John Henry Thomas Parr 1898 (AKA Jack, Dick)

[keithgparr]

Thank you groom, I hadn't realised that the evacuation began that early.

Might you also know about death records during the second world war?  I've been unable to find anything for JHT Parr and Ellen Jane Parr, there's no C1911 record for the Parr family (that I have found so far, ever hopeful!), and no death records (ditto)  The 1939 find of JHT Parr with Amy was the first indication that he survived WWI (if it's the right JHT Parr!).

After the war, presumably parents who had survived "reclaimed" their children?  And the assumption is that if they didn't claim the children then they had not survived?

I can see I need to do some reading around the Home Front.

[groom]

Many of the children who were evacuated from London at the start of the war returned after a few months, in the period known as The Phoney War. It was expected that London would be bombed immediately, but this didn't happen, so a lot parents wanted their children back home. Then of course we had The Blitz in 1940 and children were evacuated again. It must have been very difficult to decide what was best to do, let them go to strangers or keep them with you.

[keithgparr]

Were any records kept of children evacuated, returned, re-evacuated, etc.?  There must have been quite an organisation to find safe homes.

[groom]

Nothing on line, and no central records.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/evacuees/

I think most were evacuated through their schools. I know the school where I taught had details in their log books. They were evacuated to Shoreham on the Sussex coast. That was fine until they realised that if the German planes still had bombs on board, rather than returning to Germany with them onboard they used to unload them as they flew over the coast!

[keithgparr]

Thank you for that pointer to the NA help file, that explains it well.  I've also found the Evacuees Reunion Association.

The link through the school sounds like the best bet.  Many thanks, groom!

[groom]

What was the name of John Henry's mother and father?

ADDED: Just found them on his baptism.  Father:   Thomas William Parr.  Mother: Edith Louise Parr

[keithgparr]

They were Thomas William Parr 1867, and Edith Louise Tidy 1873, married 1894.

Three children as far as I can tell: Arthur William, Ellen Jane, and John Henry Thomas.  The baptism for JHT has him as John, freeBMD has him as Jack, and the 1901 census has him as Dick.  That last is my best interpretation as "John" does not appear, and "Dick" only appears this once.

[groom]

Most odd, as you say, they all seem to vanish after 1901 when they were in Brentford Middlesex - I've searched in lots of ways and on different sites but can't find them after that.

[keithgparr]

Thank you for searching, at least that gives me confidence that I haven't missed anything obvious.  Doesn't help find them tho' <grin>.

Thomas William came from Isleworth, I wonder whether they might have gone back there?  But even so, they should show up in the C1911 I would have thought.  I find it hard to imagine a reason for a complete vanishing act.

That's why the 1939 register was helpful, the first evidence that JHT at least was still around.

Looking for Ellen Jane in the 1939 is a bit of a challenge, it's reasonable to expect she would have married (but where's the marriage record?), or died (ditto death record), or retained her own name.  There are 42 Ellens with the right birthday (09 04 1897) in the 1939 register, I'm not inclined to pay to unlock all of them!

I wonder whether we might be able to find Olive at school before she was evacuated (if that's what she was).