Find Ancestors

Its a long shot, but in trying to find my grandfathers (Harold William Chipperton or possibly Chiverton) biological parents, I came across an entry in his 1918 diary simply stating:

Dr Downham died (Oct 1st 1918)

He may not have know him as his 'father'.

Any info who this man was/where he lived would be greatly appreciated.

Family rumour was that his father was a doctor?

What area of the country might he have lived it?

When was your grandfather born and where? What were his parents names?

from www.freebmd.org.uk


Male Downham deaths in Dec qt 1918 ... ie October 1 - December 31

Deaths Dec 1918 (>99%)

Downham Frank A 0 Chesterton 3b 872
Downham George 25 Lancaster 8e 1338
Downham Harold 16 Wigan 8c 8
Downham Ronald J 0 Reading 2c 925
Downham William 58 Blackburn 8e 597



Only William Downham looks a reasonable possibility from his age . Two are under 1 year old, and the other 2 are really too young to be doctors.


Balckburn is in Lancashire



and I know we have worked on Chipperton/Chiverton before ... just to stop anyone going off at tangents searching all over again.

where is the other thread or even threads with all the information found????



it is of course entirely possible that Dr Downham was the family doctor, or a well-known doctor, or even not a medical doctor at all ......... who died in the Influenza epidemic that was just about starting if I remember my history correctly.



sylvia

Other threads are here:

http://www.genesreunited.co.za/boards.asp?wci=thread&tk=1209765

http://www.genesreunited.co.za/boards.asp?wci=thread&tk=1210108

Rose

The other two threads are about the Chipperton/Chiverton family of Alton, Hampshire. Just to save everybody dashing around them, Sue believes her grandfather's father was a doctor, and the above message was in his diary. Her grandfather's mother was reputedly a nurse and unmarried at the time.

On marriage, Harold William, gardener, born 1893, names his father as Harold William, deceased gardener but the family think he made this up.

A possible birth has been found of William Harold Chiverton and Sue is awaiting the certificate.

Harold is a ward of the Wiltshire family in 1901 and a gardener's assistant in 1911 with an unrelated family.

The William Downham in Blackburn is not a doctor, he is a timekeeper and caretaker.

I can't find a George Downham in Lancashire in 1911 and he would be too young to be Harold's father.

Checked all male Downhams in Hampshire on the 1911 of the right age to be Harold's father.

Checked female Dowham deaths in Dec Qtr, none a doctor unless Annie born 1871 wife of a platelayer is one. Unlikely.

I feel daft at suggesting this, but could Dr Downham have been a pet dog?

Bit of a long name for a dog, Madmeg., but perhaps he liked going down rabbit holes :-)

Sorry to joke - I've looked up all the possibles you have and came to the same conclusions.

anythings always possible, MM!


I really think we are chasing a red herring with this fmaily.


There really is no way that I can see to prove, or disprove, who fathered Harold William.

It's the kind of information that goes to the grave with the mother, and possibly the father although he may never have known he had fathered a child anyway!



sylvia

Also checked WW1 deaths.

Sorry for all the confusion with the different threads Meg set me straight! I shall not multiple post again!!

Pet dog theory - funny - as he was a gardener and other entries in his diary are like how many rabbit he killed and such! It was just a wild idea that I thought I would throw out there.

I am not sure whether he eventually did find out the who his father was, and this could quite possibly have been a family doctor that he mentioned in his diary.

Interestingly he was sent to a private school that was quite elite back in the day - and we think the father paid for that schooling, as there is no one else in the family that would have been in the position to pay for it. I contacted the Gordon Boys School in Woking and they are mailing me all his documents from that time - so patiently waiting by the mailbox for that and the b.cert. for William Harold Chiverton.

His entries in his diary were quite interesting, like for instance, he was shipped out from northern France on a hospital ship the Warilda on Aug 2nd 1918, which was torpedoed and sunk, 123 lives lost, he made it of course, ended up at Netley hospital in England. Is there anyone or any organisation that is interested in this information? He lists where he was most days, the towns, the villages (he was in The Royal Field Artillery) and whether they were shelled, bombed, who was injured...It seems like someone might benefit from it?

Anyway - thanks again for all your help. I know how time consuming this can be, so I appreciate all your efforts.

Best Sue

Sue,

Where was he living in Oct. 1918?

Rose

The thing is, I've checked all Downhams who died in the December quarter of 1918, and none of them are doctors of any sort, and only a couple (whether male or female) of the right age to be doctors, let alone the father of Harold William. That's why I suggested the dog. Run out of ideas. People had odd names for dogs. Or horses. I am not being facetious, I am genuinely trying to think of possible answers.

Sue, this diary entry. Is it an entry made on 1st October and says "Dr Downham died", which might mean that was the day he LEARNT that Dr Downham had died, as opposed to Dr Downham died today. Do you see the difference? Cos I can find a few Downhams died in WW1 that might not have been notified to the family till later.

Though I don't think that even if we find him it is going to lead us to your relative at all.

Is there anything else in his diary of likely interest?

Rose, are you asking about Dr Downham in 1918? Well we don't know, cos all of the Downham deaths in the Dec Qtr of 1918 we have investigated and they have thrown up zilch. There is no doctor Downham whose death was registered that quarter. That's why I suggested the dog. Might seem potty but I've nothing else to suggest.

or he could ahve died earlier, and there could ahve been a coroner's inquest ......... the death wouldn't be officially registered until the coroner had rendered his decision




sylvia

Rose, I know this is probably more information than you needed, but it seems he moves around quite a bit

His last entry in his diary for Sept 1918 and reads:

23rd - Major Sergeants Great Ballard New Milton

26th - Barton (it says in the back of his diary he was convalescent until Oct 24th)

For Oct 1918:

9th - Great Ballard

15th - M.O inspection duty

23rd - Milford

24th - sick furlough

25th - ten days sick leave from Barton to London

26th - Camberwell

27th - married St Georges 12:15pm Camberwell (man of many words!)

28th - Bentley

30th - Alton leave

31st - Emily died Farnham

Nov;

1st - Alton to London

2nd - Camberwell

3rd - Camberwell

4th - Camberwell - reported back to the 61 Battery Lessness Park (spelling? sometimes its hard to read his cursive writing)

From then on it looks like he is back to training with the RFA in England until he gets leave at Christmas and goes back to Alton.

He has addresses in the back of his diary and addresses that match these areas are as follows:

G. Foskett, Hordle House, Milford, Hants.

Weydon Mill, Farnham, Surrey

6 Woodbere? Cottages, Ansty?, Alton

Meg,

Yes you are right - that could be the day he found out he died. And it reads:

Oct 1st - Dr Downham died.

I guess there is a very remote possibility he meant 1917?

You see he used one book/diary for three years and on each day he wrote 1917 events on the top of the page, 1918 events in the middle and 1919 events at the bottom.

The "Dr Downham died" is written in the middle (meaning 1918) and above it it reads "bombed 1917" - so to me that reads it was 1918 - but he did not write 1918 after it. Does that make sense?

I appreciate the search and help and like I said way back - this was a long shot just because his Dad was rumoured to be a doctor...

I'm off to bed (I'm in Los Angeles) so will check back tomorrow :)