Illusive Grandad! Henry Jesse Lovell

[isobelw]

There is a message posted on Ancestry message board in 2014 by someone looking for this same person. According to this he was born with the surname Whittal and adopted by relatives of his mother. ( found this through a general Google search for Henry Jesse Lovell).
Isobel

[Fresh Fields]

Hello.

Time line so far.

Born UK c1879 and possibly adopted at an early age. Known by more that one name.

Mid thirties at start of WWI, old enough to have had a UK family.

Assumed arrived NZ after wars end, with claims of having had [UK] war service, and possibly connection to Navy. This also leaves possibility of Merchant Navy service, and passage to NZ as merchant crew.

Appears to have settled in South Island, but not known if that was because of pre-existing connections there.

Married locally at start of the great depression and raised a New Zealand family in his late forties / early fifties.

Dies at start of WWII.

Interesting.

Hopefully those with South island records at their finger tips, will be able to help.

- Alan.

[Janette]

Just a couple of thoughts (ok, three).


2.  The RSA would have had followed some kind of process to ensure he warranted an RSA ceremony at his death. I suggest that you contact the relevant RSA branch to see what information they had access to.

Spades

Not necessarily as the FD would have asked if he was a returned soldier and if the reply was yes they would have made the funeral arrangements on that basis,a bit hard to dig him up later   ,the RSA don't really play a part unless the family request it and Veterans Affairs pay the bill

Cheers Janette

[Janette]

Have you contacted Veterans Affairs to see if they have a record?

https://rsa.org.nz/Community/SupportServices/VeteranEntitlements.aspx

Cheers Janette

[Geraldine Girl]

That thread of searching for HJL with the Whittal name came to nothing in the end ,my UK researcher thought she had him sorted but it wasnt to be.My Sister is probably the one you saw on Ancestry.
So his time frame is..... 1927 he was at Mt Peel in Canterbury,married Bertha on 17 Aug 1927 at Geraldine Registry Office. 1928 My father was born ,also named Henry Jesse.They were living at 16 Macdonald St ,Geraldine then. 1928 on Electoral roll he is living at 32 Winters Rd ,Ashburton  as a Driver. 1929 he is a cattle valuer at Skipton Bridge,1934 he is back at Macdonald St Geraldine ,still there in 1939 and July 1940 he passed away. Have contacted Veterans and because hes not a Kiwi they dont have a record of him and RSA in Geraldine dont either.

[kiwihalfpint]

I know of a situation where the deceased was a UK War Veteran, he went to the RSA a few times, on meeting the  RSA representatives, when we were making the funeral arrangements, they hadn't heard of him, but they did make enquiries, and he had the RSA ceremony at the graveside


Cheers
KHP

[Geraldine Girl]

HJL was a member of the RSA in Geraldine .They assured me no record of his WW1 service,the guy I was corresponding with went through all the records they hold and found no record of his service in the war or his service number.Seems odd to me but they obviously took him at his word. But also if he gave the number it would have come up as a different name to what he was using .That would have blown his cover?

[Lucy2]

I have been in contact with Geraldine RSA and they very kindly went through all the records for me and found zilch .He had a full RSA funeral I have the obituary ,gives the names of the Pall Bearers and who played the bugle.

Hi Olwyn McKinlay

Are you able to share with us, details of his Obituary, please ?

The apparent link to "a full RSA" funeral does seem a little odd (given what you've told us so far).

Are you aware that (according to Geraldine Cemetery records), Henry Jesse LOVELL, is buried in the plot alongside his wife Bertha ?   
[One might expect that had he had a service provided (and paid for) by the RSA, then his burial might have been in the "Services" section of the cemetery ?? ]

   ~  Lu

[kiwihalfpint]

This is it Lu. Scroll down

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=CHP19400712.2.14&srpos=1&e=-------10--1----2henry+jesse+lovell--

Cheers
KHP