Home Guard Newcastle upon Tyne ww2

[carolmc]

 Trying to find if Fred Watts (born 28/5/1911 Hetton Le Hole,Durham) was in the Home Guard. I have already looked at the Nat.Arch for Durham Home Guard and he isn't listed. I have an address, Pennyfine Lane,Sunnyside,Newcastle, and wondered if he was in the Home Guard near there. Fred was partially sighted and a radio ham. I believe he worked for the Home Office after WW2 as a radio transmitter. I have a family photo of him in uniform Any help much appreciated.

[JenB]

Have you tried looking for him in the 1939 register?

We are not allowed to do look-ups for you, unfortunately.

However a search of the free index does not come up with anyone called Watts living at Pennyfine Road (not Lane) at that time. By the way, the postal address was Newcastle, but Sunnyside was actually in Whickham, in County Durham 

[stanmapstone]

Pennyfine Road,Sunniside, was in County Durham, now in Tyne & Wear. The post code is NE16 for Newcastle upon Tyne, which covers a large area, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NE_postcode_area.

Stan

[JenB]

Again using the free search for the 1939 register I can only find one Fred Watts (which was the name under which his birth was registered) born in 1911, and he was living in London 

Refining it by the date of birth 28 May you've given provides no hits, but using the date 28th and no month does give the same person. Are you sure you have the right date of birth for him? It was registered in the July/August/September quarter of 1911, so possibly later in the year than you said?

If it is the right person, then sight of the full register might provide the information you're interested in 

[MaryThorn]

I can't help with your specific search but just wanted to say I also have the same problem in trying to find my Grandad who was in the homeguard during ww2.   My grandad as a miner hence why he wasn't called up to serve in the forces.  My dad was born a month after the start of the war and his mother was living with her mother at the time the 1939 census was taken, I've searched and can't find any trace of my grandad.

I've often wondered if it's down to homeguard records being locked or whether he was sent away for training at the time the census was taken.

[ScouseBoy]

He may have worked as a Morse code listener to enemy radio  transmissions.   Y service, I think they called it?

[carolmc]

Thank you for all the replies. Fred was my batchelor uncle, it was while I was searching the Nat.Arch Durham Home Guard Records that I found my father, Kenneth Watts listed in the Durham 13th Battn.( a new discovery for me!)He enrolled on the 15/2/1943 and was discharged on the 16/3/1944 The record states Fred as next of kin living Pennyfine Lane, Sunnyside. In 1939 Fred was in Westminster working as a cellar man, this is a mystery unless he was in London for some other reason. Kenneth  was a patternmaker and in a reserved occupation, he was bombed out of his 'digs' and having nowhere to live walked into the first recruiting office and joined the RAF on the 16/3/1944, (RAF service paybook) he was posted to Burma and by 1945 Fred was living in Derwent Terrace, Front Street, Dipton according to letters written by my father from Burma/India.

The replies are very interesting, does anyone know anything about 'Y service'. I have searched the Bletchley Park records without success.

Again thank you for the help, Carolmc

[ScouseBoy]

As far as I can remember, Bletchley Park was called Station X.     Y stations  listened in to German  morse  and speech transmissions.   They sent the raw data  to Bletchley Park  by despatch riders.  Bletchley Park had no  transmitting or   receiving antenna.  for security reasons.   They did not want the enemy  to triangulate  and discover the volume of radio traffic  emanating from Bletchley, therefore BP  itself transmitted nothing by radio.     

[carolmc]

Hi scouseboy, this all sounds very plausible, do you know if there are any records for 'Y service'? were there any listening aerials near Pennyfine Road? would the listeners wear uniform? I'd really like to know more about 'Y service' if possible please.Carolmc