not sure where to look now for a Sailor

[rachelralph]

if someone claims to be a sailor where would i start to look? ive had a few merchant seaman in the family and  records have been reasonably easy to find. this time though i cant seem to find anything, i am hindered a lot by the fact that my guy used alias (surely though his seamans records would have to be in his birth name?

also i have found a medal and award rolls record for my man but cant seem to find out anything else from there.

 i have a thread looking for this mans death which i have not been able to find either using any of his alias, nor can i find another marriage although im sure he did remarry after his wife died. the story from my great uncle is this man was married and the wife died shortly after childbirth, the son was 'adopted' by the inlaws and my man went off to do his own thing, never to be heard from again. not surprising seeing as i also lose track of another one of the same family around this time. (they may have gone together and started up there own 'business')

heres the link for my other thread, although i havent found much, apart from Rosie who helped a lot through PM.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=743745.msg5905985#msg5905985

so where do i look for sailor records and how do i move from the medal cards to some actual infomation please?

[lizdb]

Where does he describe himself as a "sailor"?   

I have numerous sea-faring people amongst my ancestors, from Merchant Seaman, Master Mariners to local fishermen or coastal oyster dredgers.  On censuses all use terms such as "sailor", "mariner" etc, even though they are in very different occupations.  Do you know what sort of "sailor" he was?

Local Record Offices sometimes have some Ships returns and crew lists (listing sailors on the voyage) but those that have survived are few and far between .

[seaweed]

also i have found a medal and award rolls record for my man but cant seem to find out anything else from there.

so where do i look for sailor records and how do i move from the medal cards to some actual infomation please?

I take it he was a Merchant Seaman? If so you will have difficulty finding him pre 1918.
No central personal records of merchant Seamen were kept between 1857 and 1913. Personal records for the period of the first world war have been destroyed so you only hope is finding him on a crew agreement.
FindMyPast have some Crew Agreements up to 1913 together with deaths at sea and post 1918 to 1941 Merchant Navy personal records.
Also NMM Greenwich has on line copies of crew agreements for the year 1915.

http://1915crewlists.rmg.co.uk/

[rachelralph]

sorry i should have been a bit more detailed. a name would have helped i guess haha.
charles walter francis child. went by the name charley francis child, john childs, charles walter child and also used francis as his last name too!

born 1898 in newington surrey married winifred dennigan in 1923. she died in 1926 after the birth of their son charles. he was known as nipper and as far as i know was 'adopted' by the denigans.

rosie on the previous thread about his death found some court cases and i thinmif i remember on 2 he is a sailor. thats all it says. then i found a WW! medal and awards rolls record for a charles walter francis child. as far as i know he was the only one with this name in full born around the right time frame so i guessed this was him. i need to do a little more research before i can say that is him.

he was known to live in mitcham surrey, bournemouth possibly and pretty much anywhere around the surrey/london area.

[ScouseBoy]

Have  you searched for him on the 1939 register?

Why did he have so many aliases, do you know?

[rachelralph]

I can't seem to find him on the 39 register I know where the in-laws were and have found them with some locked people. He isn't there though. I have looked under a number of names and can't seem to find him although I have found him in the London electrol registers on ancestry. He is loving with his father Charles Eugene in Southwark in 1921.
His alias come with his crimes I would think. A number of thefts and larcency charges. In fact running from the eldest sibling Winifred Denigan and her husband Charles, all the way down to the youngest my great nanny they all had alias and crimes to add to them.