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From Ron Bowyer:

‘I have Leonard Ernest Perschky (born in Camberwell in the fourth quarter of 1910) marrying Bertha Annie Geen (born in Lambeth in the first quarter of 1918) in the fourth quarter of 1938. I have been unable to find their deaths.

I have found a Leonard Ernest Percy, born on 11 December 1910 who died in Lambeth in the first quarter of 1971 and Bertha Agnes Percy, born on 18 February 1918 and died in Southwark in August 1995. It is possible they changed their name by deed poll? Can I accept these as the same people?

I also have a Henry Sidney Perschky, born in the second quarter of 1894 in Hackney. He does not show up in any records after the 1911 census. I have found a Henry Sidney Percy, born 2 May 1894 who died in Hackney in the fourth quarter of 1872. Again, is it safe to accept him as the same person?’

Stephen says:

‘Dear Ron, thanks for your question. This looks like a very interesting family and I must confess that I had expected them to have been mid-19th century immigrants. The census returns back to 1841, however, show the whole family with London and Middlesex places of birth and solidly Anglo-Saxon names (rather than, say, Jewish or Slavic).

I would imagine that if you take research back into the 18th century, however, you will discover German roots (although not necessarily from within the borders of modern Germany – they may perhaps have been from what is today Poland or the detached Kaliningrad oblast of Russia). You will of course need to consider name variants along the way – by which I mean, as well as clerical misspellings, names rendered in different orthographies but phonetically identical, such as Perschke and Pershke.

This brings us on to your specific question. The short answer is yes: I am reasonably confident that the index entries you have found under the last name Percy relate to the Perschky births. Sometimes where there has been a formal or informal change of name, this will be recorded on the death certificate.

When this is the case, however, the General Register Office customarily indexed the entry under both the original and the assumed last name, and I assume this isn’t the case here, or you would have found the entries under Perschky. The surest way to advance research to the point of confidence and prove your assumptions would be to obtain all certificates, birth and death, to verify the matching dates.

My understanding is that changes of name by deed poll were the exception rather than the rule in the early and mid-20th century. Many people changed their name informally. Others did go through a solicitor and obtained a deed poll but did not publish it. The copies were held by the individual and the solicitor, and not registered or lodged anywhere, meaning that (unless they are held in family papers) they become untraceable.

There was (and still is) no legal requirement to enroll or lodge a deed anywhere. It is true that The National Archives has a collection of deed polls under shelf references C54 and J18, which has been accessioned from the Supreme Court, and that, from 1914 onwards, these same enrolled deeds were also published in the London Gazette (searchable online at www.london-gazette.co.uk/search). It is unlikely, however, that TNA’s collection exceeds five per cent of all name changes within the period it covers (1851 to circa 2003).

There can be various reasons underlying a change of surname. Sometimes it is for pragmatic reasons of convenience – in other words, to make the name easier for others to pronounce and to no longer have to spell it out to them. Others change their name to escape prejudice, e.g., to have a less obviously German or Jewish name, or to escape a crime or shameful incident, or to cut ties with another branch of the family with which there has been an argument. Doubtless many findmypast.co.uk users would be able to suggest other reasons for a change of name from their own researches.’

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From Wendy Thomas in Australia:

‘I would like to obtain the Service Record for Elijah Francis who died and was buried on 27 July 1852 in Dinapore, Bengal, India. Elijah was aged 30 and his date of birth was given as 1822. He was a Corporal in HM 29th Regiment. I would like to find out if this Elijah Francis was born in Stoke Lane (Stoke St Michael) in Somerset on 16 January 1823 and baptised in that parish on 23 February 1823. His parents, Samuel and Ann Francis, moved to Bath in around 1830.

I obtained this information about his death and the film (number 98990) hoping it may provide more identifying information, but it did not. I would appreciate any assistance you may provide.’

Paul says:

‘Hello Wendy, thanks for your query. The 29th Regiment of Foot had been in India since 1842 and would only return to England in September 1859. In the interim, as well as venturing into Burma, the regiment took part in operations now known as the 1st Sikh War (1845-46), 2nd Sikh War (1848-49) and Indian Mutiny (1857-59).

Assuming that Elijah joined the regiment as a young man, the majority of his service would have been overseas and he may well have qualified for the Sutlej Campaign Medal and the Punjab Campaign Medal. Without a surviving service record for him you’ll need to see if he’s mentioned in a regimental description book. These survive in WO25 at The National Archives in England, pieces 266-688 covering Infantry of the Line, among others.

Descriptions typically give name, rank, regiment, height, age, description (complexion, hair colour, eye colour and sometimes “visage”), county where born, parish where born, trade and former service (where applicable). Here, it’s the where born and age which will enable you to tie him in to Stoke Lane in Somerset. You can call up these National Archives files yourself or engage a researcher to do this for you. While you’re at it, also have a look at WO12, the muster books and pay lists, as you’ll be able to track his career with the 29th through these.’

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From Anthony Mathers:

‘I would like to know how to get information on the Indian Navy. On the 1881 census, my great-grandfather, Richard Moore, was a pensioner of the Late Indian Navy. His age was 45. In 1862, the year he got married, he was a seaman. In 1863, on his son’s birth certificate, Richard’s profession is listed as ‘soldier’. By 1868, he was a warehouse porter. He lost his hand in an accident at sea so he left the navy. He was born around 1839 in Birmingham, England. I would be so grateful for any help as it has always been a mystery.’

Paul says:

‘It’s possible that there is a surviving record for him in one of the ADM files at The National Archives. You can then visit TNA yourself or hire a researcher to have a look for you. See the Royal Navy pension records for ratings here

Failing this, it might also be worthwhile contacting the British Library to see if there are relevant papers held in the India Office collection. There are certainly soldiers’ records which survive and there may well be Naval records too.’

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From Jacky Leach:

‘I am trying to find out more about my granddad, Bernard Seaman. He was in the navy for most of his life and he lived in Wells next the sea, Norfolk, at 48 Mill Road. He was married to my grandmother, Barbara Dickerson. They had a daughter whose name was Audrey Seaman and a son whose name was Donald Seaman. My granddad had a lot of brothers but I don’t know their names. I would be most grateful if you would be able to find out anything about him for me.’

Stephen says:

‘Thanks for your question.

For anyone new to family history, the key thing to remember is to start with what you know and to work backwards. Don’t worry if you think you know very little. If you have English or Welsh ancestry, it is nearly always possible to research back in time from, for example, your own birth, the marriage of your parents or the death of a grandparent.

You did not give any dates in your message but, using the combination of the names and the reference to Wells next the Sea, I was able to piece together the family back to the late 1880s in the space of half an hour and I’m sure you’ll be able to re-trace my steps using the resources on findmypast.co.uk.

Firstly, I searched the indispensable website GENUKI to find out in which registration district Wells was situated. I usually do this by searching the internet for ‘GENUKI + the place name’. Alternatively, you can drill down through the county to the section on civil registration and find out there. This told me that Wells was in the Norfolk registration district of Walsingham.

Then I was able to do some searches for your grandfather and found that Bernard Seaman married Gladys Barbara Dickinson in 1931 and died in 1970. The entry for him in the death index gives his date of birth in 1903. I could then check the birth index and there found the corresponding entry. He was born in Docking registration district and married in Walsingham.

From the 1903 birth entry in Docking, I was able to find him easily on the 1911 census, which is fully name-indexed for all of England and Wales. This showed him as the sixth child of seven born to Isaac Seaman and his wife Elizabeth. His older siblings Walter, Jessie, Annie, Frederick and Redvers can be found on the relevant 1891 and 1901 census returns. The youngest sibling Charles of course appears only in the 1911 census. Frederick was the only one born in Wells; it seems that Isaac held various rural occupations and probably moved from farm to farm and from village to village in this part of Norfolk.

Equipped with this information, it was then straightforward to find the marriage of your great grandparents Isaac and Elizabeth in 1887. Her maiden surname was Flegg. Isaac was born in West Barsham and Elizabeth in Little Walsingham. Hopefully, if you re-trace my steps to recreate the above information, you will see for yourself how the basic steps in family history can be traced. Once you’ve done this, I’m confident you will then be able to apply the same methods and, for example, find Isaac on the 1871 and 1881 census returns, discover who his parents (your great-great-grandparents) were, and so on. You can do the same thing if you wish on the Flegg line of the family.

In this way, I would be surprised if, with a little digging, you were not able to get back to the first surviving nationwide census in 1841 and the start of civil registration in 1837. From there you’d need to start looking at parish registers and other resources. Filling out your family tree from 1837 to 1911, however, should keep you busy for a while! Good luck!

As for biographical information about your grandfather’s life, he would have served in the modern era in the Royal Navy (or merchant service) and, therefore, few records are public, for personal privacy and confidentiality reasons. If he was indeed in the RN, however, as his granddaughter you should be able to obtain a copy of his basic service record from Veterans UK‘.

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From Daniel Martin:

‘My great-grandmother’s name was Mary Ann Bell, who I can trace as marrying in Hammersmith in 1872. I cannot find her or her family (one known son from 1872) in the 1881 census but she appears again in 1891 with two children born in 1884 and 1886.

There are no family stories of overseas travel and I further note that while my grandfather father is given as Samuel Bell (1886), she appears to have been living with George Arrow from either 1882 or 1883. My question is: what tricks might I use to further seek information on my great-grandmother during the 1880s?’

Stephen says:

‘Thanks for your question. I think the root of the problem lies in the estrangement of Mary Ann from her husband Samuel Bell and later cohabitation with George Arrow. This leaves Mary Ann with a ‘married but separated’ status in 1881, which often makes an individual hard to find in a census. I believe, however, that I may have found her in 1881.

From background enquiries, I saw that Mary Ann was born nee Norman in 1853 in Ipswich and married Samuel Bell, as you say, in 1872 in the London registration district of Kensington, which at that date included Hammersmith. Using this information and considering variables, I located a Marian Bell, aged 26 and born in Ipswich, residing at 2 Cambridge Place in Kensington.

What is interesting is that she is described as being married but is not co-resident with a husband or children. She is recorded as a domestic servant, which agrees with the description of her as a general servant in the 1871 census. In the circumstances, although I cannot be certain, I believe that this is probably your ancestor.

To retrieve this record, go to our census reference search, select the 1881 census from the dropdown list of census years, and then search using piece 22, folio 117 and page 6.

If this is indeed the correct record, it raises the question of what has happened to her husband and to the child you mention who was born in 1872.

If the husband had died, I think it is more likely that Mary Ann would have married Mr Arrow later in life, which I infer from your email she did not. It is likely, therefore, that he is residing elsewhere in London, and perhaps you can locate him with the background information you have not included in your emailed question. Don’t eliminate any candidates simply because they appear to be married to another woman in 1881 – cohabitation was often recorded as ‘married’ and, of course, bigamy was not unknown.

Assuming that their son born in 1872 did not die in infancy or early childhood, he may have been a) living with his father, b) living with his paternal or maternal grandparents, c) living with other kin on his mother’s or his father’s side, or d) in care of a foster parent or an institution. You may need to consider each of these options for the 1881 census, by which I mean proceeding upon the basis that the father Samuel Bell and the son born in 1872 may well be living separately from one another, but I expect that father and son are in the English 1881 census somewhere. I hope this helps.’

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From Lin Moorman:

‘My grandfather Thomas Pilsbury, born on 18 February 1877, volunteered or was called up quite late in WWI. He never recovered from the experience. I tried to find his war records some time ago but no luck. Have you any advice?’

Paul says:

‘The medal index cards for WWI list two men with the name Thomas Pilsbury. The first man went out to France as a private with the Shropshire Light Infantry in September 1915 and so this is probably not your grandfather as you say he was called up quite late in WWI. The other Thomas Pilsbury served with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers (RDF) and later the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR). There is a service record in WO364 which will show you that he was a brass locksmith by trade and that he enlisted on 13 April 1918 aged 41 years and two months.

Thomas was posted to the 3rd Bn RDF on 15 April 1918 and sailed for France as a draft for the 6th Bn on 27 August. Two days later he was transferred to the RIR and appears to have joined the battalion in the line on 3 September. It looks as though he spent three weeks in the line before being admitted to a casualty clearing station with haemorrhoids.

He was discharged from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment on 12 March 1919 giving his address as 58 Victoria Road, Bradmore, Wolverhampton. He applied for a pension but this was rejected in 1919 as he had ‘no disability’ (although he had suffered from scabies and haemorrhoids and been hospitalised at various times in Camiers, Trouville and Etaples).

The scabies was possibly as a result of lice, although this is not stated on his pension record. Thomas was a married man (married to Edith Ann Sarah on 13 November 1904), and they had five children: Winifred (7 December 1905), Edith (5 September 1907), Thomas (31 August 1909), Lucy (19 May 1912) and Muriel (22 January 1915). It’s not much I’m afraid but I hope it helps.’

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From Keith Griffiths:

‘I’m trying to trace any record of my grandfather Howell Lewis Griffiths. He was born on 11 April 1878 in Carmarthen, Wales and is said to have fought in the 2nd Boer War in South Africa. I have not been able to trace a record as I do not have a regiment to which he may have been attached. Any help would be appreciated.’

Paul says:

‘You’re going to struggle with this as the medal rolls for the 2nd South African War often only list initials rather than first names. There is one H L Griffiths listed who served with the Commander in Chief’s bodyguard (number 22647) but you’d need more evidence to positively identify this man as your relative.

Why not try the local papers for the time and see if he is named either as going out to fight, or returning home? brightsolid online publishing and the British Library have just launched the British Newspaper Archive, where you’ll be able to search 4 million newspaper pages, rising to 40 million over the next 10 years. Read more about this and register here: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk‘

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From Helen Fraser:

‘I have a copy service record for my great grandfather Joseph Brady who served with the Royal Artillery from 23 November 1854 until 20 February 1877. His rank at outset was gunner and driver and he was promoted to bombardier. He is stated to be awaiting court martial 26-28 May 1860 and was then reduced to gunner. He was subsequently promoted again and became sergeant by October 1869. He had good conduct badges and a long service medal and gratuity.

Is it possible to find out why his name was listed ??? times in the Regimental Defaulters Book and also why he was court-martialled and reduced in rank during service?

The Army Index 1861 lists him as number 27 (WO10/2591) and service record says number 4932.’

Paul says:

‘I’ve had a look at Joseph’s service record in the Chelsea Pensioner British Army Service Records (WO97) on findmypast.co.uk and in many respects it’s typical of the time; a career soldier who had minor run-ins with authority during the time he was in the army. It’s important to remember too that what survives in WO97 is, for the most part, only a fraction of what would have been in his file once upon a time. Over the years, records have been weeded and weeded again and so what you see now just gives the bare bones of his army service. Had the original papers not been destroyed you would have seen exactly what it was that caused Joseph Brady to be court-martialled.

There’s an excellent book by Alan Ramsay called ‘The Victorian Army At Home’ (Croom Helm, 1977) and I’m going to draw from this in my reply to you. To be court-martialled wasn’t a particularly rare occurrence in Victoria’s Army. Alan Ramsay notes that 18,950 soldiers, or just over nine per cent of the total force, were court-martialled in 1865. This figure reduced consistently over the years but even as late as 1898, close to nine thousand men were court-martialled. It’s probably safe to say that when Joseph had his brush with army authority, he was probably one of 20,000 soldiers or more who came up before his superiors.

A man could be court-martialled for a variety of reasons and Alan Ramsay quotes the following offences:

• Mutiny
• Absent without leave
• Fraudulent enlistment
• Disobedience, insubordination, etc
• Quitting or sleeping on post
• Drunkenness (all kinds)
• Disgraceful conduct
• Making away with equipment
• Other

Of these ‘crimes’, drunkenness was the most common offence, certainly from 1865 until 1880 at least, after which time disobedience and insubordination becomes the main category. Remember too that some crimes that a soldier could be charged with seem trivial today and probably seemed trivial 160 years ago too for that matter. As Alan Ramsay notes, “seven days confinement to barracks for leaving a brush out of a kit display was not uncommon.”

As far as Joseph was concerned, his only punishment appears to have been reduced in rank and within four years he had been promoted to that same rank again and would go on to achieve the rank of sergeant, ultimately receiving the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal with gratuity. So as frustrating as it must be to not know the reason behind his court-martial or entries in the regimental defaulters’ book, he was discharged from the army in Secunderabad in 1876 with a character described as very good.’

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From Brenda Lacey:

‘My late father received a letter in 1974 containing details of the ‘Tyzack’ family from a Mr V Tyzack. As the address was a London office, I have been unable to trace his whereabouts or this family, if he is now deceased.

The information given states that his family lived at Wells Next the Sea, North Norfolk. I have found the tombstone of his Grandfather Edward Tyzack in a churchyard at Buttlands, Wells next the Sea. I have also learnt the history of the ‘Tyzack’ who lived at Little Walsingham via a local historian, but I am stuck with regards to moving forward from Edward Tyzack.

Mr V Tyzack is still a mystery, although he states that a dozen Tyzacks lived at Wells when he was a child, i.e., cousins. Can you please help?’

Stephen says:

‘Thanks for your emailed question.

My first comment is that you are very fortunate! The surname you are researching – Tyzack – is unusual and distinctive. This means that a number of broad, cross-database searches are possible which simply would not be available to you if you had to pursue a more common name.

If using findmypast.co.uk, one way to start is simply to do a very basic cross-database search from the home page. Even if you just type in the last name and search on that, you get a manageable number of results, arranged by record type, which you can then look at by clicking on the record counts (number of results) of each.

Of course, you can narrow down the search by using first name as well, i.e., by searching for Edward Tyzack and looking at all results. You should be able to identify his birth entry from his age at death (you can find his death entry easily, as you know when he was buried), and from there narrow down possible marriages to one or two candidates.

One factor which helps is that earlier this year findmypast.co.uk published fully name-indexed birth, marriage and death indexes. This really speeds up the search for you. Once you have his marriage, you can then look for the births of issue of his marriage, then for their marriages and deaths in turn, continuing the process towards the present day and building up the family tree. Unless some events took place overseas and are not recorded in the overseas BMDs on findmypast.co.uk, you should be able to reliably piece together Edward’s tree to the present day.

When searching census or civil registration records for England, use Walsingham as the registration district up to 1938. For BMD records from 1939 to 1975, however, Wells next the Sea is in Fakenham registration district. You should probably consider London districts as well, given the known family movement to the capital.

As for the London-based professional Mr V Tyzack, keep under consideration that V may have been the initial of his middle name rather than of his actual first name. You can do a Living Relatives search on findmypast.co.uk. If you cannot find the mysterious V, you may be able to find other relatives you have identified as part of the family tree reconstruction process described above.’

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From Maureen Probert:

‘I have been trying to obtain a copy of my great-grandmother Annie Lyons’ birth certificate. She married George Carter on 23 February 1884 in Bolton Registry office and she died in Bolton in 1905. I have a copy of the marriage certificate and her death certificate but I can’t find out where she was born. One census record says Accrington, another says Bolton. Annie was born around 1863 – I have checked the birth records but I cannot find her birth. Her father must not have registered her birth - his name was Thomas Lyons and I can’t find him either. I just can’t understand why her family don’t seem to exist.’

Stephen says:

‘When a question like this is asked, two thoughts immediately occur to me: firstly, the possibility of birth outside England and, secondly, birth under a different surname.

A quick look at census returns from 1871 to 1901 for Accrington (included in Haslingden registration district), for Bolton district, and more generally for Lancashire county shows that a significant number of the families named Lyons are from Ireland. For example, in the 1871 census, there are 350 persons named Lyons resident in Lancashire with Ireland as place of birth.

This total includes a married Thomas aged 35, born circa 1835/36 in Ireland and old enough to be Annie’s father (although there are no children co-resident with him at the address he is visiting in Halliwell township in Bolton). Unfortunately, very few of these census returns are more specific about place within Ireland, which makes it difficult to take research back across the Irish Sea, although if you track them forward through later censuses you may find out more exact information.

For this first possibility to be true, the information in the 1891 and 1901 censuses (to the effect that Annie was born in Accrington or Bolton) must of course be untrue. It is not unusual for census birth place information to be incorrect – it was simply volunteered by the householders without any evidence being provided or checks being made, and there is plenty of scope for error. This leads me to the second possibility, which assumes that Annie was indeed born in Lancashire.

The second possibility I mentioned takes into account such factors as the high levels of parental deprivation (i.e., death of one or both parents of a child), remarriage of the widowed survivor of a married couple, illegitimacy and informal fostering (“adoption”) patterns. All these complicate family structure, perhaps especially in urban and industrial areas. In other words, even though Annie named her father at the date of her marriage as Thomas Lyons, this may not have been correct – Lyons may have been a step-father, for instance, or a foster parent, and Annie herself born and registered under a different surname.

This may be unlikely; however, it is not impossible that both scenarios – birth outside England and birth under a different surname – are true.

To investigate the above possibilities thoroughly will take time and patience and, very probably, the reconstruction of partial family trees for each candidate, Thomas Lyons, for example, so that by a process of elimination you close in on the truth. It could also happen that you persevere with such searches and still get no closer to finding out the answer. Unfortunately, not all family history problems are soluble and many family historians are left with brick walls which no amount of research seems able to overcome.

Good luck with your research and please let us know how you get on.’

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