddings-family/James-Meddings-st000490-13.html

which appears to have details about his parents,  siblings and grandparents and where they lived.

[cando]

I'm looking for any details about James A Meddings who married Stuart (sometimes spelt Stewart, Stewert) Easton Morgan in Gateshead in 1916.  Other than this marriage entry, i can find no other information about James.

Deb

Birth:
James Alexander MEDDINGS b. 1883 WHAR #8815
Father: George
Mother: Margaret NICHOLSON

Merlin
WHAR = Wharparilla is a rural area between Echuca and Torrumbarry. 

Australian Electoral Roll - with mistranscribed surname for James and incorrect spelling for Torrumbarry.
1909 Echuca/Echuca
MEDDINGS George Turrumberry  Farmer
MEDDINGS Mary  Turrumberry  Home duties
MEDDLINGS James Alexander  Turrumberry  Labourer

To explain the above  - James, his father George and step-mother Mary.

James enlisted in the army in Melbourne, Vic in 1915 and wasn't truthful about his age.  Stated he was 28 years ie born c1887 when in fact he was born 1883.

Trawling my resources....
James mother, Margaret [NICHOLSON] died in 1890. George MEDDINGS and Mary WILLIAMS had a son at Turrumbarry in 1896 and married in 1900.  George according to his 1900 marriage registration was born England.

George died at Echuca in 1933 and there is probate file at the Public Records Office of Victoria.
http://prov.vic.gov.au/index_search?searchid=54

Deb you seem to have a good 'handle' on your research .  Pity a passenger record couldn't be found for Stewart between England and NZ. 

Cando

[DebNZ]

Oh well done Cando!

[Millmoor]

Hi

I had some credits left for Scotlands People and downloaded the birth cert of Stuart Easton Morgan. She was born in 1893 not 1895 in the village of West Calder. The date was 3 April 1893 at 2.45pm, address East End, Main Street, West Calder. Her parents were James Morgan, a cooper and Elizabeth Steel Morgan (maiden surname Carmichael ). James and Elizabeth were married 1 May 1891 in West Calder. The informant was her mother Elizabeth.

West Calder lies to the west of Edinburgh. It is now in West Lothian but historically was in Midlothian (sometimes called Edinburghshire). It was an important centre of oil shale mining at the time of Stuart's birth.

The Morgans must have moved to Tyneside in the late 1890s looking at the birthplaces of their children, In the 1901 census Stuart is recorded as Stewart and a son age 7! Presumably an enumerator's error.

William

[wivenhoe]

Did Stuart Easton MORGAN have any children?