Family Tree Day Event

Tags

archives, census records, photographs, research

Date:               Friday 20 March 2020
Time:              10am to 4pm
£12 per ticket / £8 concessions. 
A buffet lunch is included in the ticket price.
Book early to avoid disappointment here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/family-tree-day-tickets-94594457569
Venue:            The City Suite, Civic Centre, Wolverhampton, WV1 1RL

If you are already researching your family tree or have already made a start and stuck with your research, help is at hand!

The event will feature keynote speakers experienced in local, national and international family tree research. Participants will be able to explore their own family history through workshops, masterclasses and talks with representatives from family tree organisations for advice and information.

• 5 Steps To Tracing Your Family Tree
• Using Wolverhampton Archives for Family History
• Digitising Old Photographs
• Pitfalls, Brickwalls and Blind Alleys in Family
• Starting Family History on a limited Budget
• Discover how to make the most of DNA Testing

Discover how to do your own family research here.
A guide to family history research Find Your Ancestry: https://yourarchive.wordpress.com/links-resources/

George Norman Adams

Tags

France, George Norman Adams, Lincoln, Mars Steelworks, probate records, research, South Staffordshire Regiment, Summerfield, volunteers

The son of George North Adams (an iron manufacturer at Mars Steelworks) and Fanny Cadman Adams (nee Harris), George was a stock-keeper and Iron Mill Manager before the outbreak of the First World War. By the 1911 census he was living with his parents and sister Elsie May at 8 Summerfield, Wolverhampton.

In 1915, he enlisted into the 6th Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment, rising to the rank of Captain. Having fought in France, he died 20 October 1918 at the 4th Northern General Hospital in Lincoln. According to the National Probate Calendar, he left behind effects totalling £4608 19 s. 2d. As his military records have not survived, no further details are available. Because of his surname, George’s is the first name listed on the Wolverhampton Roll of Honour.

The research for this entry came from one of our volunteers, Betty McCann.

The decorated curator

Tags

front line, research, Royal Army Service Corps, Tom Roberts

Thanks to the contributions of our readers, including our Facebook followers, we can now give you a bit more of the story of the mysterious T. Roberts, for whom we hold a certificate of the Serbian Gold Medal.

Company Quarter Master Serjeant Thomas Roberts enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps at Wolverhampton on 21 May 1915, Service number M2/101473. He served in Salonica with 605 Company Motor Transport, landing there in 1916. On 5 March 1916 he was posted to the British Mission with the Royal Serbian Army, and was later awarded the Serbia Gold medal for his service there. Thomas lived at 15 Maxwell Rd Wolverhampton and was aged 26 years on discharge. This means that he is presumably the Thomas Henry Roberts whose birth is registered in Wolverhampton in June 1894, although we have not yet been able to trace his baptism to confirm details of his parents. Because we now have more concrete information about Roberts’ age, howeveer, we can confirm that this man is not the son of Frederick Stephen Roberts and his wife Emma Louisa Bantock, as he would be much older.

As we mentioned in a previous post, after the war he became Senior Assistant Curator at Wolverhampton Art Gallery (having been employed as a motor bus driver before the war). In 1948 he was promoted to Curator.

Thank you very much for all your assistance with this mystery!

Local soldiers featured in the Express and Star

Tags

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Express & Star, front line, newspapers, research, volunteers

Express & Star article on William Perry, December 1914

As we mentioned previously, our volunteers have been hard at work scouring the local newspapers, in particular the Express and Star for mention of First World War stories which are relevant to Wolverhampton.

In the early months of the War it is especially noticeable that mention is made of many local men who are killed in action, complete with a photograph. Later on in the War, it is presumably more difficult to keep this up, due to the sheer numbers of fallen. Many of the articles we have discovered have been uploaded to the WAVE Flickr page. The list of photographed men featured from August to December 1914 (not all of whom have died), is as follows. We will hopefully be able to find out a bit more about some of these men through further research at the Archives:

• Private Joseph Baker, 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment, a member of staff of Bilston Post Office (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
• James Barratt, Naval stoker, of Hall Green Street, Bradley (commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial)
• Sergeant John Leonard Beavon, 20th Hussars, of 35 Merridale Street West
• Private George Albert Dawes, 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, of 37 Lower Walsall Street, Wolverhampton (commemorated in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery)
• Private John Donelly, South Staffordshire Regiment (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
• Private William Ellam, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire, 8 New Street, Heath Town (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
• Private Frank Ellis, 1st South Staffords, a former pupil of SS. Mary and John’s Day School, Wolverhampton (commemorated in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery)
• Joseph Hartland, 2nd Worcesters, of 67 Horseley Fields, Wolverhampton
• First-class Petty Officer Hayes, of Byrne Road in Blakenhall and a former employee of the Mars Ironworks
• Private G. Humphries, Grenadier Guards, of 112 Wood End, Wednesfield (listed on the Ploegstreet Memorial)
• Private B. Johnson, 1st Northumberland Fusiliers, of Green Lane, Wolverhampton (commemorated at Le Touret Memorial)
• Private J. Jordan, 1st South Staffords, whose father lived at Leicester Street, Bilston
• Private William Lloyd, of the 2nd South Staffords, a former employee of Mander Brothers (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
• Private J. Monger, Royal Scots Fusiliers, of Lower Stafford Street, Wolverhampton (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
• Private William Perry, 2nd Coldstream Guards, of Chester Street, Wolverhampton (commemorated in Poperinghe Old Military Cemetery).
• Leonard Rhodes, Worcester Regiment, of Franchise Street, Wolverhampton and an employee of Sunbeam Motor Works
• Herbert Rowley, Naval Reservist, of Bridgnorth Road, Compton (also known as “Bert” and listed on Portsmouth Naval Memorial)
• Private William Simcox, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment, employed at the Crane Foundry, Horseley Fields (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
• Private Arthur Smith, 2nd Worcesters, of Priestfield
• Sam Tibbitts, 2nd Worcesters, a former pupil of the day school at Darlington Street Wesleyan Church and member of St Mark’s Company of the Boys’ Brigade and St Mark’s Band of Hope (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
• Arthur Wainwright, 3rd Dragoon Guards, of Granville Street, Wolverhampton (listed on the memorial at Ypres)
• J. T. Westwood, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, of 6 Pountney Street, Wolverhampton (listed on the memorial at Ypres)

Voices of War and Peace

Tags

Jesse Hill, Maud Fellows, research, universities

Private Jesse Hill

Yesterday saw the launch of the new World War One Engagement Centre, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) with the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Set up by the Universities of Wolverhampton and Birmingham, with support from Newman College, Birmingham City University, and Worcester University, the Centre will be based at the new Library of Birmingham.

Because of the link with Wolverhampton, we are very proud that the launch included schoolchildren reading from material held at Wolverhampton City Archives. These detailed the deaths of two local people during in the First World War, one fighting in the trenches (in the case of Jesse Hill), and one dying at home (Maud Fellows). Both stories have already been featured in more detail on this blog. A photograph of Jesse Hill is also featured in our banner at the top of this blog. Highlights of some of these resources are also featured on the website of the Engagement Centre, entitled Voices of War and Peace.

You can follow updates from this Centre on Twitter.

Part of the mystery is solved…

Tags

Bantock House Museum, Express and Star, research, Serbia, Tom Roberts, Wolverhampton Art Gallery

Thank you all for your responses to our appeal for more information on T. Roberts, who was awarded the Serbian Gold Medal for distinguished service during the First World War. With your help, we have been able to flesh out a bit more detail about the man behind the certificate, mainly thanks to this article in the Express & Star.

Tom H. Roberts was appointed Curator of Wolverhampton Art Gallery in 1948, having been Senior Assistant Curator for the previous 26 years. According to the article, he served for four years during the First World War, before being wounded and torpedoed, and most of his war-time service was spent as a member of the British Mission to the Serbian Army. This explains why he was awarded the Serbian Gold Medal, as well as why the certificate has found its way among the collection of material from Wolverhampton Art Gallery. We are still somewhat in the dark about his background, though, and, given the relative high frequency of his surname, we still need a bit more information before we can try and unearth his military records.

One of our Facebook followers have suggested that this may be Thomas Roberts (who was born about 1875-1878 in Wolverhampton), the son of Frederick Stephen Roberts and his wife Emma Louisa Bantock. If this is correct, that would mean that this certificate links with Bantock House as well as with Wolverhampton Art Gallery. If anybody has any further information, we would greatly appreciate it! Meanwhile, we will keep digging…

Help us to solve a mystery!

Tags

archives, research, Roberts, Serbia

Ref: DX-894/2/33

In amongst the Local History collection received from Wolverhampton Art Gallery, we have a certificate in (presumably) Serbian, although it is possibly Russian. This is certainly not something we see in our archives everyday, and our Latin and other language skills are a bit more limited in this case. Fortunately, we have a translation which has been kept together with the certificate!

It says the following:

For Distinguished Service.

In the Name of His Majesty

PETER 1.

By the Grace of God and the Will of the People

King of Serbia

His Royal Highness

ALEXANDER

Heir to the Throne

deigned by his Ukaz

of 1st July, 1916, F. A. O. No. 3830 to confer the

GOLD MEDAL FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE upon

Sergt. Major T. Roberts,

which is certified by this Diploma.

The certificate is signed by the Chancellor of the Royal Orders, General Pav. Juristic Strum, and is dated 29 May 1921. But who was this Sergeant-Major T. Roberts? And what were his actions during the First World War that led to his receiving this award? And finally, what are his links to Wolverhampton and how has this certificate come to be in our collection?

There is some information on the Serbian Gold Medal on Wikipedia. There is also a letter regarding the award of the Serbian Gold Medal to Rowland Williams in the collections of the University of Oxford. Other than that we have very little information available. If anybody is able to shed further light on this mystery, we would greatly appreciate it!

The Caswell brothers

Tags

Express & Star, Jack Reading Caswell, Oaken, Queens Square, research, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Thomas Reginald Caswell, volunteers, Wolverhampton Grammar School

Like Joseph Glaze last week, Jack Reading Caswell is listed on the Wolverhampton Roll of Honour. His brother, Thomas Reginald, also fought during the First World War, but survived. Our volunteer, Betty McCann has researched the differing fortunes of these two brothers.

Queens Square, Wolverhampton, early twentieth century

Jack Reading Caswell was born in Wolverhampton in 1891, to parents Thomas Reading and Anne Caswell. His older brother, Thomas Reginald, was born in 1889, and was baptised at St Peter’s Church on 28 April 1889. Their father was a hatter, hosier and shirt maker, with shops in Dudley Street and Queens Square. Jack attended Wolverhampton Grammar School. The image to the right shows the Queens Square branch, just to the right of the Prince Albert statue. Before the war, Jack worked as a Drapers Assistant, with his brother Thomas being a Shirt Cutter.

In the 1901 census, both brothers appear listed at boarding school at the Holy Trinity School (possibly Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School) in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire. By the 1911 census, they are both back at home at The Woodlands, Oaken, Wolverhampton, along with their father, two sisters and a servant. During the First World War, Thomas served as a Private with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (Regiment Number 015675), while his brother served as a Lance Corporal in the 10th Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment (Regiment Number 55). Thomas’s military records have not survived, but we do have a photograph of him, to the left. Jack died of wounds sustained in Flanders on 15 May 1918, a mere 6 months before the end of the war in November. He is buried at Esquelbecq Military Cemetery in France, Grave reference I. D. 26. There is a small notice about his death in the Express & Star on 21 May 1918. It simply states

Sergt. Caswell, Royal Warwickshire Regt., son of Mr F. R. Caswell, The Woodlands, Oaken, has died of wounds received in action.

Update on Denis James Fallon

Tags

Battle of the Somme, Blakenhall, research, Royal Garrison Artillery, volunteers

Research by volunteer, Betty McCann, has unearthed further information about Denis James Fallon, who we last read about on the blog in March 2013.

Fallon was born on 3 December 1896 in Lower Villiers Street, Blakenhall, Wolverhampton, to parents Denis and Mabel Edith Fallon. His father, Denis, was a printer and compositor, originally from Ireland, who died in 1905 aged 45 years old. His mother Mabel (nee Morris), was born in Tettenhall, and later remarried in 1906 to a William John Fletcher. By 1911, Denis was a Hardware Warehouseman, living at 119 VIlliers Street with his mother, stepfather, 2 sisters, 1 stepsister and 3 stepbrothers.

Denis Fallon became a gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery during the First World War (regiment number 63256), being one of the few in his regiment to survive the Battle in the Somme in 1916.

After the war, Denis married Alice E. Hatton on 2 August 1924 at St Luke’s Church, Blakenhall, and they lived at 22 The Crescent, Parkfield Road, Wolverhampton. They had at least one child, a daughter, Doreen, baptised 14 March 1925. Denis died on 3 December 1980 at the age of 84.

Update on Charles Wallbank

Tags

archives, Charles Wallbank, diaries, research, volunteers

We featured the diary of Charles Davies Wallbank on this blog in December 2012, which is a fascinating account of what life was like in the trenches. One of our volunteers, Betty McCann, has done some further research into the man behind the diary.

Charles Wallbank was born in Wolverhampton in 1894, the son of Charles and Kate (nee Connolly) who had got married a year earlier. On both the 1901 and 1911 censuses, his father is listed as a fish dealer. Charles appears to have joined the army straight from school, as he was already living at Aldershot Barracks in the 1901 census. The family home was at Glennon, 149 Cannock Road, Wolverhampton.

His diary covers the period when he was serving with the ‘A’ Signal Company of the Royal Engineers on the Western Front and in Serbia, Regiment Number 20999, and a facsimile copy can be viewed at Wolverhampton Archives. Despite getting injured in 1916 and being discharged from the British Army, he later became a racing car driver, marrying Violet M. S. Jennings in 1930. He died in December 1958 in Paddington in London, and is probably the same man who is buried in Brockley & Ladywell cemeteries in south-east London.