Looking for a fresh pair of eyes on finding info about my great grandfather

[deetur]

Memberships

It appears that Joseph was a member of the Masons

Name: Joseph Twigg Balmer
Male
Initiation age: 33
Birth: 1975
Initiation date: 9 Oct 1908
First payment: 1909
Year range: 1887-1909
Profession: Mining Engineer
Lodge: Waltair Lodge
Lodge Location: Vizagapatam Madras
Lodge No: 2592
Folio: 209

Name: Joseph Twigg Balmer (misspelled as Joseph Turgg Balmer)
Male
Initiation date: 16 Oct 1909
Year range: 1887-1907
Profession: Mining Engineer
Lodge: Cabul River Lodge
Lodge Location: Nowshera Punjab
Lodge No: 3225
Folio: 236

Name: Joseph Twigg Balmer (misspelled as Joseph Turgg Balmer)
Male
Initiation date: 1909
First payment: 1910
Year range: 1910-1921
Profession: Mining Engineer
Lodge: Cabul River Lodge
Lodge Location: Nowshera Punjab
Lodge No: 3225
Folio: 9

[deetur]

Twigg and Balmer

There is a marriage that takes place between a James Henry Twigg and Agnes Ann Balmer in 1893 in Derby. Having looked into James (census returns etc) I don't believe this to be Joseph's brother James.

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Contacts

I have contacted De Beers Archive in South Africa and no records for any ‘Twigg-Balmers’. They did share a few Twigg and Balmer records.

I have contacted Mining Museum in Cumbria and again no record of any ‘Twigg-Balmers’.

I have contacted various people on Ancestry who have the mentioned ‘Twigg Family’ in their tree but as of yet have no links to ‘Balmers’.

I have contacted the Whitehaven Records Office in Cumbria, they couldn’t find any records of Joseph or James Twigg-Balmer.

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Links…

It looks like Joseph had links to South Africa (brother James who is listed as next of kin is living/working in South Africa), China (his service Papers list ℅ China Association and he looks to fave been working as a Tidewaiter) and India (member of Masons there and his brother James died there).

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Thoughts

Could the name have been an alias that he used (in which case why would his brother James also have this name)?
Were Joseph and James the same person perhaps?

Other records to look at…

Travel

J F Balmer (perhaps mistranscribed)
Male
32 (Abt 1883)
Occupation: Mining
Departure date: 22 Sept 1915
Departure port: England
Ship: Apapa
Destination port: Lagos, Nigeria

Mr J T Balmer
Male
44 (abt 1873)
Occupation: Mining
Departure date: 3 Jan 1917
Departure port: England
Ship: Burutu
Destination port: Iddo, Nigeria

Joseph Balmer
Service date: 1920-1935
Service place: India
Regiment: 2/4th Battalion The Border Regiment
Regiment No: 200642

Pte Joseph Balmer
26, 1884
Departure: Mombasa, Kenya
17 Aug 1910
Arrival: Southampton
Ship: Dover Castle

[deetur]

Hi, yes people have assumed that this Joseph H Twigg is the correct one. As they are not directly related to him they are happy to have made this assumption, I'm not happy to just make that assumption and I don't believe that he is necessarily the correct Joseph. The year of birth and the fact that he was born in Cumberland appear to be the only 'match' (if his service papers are correct).

A tree on Ancestry has him as Joseph H Twigg-Balmer b 1882 Cumberland & married Elizabeth Dunsdon

A Joseph Henry Twigg was b Whitehaven 1882 mmn Lowden - have assumptions been made that this is Twigg-Balmer?

[deetur]

Thanks 🙏🏻. Yes I have been looking for him for a very long time. I have posted all the information I have collected on him.

There are WW1 military papers for Joseph which record his next of kin as his brother James in South Africa.

Deserted 1915.
All this probably known by deetur as there are various posts elsewhere seeking or posting information.

I just saw this which is interesting. Scroll down for his name -  also confirming his desertion.
https://robertbickers.net/books/getting-stuck-in-for-shanghai/the-suwa-maru-contingent/

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This is an old completed request for information back in 2006. I've obviously obtained a new information in the years since and therefore asking for help again in case I've missed anything. I'm not trying to cause any confusion, genuinely looking for help in case I've missed anything.

Previous thread
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=154631.msg716392

Danni, posting several requests only causes frustration and confusion. RootsChatters genuinely like to help, but tend to give up when effort is being duplicated.
If you have a word document with complete information, save it as a PDF file and attach it here. If it is long, you may have to attach one page at a time.

[deetur]

Thanks, I've added all the information I have to the post.

As others have said, it would be more helpful to put the basic details that you do know about Joseph here rather than emailing you for a document. 

You probably also know that a Joseph TWIGG BALMER , mining engineer of Malakand (Pakistan) appears on a Freemason membership register in 1909.