Anglo-Celtic Connections

Ancestry’s new Scottish National War Memorial collection includes names and details of people killed during the First and Second World Wars. Information about each person may include:

First and last name
Military rank
Service number
Military awards and medals (decorations)
Birthplace
Date of death
Place of death
Cause of death
Unit name.

The Scottish National War Memorial, from which Ancestry’s collection is scraped, commemorates nearly 135,000 Scottish casualties in the First World War, 1914-18, more than 50,000 in the Second World War, 1939-45, and the campaigns since 1945, including the Malayan Emergency, the Korean War, Northern Ireland, the Falklands War and the Gulf War.

The ability to subscribe to this blog through Jetpack is working. The subscription box is in the right-hand column.
You will receive a confirmation email and a choice of receiving posts when made or on a daily or weekly basis.
As the previous service departed abruptly, it was impossible to automatically resubscribe those with existing mailpoet subscriptions.

Aircraftman 2nd Class Bert Aidan George
Service Number: 905114
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Born 5 Dec 1916, registered at Aston (Birmingham)
Died 07 December 1940, 23 years old
Son of Basil George and  Sarah Elizabeth (Trilloe) George, later Taylor, of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.

Aircraftman 2nd Class John Spencer Debenham
Service Number: 623688
Royal Air Force
Born 20 October 1919, registered at Alton, Hampshire
Died 07 December 1940, 21 years old
Son of Herbert Debenham and Hilda Annie (Spencer). Debenham.

Both accidentally drowned by falling through the ice  into Lake Huron

Over 100,000 family notices are included in an index abstracted from the local press, from 1800 until 1918, now online from Inverclyde Libraries, Museums and Archives. Sources include the Greenock Advertiser, Greenock Telegraph and other local papers.

The Intimations pdfs available are ordered by surname.

Thanks to advice from Jane MacNamara, the blog is now connected to another subscription service. You will need to resubscribe as it was not possible to carry over subscribers from the previous list. Please do. I hope it works as advertised — we always need to be prepared for issues with anything new.

One difference is that emails will arrive as the item is posted on the blog, not in a single daily email.

Jane’s blog, Where the story takes me…Tales of family and local history research and folk I meet along the way is well worth visiting.

Buried at Goderich (Maitland) Cemetery

Sergeant John Edward Bird 
Service Number: 1334377
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Born in the last quarter of 1922 in Brentford, Middlesex.
Died 25 March 1943, age 20 years
Son of John Wilfred Newboult Bird, a salesman, and Ruby (Johns) Bird.

LAC Geoffrey Herbert Hicks
Service Number: 1321921
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Born 28 July 1920 in Essex.
Died 25 March 1943, age 22 years
Son of Herbert W. Hicks, a shopkeeper,  and Dorothy (Hicks) Hicks, of Twyford, Hampshire, England.

They were killed in the crash of Anson R9720 flying out of 31 Air Navigation School, Port Albert.

A month from now the OGS/Ontario Ancestors conference will be underway. In this video Gloria Tubman, Program co-Chair, answers FAQs.

An abbreviated list this week.

Choose from free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Those in red are Canadian, bolded if local to Ottawa or recommended. Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed.

Tuesday 24 May. 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch of OGS and The Ottawa Public Library.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/

Tuesday 24 May. 2 pm: Jump-starting Your 1950 Census Research with Census Helper™, by Uri Goren fofrMyHeritage and Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/jump-starting-your-1950-census-research-with-census-helper/

Tuesday 24 May. 2:30 pm: Preservation Primer, Part One: The Basics of Preserving our Physical Artifacts, by Curt Witcher for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/6588624

Wednesday 25 May. 2 pm:  Seeking the Best Evidence: Targeted Testing for Genetic Genealogy Proof, by Paul Woodbury for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/seeking-the-best-evidence-targeted-testing-for-genetic-genealogy-proof/

Thursday 26 May. 6:30 pm: Preservation Primer, Part Two: The Basics of Writing our Stories to Preserve our Families’ Histories, by Curt Witcher for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/6588657

Saturday 28 May. 1 pm: Middleville and District Museum (Ottawa), by Museum Staff for Ottawa Branch OGS.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/ottawa-branch-presentation-2022-05-28/

The following fallen RAF airmen are buried at Goderich (Maitland) Cemetry.

Robert Alexander Balden
Service Number: 1591999
Leading Aircraftman
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Age 19 years.
Son of William Reginald and Mary (Digges La Touche) Balden, of Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England. Through his mother he had notable Huguenot ancestry.

Walter William Ronald Dawes
Service Number: 153373
Flying Officer
Royal Air Force
Age 22 years.
Son of Walter Taylor Dawes and Lottie Dawes, of Alfreton, Derbyshire, England.
He had received a scholarship to Reading University.

They were killed at 11:30 am on 22 October 1944 when their Anson V aircraft crashed and burned 10 miles Northeast of 31 Air Navigation School, Port Albert.

 

In case you’re wondering, my selected system for sending the daily email stopped working a few days ago. It was abruptly terminated, without notification.

It will take a while to find an alternate. In the meantime come directly to this site. I’m also posting links on Twitter
@JohnDReid
·

 

The annual War Graves Week started on the 21st in the UK and Europe. It aims to encourage communities to come together and discover the World War heritage on their doorstep.
Although not a thing in Canada, I’m taking the opportunity this week to profile some of the 13 RAF airmen who died in Canada while training during the Second World War, buried at the well-cared-for Goderich (Maitland) Cemetery, which I visited recently.

A significant addition of Sussex parish records came to Ancestry on 19 May. For both East and West Sussex, sourced from the respective county record offices, these are transcriptions and images of the original record. The images are both linked and browsable.

Most are baptisms, marriages and burials, with the addition of nearly 30,000 East Sussex confirmations.

Title	Records
East Sussex, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1920	2,829,740
East Sussex, Church of England Confirmations, 1813-1927	29,966
East Sussex, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1995	398,334
East Sussex, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812	3,142,798
West Sussex, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1936	654,185
West Sussex, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812	1,492,381
West Sussex, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1920	1,180,923
West Sussex, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1995	285,817